Episcopal Church at a crossroads
Consecration of a gay bishop may lead to breakup of church
By LESTER R. DAILEY

PINELLAS COUNTY – Politics isn’t the only place where liberals and conservatives are at loggerheads. Changes that some say are long overdue and others say are self-destructive are driving wedges between Episcopal congregations right here in Pinellas County.

Long-simmering tensions came to a head in 2003, when New Hampshire Episcopalians consecrated a new bishop, Gene Robinson, who is openly gay. Liberal congregations hailed the consecration as a milestone of human equality, but conservative congregations viewed it as a symptom of a moral decay within the church.

“St. Dunstan’s is part of the orthodox side of this argument,” said the Rev. A. Edward Sellers, rector of the 340-member St. Dunstan’s Church in Largo, which he describes as the only conservative Episcopal congregation in mid-Pinellas. “I think the church is too liberal and is headed for a major split, which will not be good for anybody.”

The Rt. Rev. John Lipscomb, bishop of the diocese that includes Pinellas, is relatively conservative and has kept the diocese from becoming too liberal, Sellers said. But Lipscomb will soon retire and Sellers fears what might happen when his replacement is chosen. the rest