A church torn in two
By Janet I. Tu
Seattle Times staff reporter

OAK HARBOR — For decades, a sign outside this light-filled, two-story house of worship proclaimed it "St. Stephen's Episcopal Church" — spiritual home to a congregation of longtime friends and neighbors who often watched movies together, walked the beach or shared meals in this middle-class military town on Whidbey Island.

But that was before the rift — before deeply held differences over the ordination of a gay bishop officially ended the congregation as it had existed since 1952.

Now, in its place are two distinct congregations — a small one that remains in the U.S. Episcopal Church and a larger one that has severed ties and aligned itself with a conservative Brazilian bishop in the Anglican Communion.

While the two groups worship on the same property, their former closeness is gone, replaced by hard feelings. the rest