Local priest on high-power panel to ease rift among Episcopalians
Saturday February 03, 2007
By MARVIN READ
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN

A Pueblo pastor has been asked to bring his considerable talents and insights into play to find a way to bring a sense of harmony and unity to the worldwide Anglican church.

The Rev. Ephraim Radner, rector of Ascension Episcopal Church, is one of but two Americans on an international panel charged with designing a covenant to be proposed to the heads of all Anglican churches throughout the world - known as "primates" - that would serve as a vehicle to retain their communion in the face of disagreements, some of them extensive.

The American branch of the Anglican church, the Episcopal Church of the USA, was thrown into turmoil in 2003 when an openly gay, partnered Episcopal priest, Gene Robinson, was selected by his New Hampshire diocese to become its bishop.The Episcopalians' 2003 General Convention confirmed his election in August of that year by a vote of 62-45, but not without having created a sharp rift within the ECUSA and between it and the rest of the communion.
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