Canada: Gay rights, church's `defining moment'
Apr 15, 2007
Stuart Laidlaw
Faith and Ethics Reporter

OTTAWA–Retired Connecticut Bishop Arthur Walmsley can only watch from the sidelines as his beloved Anglican church rips itself apart over gay rights – and he couldn't be more proud, however much the process saddens him.

"It's a defining moment for the church," Walmsley, bishop from 1979 to 1993, told the Whole Message Conference on gay rights in the church yesterday.

The U.S. Episcopal Church, as Anglicanism is known in that country, has been given until Sept. 30 by the worldwide Anglican communion to renounce its support for gay clergy and same sex marriage blessings, or face expulsion. the rest