Illinois: Internal bickering leaves Q-C Anglican churches in turmoil
By Leon Lagerstam
September 21, 2007

ROCK ISLAND -- The Rev. Steven McClaskey really didn't want to retire right now from his pastoral post at Trinity Church in Rock Island.

Yet, he also didn't want to risk losing his pension, which advisers and he felt was endangered, by the continued dispute between Episcopal Church leaders and the worldwide Anglican Communion.

The two sides have been at odds since the 2003 consecration of the Rev. Gene Robinson, a non-celibate homosexual, as a New Hampshire bishop. The crisis escalated in 2006 when Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori was named as the church's presiding bishop.

Anglican archbishops issued a Sept. 30 deadline for Episcopal Church leaders to give "unequivocal assurances" that they will stop advocating teaching and practices "incompatible with Holy Scripture;" and would not consent any longer to consecrating bishops living in a same-sex relationship or blessing same-sex unions. the rest