DUIN: Witnessing theology from inside

Julia Duin
Thursday, December 18, 2008

Two years ago this week, nine Episcopal churches staged a dramatic walkout from the Diocese of Virginia, followed by two more the following month.

On the afternoon of Dec. 17 at Truro Church, about two dozen clergy showed up to say they and their churches were parting ways with a diocese they saw as compromised on Scripture and the role of homosexuality in the church. Three years before, the entire Virginia delegation to the Episcopal General Convention in Minneapolis had approved the election of a gay Episcopal bishop: V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.

All of the 11 departing churches had gone through a 40-day discernment process during the fall of 2006 on whether to leave the denomination and the diocese. the rest