Some 200 bishops attended the House of Bishops spring retreat at a church-run camp isolated in heavy woods about 50 miles northwest of Houston. It was the first time the bishops met together since last summer's Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops in London. A resolution passed then, and opposed by many of the American bishops, said homosexual activity was incompatible with scripture and non-celibate homosexuals should not be ordained. Another said bishops should not be forced to accept ordination of women. I think one thing we learned from Lambeth is that passing a resolution does not necessarily solve something.
Questions can remain and divisions can be very deep.
So I think we have been trying to find a way to live our life and do this for the sake of the larger church. In 1997, the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, which meets every three years and has authority in matter of policy and doctrine in the American church, opened all orders of ministry to women. I think that's absolutely essential. The sores are our differences, particularly our differences about human sexuality. We're leaving it alone for a while.