Gene Robinson - Contributed

An old German word that describes 'painful anxiety' (angst) seems appropriate as a single word to identify the current realities of the Episcopalian Church (Anglican) in the United States.

In this country of 300 million people where the dominant religion is Christianity, there are perhaps as many as 300 varieties of that religion. Southern Baptists with 15 million adherents have the largest single denomination number of adherents. But it seems that it is the Anglicans, with 2.3 million members who are getting most public news media attention in this century.

The first big media strike was in 2003 when the openly homosexual (gay) Anglican priest, Gene Robinson, was consecrated to the Holy Apostolate Office of Bishop. The radical result has been what is effectively a 'split' in the centuries-old Anglican Church, for there is now the more traditional or conservative Anglican Mission in America.

second big strike

The second big strike and currently running hot is the Anglican Church in South Florida almost immediately accepting (May 31), a Roman Catholic priest scandalously exposed publicly, into the fold, signalled by a sermon in his new denomination that became a news media sensation.

The Roman Catholic priest, Father Cutie (Cu-tay), handsome and dynamic, a popular media presenter, described popularly as 'telegenic', has since announced that he and his girlfriend of the last two years, a divorcée, now fiancée, have switched church ranks and plan to marry soon.

Episcopalian Bishop of South Florida, Right Reverend Leo Frade (Fra-day), considered a militant recruiter for his diocese, has countered the Roman Catholic compatriot Bishop of South Florida, Rt Reverend John Favorola admonishment of Father Cutie for his disrespectful public display.

According to the Miami Herald (Monday, June 8,Page 1), Bishop Frade 'in widely broadcast remarks' made this scathing statement, "The Inquisition is over."

controversy

But, evidently, not over for Bishop Frade is the controversy that has bogged his diocese since 2003 when his was one of the five Episcopal dioceses that supported the candidacy of Rev Gene Robinson, the confessed homosexual, to be bishop of New Hampshire.

Bishop Frade is widely known to declare it his 'Christian duty' to oppose legislation that attempts to ban same-sex marriage.

Nevertheless, Bishop Frade is hailed among many Anglicans in South Florida, for under his leadership since he was consecrated Bishop in 2000, he has been able to increase membership of Episcopalian churches from Jenson Beach to Key West, by 3,000 members, to reach 38,000.

Meanwhile, farther North, in the diocese of North Michigan, another Anglican angst brews in the USA as Anglican priest Kevin Forrester seems about to become the first candidate for bishopric to be rejected since the 1930s.

Billy Hall, freelance writer may be reached at billsophia@hotmail.com.