(CNSNews.com) - Declaring themselves "saddened" by the U.S. Episcopal Church's stance on homosexuality, conservative leaders in Africa appeared Thursday to be preparing for a rupture in one of the world's largest Christian denominations.
At its General Convention in Columbus, Ohio, which ended on Wednesday, the Episcopal Church (ECUSA) passed a compromise resolution on homosexual ordination, satisfying neither liberals nor conservatives.
The resolution called on bishops "to exercise restraint by not consenting to the consecration of any candidate to the episcopate whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider Church and will lead to further strains on communion."
It fell short of the recommendations of a major report drafted by a high-level panel in a bid to resolve the crisis in the worldwide Anglican Communion sparked by the decision by ECUSA -- Anglicanism's American branch -- to consecrate an openly homosexual bishop, Gene Robinson, in 2003.
The Windsor Report called for a moratorium on ordaining practicing homosexuals and the blessing of same-sex unions. It also called on ECUSA to "express regret."
Some liberal American bishops said they would ignore this week's ECUSA resolution, while conservatives called it inadequate, in that it had not followed the Windsor recommendations.
Bishops in Africa, where the majority of the world's Anglicans live, also were critical.
In an open letter to ECUSA Thursday, Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria said on behalf of all African bishops meeting in Uganda that they were saddened by ECUSA's decision not to embrace the Windsor recommendations.
"We have observed the commitment shown by your church to the full participation of people in same-gender sexual relationships in civic life, church life and leadership," he said. "We have noted the many affirmations of this throughout the Convention."
"As you know, our churches cannot reconcile this with the teaching on marriage set out in the holy scriptures and repeatedly affirmed throughout the Anglican Communion."
The African bishops would carefully study the ECUSA position and, when meeting with others from the developing world in September, would present their response.
And, in an indication that that response could entail an ever deeper schism within Anglicanism, they added "we assure all those scripturally faithful dioceses and congregations alienated and marginalized within [ECUSA] that we have heard their cries."
Already, some traditionalist dioceses in the U.S. have linked up with African bishops after rifts with their own bishops over the homosexuality issue.
The titular head of the Anglican Communion, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, is under heavy pressure to take steps against ECUSA but has so far resisted.
A conservative Anglican leader in Australia, Sydney Archbishop Peter Jensen, has warned repeatedly of the possibility that two distinct "Anglicanisms" could develop as a result of the homosexuality dispute.
He has also said that a diocese like Sydney, which on this issue has more in common with churches in Africa and Asia than with many of those in the West, could look for alternative leadership to that provided by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Another decision taken by ECUSA's General Convention to upset traditionalists was the election of Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori as head of the church.
Not only is Schori a woman -- most Anglican regions around the world are opposed to the ordination of women -- but she is also a liberal who voted in favor of consecrating Robinson in 2003 and supports ceremonies blessing same-sex unions.
In her first sermon since her election, delivered in Columbus on Wednesday, Schori again trod on conservatives' toes by calling Jesus "our mother."
"We are witnessing a great divide within the Church in America giving rise to two churches -- one that believes and adheres to the teaching of the Holy Bible and the other that rejects it," Family Research Council president Tony Perkins said Tuesday.
