What's an Episcopalian?

A needlepoint of St. Francis of Assisi. The cross that once hung behind the altar. It's all that's left of the Episcopal church the Rev. Martin Pearsall led since the mid- 1980s.

Last October, the Colorado Springs church closed after 30 years as a parish. Pearsall's flock was worn out by all the roiling unrest in the Episcopal Church USA.

"The vote was overwhelming - people wanted to be apart from the Episcopal Church," recalled Pearsall. "Then the question was, do we try to stay together or go our separate ways?"

That's basically the question bedeviling the worldwide Anglican Communion.

In Tanzania this week, Anglican leaders from around the world are debating how - or whether - the maverick Episcopal Church USA, one of 38 provinces in the Anglican Communion, can be brought back into the traditional fold.

A majority of the provinces, many of them centered in conservative Africa, are disturbed by the Episcopal Church's vote at its 2003 general convention to ordain openly gay bishops and allow for same-sex blessings. But critics say that's just the most visible symptom of an array of departures the American church has taken from classic Christianity, like the tolerance for alternative views of Scripture and core beliefs, including divinity of Christ.

In short, the denomination that launched the Reformation 500 years ago has become a microcosm of modern cultural change and spiritual angst. Its roots, the Church of England, were replanted in America in the 1700s. Now this historic church faces hundreds of defections, disbandings and a growing number of lawsuits. In Virginia alone, the Episcopal diocese has sued 11 breakaway conservative parishes - one of them the parish of George Washington. At stake is who gets reportedly $25 million in church property.

But even as the future of the American church is in doubt, many parishes are thriving.

Consider Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Centennial, which is undergoing a $1.7 million expansion. Good times are back since this parish underwent its own crisis related to the churchwide angst: In 2004, the lesbian rector, the Rev. Bonnie Spencer, and her partner celebrated a private, unauthorized same-sex "commitment ceremony."

"That was our defining moment," said the Rev. Craig Mac-Coll,who succeeded Spencer after she took a job with another parish out of state.

"Some people could not accept it, and left . . . though we lost a number of people, we bounced back stronger than ever." Today, he added, "we're a moderate, inclusive parish that includes gay and lesbian couples.

"People who said the 2003 general convention was bringing about the demise of the Episcopal Church - I'm not sure who they're referring to," MacColl said. "It's not affected this parish; it's helped us define who we are."

Yet for Pearsall, those same policies helped fracture his flock's Episcopal identity: "It's all very messy at this point, and we are all hoping for some clearer definition of what it would take to be connected to the greater church."

Holding together this bouquet of Colorado diversity is Bishop Rob O'Neill. While a supporter of gay rights, he took office in 2004 pledging to go slow out of respect for conservative sensibilities. He's had varying degrees of success.

Of the 114 Colorado congregations, about one-third are regarded as "conservative" and troubled to varying degrees over the direction of the denomination. Hundreds of lay conservatives, including a half-dozen parishes and a number of clergy, fled in 2000- 2001. In the past 18 months, four parishes shut their doors - one of them Pearsall's St. Francis.

Still, O'Neill has managed to remain friendly with many priests who question his direction.

"He knows I believe the Episcopal Church is squirrely, and has left orthodoxy - but we always hope for a turnaround," said Pearsall, who received a six- month financial package and hopes at some point to pastor an Episcopal parish again.

It was precisely O'Neill's leadership that drew MacColl from his post in Oregon.

"Rob is a very gifted teacher, a great listener, and you don't get the sense he comes in with an agenda," MacColl said. "At the same time he makes his views clear . . . he's genuinely committed to bringing about reconciliation with people of very diverse views."

So what does it mean to be an Episcopalian?

One expert who's giving a cautiously hopeful answer is Yale- educated author and theologian the Rev. Ephraim Radner, rector of Ascension Episcopal Church in Pueblo.

Radner, a conservative, casts a long shadow from his small-city parish - he's part of an 11-member international committee that has prepared a "covenant design" for the Tanzania gathering - in other words, a blueprint for possibly reaching a compromise agreement so the Episcopal factions can live together.

"Those who agreed to the covenant would be agreeing to something about what it means to be an Anglican Christian - it would be a central expression of Christianity," Radner said in a recent interview. "It would not be an explicit list of moral requirements."

In a sprawling communion of 77 million members, how such a covenant design would be implemented, what it would say, and who in the splintering church would agree to it, is all unknown.

What Radner knows isn't working is the growing blizzard of defections, accusations and lawsuits that have engulfed more than a dozen states, from Virginia to California.

"It is clear to me that Scripture and apostolic tradition calls us not to sue one another," Radner says. "The fact we have descended into lawsuits is a sign we're way on the wrong path."

torkelsonj@rockymountainnews.com or 303-954-5055

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