Sexuality issues divide area Episcopalians

Ethan Jewett comes from a Jewish family, but his partner Michael Bansley was raised Roman Catholic.

"He told me to find an Episcopal Church or we were going back to the Catholic Church," Jewett said.

The couple was living in Schaumburg at the time (they now live in Chicago) and Jewett discovered during an online search that St. Nicholas Episcopal Church in Elk Grove Village had an AIDS Ministry.

"For us, that was code that we had found a welcoming place, affirming for us as a couple," Jewett said. They joined the church in 2004.

Jewett, who works in Elk Grove Village, has felt so at home at St. Nicholas that he serves as the church's senior warden and has begun the process of becoming an Episcopal priest.

"For a gay person to be able to rise to leadership," he said. "It's been a transformational experience in the positive sense."

The openness of St. Nicholas is a vivid example of how some Episcopal churches have changed, particularly since the much publicized election of Gene Robinson, an openly gay man in a long-term relationship, as bishop of New Hampshire in 2003.

And yet many suburban Episcopalians say that while they bear no ill will toward gays and lesbians, churches like St. Nicholas have strayed too far from Biblical teaching.

The division is so great that conservative Episcopalians have formed the new Anglican Church in North America, which will include about 700 parishes in the U.S. and Canada that disagree with mainline Episcopalians on the ordination of gays.

Hope Anglican Church, which holds services on Sunday evenings at the Congregational Church in Elburn, plans to be part of the new Anglican Church. Its leader, however, denies that the ordination of gays is the main issue.

"The biggest differences between us and the Episcopal Church is doctrinal teaching," said the Rev. David Kletzing of Batavia, the church's pastor. "We believe the Bible is the authority for our lives, and we believe in the uniqueness of Jesus Christ."

Ordained an Episcopal priest 20 years ago, Kletzing left the church to move toward what he calls "orthodox Anglicanism." He said he became concerned about where the core doctrines of the church were heading. He and his congregation hold more conservative views on human sexuality and traditional marriage.

"Sexuality is part of the teachings of Scripture," he added. "While it is not more important than other teachings, this one certainly hit the fan."

Andrew Unger of Glendale Heights says he was drawn to All Souls' Anglican Fellowship in Wheaton, where he serves as youth pastor, because of a combination of a liturgical setting with "Biblical orthodoxy."

"Believing in the Bible is extremely important regarding what I do in my everyday life," he said. "To me, the issue of sexuality is not a fore front issue, but part of what I consider to be Scriptural authority. As far as Scripture is concerned, I don't get to choose what I agree with, and what I don't agree with."

All Souls' Anglican Fellowship was formed in 2004 with a core group of about 100, most of whom had split from St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Glen Ellyn after a number of clergy left over the issue of homosexuality.

Back at St. Mark's, the remaining members and those new to the parish are following the lead of the main Episcopal Church on the issue.

"The topic is really about a same-gender, committed relationship," said the Rev. George Smith, who became rector at St. Mark's in February 2006, when the congregation was beginning to recover after the 2004 exodus of many longtime parishioners. "Can we honor this and bless it? Obviously, the Episcopal Church has given its consent."

Early last year, Smith held an educational series on the Bible and sexuality. The congregation is home to a few gays and lesbians.

Back at St. Nicholas, both Jewett and the Rev. Steve Martz, an ordained Episcopal priest who is vicar of the mission church, agree that St. Nicholas not only accepts same sex couples, but celebrates them.

Martz said that to be "accepting" was patronizing.

"My starting place is - what can we do as a church to facilitate a person's relationship with God, gay or straight," Martz said. "I know many gay people for whom God is alive in their souls."

Smith said it was important for him to lead his congregation in a way that relieves the tensions "so that we could be together as respectful, curious and faithful Christians."

"The Episcopal Church is so much bigger than just this one issue," Smith said. "But we've made a claim in a particular way and we are transparent about our struggle."

"It's not about winning or losing," he said. "But about how the word of God is engaging. It's much deeper than just headlines."