Disagreements over tradition have led to a break within one Austin church. St. Barnabas the Encourager, a congregation founded in 1998, will leave the Episcopal Church because the church does not condone certain practices or believe in the Bible as the sole instrument of salvation.
The Rev. Jeff Black, vicar of the church, will resign his office with the Diocese of Texas, effective Friday.
Phil Mallory, senior warden of St. Barnabas, said the break was provoked by the evolution of the Episcopal Church's doctrine.
"For the past number of years, the Episcopal Church U.S.A. has been redefining itself," Mallory said. "The specific thing that really defined what happened was that the House of Bishops, by a 4-3 ratio, refused to affirm a resolution that the Bible contains all things necessary for salvation."
Carol Barnwell, spokeswoman for the Diocese of Texas, said she doesn't think such a vote ever took place at the convention, held in the summer of 2003.
"This is not a church that votes [on whether] to believe in the Bible or not at General Convention," she said.
The most divisive issue within the church is the recent ordination of a gay bishop - the Rev. V. Gene Robinson of the Diocese of New Hampshire. Decisions to ordain homosexuals or to perform same-sex blessings are left to individual dioceses, said Daniel England, director of communications for the Episcopal Church.
"[Ordination and same-sex blessings have] not been approved by the general convention," England said. "It's handled now on a diocese-by-diocese basis, depending on what the diocese and bishop allow or do not allow."
But the beliefs of the St. Barnabas congregation leave no room for a gray area, Mallory said.
"If they're practicing homosexuals, then the Bible is clear about that," Mallory said. "What it says is that God gave human beings a sexual relationship, but that is to be only in a marriage - a marriage defined between a man and a woman. And outside of marriage, you are to remain celibate."
Ordination of gays or same-sex blessings is unlikely to be condoned by Diocese of Texas, Barnwell said.
But the Rev. Greg Rickel of St. James' Episcopal Church in East Austin says he feels the church can encompass different viewpoints, even though Bishop Wimberly clearly opposes the ordination of a non-celibate homosexual and the church blessing of same-sex unions.
"Many people at my congregation feel differently about that, and yet, the Episcopal Church has always been about being a container that is big enough to hold many different ideas," Rickel said.
This is not the first time that changes have divided the church. England said women's ordination and the new prayer book have angered followers in the past.
And there have always been dioceses and churches that have resisted change, Barnwell said.
"Right now we have three dioceses that still refuse to ordain women. We've lived with tension for a long time," she said.
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