Episcopalians in the US have declared gays and lesbians eligible for “any ordained ministry”, a vote expected to upset world Anglican leaders who had sought a clear moratorium on consecrating another gay bishop.

Episcopalians moved towards affirming an open role for gay and lesbian clergy in their church despite pressure from fellow Anglicans not to do so.

The Archbishop of Canterbury in England is to evaluate a statement in which episcopal leaders in the US agree to “exercise restraint” in approving another gay bishop and not to authorise prayers to bless same-sex couples.

A 74-YEAR-OLD Episcopalian priest from America has become the first woman Church of Ireland vicar in Killarney.

AN Anglican church commission sharply criticised the US Episcopal Church yesterday for consecrating a gay bishop and called on the church to apologise and refrain from promoting any other clergy living in a same-sex union.

SOME months back I was on Vincent Browne’s radio programme discussing a new report, A Time to Listen - Confronting Child Sexual Abuse by Catholic Clergy, commissioned by Irish bishops.

EPISCOPAL conservatives in the US who are bitterly opposed to same-sex blessings and the ordination of gay clergy have launched a nationwide organisation that plans to defy church leaders and may well wrestle with them for control of parishes and dioceses.

Pope John Paul II today called for Christians to overcome the “painful trial” of their divisions as the faithful grappled with such issues as the election of a gay Episcopal bishop and hostility between Catholic and Orthodox faithful in eastern Europe.

Anglicans in the US plan to go ahead with the consecration of an openly gay bishop in defiance of a warning that it could “tear the fabric” of the Church and jeopardise its continued union.

FOR the first time in the United States, Episcopalians today elected an openly gay man as the next bishop in the state of New Hampshire.

A country in mourning poured its grief into prayer and defiant chants, showing unity in the flicker of thousands of candles at vigils across America.