"The Episcopal Church, one of the most historically significant churches in America, is on the verge of implosion," says Dallas newspaper.

The Episcopal Church, one of the most historically significant churches in America, is on the verge of implosion. It has endured schism before but nothing like what it faces today. Its "civil war over homosexuality," as The New York Times put it, threatens not only to divide its 2.3 million members but also to separate it from the 77 million-strong global Anglican Communion.

Once viewed as the Republican Party at prayer, over the past 30 to 40 years the Episcopal Church has morphed into something else altogether, losing much of its membership along the way. The turning point was 1976, when the church began ordaining women to the priesthood, and in the three years since Robinson's election, it has lost the numerical equivalent of a congregation a day. With Sunday attendance hovering around 800,000, the church has come to represent less than 3 percent of Anglicans worldwide and a little more than 1 percent of American Christians, making it, as the writer Allen Guelzo recently put it, "statistically negligible on the horizons of both American Christianity and the Anglican Communion."

A month after Robinson's election, conservative Episcopalians from around the country gathered at the Anatole Hotel in Dallas to effect a "course correction" within the church. At that meeting, which David Roseberry organized, priests and bishops spoke openly about the possibility of schism. Because of that meeting, and the outcry within the global Anglican Communion over Robinson's ordination, the Archbishop of Canterbury issued a report calling the American church to repentance. While the report did not condemn Robinson's election, it did say the Episcopal Church should consult the broader Anglican Communion before making major decisions. (The Episcopal Church is a semi-autonomous entity within the Anglican Communion. It recognizes the Archbishop of Canterbury as its worldwide leader, similar to the pope but without as much authority.)

Instead of apologizing, the American bishops went the other way, electing Katharine Jefferts Schori presiding bishop last month at their 2006 General Convention in Columbus, Ohio. Schori had not only supported Robinson's ordination, she had also blessed same-sex unions and on more than one occasion referred to Jesus as Our Mother.

Like a tear in fraying fabric, the rift between liberals and conservatives within the Episcopal Church and the broader Anglican Communion widened at that moment, possibly beyond repair. To many, it seemed a slap in the face, a direct affront to the wishes of the global church. In response, Anglican leaders in Africa, where the church still has the militant zeal of a missionary organization, declared an end to their association with the Episcopal Church, even if it meant forgoing millions of dollars a year in emergency food and other aid.

So far, six American dioceses, including Fort Worth, have rejected Schori as their leader and have asked to be placed under the oversight of an Anglican archbishop outside the United States. It could result in a most unusual outcome: a U.S. diocese reporting to a bishop in Africa.

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