Top Episcopal Officials See Move by Traditionalists as Step Toward a Schism : Bishops: Conservatives troubled by ordination of women and gays plan a non-geographic ‘missionary diocese’ aimed at bypassing church authority.

Top officials of the Episcopal Church have urged traditionalists to abandon a plan to bypass church authority, contending that the action “clearly points toward schism.”

In a brief but pointed statement issued here Tuesday, Presiding Bishop Edmond Browning and his 11-member Council of Advice said they are “deeply troubled” by accusations that some bishops “suppress and persecute biblical Christianity.”

Browning and the council were reacting to a plan adopted Nov. 8 by the Episcopal Synod of America aimed at circumventing authority of bishops they regard as liberal.

Traditionalists contend that church leaders have rejected scriptural authority. As evidence, they cite actions such as the ordination of women and homosexuals.

Browning and the council, which includes head bishops in each of the church’s nine provinces, said accusations against the bishops “can only sow disunity in the church.”

In an interview Tuesday afternoon at the end of a meeting of the Council of Advice, Browning expressed chagrin at the development and said he intended to meet Monday to discuss the matter with the Episcopal Synod president, Bishop Clarence Pope Jr. of Ft. Worth.

“I have worked very hard over the past six years to try to keep us together,” said Browning, who has been criticized by traditionalists in the church for being too liberal.

“The church needs its traditional voice, and I continue to say that.”

Browning said the synod has stepped beyond seeking consideration for traditionalists and is now pressing a disruptive plan of action.

At the center of the traditionalists’ plan is creation of a non-geographic “missionary diocese” that will operate alongside the church’s 121 geographic dioceses, or regions.

The plan does not name any bishops, and it is vague in its particulars. But its underlying motif is a direct challenge to church authority and law.

Retired bishops will be provided to oversee congregations that choose to affiliate with the missionary diocese. The difficulty would come if traditionalist bishops decided to enter a diocese without the permission of the resident bishop.

In an interview Tuesday, Canon Brien Koehler, administrator of the Episcopal Synod, outlined some of the most likely scenarios that could develop.

One possibility, he said, is that traditionalist congregations may opt to reject regular visitations from bishops who head their dioceses and turn instead to Episcopal Synod bishops. Under church law, each parish must be visited at least once every three years, although most bishops try to visit at least once every year.

Another possibility is that traditionalist parish priests may reject administrative oversight from their own bishops and turn allegiance instead to traditionalists.

The Episcopal Church is a highly structured church with clear lines of authority flowing from 143 active bishops to parish priests. Any tampering with established lines of authority represents a direct challenge to the church’s essential structure.