A survey of senior wardens and clergy from 15 percent of all congregations conducted from April through June 2004 by the Episcopal Church Foundation (ECF) reveals neither a clear endorsement of nor opposition to General Convention votes to normalize homosexuality. Instead a majority of those who responded viewed the 2003 convention vote as “compelling a position on a complex issue before the Church at the grassroots was ready to take a position.”

While those statistics might initially favor conservatives, the Rev. William L. Sachs said the attrition of local trust in national structures has primarily practical not ideological sources. “Local leaders believe the Church was not adequately prepared for the recent steps and they struggle to turn the conflict over homosexuality into a practical focus on mission,” he wrote in The Christian Century. The foundation was founded as an independent philanthropic and research institute by Presiding Bishop Henry Knox Sherrill in 1949.

Fr. Sachs, whose work was discussed at the House of Bishops’ meeting in Spokane last October, has made personal presentations at two “Going Forward Together” conferences as well as the Nov. 30 meeting in Houston of bishops who opposed the New Hampshire consecration. He said his message has been consistent: “If the national leadership assumes that the controversy over a gay bishop and the blessing of same-sex unions somehow has blown over, and if it does not engage grassroots concerns, the Church infrastructure will erode severely.” Only a minority understand those structures, he added.

“Given the tenor of its new majority, the Episcopal Church is less likely to split than it is to fragment into a de facto confederation. The national organization will remain, giving an illusion of unity, while parishes and dioceses devote more attention to regional priorities.”

Rather than being discouraged by these conclusions, Fr. Sachs finds incredible strength and longing for leadership among the grassroots who for the most part have been able to hold widely divergent views in creative tension, with many reporting beneficial effects from holding respectful discussions.

“If national leaders heed local priorities in tangible terms, the Church’s fragmentation can be minimized,” he said. “If national leaders encourage a genuine deliberative process on mission and leadership that values local wisdom and local needs, the Church may be poised for an era of reconsolidation. To do this, national leaders must seek lessons from the current crisis — lessons based upon engagement with the sentiments of the majority of Episcopalians.”