By Allie Martin and Sherrie Black
August 14, 2001

(AgapePress) - A suburban Washington, D.C., Episcopal church is split over what is becoming a flash point in the denomination: the ordination of women.

The 303-year-old Christ Episcopal Church in Accokeek, Maryland -- about 25 miles outside the nation's capital -- is the focus of a federal court battle. The church's bishop, Jane Holmes Dixon, head of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, has filed a lawsuit in federal court to remove the priest, the Rev. Samuel Edwards, from leadership of the church. Dixon claims Edwards moved into the parish last March without her approval.

Supporters of Edwards have filed a complaint with church officials, seeking an ecclesiastical trial and claiming that the bishop acted against Edwards later than church law allows. A trial on the matter is set for later this month.

Edwards was previously executive director of Forward in Faith North America, a conservative organization opposed to the ordination of women, homosexual men, and lesbians. This year several conservative priests and congregations have quit the 2.4-million-member denomination to join a new organization: the Anglican Mission in North America.

And in Dallas...
Meanwhile, amid growing pressure, the presiding bishop of the Episcopal church in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area is not giving any ground on the ordination of women priests within his diocese. Bishop Jack Iker insists that while he is not about to ordain women as priests in the Episcopal church, he loves and respects women. Iker tells Dallas Morning News that he is "not some white male chauvinist who hates women."

Modified Tuesday, November 02, 2010