from AP News 

"Episcopal Delegates to Adopt Resolution"
Source: Associated Press
By RACHEL ZOLL
June 21, 200

Episcopal delegates approved a last-ditch attempt by
their chief pastor Wednesday to salvage worldwide
Anglican unity, voting to adopt a resolution that
calls on U.S. church leaders to "exercise restraint"
when considering gay candidates for bishop.
The nonbinding measure stops far short of the
moratorium on gay bishops that Anglican leaders
demanded to calm conservative outrage over the 2003
consecration of Bishop V. Gene Robinson of New
Hampshire, who lives with his longtime male partner.
But it may leave open the chance for discussion
between leaders of the Episcopal Church and other
members of the Anglican Communion, who are badly at
odds over gay clergy. Traditionalists hold that the
Bible specifically prohibits gay sex.
The legislation passed in the final hours of an
anguished nine-day General Convention. It asks
Episcopal leaders to "exercise restraint by not
consenting to the consecration" of candidates for
bishop "whose manner of life presents a challenge to
the wider church."
The House of Deputies, comprised of more than 800 lay
people and clergy, voted for the compromise
resolution, one day after killing stronger legislation
that would have urged dioceses to refrain from
choosing bishops in same-gender relationships.
The vote came after direct pleas from outgoing
Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold and Nevada Bishop
Katharine Jefferts Schori, who will become presiding
bishop in November, that deputies approve something to
signal they understand the anger of Anglican leaders.
"Unless there is a clear perception on the part of our
Anglican brothers and sisters that they have been
taken seriously in their concerns, it will be
impossible to have any genuine conversation," Griswold
said Wednesday in a special joint session that he
called of both houses.
Still, the resolution is not binding and Bishop John
Chane of the Diocese of Washington, D.C., said
immediately after it passed that he would not follow
it.
"My own understanding of my responsibility as a bishop
is to live into the integrity of my office," Chane
said in a statement.