Daniel Muth's article contends that the Anglican experiment in catholicism without a magisterium has failed. Further, current liturgical attempts in the Episcopal Church to provide a blessing rite for same-sex unions ignore 2,000 years of Christian tradition.

As an American Anglo-Catholic, I have to take issue with Mr. Muth's assertions. A magisterium, or teaching office, does exist within Anglicanism and the main elements of it are identified in the 1948 Lambeth Conference document, "The Meaning and Unity of the Anglican Communion." These include scripture, tradition, reason, creeds, the ministry of word and sacraments, the witness of saints, the consensus fidelium. As the Lambeth bishops note, authority and teaching within this tradition are purposely decentralized, with the result that the emphasis of one element over the others may change with the changing conditions facing the church.

The development of liturgical rites for the blessing of same-sex unions does not ignore Christian tradition, which represents the cumulative experience of the people of God, past and present. As historian John Boswell demonstrates in Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality, a range of moral and pastoral opinion about homosexuality existed within the medieval church. For example, St. Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury in the 12th century, blocked the promulgation of anti-gay church legislation in England.

Anglican Catholicism, as exemplified by Bishop Charles Gore and others, seeks to balance the main doctrines of the catholic faith with the insights of biblical criticism and modern, empirical knowledge. In my view, this is Anglican Catholicism at its best, and not, as Daniel Muth indicates, a church which has become "a wholly owned subsidiary of American culture."

Jeff Moore

Escondido, Calif.