Am I missing something? Holy Trinity, Marlborough, Mass., rejects their bishop's episcopal authority and seeks oversight from some other "orthodox bishop of the Anglican Communion" because convention, with Bishop Shaw's leadership, affirmed same-sex unions and the ordination of homosexuals in such unions [TLC, Dec. 20].

By so doing, convention joins the bishop in open defiance of the Lambeth Conference and has stepped outside the boundaries of the catholic church? When did Lambeth become a council of the church and not the Archbishop of Canterbury's tea party? When did it gain the authority to legislate so that anyone in disagreement with it has stepped outside the boundaries of the catholic faith and church?

When did disagreement or even error about one moral issue place a bishop outside the faith? Abortion did not have that effect, and, murder or not, all agree that is taking a life. Is blessing homosexual love more destructive than that?

Surely we can still debate issues and even settle on different resolutions of issues like this one without schism, without rejecting the oversight of our bishop.

(The Rev.) Warner R. Traynham

St. John's Church

Los Angeles, Calif.