Perhaps you've been wondering why it's so difficult to bring factions in the Episcopal Church together. Nobody seems to be able to agree on anything - prayer book revision, ordination of women, same-sex blessings, and any number of issues which might be classified as less important.

Ah, but that's the genius of Anglicanism, you may be saying. This is nothing new. The church has always had room for a wide variety of opinions. There's room for everyone. Sorry to disappoint you, but it's no longer the case. This is what we're up against:

Exhibit A: An ordained woman sent to me a copy of TLC heavily marked with a bright red, soft-tipped writing instrument. Its purpose was to illustrate "the patriarchal attitude of your small-minded magazine and of the Episcopal Church in general." Our not-so-cheerful correspondent pointed out that in the particular issue she sent, there were 68 references to male priests - she even circled the names in the Church Directory advertisements and the classifieds! - but only 11 references to female priests. She found no photographs of female priests while there were pictures of two male priests and a male bishop.

It seems to me that because women have been ordained priests for only 25 years, aren't there more priests of the male variety than female? And because of that, despite the church's determination to achieve political correctness, aren't most church-related publications going to produce similar statistics?

There's more. With a green marker the reader circled every word that smacked of "patriarchal attitude." That includes Father, Son, Lord, he, him, Mr., Fr., and masculine names: Ted, Robert, and many others.

Someone has too much time on her hands, and probably an anger that needs professional help.

Exhibit B: A parish in the Diocese of Southeast Florida decides to confront a Boy Scout troop which meets in the parish hall. Never mind that the Scouts had been good tenants, had been involved in no scandals or inappropriate behavior, and had not damaged church facilities. The Scouts have left the premises because the rector and vestry handed the Scouts a non-discriminatory statement and told them if they couldn't sign it, they'd have to leave. The Scouts said they were simply following the policy of the national organization, and they couldn't sign the statement. So out they went.

The action follows a General Convention resolution adopted in 2000 which recommends that clergy inform the local Boy Scouts' council that "homosexual persons are children of God who have a full and equal claim with all other persons upon the love, acceptance, and pastoral concern and care of the Church."

You may recall that the Scouts have decided that homosexual persons should not be in positions of leadership in the organization. We should remember the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Scouts' policy, and that thousands of young Episcopalians have participated in Scouting activities.

The news isn't all bad. Shortly after the Boy Scouts left the aforementioned parish, another church in that diocese opened its doors to a local troop.

Exhibit C:At this writing the Anglican Mission in America (AMiA) is planning to consecrate four more bishops in Colorado. The AMiA, you will recall, was behind the almost secretive consecrations in Singapore of two missionary bishops to North America last year. That single event eventually did more to harm the cause of unity in the church than anything else during the past year. Consecrating four more bishops will not be helpful in the AMiA's hope to be recognized as a legitimate Anglican province. Because the AMiA is under the pastoral oversight of the primates of the churches of Rwanda and South East Asia, members of its 37 congregations probably ought to be recognized as Anglicans. But are they Episcopalians? Probably not. The consecrations will raise more questions than they answer.

I could cite many other examples, but I won't because they'll probably anger you. The point is, the optimism expressed by some of the church's leaders seems unrealistic. We have a long way to go to achieve unity.

David Kalvelage, executive editor