After 13 years of rancor over conflicting views on homosexuality, the archbishops of the Anglican Communion have voted to impose sanctions for three years on the Episcopal Church, the American branch of the communion, for its decision last summer to allow clergy to perform same-sex marriages, church officials said Thursday.
News of the archbishops' decision to discipline the American church leaked out near the end of a weeklong meeting in England called by the Most Rev. Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury. He had summoned the archbishops to Canterbury in an effort to break the bitter stalemate that has divided the Anglican Communion since the Episcopal Church consecrated an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire in 2003.
The sanctions — essentially limiting the Episcopal Church's participation in Anglican Communion affairs — do not call for any change in policy by the American church. Conservative Anglican archbishops said that while they were pleased by the sanctions, the move did not go far enough. They also said they expect the sanctions will continue if the Americans do not change course in three years.
Still, the disciplinary action is the most serious setback for the Episcopal Church and other Anglican provinces that support gay rights since the conflict erupted in earnest over how to interpret what the Scriptures say about gay people and same-sex marriage. About two-thirds of the 37 archbishops at the meeting voted to sanction the American branch, according to conservatives who supported the disciplinary action.
The Anglican Church of Canada, which has allowed some clergy to perform same-sex marriages but has not adopted a policy for the entire province, escaped sanctions.
But the archbishops' resolution fell short of the demands of conservative primates to evict the Americans and the Canadians from the Communion. The archbishop of Uganda, Stanley Ntagali, said he walked out of the meeting on Tuesday after his proposal for the Americans and Canadians to repent and "voluntarily withdraw" did not gain traction.
The Anglican Communion, with about 85 million members in 165 countries, is the world's third-largest body of churches after the Catholic and Orthodox churches. It has its roots in the Church of England, whose missionaries planted churches around the world.
But unlike the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Church has no pope. The archbishop of Canterbury is considered the "first among equals" among the other primates, or archbishops, but does not have the power to fix doctrine or rules, or impose unilateral discipline.
The resolution adopted by the Anglican Communion's archbishops said that the Episcopal Church's decision at its general convention in 2015 to allow a marriage rite for same-sex couples was a "fundamental departure from the faith and teaching held by the majority of our Provinces on the doctrine of marriage."
For the next three years, the Episcopal Church's leaders will not be allowed to represent the Anglican Communion at meetings with other churches or other faiths; will not be appointed or elected to internal committees; and will not be allowed to participate in decisions in the Anglican Communion "relating to doctrine or polity."
The presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, Michael Curry, said before the vote that "this decision will bring real pain" for all Episcopalians, but especially for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender members, according to the Episcopal News Service.
"For many who have felt and been rejected by the church because of who they are, for many who have felt and been rejected by families and communities, our church opening itself in love was a sign of hope," Curry said. "And this will add pain."
The archbishop of Canterbury permitted the participation at the gathering this week of Archbishop Foley Beach, who leads the Anglican Church in North America, a breakaway group formed in the United States and Canada to protest the moves there to ordain gay bishops and recognize same-sex marriages. The Anglican Church in North America counts just over 100,000 members.
A group of conservative primates said in a statement they were "pleased" at the sanctions and the inclusion of Beach, but were disappointed that the meeting did not call for "repentance" from the Anglican provinces that support same-sex marriage and gay bishops.
The Rev. Susan Russell, a senior associate rector at All Saints Church in Pasadena, California, was among the Episcopalians who said sanctions would not change their position: "As a lifelong Episcopalian and a married lesbian priest, I think it's not only an acceptable cost, it's a badge of honor in some ways."
But the sanctions may be more than a temporary measure. The Rev. Canon Andrew K. Gross, a spokesman for the Anglican Church in North America, said the sanctions were imposed for three years because that is when the Episcopal Church holds its next general convention and could reconsider its actions on gay marriage.