Putting the Episcopal rift in a historical context – Los Angeles Times

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori sees the latest discord in historical terms, a view that sheds light on Episcopalians’ religious and cultural DNA.

Similar controversies have come and gone, she told Times reporters earlier this month, but the 2.4-million-member church has remained largely intact — even if unity has sometimes come at a steep price.

“The place of gay and lesbian people in the church is the latest expression of the ancient human struggle over who is ‘the other,’ ” Jefferts Schori said. “There will be another group. I don’t know who it is going to be.”