Evangelicals defy bishop by holding 'irregular' ordinations

The Church of England's civil war over homosexuality escalated yesterday after conservative evangelical clergy staged an "irregular" ordination in defiance of their bishop.

In a revolt that threatens to embroil the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, three men were ordained as deacons in south London by a bishop "parachuted in" from South Africa.

[…]He is expected to strip the Rev Richard Coekin, the cleric behind the event, of his licence to operate in Southwark diocese, and Dr Williams may be forced to preside over an appeal at a public hearing.

The row blew up as the archbishop met the Rt Rev Gene Robinson, whose consecration as Anglicanism's first openly gay bishop has brought the Church to the brink of schism.
The whole article can be found in the News-Telegraph (UK).

“The Church of England’s civil war…” Alas, I don’t think that’s a bad description. It was so easy as a member of ECUSA to get wrapped up in being angry, and in arguing my case, that I tended to forget just how unspeakably sad the whole thing is. One can’t help but think that Satan and his demon slaves are currently howling in the twisted glee of satisfied hatred. How many souls have been lost to him over the centuries because of the never-ending sequence of scandals in the church?