In her opening address to the General Convention in Anaheim, Calif., in July, Jefferts Schori spoke about the crisis facing The Episcopal Church as its members remain divided over the authority of Scripture and homosexuality and as its relationship with some Anglican provinces overseas is impaired.

She said the "overarching connection in all of these crises has to do with the great Western heresy – that we can be saved as individuals, that any of us alone can be in right relationship with God."

"It’s caricatured in some quarters by insisting that salvation depends on reciting a specific verbal formula about Jesus," she told Episcopal delegates. "That individualist focus is a form of idolatry, for it puts me and my words in the place that only God can occupy, at the center of existence, as the ground of being. That heresy is one reason for the theme of this Convention."

Her statements shocked many in the Christian community who believe the presiding bishop was dismissing the importance of a personal confession of Jesus Christ as Savior.

"We never say that an individual's very personal relationship to God is not important," he stated. "What we do say is that individual salvation is not enough." Clarifying her comments, Jefferts Schori explained that the theme of the General Convention – "ubuntu," which means "I am because we are" – was intentional in focusing on restoring relationships with their neighbors rather than just the individual relationship with God.

"Salvation cannot be complete, in an eternal and eschatological sense, until the whole of creation is restored to right relationship ... We anticipate the restoration of all creation to right relationship, and we proclaim that Jesus' life, death and resurrection made that possible in a new way."

During the convention, The Episcopal Church's House of Deputies approved a resolution that declares the denomination's ordination process open to all individuals, including practicing homosexuals. The Episcopal Church – the U.S. branch of Anglicanism – had widened rifts in 2003 when it consecrated its first openly gay bishop.