Schism over gay bishop

STaN

A Church of Ireland bishop has warned that last week's election of an openly gay bishop in the United States could lead to an irreparable split among the 38 provinces of the worldwide Anglican Communion.


Canon Gene Robinson, 56, who left his wife and two daughters 13 years ago and now lives with his male partner, was confirmed as coadjutor bishop of New Hampshire at the general convention of the Episcopal Church of the USA (ECUSA).

The ratification was delayed while a special committee investigated allegations that Robinson had been involved with a website that was linked to a pornographic


site and that he had touched a man in an "inappropriate way" some years previously. He was cleared of both charges.

Presiding bishop of ECUSA Frank Griswold, in his opening address to the convention, said that the church was held together by its "diverse centre".The depth of that diversity became only too clear during the course of the speeches of the ECUSA bishops.

Bishop Robert Ihloff from Maryland said that the scriptures prohibiting homosexual behaviour were "not about a group of gay men behaving badly, but a group of heterosexual men behaving atrociously".

Bishop Peter Beckwith of Springfield said: "Gene Robinson's lifestyle is inappropriate at best.Today I question not whether we are on the same page or even in the same book, but if we are in the same library".

Bishop Thomas Shaw of Massachusetts said that he felt that Robinson's consecration would make the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion stronger, while Bishop Ed Little of Northern Indiana said: "If we confirm Gene Robinson as a bishop of the church, the unity of this house [of bishops] will be shattered forever".

Sixty-two of the 107 bishops approved the appointment, with two abstentions. Robinson's consecration will take place on November 2.

After the announcement of the vote, Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh and 18 other bishops issued a statement saying that the convention had "denied the plain teaching of scripture and the moral consensus of the Church throughout the ages. With grief too deep for words, the bishops that stand before you reject this action.
"As faithful members of the Episcopal Church, we call upon the primates of the Anglican Communion to interve ne i n the pastoral emergency that has come before us. May God have mercy upon His Church."

The spiritual head of the Anglican Communion, Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury, said that he hoped that Anglicans would have an opportunity to consider the ECUSA development before "significant and irrevocable decisions" were made in response.

But already primates of Anglican provinces in Africa and Asia have indicated that they cannot remain in communion with a province which has elected a gay bishop. Anglo- Catholics and evangelicals in the Church of England, the mother Church of the Anglican Communion, have also expressed concern at the ECUSA decision.
Rev Rod Thomas of Reform told the BBC that a split in the Episcopal Church in America would be "a warning signal to us in the UK, because the split will also come here". Rev David Phillips, general secretary of the Church Society, said it might be a good thing if ECUSA did split because "the only churches which are actually growing are the ones which know where they stand on this issue".

In Ireland, Archbishop Robin Eames of Armagh told the Church of Ireland's general synod in May: "Issues surrounding sexuality in general - and same gender relationsips in particular - have been on the agenda of the House of Bishops for many years".

Eames agreed that the issue was "very crucial" for some people, and he admitted that individual bishops held "differing views", but he said: "We must identify key issues and basic principles that cannot be ignored and provide a way for the Church of Ireland to engage in this vital discussion without it becoming what some have called a `Church dividing issue"'.

But Bishop Harold Miller of Down and Dromore, in his presidential speech to his diocesan synod the following month, said he regretted the election of Robinson.

Miller said he supported the "biblical and balanced resolution" of the 1998 Lambeth Conference of Anglican leaders wh ich said that the Church upheld "faithfulness in marriage between a man and a woman in lifelong union, and believes that abstinence is right for those not called to marriage".

The conference rejected homosexual practice as "incompatible with scripture", but called for a pastoral and sensitive ministry to everyone, irrespective of sexual orientation.

The bishop said he did not wish to denigrate people because of their sexual orientation, and he wanted churches to be "welcoming places for all fragile sinners". But he said: "I really believe that we could well be on the edge of a major split in the Anglican Communion over this issue."