Episcopal champion of homosexual causes is member of General Assembly Council
By Paula R. Kincaid, The Layman Online, March 12, 2004
The controversy shaking the foundation of Anglicanism worldwide has a Presbyterian Church (USA) connection.
Douglas E. TheunerBishop Douglas E. Theuner, who retired as the leader of the Diocese of New Hampshire of the Episcopal Church USA and was replaced by V. Gene Robinson, is a ecumenical advisory member of the PCUSA’s General Assembly Council.
Robinson is the priest who left his wife and children to live with his homosexual partner. Following Robinson’s consecration as bishop – an event in which Theuner participated and preached the sermon – several of the 38 Anglican provinces worldwide declared their communion with the ECUSA to be “impaired” or “broken.”
A June 2003 article by the New York Times said Theuner “has championed gay causes in the church and approves of commitment ceremonies for same-sex couples.”
Theuner shared power with Robinson in the diocese after Robinson’s consecration service in November 2003 until the March 7 investiture service, which marked the transfer of power from Theuner to Robinson.
In his sermon at Robinson’s Nov. consecration, Theuner told Robinson that he would “stand as a symbol of the unity of the church in a way in which none of the rest of us can.” That unity had limits, however, for Theuner. He fired a priest who opposed the consecration of Robinson as a bishop. And he ridiculed conservative Episcopalians – calling them “ecclesiastical nabobs” – who began exploring other alliances within the worldwide Anglican community.
As an ecumenical advisory member of the General Assembly Council, Theuner has the right to speak on issues coming before the council but has no vote. He attended the September 2003 GAC meeting at Montreat Conference Center in North Carolina and the February 2004 meeting in Louisville, Ky.
According to the Book of Order, ecumenical advisory members are “from other churches in the United States and from partner churches in other countries, nominated by the General Assembly Nominating Committee on recommendation of the coordinating body for ecumenical involvement and elected by the General Assembly for a one-year term, with eligibility for two additional one-year terms.”
The Presbyterian Church has a constitutional provision against ordaining homosexuals as deacons, elders or pastors and defines marriage as “a civil contract between a woman and a man. For Christians, marriage is a covenant through which a man and a woman are called to live out together before God their lives of discipleship” (Book of Order, W-4.9001).
In The New York Times article, Theuner was quoted as saying that Robinson’s “election pushes the envelope, but certainly that was not our intention in New Hampshire. The people of the diocese are aware that they’re part of the larger church, and value that, but we’re selecting a bishop to be our bishop.”
In his sermon at the consecration service, Theuner said, “I have known you thus far in your life and ministry to ‘be faithful in prayer, and in the study of Holy Scripture,’ and I will continue to pray that you [and all of us] may have the mind of Christ. You will need to continue to study Holy Scripture in order to boldly proclaim the Gospel of Christ, enlightening the minds and stirring up the conscience of your people.”
He continued: “Our new bishop will be charged to ‘guard the faith, unity and discipline of the Church.’ As one who has worked with him for seventeen years, I can testify to Gene’s ability to guard the faith and discipline of the Church. As to its unity, that is, in Gene’s case, quite a different matter. Because of who you are, Gene, you will stand as a symbol of the unity of the church in a way in which none of the rest of us can. Just your very presence in the episcopate will bring into our fellowship the presence of an entire group of Christians hitherto unacknowledged in these councils of the church. Because of your presence the episcopate will be more of a unity, more representative of the whole Body of Christ, than it ever has been before. As the consecration of Barbara Harris brought over half of Christendom into visible unity within the episcopate, so will yours bring representation of another group whose gifts have always been accepted while their identity has been denied.”
Theuner also used that sermon to take a shot at mainstream Episcopalians who believe Robinson’s consecration as bishop was against Scripture and Christian tradition.
Referring to an Oct. 2003 gathering in Texas, attended by 2,674 people from 105 dioceses and sponsored by the American Anglican Council (ACC), an orthodox renewal ministry in the ECUSA, Theuner said, “In this time when the culture of violence seems to be all-pervasive, the disagreement over your election and consecration has been labeled by one of your detractors as ‘the defining battle in the war for Anglicanism’s soul.’ – Well, guess what? It isn’t! – I am quite sure that since the Holy Spirit came upon our apostolic forebears in an upper room in Jerusalem, no ‘defining’ moment in the Christian life has ever taken place in a by-invitation-only gathering of ecclesiastical nabobs. Not in Concord, not in Minneapolis, not in Dallas, not in London, not in Rome, not even in Durham, New Hampshire!”
In another action revealing his attitude toward conservatives, Theuner dismissed interim priest Revd Donald Wilson of the Church of the Redeemer in Rochester. Wilson had publicly opposed the consecration of Robinson. Church members had voted 28-10 to oppose Robinson.
Theuner wrote, “In view of your letter to me of October 29 in which you stipulate in terms of your loyalty that you ‘have none for V. Gene Robinson,’ who now shares ecclesiastical authority with me as Bishop Coadjutor of the Diocese of New Hampshire, and given the insubordinate way in which you responded to my request for a meeting through a phone call by my secretary this afternoon, I am withdrawing your license to officiate in the Diocese of New Hampshire herewith.”
According to the American Anglican Council News, Wilson met with Theuner in October 2003, and in that meeting, as well as in a Oct. 29 letter, Wilson “conveyed that he could not support or recognize V. Gene Robinson as bishop, a position echoed in parishes across the Episcopal Church as well as the worldwide Anglican Communion. He emphasized, however, his loyalty to Bishop Theuner, the Diocese of New Hampshire and the Episcopal Church, stating, ‘I have no intention of leaving ECUSA.'”
The ACC News story said Wilson made it clear to Bishop Theuner that Redeemer would not deny Robinson the right of annual visitation, but suggested pastoral alternatives given the position of the majority of his parishioners. “I recommended sending a different Bishop for annual confirmation services or to have two services on the Sundays V. Gene Robinson visits, including one for dissenters,” Wilson told the ACC News.
Wilson said he was willing to meet with Theuner, but “I strongly requested that he join me in Rochester rather than my returning to Concord. I felt the need to be on home turf given the tenor of our previous meeting.”
In his defense, Theuner told the Portsmouth Herald that he removed Wilson “not because the priest opposed Robinson’s election, but because he shunned invitations to meet with Theuner in Concord to discuss the matter.”
“‘He was frankly quite rude,’ Theuner told the Herald.”
Canon David C. Anderson, president of the American Anglican Council said: “While bishops hold canonical authority over interim rectors and priests-in-charge, Bishop Theuner’s actions represent an act of war against a small church of 100 in Rochester, New Hampshire. This parish has been struggling intensely following decisions regarding sexuality at General Conventions 2003 and the subsequent consecration of V. Gene Robinson. To rip from their midst a pastor who has faithfully served this parish is an unconscionable act.”
Since Robinson’s consecration several dioceses, including ones in Virginia, Florida, Colorado, Texas and Missouri, are facing financial shortfalls as conservative church members protest his election.
According to the Episcopal News Service, provinces and some dioceses have “disassociated themselves from the action. And one primate, Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria, refuses to attend meetings at which representatives of the Episcopal Church in the US are present if they consented to or supported Robinson’s consecration.”