Episcopal Church USA nears split in wake of gay bishop’s consecration
The Layman Online, November 3, 2003
The Episcopal Church USA, despite warnings that the unity of the worldwide Anglican Communion was at stake, has consecrated an openly gay man as bishop – the first to attain that level in the church hierarchy and in the Anglican community worldwide.
After the consecration of the Rev. V. Gene Robinson on Sunday as bishop of the New Hampshire Diocese, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Rev. Rowan Williams, issued a statement in which he warned that divisions created by Robinson’s consecration would have “very serious consequences for the cohesion of the Anglican Communion.”
“It was recognized fully at last month’s meeting of Anglican leaders that the consecration of Gene Robinson as Bishop in New Hampshire would have very serious consequences for the cohesion of the Anglican Communion,” he said in the statement as reported by CNN.
“The divisions that are arising are a matter of deep regret; they will be all too visible in the fact that it will not be possible for Gene Robinson’s ministry as a bishop to be accepted in every province in the Communion,” it concluded.
The Anglican Communion is made up of 38 independent self-governing churches, of which the U.S. Episcopal Church is one. The Communion represents more than 70 million people in more than 160 countries.
“You cannot imagine what an honor it is for you to have called me,” Robinson preached afterward, according to CNN. But he also noted that many people in the church were in “great pain” because of his promotion.
Robinson’s selection to be bishop set off anger among church conservatives, who believe that homosexual behavior violates Christian teaching.
Before the consecration, the Rev. Frank Griswold, presiding bishop of the church, asked if anyone had objections – a traditional part of the ceremony – and three people came forward.
Assistant Bishop David Bena of Albany, N.Y., spoke for 36 opposing bishops in the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada, according to the Associated Press. Bena said Robinson’s “chosen lifestyle is incompatible with Scripture and the teaching of this church.”
The Rev. Earle Fox of the Pittsburgh Diocese also objected. “Whatever else homosexual may be, it is a behavior. We are forbidden to judge persons but are allowed to judge behavior,” Fox said. The Associated Press reported that Griswold interrupted Fox when he started describing sexual practices he said were common in homosexual relationships. “I plead you spare us these details and come to the substance, please,” Griswold said.
A woman from the New Hampshire Diocese called the consecration a “cowardly act” and warned, “If this consecration goes forward, the Anglican [Communion] fabric will be torn. We should not go through with this terrible mistake.”
More than 2,000 Episcopal clergy and parishioners met in Plano, Texas, in October to consider splitting from the Episcopal Church USA.
After Robinson’s consecration, the American Anglican Council – a network of individuals, parishes, specialized ministries and Episcopal bishops who affirm Biblical authority and mainstream Anglican orthodoxy within the Episcopal Church – issued a statement that said, in part:
“Today is a grievous day in the history of our Church. Heresy has been held up as Holy. Blasphemy has been redefined as blessing. The hope of the transforming love of Jesus Christ has been denied. Holy Scripture has been abandoned and sin celebrated over sanctification. The arrogance of the leaders of the Diocese of New Hampshire and the Episcopal Church is nothing less than stunning.
“The world has now seen the foul fruits of ‘anything goes’ spirituality and the leaders that have pushed it in the Episcopal Church. The Apostle Paul says:
“For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” (2 Tim. 4:3,5)
“The time has come. Our family is now split and the whole cloth of the Anglican Communion is torn. Realignment has begun.”
Last week, the Association for Church Renewal sent a letter to Williams imploring him to “exercise appropriate fraternal discipline by declaring that the Episcopal Church USA has alienated itself from the worldwide Anglican Communion.”
The Association for Church Renewal is made up of executives and leaders of more than 30 church renewal organizations and ministries related to mainline denominations in the United States and Canada. It describes itself as “An association to encourage and support renewal and reform leaders from the ‘mainline’ denominations, assisting them in developing their ministries’ witness to orthodox Christianity in both church and society.”