Episcopalians debate issue of gays
By Larry B. Stammer
Los Angeles Times
MINNEAPOLIS — The Episcopal Church has begun a divisive debate on homosexuality that could significantly alter the church's stand on sexual morality and the denomination's place in the worldwide Anglican Communion.
Two volatile issues confront the church's national General Convention, which convened here Wednesday: whether to consent to the election of an openly gay priest, the Rev. Canon V. Gene Robinson, as the next bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire, and whether to authorize the drafting of rituals for a marriage-like blessing of same-sex partners.
If approved, Robinson would be the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church or the worldwide Anglican Communion to be elected.
His election passed a first hurdle in a convention committee. The key floor vote is set for tomorrow.
Conservative bishops in the United States and overseas have warned that either decision could force a "a dramatic realignment," if not a schism, within one of the nation's oldest denominations.
Liberals have discounted such talk as overblown and said they would not be deterred from moving toward full inclusion of gay men and lesbians in the church.
The Episcopal Church is one of 38 self-governing national churches or provinces affiliated with the Anglican Communion, which claims 77 million congregants worldwide.
The Anglicans recognize the archbishop of Canterbury, primate of the Church of England, as their spiritual leader but do not have the sort of centralized structure that governs the Roman Catholic Church.
Much of the debate now comes down to Robinson, 56.
"The Episcopal Church is in the midst of soul-wrenching and multi-decade debate about human sexuality," said Bishop Edward Little II of the Diocese of Northern Indiana.
"If we confirm Canon Robinson as bishop, that conversation is over. We will have decided once and for all that homosexual practice is an appropriate practice for Christians.
"There will be no turning back. It will be a definitive moment."
A priest for 30 years and formerly married, with two grown daughters, Robinson has been in a 13-year-long relationship with a man whom he met several years after his amicable divorce.
Last month, Robinson was elected bishop coadjutor by the clergy and laity of the New Hampshire Diocese. Under Episcopal Church rules, bishops are elected by their local dioceses, but the elections must be ratified nationally.
"I am neither the devil my opponents would make me out to be, nor am I the savior my supporters would make me out to be," Robinson said in an interview as he prepared for this week's convention.
"In my quiet moments with God, I try to hold on to who I really am.
"I can't be a poster child for either side All I can be is Gene Robinson, and it's taken me a long time to claim and know who I am and the person that God made me to be."
Last month, a gay Anglican priest in England, the Rev. Canon Jeffrey John, was appointed suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Oxford. The appointment created an uproar among conservative Anglican archbishops in Africa, Asia and South America.
After a daylong meeting at Lambeth Palace in London, the official residence of the archbishop of Canterbury, John declined the appointment. Robinson said he had no intention of following that example.
Robinson said he did not think his election as bishop would cause a schism, though individuals might leave the church.
He said those who back full inclusion of gays and lesbians would not quit the church.
That characterization is challenged by conservatives, who say they represent the Anglican mainstream. They argue that if the General Convention confirms Robinson or directs the writing of same-sex blessing ceremonies, it will be the Episcopal Church and its liberal majority who will be leaving the Anglican mainstream, not they.
Several leading Anglican archbishops in Southeast Asia, Africa and South America have served notice they will retaliate if the American church confirms Robinson's election or moves toward official blessing of same-sex unions.
"I do not think this will split the church in two," said the Rev. J. Edwin Bacon Jr., rector of All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, Calif., which already blesses same-sex unions.
But the exchanges between liberals and conservatives within the church have been "quite venomous" at times, according to Bacon, who said: "It's been toxic for months now."
