Episcopalians OK first openly gay bishop
( 2003-08-06 14:32) (Agencies)
Bishop's at the Church's Episcopal General Convention voted 62-45 to confirm Robinson as head of the Diocese of New Hampshire after a debate that mirrored the divisions in the larger worldwide communion.
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| Rev. V. Gene Robinson reads from the bible at a news conference after the Episcopal Church confirmed him as Bishop of New Hampshire Aug. 5, 2003 in Minneapolis at the churches' national Convention. Robinson becomes the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal church. [AP] |
Thanking his supporters and pledging to work toward reconciliation, Robinson told reporters, “I am proud to be in a church which works to be a safe place for all of God’s children.”
Robinson, 56, a divorced father of two, has been attending the convention with his daughter and his partner of 13 years, Mark Andrew, 50. Robinson was elected by his diocese in June, but the church required that a majority of convention delegates ratify his election.
The Episcopal Church, part of the 77 million-member worldwide Anglican Communion, has been deeply divided for decades over homosexuality, and the vote on Robinson fueled those tensions. The American Anglican Council plans a meeting in October to decide whether to break away from the church or take other action.
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| Rev. Stephen Carpenter, a fourth generation Episcopal priest from Memphis, consoles Jeannie Johnson, wife of Bishop Don Johnson of the West Tennessee diocese after the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church confirmed Rev. V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire as the first openly gay bishop of the church Aug. 5, 2003 in Minneapolis. Carpenter and Johnson were opposed to the confirmation. [AP] |
Anglican Mainstream, an organization of conservative Anglicans, issued a statement Tuesday night expressing regret at Robinson’s installation. It was signed by church leaders from Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America and followers from England, India and elsewhere.
“We expect that primates of the [Anglican] Communion will be meeting soon to consider what action to take,” the statement said. “Dioceses and parishes in the United States who wish to remain loyal to the Anglican Communion will also be considering their position in the coming weeks.”
‘CHAOS AND LOSS’
The final debate at the convention sounded similar themes.
Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh urged his fellow bishops to reject Robinson during final debate Tuesday evening, saying appointment of a gay bishop would invite “chaos and loss.”
But the current bishop of New Hampshire, Douglas Theuner, whose retirement led to Robinson’s nomination, addressed critics who had said the diocese was trying to impose a “gay agenda” on the church, noting that “New Hampshire is not particularly an epicenter of gay culture.”
He also noted protests from conservative bishops in the Anglican Communion, of which the Episcopal Church is the U.S. member. When New Hampshire chose Robinson, it was not thinking about “how it would play in Singapore or Lagos or Sydney or anywhere else,” Theuner said.
He acknowledged that the election of Robinson had caused a “burden” for the church, but he said New Hampshire church members felt he was the best candidate for the job.
ALLEGATIONS DISMISSED
Robinson, whose appointment had already been approved in a preliminary vote Sunday, was formally confirmed after two whirlwind days during which allegations abruptly surfaced and then were dismissed that he inappropriately touched another man and was affiliated with a group whose Web site could indirectly link users to pornography.
A hastily arranged investigation of the eleventh-hour allegations threw the church meeting into turmoil after several days of intense debate over whether Robinson’s election would strengthen or shatter the church.
“In both allegations, it is my conclusion that there is no necessity to pursue further investigation,” the bishop who led the investigation, Roger Scruton of the Western Massachusetts diocese, said Tuesday in a speech to bishops.
The most serious allegation surfaced in an e-mail message sent Sunday to Bishop Thomas Ely of Vermont by one of his parishioners, David Lewis of Manchester, Vt. Lewis asked Ely not to consent to Robinson’s election because Robinson “does not maintain appropriate boundaries with men.”
Lewis said Robinson “put his hands on me inappropriately” at a church event “a couple of years ago” and described himself as “a straight man reporting homosexual harassment.”
But Scruton said Lewis refused to lodge a formal complaint when Scruton interviewed him by telephone Monday afternoon.
NO INAPPROPRIATE COMMENTS
Lewis said he was “made uncomfortable” by two brief encounters with Robinson at a church event in November 1999, both of which took place in public, Scruton said.
Lewis, whom Scruton referred to only as “the individual,” told him that Robinson “put his left hand on the individual’s arm and his right hand on the individual’s upper back” as Robinson answered a question Lewis had asked.
Scruton said the other encounter occurred when Lewis turned to make a comment to Robinson and the clergyman “touched the individual’s forearm and back while responding with his own comment.”
No inappropriate sexual comments were made, Scruton said.
Scruton said Lewis acknowledged that other people could have seen the incidents and viewed them as “perfectly normal.” He said Lewis told him that he “regretted using the word ‘harassment’” in his e-mail message.
Lewis “indicated he had no desire to pursue the matter any further,” Scruton said. “He said he was thankful the church had taken this seriously and that he felt ‘listened to.’”
Scruton said questions about Robinson’s role in the Web site for a gay and lesbian support group he founded also appeared to be moot because Robinson’s involvement with the group ended four years before the Web site was created.
Robinson was not immediately available for comment. But some of his supporters called the timing of the allegations suspicious.
The diocese of New Hampshire issued a statement Monday expressing “continued confidence” in Robinson, while the Episcopal gay advocacy group Integrity said it felt “deep frustration and disappointment.”
“It’s character assassination,” said Robyn Cotton, an Episcopalian from Concord, N.H., who supported Robinson.
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