After far too much controversy — which is, unfortunately, far from finished — Gene Robinson was consecrated as Bishop on Sunday. It sounds like, while there were objections raised and protests held near the site of the consecration, overall it went pleasantly and without any undue problems.
After the objections were raised, [Presiding Bishop Frank T.] Griswold thanked attendees “for bringing their concerns before us.” But he also seemed to make a case for unity when he related a story of a primate who told him that “the Holy Spirit can do different things in different places,” adding, “That is precisely what we are doing here.”
Robinson received a more effusive endorsement from the Rev. Douglas Theuner, who he is replacing. Concluding a humorous and wide-ranging address that lightened the mood in the arena, Theuner told Robinson that his consecration is not the defining battle in the history of the church that some have made it out to be. “When a young man unsure of his sexual orientation reads ‘The Episcopal Church Welcomes You’ on a sign outside the church and enters that church, that’s a defining moment in Christian life,” he said.
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p>Many congratulations and best wishes go out to Bishop Robinson.
CJ
Brandon
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11-01-2003
Amid cheers and protests, Robinson consecrated in Diocese of New Hampshire
by James Solheim
[Episcopal News Service] The Diocese of New Hampshire-and the Episcopal Church-has a new bishop. The Rev. Gene Robinson was consecrated Sunday afternoon, November 2, in a three-hour service at the Whittemore Center at the University of New Hampshire in Durham.
A congregation estimated at almost 3,000 braved the fall drizzle, and submitted to intense security procedures behind cordons of police, to join in consecrating the Anglican Communion’s first openly gay bishop. In a glorious mixture of music, wise and humorous words addressed to the new bishop, the church welcomed the 993rd bishop in the American succession.
Yet the controversy surrounding Robinson’s overwhelming election last June, and the debate at this summer’s General Convention before he received the consents of the House of Deputies and the House of Bishops, seeped into the service.
As the liturgy unfolded, everyone waited for the moment early in the service, after testimonials that Robinson had been “duly and lawfully elected,” when Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold asks if anyone in the congregation “know any reason why we should not proceed.”
As several groups came forward to make formal protests, Griswold asked the congregation to listen with “courtesy and respect” and avoid any demonstrations for or against the statements.
Threats to Anglican unity
The Rev. Earle Fox of Pittsburgh said, “It breaks my heart to be here.” He said that Christians must condemn homosexual behavior and then he began to describe that behavior in lurid detail. Griswold asked him to “spare us the details.”
Then Meredith Harwood from Orford, New Hampshire, said that “sexual activity outside of marriage is contrary to God’s will,” adding that “if we go forward the Anglican family will be torn apart.”
The Bishop David Bena of Albany then stepped forward and read a statement signed by 36 bishops who said that “to press forward with this consecration will be to turn our backs on Almighty God. This is the defiant and divisive act of a deaf church. The clear teaching of Holy Scripture in both testaments without exception is that sexual activity outside of marriage is wrong for the people of God, yet we are deaf to the Bible. The vast majority of Anglicans worldwide have told us not to take this step which many of them see as a scandal yet we are deaf to their cries. Again and again a significant number of our ecumenical partners have asked us to step back from this plunge into unrighteousness and their words have gone unheeded.”
Griswold then said that, while he welcomed the objections from brothers and sisters, “We’re learning to live the mystery of communion at a deeper level” and the consecration would proceed. He then asked the congregation, “Is it your will that we ordain Gene a bishop” and the response, “That is our will” almost took the roof off the hockey arena.
A symbol of unity like never before
In his sermon, Bishop Douglas Theuner of New Hampshire, who will retire in March and turn his responsibilities over to Robinson, had a few things to say about the office of bishop. After noting that “no doubt this is the largest gathering of Episcopalians in the history of the state of New Hampshire,” he warned that “the burden you are about to assume is a very heavy one.”
Christ’s whole ministry was dedicated to the outcast and the marginalized, Theuner said. “And his wrath was directed at the religious establishment of his day.” He said that Robinson “will stand as a symbol of unity in a way none of the rest of us can,” in a way not found in the councils of the church before. “Because of your presence, the episcopate will be more a symbol of unity than it has ever been.”
As Robinson stood, Theuner urged him to seek “what I consider the most elusive of all Christian virtues-humility. Don’t let your great gifts set you apart from your brothers and sisters.”
After receiving the symbols of his office, the presiding bishop presented the new bishop to the congregation. Choking for a few moments with the emotion of the moment, Robinson said that the occasion was “not about me-it’s about so many people at the margins. Your presence here today is an invitation to them to move to the center.”
In a plea for reconciliation, Robinson added that “there are many faithful, wonderful Christian people for whom this is a time of great pain, confusion and anger. God is served by our being loving to them.” In reference to the crush of media covering the consecration, Robinson said that “the eyes of the world are upon us. We couldn’t buy this kind of publicity so let’s use it for God. So many people don’t know the love of God so let’s tell them about how God has saved us by reaching out to all who are hungry for God.”
Reactions continue
In a statement released from Lambeth Palace at the end of the consecration, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said, “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 is clear that those who have consecrated Gene Robinson have acted in good faith on their understanding of what the constitution of the American church permits. But the effects of this upon the ministry and witness of the overwhelming majority of Anglicans particularly in the non-western world have to be confronted with honesty.
“The autonomy of Anglican provinces is an important principle. But precisely because we rely on relations more than rules, consultation and interdependence are essential for our health.
“The Primates’ Meeting last month expressed its desire to continue as “a communion where what we hold in common is much greater than that which divides us”. We need now to work very hard to giving new substance to this, and to pray for wisdom, patience and courage as we move forward.”
Stunning arrogance
The American Anglican Council (AAC), an umbrella organization of conservatives that has strongly opposed the consecration, quickly issued a statement that said: “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 time has come. Our family is now split and the whole cloth of the Anglican Communion is torn. Realignment has begun.”
At the same time, Bishop Carolyn Irish Tanner was one of the first bishops to issue a statement. She said that, “Because of Robinson’s homosexual orientation and partnership there has since been an escalation of angry rhetoric by those in this country and abroad who seem to be strategizing for schism, as they have threatened to do for several years. In fact, by claims for a singular orthodoxy, recommended breaches in diocesan and provincial integrity, the diversion of financial support for the Episcopal Church USA, and planning for separate enclaves or parallel communions of like-minded people, it appears that they want to create a whole new church, one very different from traditional Anglicanism.
“Our church is, and has always been, the most comprehensive of Christian families, because we have sought to embrace theological and cultural diversity of the kind that has sometimes fractured other Protestant churches. Presently the issue of homosexuality has put us on a global and very public stage, but that appears to be the really new element in our situation, not the challenge of abiding in our differences. Indeed, more than abiding.”
—James Solheim is director of Episcopal News Service.
ACNS 3659 | USA | 3 NOVEMBER 2003
Mixed feelings as first openly gay Anglican bishop is consecrated
Over 3,000 people, including 54 bishops and ecumenical guests, gathered today at the Whittemore Center - part of the University of New Hampshire, Durham - to celebrate one of the most controversial and momentous occasions in the history of the Anglican Communion.
The Rt Revd V Gene Robinson, an openly gay man, was consecrated as Bishop-coadjutor of New Hampshire this afternoon in a three-hour long ceremony that involved choirs, bell ringers, brass bands and thunderous applause, but also heard the witness of some Episcopalians who were not so happy with the first openly gay bishop to be consecrated in the Anglican Communion.
There is always a point during a consecration service when people are asked whether they know of any just reasons why the person should not become a bishop. Before any objections were raised the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, USA (ECUSA), reminded everybody that “the people who are to speak are our brothers and sisters in Christ and there should be no public responses voiced from the congregation”.
One of the objections was read by Meredith Harwood, a parishioner of St Mark’s Episcopal Church, Ashland, NH. “To press forward with this consecration will be to turn our backs on Almighty God,” she said. “This is the defiant and divisive act of a deaf church…. The vast majority of Anglicans worldwide have told us not to take this step which many of them see as a scandal, yet we are deaf to their cries.” She concluded her speech by saying, “We must not proceed with this terrible and unbiblical mistake which will not only rupture the Anglican Communion, it will break God’s heart.”
The Rt Revd David Bena, Bishop Suffragan of the Diocese of Albany, read a statement that endorsed the “assessment of the Primates of the Anglican Communion”. Part of the statement, which was signed by 38 bishops from the Episcopal Church, said, “All Christians, and bishops in particular, are called to guard the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God… It is impossible to affirm a candidate for bishop and symbol of unity whose very consecration is dividing the whole Anglican Communion.”
After the pronouncements had been raised, Bishop Griswold said that, as there were no objections other than those which had already been debated extensively at General Convention and at other times, the consecration would proceed. He added that “one of the African Primates at the meeting in Lambeth Palace [two weeks ago] had said that the Holy Spirit can be doing different things in different places and I think that’s precisely what we are doing here.”
During the sermon the Rt Revd Douglas Theuner, VIII Bishop of New Hampshire, expressed his confidence in Gene Robinson’s consecration to the episcopate saying, “Because of who you are Gene, you will stand as a symbol of the Church like none of the rest of us can. Because of your presence, the episcopate will be more of a symbol of unity than it ever has been.”
Bishop Theuner continued by describing what he called “defining moments” in the Christian life. “When an abused woman attends a bible study in a local church and feels enough love and support there to realise that she is a child of God filled with worth and value…that’s a defining moment in Christian life. When a young man unsure of his sexual orientations reads ‘The Episcopal Church welcomes you’ on a sign outside a church and enters that church and finds out through the love and acceptance of its members that the church really means what the sign says, that’s a defining moment in the Christian life.”
It is biblical interpretation that is the driving force behind the entire altercation regarding human sexuality, and the conservative debate is grounded firmly in the belief that the Bible is clear on homosexual practice, not to be altered or interpreted in light of cultural developments. Many societies in the West are coming to terms (however uneasily) with the presence and participation of homosexual people in the church and in society but countries in the southern hemisphere are far more uncomfortable with the matter.
Questioned by an interested news editor, the Sub-Dean of the Anglican Cathedral in Harare said, “It is the Bible that decides on the way forward because it is the final authority or reference point on this matter. Bishop Robinson must be expelled from the Church and no Anglican must pull out of the Church in protest.”
The American Anglican Council issued a strong statement shortly after the consecration asking for people to redirect their financial giving “to ministries or organizations that call Jesus Lord”. The statement also included such lines as “Heresy has been held up as Holy” and “Blasphemy has been redefined as blessing”.
On the other side of the dispute the Revd Colin Coward, Director of Changing Attitude - a national organisation of Bishops, Priests and Lay People in the Church of England calling for the full participation of lesbian and gay people in the Anglican Communion - said that “Gene Robinson’s ministry will inspire lesbian, gay, bisexual and heterosexual Christians with new confidence that we have a full place at the communion table of our Lord. The highest offices of the church can be open to lesbian and gay people without pretence.” He added that “a new honesty is present, undermining the secrecy of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policies and the fear of discovery and abuse which many lesbian and gay Christians live with.”
Outside the hall protestors gathered from both sides of the issue. One person told ACNS that “Gene Robinson is living his life in defiance of the Lord God almighty”. Marshall Greenleaf, a student from the University of New Hampshire, said that he felt it was about time that people came together and accepted one another.
The Revd Richard Kirker, General Secretary of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, said, “Despite all the furious debate this ordination has stirred, what strikes me as I speak to people here, is the admiration and love felt by all who know Gene Robinson. Even those who are troubled by his sexuality are full of praise for him as a Man of God, pastor and teacher.”
He added, “We Christians have so much to unite and inspire us, let us seize the moment and let our love for each other triumph over our divisions.”
Bishop Robinson told the congregation this afternoon that, although he felt deeply honoured, he urged compassion towards church members angered and upset by his consecration.
“Our God will be served if we are hospitable and loving and caring towards them,” he said, fighting back the tears. “If they must leave, they will always be welcomed back into our fellowship.”
[Photographs to accompany this article are available from http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/articles/36/50/acns3659.html.
Should a bishop who cheated on his wife and is living unmarried with someone be leading his flock?
I guess that would depend on whether you believe in the ability to ask for forgiveness and the ability to be forgiven. Of all of the arguments for a marrage annullment (Yes, I have family members with letters of legitimacy from the pope.), “Societal pressure forced me into a situation that wasn’t a real marrage.” is a pretty good one, and being unmarried is an enforcement of secular law, not his choice, I’m certain.
I say congratulations, Bishop Robinson.
At this point, it doesn’t matter one bit whether the flock or America in general is homophobic. What does matter is that he is/was an important leader who has/had an impact on people’s lives and choices. Religious leaders will always have a responsibility to uphold what they speak of. If the religion he follows thinks being gay is an abomination, that was probably established a long time ago. To become a major leader of a religion then claim gayness and put a religion in crisis and not be willing to back off…that’s very selfish, in my opinion. He’s not trying to teach a lesson in scripture. How many fundamental christian bible stories do you know that support the gay lifestyle? There are none. The fact is, he’s gay and now in a position of power to fight for what he thinks is right but is ultimately wrong (as far as the bible goes). There’s nothing wrong with him being opinionated…thtat’s every person’s right, but being opinionated to the point of brushing aside a doctrine that was established since the beginning of time…that’s a bit arrogant and self-serving. If he were breaking any new ground or showing the world his goodness or a new side of being a bishop while supporting the church as a whole, I’d support him, but he is treading dangerous ground and won’t budge, just because he wants to be a bishop AND be gay.
I hope the church splits, as he’s tainted it quite a bit, IMO.