Free Republic

CANTERBURY, UK, August 18, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Gene Robinson has castigated a fellow Anglican bishop for publicly disapproving of his crusade to inculcate "gay" values into the Anglican Communion. In an interview with SXNews, an Australian homosexual news website festooned with explicit sexual advertising, Robinson complained that the Sydney archdiocese is "bigoted" because its archbishop, Dr. Peter Jensen, boycotted the Lambeth conference, held this month in Canterbury, England. Gene Robinson is the active homosexual whose consecration as Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire caused a crisis in the global Anglican Communion. He called the Sydney archbishop's defence of Christianity "ironic" given...

Eye of the storm Wednesday, 13 August 2008 By his very existence, the Reverend Gene Robinson – the openly gay Anglican bishop of New Hampshire – is an agent for change in his church, and society at large. He spoke with Peter Hackney. He is friendly, mild-mannered and avuncular. He doesn’t seem like someone who’d tear an entire church apart. Yet Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in the history of the Anglican Church, has been accused of doing just that. So controversial is he that at the recent Lambeth Conference, the decennial conference of Anglican bishops from across...

It's not about gays. Episcopalians keep insisting it's not. But, as American Episcopal bishops return home from an international religious conference this week, it's clear that the "gay issue" is one that continues to split the Episcopal church. Since the 2003 consecration of the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson, Anglicans have been divided over their approach to gay priests, gay marriage and who holds ultimate authority in the communion of 77 million followers around the world. The once-a-decade Lambeth Conference in Canterbury, England, which ends today, showed no ability to suture those wounds. Although the conference was not...

<p>New York (AP) -- The spiritual leader of the world's Anglicans is urging an extended ban on consecrating another gay bishop until their troubled fellowship can be healed.</p> <p>Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams made the plea Sunday, the final day of the Lambeth Conference, the once-a-decade Anglican meeting in Canterbury, England.</p>

CANTERBURY, England -- Gene Robinson's bodyguard didn't have to worry this time. The 40-year-old man who rushed over to Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in the worldwide Anglican church, just wanted to shake his hand. "Thank you for bringing the church into the 21st century, for moving things forward," said Martin MacCiarrain, a government employee. The bodyguard, a retired policeman who trails the American bishop because of death threats, eased back. On Sunday during a sermon Robinson delivered in London, a long-haired man had suddenly leapt up screaming at the American bishop: "Repent! Repent!" Since Robinson, 61, was consecrated...

The Archbishop of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan today declared that Gene Robinson, the openly gay Bishop of New Hampshire, "should resign for the sake of the church." In a press conference at the decennial Lambeth Conference, the Most Rev. Dr. Daniel Deng Bul said that homosexual ordination "is not what is found in the Bible" and that it is "not the norm of the Anglican world."

The gay bishop of New Hampshire should resign in order to save the Anglican Communion, a senior African archbishop said today. The call came from the Rt Rev Dr Daniel Deng, the archbishop of Sudan, and followed a strongly worded statement that accused the US Episcopal church of exposing Anglicans to ridicule and damaging their credibility in a multi-religious environment. African bishops who signed the statement rejecting homosexual practice said they could not accept it as part of their church. They reiterated their opposition to developments in the US and Canada, where gay clergy are ordained and where same-sex relationships...

Tonight the London Literature Festival at the Southbank Centre featured the UK premier of For The Bible Tells Me So, “a provocative documentary about the chasm that separates gay life and Christianity today,” produced by Dan Karslake. It was followed by a conversation and Q&A with the Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson and Sir Ian McKellen, Shakespearean actor and star of The Lord of the Rings. The evening started with a beautiful bass voice giving the standard instructions for everyone to turn off their cell phones and pagers. Turns out it was Sir Ian, who arrived on stage a few minutes...

Protest disrupts bishop's sermon The man standing up and heckling the bishop Openly gay US bishop Gene Robinson was forced to halt a sermon at a west London church after being heckled. As Bishop Robinson began his sermon a member of the congregation repeatedly called him a "heretic" and said "repent, repent, repent". He began his sermon by saying how sad it was that the Anglican Communion was tearing itself apart. But he was stopped when the man in the congregation shouted that the schism was the bishop's fault.

Openly gay US bishop Gene Robinson was forced to halt a sermon at a west London church after being heckled. As Bishop Robinson began his sermon a member of the congregation repeatedly called him a "heretic" and said "repent, repent, repent". He began his sermon by saying how sad it was that the Anglican Communion was tearing itself apart. But he was stopped when the man in the congregation shouted that the schism was the bishop's fault. The man's protest was followed by slow hand-clapping by members of the congregation, and Bishop Robinson halted his sermon while a hymn was...

Almost exactly five years after he was elected as the Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire, Gene Robinson remains the most controversial Christian in the world. His consecration as the first openly gay, partnered Anglican bishop launched a global conversation about sexuality in Christianity and divided the Anglican Communion, the largest Protestant body in the world with 77 million members. Yet what he is doing now may be more radical: Robinson is traveling the country and the world to talk more openly and more publicly than ever about his faith. "The principal identity that I have is as a follower of...

Hardline Church leaders have formally declared the end of the worldwide Anglican Communion, saying they can no longer be associated with liberals who tolerate homosexual clergy. The traditionalists dealt a serious blow to Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, by claiming that he can no longer hold the Church together. They warned that the Church was gripped by its most serious crisis since the Reformation. It could only be saved by the repentance of the Americans who triggered the row by ordaining a homosexual bishop, the Rt Rev Gene Robinson, five years ago. The formal pronouncement of the schism...

CONCORD – V. Gene Robinson, New Hampshire's Episcopal bishop, entered into a civil union yesterday with his partner of 20 years, Mark Andrew, according to WMUR-TV. The ceremony, held at St. Paul Church, coincided with the fifth anniversary of Robinson's election as the nation's first openly gay Episcopal bishop. The state Legislature passed a law last year allowing gay couples to enter civil unions; the law took effect Jan. 1. In an interview last month on NBC's "The Today Show," Robinson said the decision to enter into a civil union came after he received death threats about his decision to...

Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson was united in a civil union ceremony with longtime partner Mark Andrew yesterday afternoon at St. Paul's Church in Concord. Attorney Ronna Wise, a justice of the peace, performed the private ceremony before about 120 friends and family. The day marked the five-year anniversary of the New Hampshire election that, once ratified, made Robinson the first openly gay bishop in the Anglican church. Robinson had made public his intent to get a civil union but had purposely kept the date and the details quiet. He did so, said spokesman Mike Barwell, out of respect for next...

Gene Robinson, New Hampshire's Episcopal bishop, entered into a civil union yesterday with his partner of 20 years, Mark Andrew, according to WMUR-TV. The ceremony, held at St. Paul Church, coincided with the fifth anniversary of Robinson's election as the nation's first openly gay Episcopal bishop. The state Legislature passed a law last year allowing gay couples to enter civil unions; the law took effect Jan. 1. In an interview last month on NBC's "The Today Show," Robinson said the decision to enter into a civil union came after he received death threats about his decision to attend the Lambeth...

The Anglican Church is the perfect vehicle for creating a new “gay” Christianity by virtue of the fact that it is the only church that accepts the logical contradiction of asserting both the sanctity of human life and the existence of a right to abortion. Episcopal bishop Gene Robinson, whose ordination to the episcopate has precipitated the ongoing schism between traditionally Christian Anglicans and its ultra-liberal, secularized branches, is in London to talk about his vision for the homosexual future of the Anglican Church. He was visiting and promoting his cause in preparation for the upcoming Lambeth Conference in July.

In an interview with Matt Lauer of NBC, practicing Homosexual controversialist Bishop Gene Robinson announced plans to enter into a ‘Civil Union’ with his Male Paramour. He told the interviewer it was “what God is telling me to do” Just as the splintering Anglican Communion was preparing for its International Lambeth Conference. Just as the controversy surrounding the actions of some orthodox Anglicans planning an alternative Conference seemed to be out of the limelight. Right at this time,a controversialist Bishop named Gene Robinson once again enters the limelight to make himself the center of attention.

In a new book the Anglican clergyman explains why he wanted to formalise his 20 year relationship. “I always wanted to be a June bride.� As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I knew there'd be trouble. I'd just delivered an hour-long lecture on the relationship between religion and public discourse, and why religious fervour over homosexuality plays such a large and negative role in the securing of full civil rights for gay people. During the question-and-answer period, someone asked me about the forthcoming civil union between me and Mark, my partner of 20 years. The audience...

I can't decide if Gene Robinson should be made an honorary member of Herman's Hermits (second verse same as the first) or just be named Crybaby of the Decade. Sure does a lot of book tours for someone who wants to just be a simple country bishop. Can't you just hear the heavy sigh? Robinson is in London to promote his new book, In The Eye of the Storm. It is a spiritual memoir aimed, he says, at showing that he is more than "a one issue guy". The last of its five sections, however, sets a course for the...

One of the world's most famous evangelical theologians quit the Anglican Church of Canada this week because he believes many of its bishops are "arguably heretical" for adhering to "poisonous liberalism." James (J.I.) Packer, whom Time magazine recently named as one of the planet's 25 most influential evangelicals, said he hesitated before using the harsh terms to describe the Anglican bishops, but believed he must do so in the name of truth. Vancouver-based Packer, who has sold more than four million copies of his many books, said he and 10 other B.C. Anglican clergy left the national denomination this week...

I'm going with the "72-hour rule" on this one. I'll believe this when I see it: Dr Rowan Williams has held confidential talks with senior American bishops and theologians who oppose the pro-gay policies of their liberal leaders. A handful of hardline American dioceses are already defecting from the Episcopal Church, the American branch of Anglicanism, and transferring their loyalties to a conservative archbishop in South America. Dr Williams is desperate to minimise further damage in the run up to the once-a-decade Lambeth Conference this summer which could be boycotted by more than a fifth of the world's bishops. His...

The Episcopal Church's only openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, said Monday that he would not attend a global gathering of Anglicans in London this summer, telling fellow Episcopal leaders he had declined an offer that he said would not have allowed him to play any meaningful role at that meeting. Robinson, who is attending a retreat this week in Texas with other Episcopal bishops, told the group he had decided not to attend the Lambeth Conference, after negotiations for him to participate or be granted official observer status had failed. His remarks were released by the...

There are storms and then there are monster storms--the sort that spring from an unlikely confluence of an array of separate unpredictable events. And the effect can be devastating. If you're an Anglican or have an interest in things Anglican, you may have thought you were traveling on rough seas already. (I've been one for 34 years, and I have yet to see conditions I would describe as placid.) But hold on. We ain't seen nuthin' yet. What are the ingredients of this Perfect Storm? I'm not going to look for origins back at the dawn of creation itself, though...

Episcopal parishes awarded property, assets By Julia Duin April 4, 2008 A Fairfax circuit judge has awarded a favorable judgment to a group of 11 Anglican churches that were taken to court last fall after breaking away from the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia in late 2006. In an 83-page opinion released late last night, Judge Randy Bellows ruled that Virginia's Civil War-era “division statute” granting property to departing congregations applies to the Northern Virginia congregations, which are now part of the Nigerian-administered Convocation of Anglicans in North America.

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori made it clear Friday night that she will direct The Episcopal Church to move ahead to reconstitute the Diocese of San Joaquin and to establish control over church property swiftly. In addition, she said, she intends to begin the process of revising the denomination’s canons to allow it to deal more expeditiously with breakaway bishops.   “I expect to see revisions to the canons to deal with situations like the one that you have been living with in San Joaquin for several years,” she said.   The Presiding Bishop spoke at a question-and-answer session at...

FAMED American pastor, Dr Rick Warren has said he supports the decision by Ugandan bishops to boycott the forthcoming Lamebth conference in England, United Kingdom. The conference brings together Bishops of the Anglican Communion from all 38 Provinces of the Communion every 10 years. "The Church of England is wrong and I support the Church of Uganda(CoU) on the boycott,"Dr Warren said on Thursday shortly after arriving in Uganda. The Bishops are protesting the Church of England's tolerance a homosexuality. Announcing the boycott in February, Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi said that Uganda's action had been prompted by the invitation of...

The first openly gay Episcopal bishop announced he will have no official role in a meeting this summer of world Anglican leaders, saying restrictions that organizers wanted to place on his involvement had caused him "considerable pain." New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson had been told last year that he could not fully participate in the once-a-decade gathering in England, called the Lambeth Conference, as the world Anglican Communion sat on the brink of schism over his 2003 election. Still, Episcopal leaders had been negotiating with the Anglican Communion Office to allow him to join the event in some capacity....

Anglicans may be heading for a court fight with a Vancouver church after the congregation voted to leave the liberal Canadian church and affiliate with a more conservative South American group. On Feb. 13, the congregation of St. John's Shaughnessy in Vancouver voted more than 90 per cent in favour of leaving the church over doctrinal issues, including the blessing of same-sex marriages. The same day, the head of the church in Canada, Archbishop Fred Hiltz, warned in a letter that Anglicans who leave the church must give up any claim to church property or assets. However, a spokeswoman for...

[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Church's Title IV Review Committee has certified that Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan has abandoned the communion of the church. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori informed Duncan on January 15 of the certification and sent him a copy. Her letter told Duncan that she sought the canonically required permission from the House's three senior bishops with jurisdiction to inhibit him, based on the certification, from the performance of any episcopal, ministerial or canonical acts. "On 11 January 2008 they informed me that such consents would not be given at this time by all...

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Most of a congregation in Murfreesboro has left the Episcopal Church over the issue of homosexuality. The former members of Holy Cross Episcopal Church formed Faith Anglican Fellowship on Sunday, saying the national denomination has strayed from Scripture and its doctrine on the role of Christ and on homosexuality. The Rev. Frederick Richardson will lead the new church. Several other congregations have left the national denomination in the wake of the 2003 ordination of its first openly gay bishop.

LONDON - Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori says her church has been unfairly singled out for criticism because it is honest about consecrating gay bishops. Jefferts Schori told BBC Radio 4's "PM" program that the New York-based church, which is the Anglican body in the U.S., is far from the only Anglican province that has a bishop with a same-sex partner. In 2003, Episcopalians elected the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, causing an uproar that has pushed the Anglican family toward a split. "He is certainly not alone in being a gay bishop; he's...

It was the last Sunday service at Christ Church. Unable to go "further in a church that continued in a false gospel," the entire congregation, including the rector and church leaders, will sever ties with the national Episcopal Church and reform under a new name: New Hope Anglican Church. One of the "Connecticut six," the half-dozen churches in the state diocese that disagree with national leadership on departure of scripture, including the appointment of a gay bishop, the congregation will trade its historic building on the town green for a free community room at the Thomaston Savings Bank around the...

LONDON, United Kingdom (AP) -- The archbishop of Canterbury said Friday he will not reverse his decision to exclude a gay U.S. bishop from joining other bishops at a global Anglican gathering next year. The office of Archbishop Rowan Williams said he also had not changed his mind about refusing an invitation to Martyn Minns, a traditionalist U.S. priest who was consecrated as a bishop in the Anglican Church of Nigeria to minister to disaffected Episcopalians in the U.S. Williams, spiritual leader of the world's Anglicans, said he has recruited professional mediators in trying to reach greater understanding between the...

"The problem in our church [national] is about the lack of respect for the authority of scripture and the nature, character and work of Jesus Christ," said Curran, an Episcopal priest for 15 years. "It's about the failed leadership of The Episcopal Church and whether or not we will continue to be under the authority of a failed leadership. And for many of us, the answer is no."

The Bishop is on the forefront of the ongoing schism within the Anglican Communion. He is also a part of a cultural revolution being led by activist, practicing homosexuals who not only want to live their lifestyle but force the State and the Church to give them equal status to marriage. LOS ANGELES (Catholic Online) - Bishop Gene Robinson, the Nation’s openly practicing homosexual Episcopal Bishop, spoke to a crowd of over 200 people on November 27, 2007 at Nova Southeastern University’s Shephard Law Center. He told them of his upcoming planned ‘marriage’ to his paramour saying with pride, "I...

FRESNO, Calif. (Dec. 8) - The Diocese of San Joaquin voted on Saturday to cut ties with the Episcopal Church, the first time in the church's history a diocese has done so over theological issues and the biggest leap so far by dissident Episcopalians hoping to form a rival national church in the United States.

FRESNO, California (Reuters) - An entire California diocese of the U.S. Episcopal Church voted to secede on Saturday in a historic split after years of disagreement over the church's expanding support for gay and women's rights. Clergy and lay representatives of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin, based in Fresno in central California, voted to leave the church, which has been in turmoil since 2003 when U.S. Episcopalians consecrated their first openly gay bishop. "We've seen a miracle here today," Bishop John-David Schofield said after the vote. "We are already outside the jurisdiction of the Episcopal Church." The head of...

Votes were in and announcement was made at 10:42AM Pacific Time. Over 70% of clergy and 90% of laity voted for the motion. All clergy are now officially part of the Archdiocese of the Southern Cone. Those clergy wishing to remain will be released to TEC. More to follow...

An Episcopal diocese in central California on Saturday became the first in the U.S. to split with the national denomination over disagreements about the role of gays and lesbians in the church. Clergy and lay members of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin voted 173-22 this morning at their annual convention in Fresno to remove all references to the national denomination from the diocese's constitution, according to diocese spokeswoman Joan Gladstone. In a later vote, the diocese accepted an invitation to join a conservative South American congregation of the Worldwide Anglican Communion. The decision marked the latest episode in a...

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The U.S. Episcopal Church faces major tumult this week when an entire California diocese with more than 9,000 members decides whether to secede in an unprecedented protest over gay issues. The Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin, based in Fresno and consisting of nearly 50 churches in 14 counties, would be the first diocese to bolt from the U.S. branch of the 77-million-member global Anglican Communion if Saturday's final vote passes. The U.S. church and Anglicanism generally have been in upheaval since 2003 when the Episcopal Church consecrated Gene Robinson of New Hampshire as the first bishop known...

US Episcopal report highlights concerns over church attendance drop http://www.christiantoday.com/article/us.episcopal.report.highlights.concerns.over.church.attendance.drop/15084.htm http://tinyurl.com/3d37yq by Lillian Kwon, Christian Today US Correspondent Posted: Saturday, December 1, 2007, 12:26 (GMT) An Episcopal Church committee has released an interim report that reveals positive trends as well as concerns in declining membership and church conflicts. In a brief assessment of facts and trends in the Episcopal Church, the 'State of the Church' report – issued by the House of Deputies Committee in November – indicated the need for a "plan for action" at all levels of the denomination in response to membership drops. In 2006, the number...

The head of the Episcopal Church has warned Pittsburgh Bishop Robert W. Duncan Jr. that he will face civil suits and possible expulsion as bishop if a proposed resolution enabling the diocese to leave the denomination passes during today's diocesan convention. A diocesan spokesman said the letter from Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, sent by fax to the Pittsburgh Diocese office late Wednesday, was "intended, honestly, to intimidate the convention." The 142nd annual convention is being held today and tomorrow in Johnstown. The presiding bishop's letter said she was aware of Bishop Duncan's "statements and actions in recent months" that demonstrated...

Gay clergyman bemoans U.S. reputation as forcing its ways on other cultures By Mary Adamski madamski@starbulletin.com The perception of Americans as aggressors affected the politics within the Anglican Church, said the gay clergyman whose election as bishop set off upheaval within the 77-million member global Anglican Communion. "The worldview of America, seen as swaggering around the world and having our way and all others be damned, the energy around this issue (gay clergy) has as much to do with that perception as it does with Scriptures," Bishop V. Gene Robinson, the first openly gay man to be ordained a bishop...

On the issue of same sex unions, I argued that our statement be reflective of what is true right now in the Episcopal Church: that while same sex blessings are not officially permitted in most dioceses, they are going on and will continue to go on as an appropriate pastoral response to our gay and lesbian members and their relationships. Earlier versions of our response contained both sides of this truth. I argued to keep both sides of that truth in the final version, providing the clarity asked for by the Primates. Others made the argument that to state that...

Liberal American bishops threw the Archbishop of Canterbury a lifeline in his efforts to avert Anglican schism by agreeing to halt appointments of gay bishops and same-sex blessings, at least temporarily. The compromise will, however, fail to appease many conservative leaders as it offers no guarantee that the American Church will maintain the moratoriums for more than a couple of years. It also falls far short of agreeing to provide an independent safe haven for American conservatives who have rejected the authority of their own liberal bishops. advertisement One conservative insider said it represented "two fingers to the Communion." Liberals,...

The Archbishop of Canterbury's hopes of averting schism in the worldwide Anglican Church are foundering after he was accused of dehumanising gays by the openly homosexual bishop Gene Robinson. Gene Robinson said he 'had to tell the truth' Dr Rowan Williams is holding two days of crisis talks in New Orleans in an eleventh-hour effort to persuade the bishops of the American branch of Anglicanism to reverse their pro-gay agenda. But insiders said that a number of the liberal bishops were in no mood to capitulate, and any compromise that they might eventually accept was unlikely to placate conservatives who...

Insiders in the often emotive private meeting in a New Orleans hotel said that Dr Williams rapped the Americans over the knuckles for triggering the crisis by consecrating Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire in 2003. He told them that they had to balance their fidelity to gay and lesbians with fidelity to their fellow members in the 77-million strong Anglican Communion, the vast majority of whom believe homosexuality is sinful and unbiblical. advertisement But Bishop Robinson, who is attending the six-day House of Bishops meeting with his partner Mark Andrews, said that though he had always publicly supported...

David Wardell no longer cares what the American Episcopal bishops do when they meet in New Orleans today. The bishops are facing a deadline from world church leaders to back off approving gay bishops or blessing gay unions, or else face possible breaks in communion with the larger church. That no longer bothers Wardell and more than 100 other former members of St. Andrew's in the Pines in Peachtree City because they left the church in February and aligned themselves with a Nigerian bishop. Their new congregation is called All Saints Anglican Church. Three other metro Atlanta congregations operate under...

The exodus from the Episcopal Church continued last week as leaders of another Colorado congregation prepared to split with the increasingly liberal denomination. The Rev. Charles Reeder is scheduled to preach his last sermon today as rector of the Church of the Holy Comforter here. Then, "Father Chuck" and the church's leadership — including the 10-member vestry and youth ministers — plan to join the growing number of traditional Episcopalians fleeing the embattled denomination. In this case, the trigger was money. Donations have dropped precipitously since 2003, when the church consecrated its first openly homosexual bishop, V. Gene Robinson of...

The Episcopal Church is on the verge of a mass exodus if it doesn't repent of its approval of homosexual relationships, warn the leaders of three dioceses that signaled their intent this week to leave the 2 million-member denomination. The dioceses of Fort Worth, Pittsburgh and Quincy, Ill., have stated that if they don't receive assurances by Sept. 30 that the House of Bishops will reject the consecration of bishops living in a same-sex relationship and same-sex blessings, they are prepared to cut themselves off from the Episcopal Church in the USA. The Episcopal Church is a member of the...