Anglican Split Feared as Gay Bishop Is Consecrated (Can you say apostacy?)

wbur.org ^

[Happy2BMe]

Anglican Split Feared as Gay Bishop Is Consecrated
(2003-11-02)

By Greg Frost

DURHAM, N.H. (Reuters) - The Rev. Canon V. Gene Robinson was consecrated on Sunday as the first openly gay bishop of the U.S. Episcopal Church, a move that threatens to tear apart the worldwide Anglican community.

The Most Rev. Frank Griswold, presiding bishop of the U.S. Episcopal Church, consecrated Robinson amid cheers and applause from the several thousand people who gathered under tight security for the ceremony in a college sports arena.

Robinson, his voice trembling, told the congregation he felt deeply honored but also urged compassion toward church members angered and upset by his consecration.

"Our God will be served if we are hospitable and loving and caring toward them," said the new bishop, wearing a robe of gold, red and green. "If they must leave, they will always be welcomed back into our fellowship."

Earlier, in a sanctioned but tension-filled protest, opponents formally voiced their objection to installing an openly gay man as bishop.

Griswold interrupted one cleric as he launched into a graphic description of homosexual acts. Another woman said that consecrating Robinson would tear at the fabric of the worldwide church.

"To press forward with this consecration will be to turn our back on Almighty God," she said. "The vast majority of Anglicans worldwide have told us not to take this step."

The opponents walked out after making their statements. Moments later, Griswold asked those remaining if Robinson, a 56-year-old divorced father, should be ordained a bishop.

"That is our will!" the congregation chanted loudly.

LIBERAL WING

Robinson, who has lived with his male partner for 13 years, has pleaded for unity. But conservatives warn that his installation may split the 70-million-member Anglican Communion.

The church's Lambeth Conference of 1998 held that the Anglican communion regards homosexual practice as "incompatible with scripture" and condemned the blessing of same-sex unions.

The Rev. Canon David Anderson, president of the American Anglican Council, called Robinson's consecration "schismatic" and said his group was already preparing to lead a break from the more liberal wing of the U.S. Episcopal Church.

"I would anticipate that by tomorrow morning, statements of repudiation will be coming in from primates (church leaders) around the world," Anderson said in a telephone interview from Atlanta, Georgia.

Sky News broadcast the service live in Britain, a sign of the keen interest the event generated in the home of the 450-year-old Anglican Church.

Outside the arena, mounted police stood by as protesters opposed the church for appointing an openly gay bishop and members of the congregation hailed the historic event.

"This is a wonderful situation," said John Ebel, a Roman Catholic from Buffalo, New York. "I admire the Episcopal church for recognizing Gene's skill and ability to be bishop."

But others, including members of a Baptist church from Kansas, shouted at participants and waved neon-colored placards with homophobic messages like "God Hates Fags."

Some members of the U.S. church have said they plan to ask Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican faith, for permission to separate from the Episcopal Church.

Williams has said Robinson should not have been elected a bishop because he is a practicing homosexual. The archbishop spoke last month of a "huge crisis looming" as a result.

[Happy2BMe]

"'That is our will!' the congregation chanted loudly."

Thanks for that insight into their affirming homosexuality.

And in so doing they have willfully brought upon themselves the same spiritual fortunes as those who called out the angels from Lots house (after being offerred his virgin daughters) to "have their way with them."

Now, God will have "His way with them."

[Happy2BMe]

"I don't get it ... how?

I didn't either.

[Eccl 10:2]

From Deuteronomy 26

Punishment for Disobedience
14 " 'But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands, 15 and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant, 16 then I will do this to you: I will bring upon you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever that will destroy your sight and drain away your life. You will plant seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it. 17 I will set my face against you so that you will be defeated by your enemies; those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you.
18 " 'If after all this you will not listen to me, I will punish you for your sins seven times over. 19 I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze. 20 Your strength will be spent in vain, because your soil will not yield its crops, nor will the trees of the land yield their fruit.
21 " 'If you remain hostile toward me and refuse to listen to me, I will multiply your afflictions seven times over, as your sins deserve. 22 I will send wild animals against you, and they will rob you of your children, destroy your cattle and make you so few in number that your roads will be deserted.
23 " 'If in spite of these things you do not accept my correction but continue to be hostile toward me, 24 I myself will be hostile toward you and will afflict you for your sins seven times over. 25 And I will bring the sword upon you to avenge the breaking of the covenant. When you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you, and you will be given into enemy hands. 26 When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will be able to bake your bread in one oven, and they will dole out the bread by weight. You will eat, but you will not be satisfied.
27 " 'If in spite of this you still do not listen to me but continue to be hostile toward me, 28 then in my anger I will be hostile toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over. 29 You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters. 30 I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars and pile your dead bodies on the lifeless forms of your idols, and I will abhor you. 31 I will turn your cities into ruins and lay waste your sanctuaries, and I will take no delight in the pleasing aroma of your offerings. 32 I will lay waste the land, so that your enemies who live there will be appalled. 33 I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out my sword and pursue you. Your land will be laid waste, and your cities will lie in ruins. 34 Then the land will enjoy its sabbath years all the time that it lies desolate and you are in the country of your enemies; then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. 35 All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not have during the sabbaths you lived in it.
36 " 'As for those of you who are left, I will make their hearts so fearful in the lands of their enemies that the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. They will run as though fleeing from the sword, and they will fall, even though no one is pursuing them. 37 They will stumble over one another as though fleeing from the sword, even though no one is pursuing them. So you will not be able to stand before your enemies. 38 You will perish among the nations; the land of your enemies will devour you. 39 Those of you who are left will waste away in the lands of their enemies because of their sins; also because of their fathers' sins they will waste away.

[Jorge]

Robinson, ........urged compassion toward church members angered and upset by his consecration. "Our God will be served if we are hospitable and loving and caring toward them," said the new bishop, wearing a robe of gold, red and green. "If they must leave, they will always be welcomed back into our fellowship."

With all due respect, this makes me sick.

The idea that pro-gay heretics in the Church are going to presume to be gracious and condescending toward those who protest their corruption of the Church is warped.

Who in their right mind would want the "hospitality" of false teachers misrepresenting Christ?

[Happy2BMe]

25.  All the people answered, "Let his blood be on us and on our children!"

Whoa! They will get what they ask for.

[aruanan]

(Henry stupidly thought she was to blame for not giving him a son.)

No, he ignorantly believed she was to blame for not giving him a son. He would have stupidly believed so only if, at the time, he had known that there were X and Y sperm, that her uterine conditions were not particularly inimical to Y sperm, and persisted in his belief.

[keilimon]

The Anglican Church is arguably older than the Roman Church. It was already in existence when Constantine (if memory serves) sent missionaries with his soldiers to conquer England.

The modern ECUSA does not represent Anglican theology anymore. Many of us left when the 1928 Book of Common Prayer was ditched in favor of the 1979 BCP, which laid the groundwork for every heresy we see in the modern ECUSA.

The Reformed churches represent a more traditional Protestant liturgy, and the Anglican Catholic Churches represent the Oxford movement - our services at solemn High Mass are as close as you can get (outside the Greek Orthodox, I suppose) to the way Christians worshipped in the first several centuries after our Lord's resurrection.

[keilimon]

Not all of us have....

[Happy2BMe]

Come out from among them and be ye separate.

[ppaul]

Consecrated?

[harmony]

To paraphrase, I asked: "How are news stories about homosexual priests and dead soldiers in Iraq related?"

and you responded: "that's my God punishing you all for those homosexuality sins"

Well, just between you and I, I have it on rather good authority that it wasn't actually that Deuteronomy God at all. You see, Goddess Eris, she's mighty peeved that ya'll won't be nice to your Queer folk back home. So she's slaughtering your sons abroad in vengeance for your sins. What, you don't believe me? You think I'm being distastefully manipulative? You think my argument might be one giant non sequitor just waiting to offend the nearest logician (not to mention grieving loved-one)? Well I warn you, if you keep on ignoring her edicts, she'll keep right on making orphans, widows, and heart-broken mothers, whether you believe in Her or not. So repent, you sinning hetero-folk! {sarcasm off}

So what, every non-Christian is in some convoluted way responsible for the death of all those soldiers? So when I started swearing at my monitor at your response, your micro-managing god heard me, and shot a helicopter from the sky in revenge? Wow, hey, I just thought of something ... you could save a lot'a lives if you just killed me first! {sarcasm off, dammit}

I'm sorry, but black humour is the only thing that keeps me from puking on my keyboard and driving my fist through my monitor at your response. [shakes her head] No wonder I'm an atheist.

[ppaul]

http://www.msnbc.com/news/988148.asp?vts=110220032335

Openly gay bishop consecrated Associated Press The Episcopal Church consecrated V. Gene Robinson as bishop in a heartfelt ceremony Sunday, making him the first openly gay man to rise to that rank in any of the world's major Christian bodies. BUT WHILE pageantry mixed with exultation in the ritual elevating Robinson to bishop of New Hampshire, it seems unlikely the church will hold together in its aftermath. Minutes after Robinson was consecrated, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams - spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion - said the divisions caused by Robinson's elevation "are a matter of deep regret." And a thoughtful protest from conservatives, already moving toward a break with the Episcopal Church, marked the consecration ceremony. At the climax of the precedent-setting, three-hour ritual, held in a university sports arena, some 45 bishops laid hands on Robinson and the head of the Episcopal Church, Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, recited an age-old prayer that began: "Father, make Gene a bishop in your church ..." 'AT THE MARGINS' The congregation of 4,000 then greeted the new bishop with a three-minute standing ovation. Robinson nodded and brushed away a tear. He then spoke informally, his voice breaking twice with emotion. Robinson said his new position in the hierarchy symbolized that the church was reaching out to "people who find themselves at the margins," just as Jesus did. He also reached out to disgruntled conservatives. "They must know if they must leave, they will always be welcomed back," Robinson said to cheers. But the growing split was evident in Williams' remarks. In a statement from London, he 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. ... But the effects of this upon the ministry and witness of the overwhelming majority of Anglicans particularly in the nonwestern world have to be confronted with honesty." At Robinson's ceremony, Assistant Bishop David Bena of Albany, N.Y., spoke for 38 opposing bishops in the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada. He said his group and most bishops in the international Anglican Communion will not recognize Robinson as a fellow bishop. Indeed, the world's Anglican leaders affirmed their opposition to same-sex relations at an emergency meeting in London last month. Reading from a statement, Bena said Robinson's "'chosen lifestyle' is incompatible with Scripture and the teaching of this church." Bena spoke after Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold asked if there was "any reason why we should not proceed," a traditional part of Episcopal consecration services. The Rev. Earle Fox from the Pittsburgh Diocese also objected. But when he began citing specifics of same-sex behavior, Griswold politely cut him off, saying "please spare us the details and come to the substance." In all, the objections took about 10 minutes. DUELING PROTESTS Outside the ceremony, police kept more than 200 pro-gay demonstrators about 30 feet away from a couple of dozen anti-Robinson protesters. Armed officers stood on the roof of the building. Dissenting Episcopalians, meanwhile, joined together for a competing Communion service at a nearby church with more than 100 non-Episcopalians holding a candlelight vigil in support of them. The consecration sermon by New Hampshire's retiring Bishop Douglas Theuner was interrupted twice by vigorous applause as he defended Robinson's gay commitment against detractors. Theuner said Robinson "will stand as a symbol of the unity of the church in a way none of the rest of us can" because he will "bring into our fellowship an entire group of Christians hitherto unacknowledged in the church." Though there have been gay bishops in the past, all were closeted when they were elevated to their posts. Robinson has been open about his 14-year relationship with his partner throughout the process in which he won election to the new post. The title conferred on Robinson, a longtime assistant to Theuner, is "bishop coadjutor," meaning he automatically becomes head of the diocese when Theuner retires March 7. A national association for conservatives opposed to ordaining gays, the American Anglican Council, says parishioners already were drifting away in protest of Robinson's elevation. It plans to hold the denomination's conservative flank together by building a network of "confessing" dioceses and congregations. The network will exist more or less separately from the national denomination, claiming to preserve the traditional beliefs of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion of which it's a part. Some predict this will develop into the worst Episcopal split since the denomination was founded in 1789. And depending on the shape things take, a spate of church lawsuits may well result.

[Siamese Princess]

The opponents walked out after making their statements. Moments later, Griswold asked those remaining if Robinson, a 56-year-old divorced father, should be ordained a bishop.

Funny thing, even as recently as the 1950s, no parish anywhere would accept a divorced man as priest, much less bishop - at best, he might be involved in a prison ministry.

[Elsie]

Constipated looks more like it!

Why can't I find a picture of his 'lover'?

[Elsie]

No wonder I'm an atheist.

I hope you are right.

---

Then all of my 'belief' will have been merely a waste of time, not really costing me very much.

But, OTOH, if there really might BE a JESUS, He will want to know why you didn't consider HIM, instead of His less than perfect followers.

[Elsie]

....some 45 bishops laid hands on Robinson ....

(I've died and gone to Heaven!)

.

.

.

.

a three-minute standing ovation.

(I'll bet wasn't the ONLY things 'standing' at the end of it...............

[mel]

One interview said this consecration would attract many people (ie homosexuals) that would normally not attend church. See the direction they are going to take over

[expatpat]

The Anglican Church is arguably older than the Roman Church

'Arguably' is correct. While there was a Christian Church in Britain (and more so in Ireland) before it became 'Romanized', it's a very big stretch to claim this as the Anglican church that was developed out of the Roman Catholic church purely as a convenience to Henry VIII's libido.

[MeekOneGOP]

[Happy2BMe]

It's O.K. . Jesus specializes in hard cases.