Posted on 11/06/2005 11:31:58 AM PST by Heatseeker
The first openly gay Anglican bishop, Gene Robinson, has called for the Roman Catholic church's attitude to homosexuals to be confronted.
The Bishop of New Hampshire said the Vatican's ban on ordaining gay men was "vile", in a speech in London.
He received a standing ovation after his speech, in which he spoke of how he had faced prejudice in his role.
Some Anglican conservatives had called for the St-Martin-in-the-Fields church venue to be changed to a secular one.
Battle for soul of church
Bishop Robinson said: "We are seeing so many Roman Catholics joining the church.
"Pope Ratzinger may be the best thing that ever happened to the Episcopal Church."
He continued: "I find it so vile that they think they are going to end the child abuse scandal by throwing out homosexuals from seminaries.
"It is an act of violence that needs to be confronted."
His speech at St-Martin-in-the-Fields, in Trafalgar Square, was part of the 10th anniversary of the gay rights group Changing Attitude.
He had been asked not wear his full vestments or take part in the religious service before addressing the audience from a lectern rather than the pulpit.
"I'm here to encourage you to talk about God," he said.
"I am not here to talk about a social agenda. I am not here to grind any axes, I am here to do the thing that Christians do, that is to witness to the good of God."
'Full inclusion'
The London Diocesan Evangelical Fellowship, which includes senior lay and clergy members, had urged the Archbishop of Canterbury to move the Bishop's talk to a secular venue to prevent "damaged relations" between sections of the church.
The Bishop said his home state in the US was "the one place in the world where I am not the gay bishop - I'm just the bishop... it is a wonderful feeling".
He said homosexuals would eventually be fully welcomed in the church but warned that it may take some time.
"This is going to end with our full inclusion," he said. "We won't live to see it, but it's going to happen."
Church rift
On Thursday the New Hampshire bishop met Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, and said he wanted to help heal the rift caused by his consecration, but would not give up his post.
His conscecration two years ago attracted widespread criticism from the more conservative African and Asian sections of the church.
Changing Attitude is an organisation which calls for the Anglican Church to "fully accept, welcome and offer equality of opportunity to lesbian, gay and bisexual people".
He is due to address a congregation in Stockport later on Sunday.
That about sums it up!
Gene Robinson and Rowan Williams may wear fancy livery and speak in stained-glass affectations, but they are not in the business of Christianity.
IMHO, I think the Lord is shaking things up in organized churchianity to see who is true and who is not. The last days may be closer than we realize.
"Translating the Bible into vernacular was NEVER a heresy."
Oh, I know, I was being flippant in my use of "heresy." (Although there was a "heresy" squabble about an unauthorized version.) Sorry.
To explain the issue more fully, but still to over-simplify, (you really need a couple of volumes), the Anglicans were a bit too "power to the people" for Rome-at-the-times tastes: this included direct provision of Scipture to the common folk, in the common tounge (one of the several reasons for the "Anglican" moniker), the occassional non-Latin mass (a matter of dispute within the Anglican Church itself, Latin being the official preference), monks and commoners (and married priests) having positions of power, etc.
To get to root cause, it really had to do more with a deep distrust of a distant central authority and the deep-set tradition of monestaries (which were really a Celtic tradition more than a Roman tradition, although that flowed over) than anything.
Well, you disagree slightly with the Anglican Church's website (and the old Book of Common Prayer I have that describes the Celtic origin of Anglican Symbols, for that matter).
http://www.anglican.org/church/ChurchHistory.html
Thanks for the link, I will look through it.
You would be amazed at who goes where when seeking to spread the Word.
Think Jonah and his destination.
But the Celtic influence is obvious just from a archiological (sp!) standpoint --- old Scot and Wales churches and cemetaries typically have the Celtic cross as a prominent part of the designs.
The integration is deeper than you would thnk. Even the Holy Grail/King Arthur bit is, at its heart a Celtic-sourced myth (or maybe not) --- being that Joseph of Aramathia is the (alleged/probable) founder of the Celtic Church --- the Last Supper being in his house, presumably with his dishes, making the story plausible.
At least he's retained his sense of humor.
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