Posted on 03/12/2006 10:45:14 AM PST by wagglebee
An Anglican clergywoman in a long-term, same-sex relationship is set to become the first lesbian bishop, causing uproar among traditionalists. The evangelical wing of the worldwide Anglican Communion has said that the election of the Rev Bonnie Perry will lead to the "unravelling" of the Church.
Miss Perry, 43, is one of five shortlisted candidates standing for election for the bishopric of California on May 6. She has been the pastor at All Saints' Episcopal Church, Chicago, since 1992. Her girlfriend of 18 years, Susan Harlow, is a professor of religious education at the nearby Meadville Lombard theological school and an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ.
The selection of Miss Perry is highly controversial because the Anglican Communion believes that the ordination of actively gay clergy is incompatible with scripture. The Church of England does not even recognise female bishops.
The Episcopalian Church in America acted in defiance of this belief when it elected the homosexual clergyman Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire in 2003. The appointment triggered a worldwide crisis in the Anglican Church and prompted the Archbishop of Canterbury to set up a commission last October to investigate the legal and theological implications of the ordination.
The subsequent report called for a moratorium on the appointment of gay bishops and the performance of same-sex blessings.
In spite of this, the Diocese of California has put forward Miss Perry and a second actively homosexual candidate, the Very Rev Robert Taylor, as nominees to replace the retiring Bishop William Swing in May.
Dr Taylor, the dean of St Mark's Episcopal Cathedral in Seattle, is also in a long-term, same-sex relationship.
Last night, the Rev Nick Wynne-Jones, the secretary of the Church of England Evangelical Council, said that the shortlisting of Miss Perry was "provocative" and "in defiance" of the rest of the Anglican Church.
"It just seems that they are determined to pursue their own particular agenda," he said. "If they persist in that line it seriously jeopardises the future of the Anglican Communion as it's currently constituted.
"The condition of the Episcopal Church in America is unravelling fairly fast and this would exacerbate this situation and I think that more and more individual parishes are likely to align with other dioceses. It is frustrating. Anyone who's concerned for the future of the Church would be concerned."
Last week, Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury wrote to the 38 Anglican primates acknowledging the "bitter controversy over sexuality in the Communion".
Canon Chris Sugden, the executive secretary of Anglican Mainstream International, said: "The Archbishop of Canterbury has voiced what many people knew in his letter to the primates: that there was no mind in the Communion to change the position on homosexuality.
"He's very clear that there is a group of people in power in the highest echelons of the Episcopalian Church in America for whom this is a determined crusade. They will brook no opposition, they will not listen to any calls for restraint. It has been done during the moratorium deliberately. It is a clear challenge to the rest of the Communion and the Church of England."
Miss Perry is believed to be a front-runner for election. She is popular in her local community for her "unstuffy attitude" and has introduced "pet blessing" ceremonies to her church.
She has also developed outreach programmes to provide groceries for the homeless and the congregation has grown from 35 to 220 parishioners under her leadership.
Her previous lecture presentations include: "How Body Piercing Can Enhance Your Congregation: Creative Liturgies to Reach Generation X," delivered in February 2001.
She is a certified kayaking instructor and describes herself as "a recreational tree climber and avid reader". On her church's website, she says that the Gospel "doesn't matter a rat's tail if it doesn't change people's lives".
She adds: "I care deeply about preaching, outreach, pastoral care, congregational development and sea kayaking. My hope is to continue creating a community where people come to ask the deep questions of life."
Richard Kirker, the general secretary of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement in Britain, welcomed the news of Miss Perry's nomination. "It is to the credit of the American Church that it puts no bar on clergy for their sexuality," he said.
The Church of England, unlike the Episcopalian Church, does not elect its bishops but appoints them after official approval from the Queen. When Jeffrey John, the Dean of St Albans and a celibate homosexual, was chosen as the Bishop of Reading in 2003, his appointment provoked such an outcry that he stepped down.
Maranatha!
And soon, please.
From what I've read they are not so picky that what they eat hasn't been sh!t on already either.
<< Her selfishness, self-absorption, egoism and arrogance will send another bump of Episcopalians elsewhere.
She ... is changing people's lives with her meglomania. >>
Meglomania?
Perhaps. But you're altogether too kind.
Her kind of absence of Truth has another, much more succinct and precise, name:
Evil.
Blessings - Brian
BUMPping
This is so sad. They first infiltrated the Catholic Church and almost brought it down, then the Episcopal Church.
All we hear is how Christians force their lifestyle on everyone else, and that is wrong. I suggest to this lesbian, it is quite the opposite! It is in fact homosexuals who force their way into our schools and churches, and try to force the lifestyles on us. Just as they are trying to do to the Catholic colleges across the nation.
Sounds like she may be the 'husband of one wife' if that's what you are asking, and unlike the 'bishop' of New Hampshire, there is no indication that she is 'given to much wine'.
Even with what has happened I wouldn't have ever thought that a lesbian could be a bishop of any REAL Christian church.
Cheap shot. Perhaps you'd like to list for us the openly lesbian bishops appointed by Pope Benedict or his predecessor?
Over the weekend, I had some fine discussions with a former Episcopalian priest who is now seeking ordination in the Catholic Church. I'm sure there will be many fine new Catholics coming over from the Episcopalian ranks, and some of those from the clergy will make excellent priests in the Catholic Church.
Dude a Roman Candle is a firework. As far as I know it has no affiliation with the roman catholic church.
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
Are there Baptist BISHOPS????? Serious question. I am not Baptist and do not know.
Suppose a person were an actual God-fearing and God-loving Episcopalian with deep roots in Los Angeles. Choices: stay in the ECUSA and in Los Angeles and have a practicing lesbian bishop; stay in Los Angeles Archdiocese and become a Roman Catholic but be under Roger Cardinal McPhony; take the big leap and leave LA and your roots behind and flee to Lincoln, Nebraska, there to become an RC under Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz. #3 is a serious cultural jolt but well worth it.
You know, sometimes I can't read worth pigsnot. Reminds me of that old seminar slide:
PARIS IN THE THE SPRINGMy apologies.
(Although we do use a lot of candles, I don't think that would qualify them as "Roman Candles"!)
Maybe you could slip in a roman candle at the next ceremony.
A church I attended growing up had a big pipe organ. I always wanted to hide a few in the metal pipes and set them off when it hit its crescendo.......
No there are not. I used to be SB & the very idea of any priesthood other than that of the believer is intolerable. The title used for a pastor is Brother.
You can always practice at the baseball park. They'll probably even pay you for it. :-)
Haven't the Episcopalians made whatever point Henry was trying to make? Isn't time to come home? We in the Roman Catholic Church have our problems but they are because of human failures to follow true doctrine NOT because of failed
doctrines.
I can hear the screaming from the Confessional box when you had to tell who did it.
here is a less well mentioned part of her resume - her church is tiny...200 members. If anyone thought she was good at her job the place would be busting at the seams with joyful members of the church. It is a dead church. Why promote her?
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