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Gay Episcopal bishop denies encouraging Catholics to leave their church
NC Times ^ | November 8, 2005 | Rachel Zoll

Posted on 11/10/2005 5:53:53 AM PST by NYer

The first openly gay Episcopal bishop insisted Wednesday he was not encouraging Roman Catholics to leave their church when he criticized its view of homosexuals during a recent speech in London.

New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson, at a service Friday commemorating the 10th anniversary of Changing Attitude, a British group which advocates full inclusion of gays in the Anglican faith community, noted during his talk that many Catholics in his home state were becoming Episcopalian.

"Pope Ratzinger may be the best thing that ever happened to the Episcopal Church," Robinson said, referring to former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who is now Pope Benedict XVI. But Robinson said in a phone interview Wednesday from New Hampshire that he was recounting what a Catholic woman told him about why she was joining the Protestant denomination -- not expressing his own opinion. He said the woman was disappointed that the successor to Pope John Paul II would probably not make any significant changes in Catholic teaching.

Robinson said he had commented on Catholic issues in response to a question from a gay Catholic struggling with his place in his church. Catholic teaching considers gay sex "intrinsically disordered."

Robinson said he told the man that it was an "act of violence against gay folk" that the Vatican was considering instructing its seminaries to bar homosexuals and viewed it as an attempt by Catholic leaders to blame gays for the clergy sex abuse crisis. But Robinson said he told the young man that he should live "such that the light of Christ so shone through him that no one in his church could doubt his full membership in the body of Christ."

"I was not encouraging this young Roman Catholic man to be confrontative in any way," Robinson said.

Robinson's 2003 consecration sparked a crisis within world Anglicanism; the majority of Anglicans overseas believe gay relationships violate Scripture. It also has created tensions between the 77-million-member Anglican Communion and other denominations, including the Catholic Church. The Episcopal Church is the communion's U.S. branch.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Philosophy; US: New Hampshire
KEYWORDS: benedictxvi; catholic; ecusa; episcopal; fallout; gaybishop; homosexualagenda; homosexualbishop; leftistapostasy; pope; ratzinger; religiousleft; schism; sodomy
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To: NYer
Robinson said he told the man that it was an "act of violence against gay folk" that the Vatican was considering instructing its seminaries to bar homosexuals and viewed it as an attempt by Catholic leaders to blame gays for the clergy sex abuse crisis

How the devil can twist the meaning of words. It is amazing at times.

61 posted on 11/10/2005 1:45:37 PM PST by Great Caesars Ghost (The Fault, dear Brutus, is not in the Stars, but in ourselves..)
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To: BikerNYC

Gay bishop? Illogical. Like discussing a square circle or an audible color. No need to read further.


62 posted on 11/10/2005 1:47:53 PM PST by dotnetfellow
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To: Nihil Obstat
The "Sin of Sodom" had nothing to do with homosexual sex but was a "failure to care for the poor, the widows and the orphans", he said.

Funny, I've never seen it written that way in any Old Testament I've ever read. He must have a Deluxe Homosexual Translation of the Bible.

63 posted on 11/10/2005 1:49:12 PM PST by SuziQ
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To: kalee
They are poorly cathecized in anything catholic, Roman or otherwise and are always pushing for the "innovations".

I'm not surprised. The Episcopal Church is the closest to being Catholic that they can find and still be able to do the things they want to do, ie, divorce and remarry, seemingly without guilt.

64 posted on 11/10/2005 1:55:00 PM PST by SuziQ
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To: Blake#1; Emmett McCarthy
The Anglican Catholic Church, not the Episcopal Group, is the HOME of so many American Presidents.

I don't think that's true is it? The prevailing version of Anglicanism in the US has been what used to be known as the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. It used to be like 2% of the population and 40% of the money was in the Episcopal church and that's why there are so many dead presidents in the club.

65 posted on 11/10/2005 1:59:28 PM PST by Great Caesars Ghost (The Fault, dear Brutus, is not in the Stars, but in ourselves..)
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To: Great Caesars Ghost
You have to want it and demonstrate a serious commitment to get through the process. I like that.

I taught the first year of the three year confirmation prep class in New Jersey. The kids started in 5th Grade, and were confirmed in 8th grade; too young, in my opinion, but that's what it was. I remember some of the kids complaining that it took so long and they had to go to so many classes. I asked them why they would want to be confirmed in a religion they know nothing about. I told them it was because the Church wanted them to KNOW about what the Church teaches before they made the decision to be confirmed in it, and to understand exactly WHY the Church teaches what she does.

66 posted on 11/10/2005 2:02:04 PM PST by SuziQ
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To: Forest Keeper

The piskies are part of the Anglican Communion. The other group has been authorized as another branch of anglicanizm to try to avoid losing those that have left the piskies entirely. They have their own bishops, from Africa, I think, and they are disconnected from the piskies, or piscopos if you will.

I think it is admirable, but for me, if I really wanted to be Catholic, it was time to become a Real Catholic.


67 posted on 11/10/2005 2:03:02 PM PST by Great Caesars Ghost (The Fault, dear Brutus, is not in the Stars, but in ourselves..)
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To: sionnsar
helps parishes buy new churches,

Lord Knows there must be plenty for sale in this day and age. Good luck to you. It saves them from becoming taverns, bathhouses, or cathouses, that's for sure.

68 posted on 11/10/2005 2:04:37 PM PST by Great Caesars Ghost (The Fault, dear Brutus, is not in the Stars, but in ourselves..)
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To: SuziQ

One thing I'm finding, OTOH, is that annulments are easier to get than ever in the RC. But annulments aren't so great because they make b@stards out of the children cuz they say the marriage never was.

I still have a grave problem with the RC over marriage. It is so heartbreaking what they do to people who want to re-marry.


69 posted on 11/10/2005 2:11:02 PM PST by Great Caesars Ghost (The Fault, dear Brutus, is not in the Stars, but in ourselves..)
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To: Great Caesars Ghost
But annulments aren't so great because they make b@stards out of the children cuz they say the marriage never was.

That's completely untrue. Canon law has always recognized children of a putative marriage entered into in good faith as legitimate. In the current (1983) CIC, the concepts of "legitimacy" and "illegitimacy" don't even exist.

70 posted on 11/10/2005 2:13:07 PM PST by Campion (Truth is not determined by a majority vote -- Pope Benedict XVI)
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To: SuziQ

Sort of makes you wonder whether some of the other churches DON'T want you to know what they teach and why they do before you join.

I was confirmed piskie in 6th grade I think with a spring semester of classes - maybe not even that maybe it was just Lent. Because I remember the weather was just getting really nice when I was confirmed. It's about the same now.


71 posted on 11/10/2005 2:14:13 PM PST by Great Caesars Ghost (The Fault, dear Brutus, is not in the Stars, but in ourselves..)
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To: Emmett McCarthy



The joke is :
Q: Why can Episcopalians play chess?
A: because they can't tell a bishop from a queen.


72 posted on 11/10/2005 2:16:29 PM PST by Barney Gumble (A liberal is someone too broadminded to take his own side in a quarrel - Robert Frost)
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To: Campion

Thank you for clearing that up for me. I read a question from a woman very upset about that and afraid to get one on the Catholic Community Forum a while back.

I suppose they can also go to a liberal Catholic church and take communion anyway too, but I don't think that's the kind of ideal we're going for in this discussion.


73 posted on 11/10/2005 2:16:33 PM PST by Great Caesars Ghost (The Fault, dear Brutus, is not in the Stars, but in ourselves..)
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To: NYer
I commented on another thread earlier this week how disrespectful it was to use the term Pope "Ratzinger."

This degenerate certainly is aware of the proper protocols and traditions, he would be offended if he was referred to as Reverend Robinson, rather than Bishop.

He may not be encouraging Catholics to leave the Church, but he is certainly driving a lot of Anglicans INTO the Catholic Church.

74 posted on 11/10/2005 2:17:59 PM PST by wagglebee ("We are ready for the greatest achievements in the history of freedom." -- President Bush, 1/20/05)
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To: kalee

The Anglicans in Nigeria are the real deal. I forsee a breakup with England in the future.


75 posted on 11/10/2005 2:19:23 PM PST by Barney Gumble (A liberal is someone too broadminded to take his own side in a quarrel - Robert Frost)
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To: Nihil Obstat

Wow, that lack of caring for the poor, widows & orphans in Sodom is not in the Bible that I read. Maybe if I bought the GIV (Gay International Version) instead of reading the NIV, I might find it.


76 posted on 11/10/2005 2:24:26 PM PST by CdMGuy
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To: NYer
If that woman doesn't believe in Catholicism, then she's better off going to one of the Chinese-menu style "religions".
77 posted on 11/10/2005 2:36:51 PM PST by Calvin Locke
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To: Great Caesars Ghost; Blake#1

I meant to comment on this but couldn't find the post.
The Episcopal Church has been the church of many presidents.
The Anglican Catholic Church is a recent breakaway form ECUSA and has not been the church of any president.
If you are saying that those Presidents attended an Anglican based church that was catholic, small c not Roman Catholic, in it's belief you would be correct, but that church was the Old ECUSA.


78 posted on 11/10/2005 2:37:28 PM PST by kalee
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To: Great Caesars Ghost

See my posts 48 and 52. You don't have it quite right on who is who inside or outside the Anglican Communion.


79 posted on 11/10/2005 2:41:53 PM PST by kalee
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To: FormerACLUmember

Forgive me, but what is that a picture of?


80 posted on 11/10/2005 2:45:16 PM PST by expatguy (http://laotze.blogspot.com/)
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