javapride
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I know this is a current events type of thing but this really should go under the rainbows as its related to the GBLT and If the mods feel it should be in the current events i will have no plm with it....
Updated: 09:55 AM EST
Gay Bishop Consecration May Split Church
By Greg Frost, Reuters
BOSTON (Nov. 2) - The Episcopal Church is set to consecrate its first openly gay bishop Sunday in a ceremony that will reverberate throughout the 70 million-member Anglican faith, possibly tearing it apart.
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The Rev. Canon V. Gene Robinson, a New Hampshire priest, is scheduled to formally become a bishop at a ceremony that will be marked by pomp, circumstance, and even a formal chance for his opponents to object.
Robinson has pleaded for unity and says he has no intention of backing down, but conservative members of the worldwide Anglican Communion are warning that his consecration could have dire effects on the 450-year-old Christian faith.
The Anglican Church in Tanzania, whose 3 million members outnumber the 2.3 million Episcopalians (Anglicans) in the United States, warned the U.S. church not to appoint an openly gay bishop, saying it would violate the word of God.
AP
Robinson, a 56-year-old father of two, has lived with his male partner for 13 years.
"If they proceed with the consecration of Rev. Canon Gene Robinson, the homosexual, to the episcopate, they will be acting against the faith and order of the Church and ... separating themselves from the majority in the Anglican Church worldwide," the Tanzanian church said in a statement Saturday.
Robinson, a 56-year-old father of two who has lived with his male partner for 13 years, says the world church will not split over the issue and noted that many Anglicans disagree with the ordination of women.
"We've not come apart over that and there's no reason for us to come apart over this," he said in an interview with CNN Saturday.
"Surely these people don't believe that if I were to step aside that all of this would die," he said. "There are many extraordinarily gifted gay and lesbian people in positions of leadership throughout our church. My stepping aside would not stop this one bit."
OBJECTIONS TO BE VOICED
The ceremony, due to begin at 4 p.m. EST in the college town of Durham, New Hampshire, will unfold amid tight security.
Protesters, including the Rev. Fred Phelps, an outspoken homophobic Baptist minister from Kansas, are expected to gather outside while other opponents are due to hold a separate service a few miles away.
The Rev. Richard Kirker, general secretary of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, will attend the service as a guest of Robinson. As with many who know Robinson, even some of his critics, Kirker describes the bishop-elect as a person of deep compassion and religious conviction.
"What strikes me as I speak to people here is the admiration and love felt by all who know Gene Robinson," Kirker said. "Even those who are troubled by his sexuality are full of praise for him as a man of God, pastor and teacher."
Among those due to participate in the ceremony was Jillian Lewis, who along with her mother, Kathleen, objects to Robinson's appointment as bishop on the grounds it violates holy scripture.
"He's supposed to be leading us, but he's giving us false teachings because he's not following God," Lewis, a 16-year-old high school student from Farmington, New Hampshire, said in a telephone interview.
Lewis, her mother, and others plan to leave Robinson's ceremony after formally stating their opposition. Eventually 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.
11/02/03 02:48 ET
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited.
Updated: 09:55 AM EST
Gay Bishop Consecration May Split Church
By Greg Frost, Reuters
BOSTON (Nov. 2) - The Episcopal Church is set to consecrate its first openly gay bishop Sunday in a ceremony that will reverberate throughout the 70 million-member Anglican faith, possibly tearing it apart.
Talk About It
· Chat | Post a Message
The Rev. Canon V. Gene Robinson, a New Hampshire priest, is scheduled to formally become a bishop at a ceremony that will be marked by pomp, circumstance, and even a formal chance for his opponents to object.
Robinson has pleaded for unity and says he has no intention of backing down, but conservative members of the worldwide Anglican Communion are warning that his consecration could have dire effects on the 450-year-old Christian faith.
The Anglican Church in Tanzania, whose 3 million members outnumber the 2.3 million Episcopalians (Anglicans) in the United States, warned the U.S. church not to appoint an openly gay bishop, saying it would violate the word of God.
AP
Robinson, a 56-year-old father of two, has lived with his male partner for 13 years.
"If they proceed with the consecration of Rev. Canon Gene Robinson, the homosexual, to the episcopate, they will be acting against the faith and order of the Church and ... separating themselves from the majority in the Anglican Church worldwide," the Tanzanian church said in a statement Saturday.
Robinson, a 56-year-old father of two who has lived with his male partner for 13 years, says the world church will not split over the issue and noted that many Anglicans disagree with the ordination of women.
"We've not come apart over that and there's no reason for us to come apart over this," he said in an interview with CNN Saturday.
"Surely these people don't believe that if I were to step aside that all of this would die," he said. "There are many extraordinarily gifted gay and lesbian people in positions of leadership throughout our church. My stepping aside would not stop this one bit."
OBJECTIONS TO BE VOICED
The ceremony, due to begin at 4 p.m. EST in the college town of Durham, New Hampshire, will unfold amid tight security.
Protesters, including the Rev. Fred Phelps, an outspoken homophobic Baptist minister from Kansas, are expected to gather outside while other opponents are due to hold a separate service a few miles away.
The Rev. Richard Kirker, general secretary of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, will attend the service as a guest of Robinson. As with many who know Robinson, even some of his critics, Kirker describes the bishop-elect as a person of deep compassion and religious conviction.
"What strikes me as I speak to people here is the admiration and love felt by all who know Gene Robinson," Kirker said. "Even those who are troubled by his sexuality are full of praise for him as a man of God, pastor and teacher."
Among those due to participate in the ceremony was Jillian Lewis, who along with her mother, Kathleen, objects to Robinson's appointment as bishop on the grounds it violates holy scripture.
"He's supposed to be leading us, but he's giving us false teachings because he's not following God," Lewis, a 16-year-old high school student from Farmington, New Hampshire, said in a telephone interview.
Lewis, her mother, and others plan to leave Robinson's ceremony after formally stating their opposition. Eventually 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.
11/02/03 02:48 ET
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited.
