November 2, 2003

The Consecration of Gene Robinson

Now, fast forward from August to November 2 in Durham, New Hampshire, where a crowd estimated at between 2500 and 3500 gathered to hear words the entire Anglican world has been waiting for, some in eager anticipation, others in eager anger:

"Therefore, Father, make Gene a bishop in your Church. Pour out upon him the power of your princely Spirit, whom you bestowed upon your beloved Son Jesus Christ, with whom he endowed the apostles, and by whom your Church is built up in every place, to the glory and unceasing praise of your Name."

With these words, Gene Robinson was consecrated a bishop, the first honestly gay man to be so consecrated in the Episcopal Church of the USA.

The radical conservatives have part of it right. The church will never be the same again. But this is cause for rejoicing, not schism. This occasion should mark the beginning of the end of the lying, the end of the fear and the shame and the sickness of the closet for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgendered people in our church.

Gene certainly is not the first gay bishop in our church. He's just the first who didn't lie about it, either to himself or to the church.

To paraphrase Muriel Ruykeyser: "What would happen if one gay bishop told the truth about his life? The world would split open."

To those who rejoice at Gene's consecration, the world has split open in wonderful ways, making room for people who have been shut out for much too long.

To those who are leveraging their anger at Gene's consecration into cries for schism, this split-open world is letting in all kinds of people they simply don't want in "their" church. These privileged white men see their hold on the church slipping away. They are desperate to hold on to what they see as their entitlement.

But on November 2, as I watched the newly consecrated Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson giving communion to the Rt. Rev. Barbara C. Harris - the former "final crisis" of the conservatives - I knew I was looking at the future of our church.

And I rejoiced.

Note: This story by Katie Sherrod contains some material from Episcopal News Service

Amid Cheers and Protests, New Hampshire Consecrates a New Bishop

The Diocese of New Hampshire--and the Episcopal Church--has a new bishop. The Rev. Gene Robinson was consecrated Sunday afternoon, November 2, in a three-hour service at the Whittemore Center at the University of New Hampshire in Durham.

A congregation estimated at almost 3,000 braved the fall drizzle, and submitted to intense security procedures behind cordons of police, to join in consecrating the Anglican Communion's first openly gay bishop. In a glorious mixture of music, wise and humorous words addressed to the new bishop, the church welcomed the 993rd bishop in the American succession.

Yet the controversy surrounding Robinson's overwhelming election last June, and the debate at this summer's General Convention before he received the consents of the House of Deputies and the House of Bishops, seeped into the service.

As the liturgy unfolded, everyone waited for the moment early in the service, after testimonials that Robinson had been "duly and lawfully elected," when Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold asks if anyone in the congregation "know any reason why we should not proceed."

As several groups came forward to make formal protests, Griswold asked the congregation to listen with "courtesy and respect" and avoid any demonstrations for or against the statements.

The Rev. Earle Fox of Pittsburgh said, "It breaks my heart to be here." He said that Christians must condemn homosexual behavior and then he began to describe that behavior in lurid detail. Griswold asked him to "spare us the details."

Then Meredith Harwood, a parishioner from St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Ashland, New Hampshire, said that "to press forward with this consecration will be to turn our backs on Almighty God. This is the defiant and divisive act of a deaf church. The clear teaching of Holy Scripture in both testaments without exception is that sexual activity outside of marriage is wrong for the people of God, yet we are deaf to the Bible. The vast majority of Anglicans worldwide have told us not to take this step which many of them see as a scandal yet we are deaf to their cries. Again and again a significant number of our ecumenical partners have asked us to step back from this plunge into unrighteousness and their words have gone unheeded."

Bishop David Bena of Albany then stepped for ward and read a statement signed by 36 bishops who said that "it is impossible to affirm a candidate for bishop and symbol of unity whose very consecration is dividing the whole Anglican Communion... This consecration poses a dramatic contradiction to the historic faith and discipline of the church. We join with the majority of the bishops in the Communion and will not recognize it. We also declare our grief at the actions of those who are engaging in this schismatic act."

And after the consecration

Griswold then said that, while he welcomed the objections from brothers and sisters, "We're learning to live the mystery of communion at a deeper level" and the consecration would proceed. He then asked the congregation, "Is it your will that we ordain Gene a bishop" and the response, "That is our will" almost took the roof off the hockey arena.

In his sermon, Bishop Douglas Theuner of New Hampshire, who will retire in March and turn his responsibilities over to Robinson, had a few things to say about the office of bishop. After noting that "no doubt this is the largest gathering of Episcopalians in the history of New Hampshire," he warned that "the burden you are about to assume is a very heavy one."

Christ's whole ministry was dedicated to the outcast and the marginalized, Theuner said. "And his wrath was directed at the religious establishment of his day." He said that Robinson "will stand as a symbol of unity in a way none of the rest of us can," in a way not found in the councils of the church before. "Because of your presence, the episcopate will be more a symbol of unity than it has ever been."

As Robinson stood, Theuner urged him to seek "what I consider the most elusive of all Christian virtues--humility. Don't let your great gifts set you apart from your brothers and sisters."

After Robinson had received the symbols of his office, the presiding bishop presented the new bishop to the congregation. Choking for a few moments with the emotion of the moment, Robinson said that the occasion was "not about me--it's about so many people at the margins. Your presence here today is an invitation to them to move to the center."

Gay Bishop's Ordination Voted Top Religion Story of 2003

The nation's leading religion reporters overwhelmingly chose the Episcopal Church's ordination of its first openly gay bishop as the top religion news story of 2003.

Bishop Eugene Robinson's election fueled threats of a schism both in the U.S. Episcopal Church and throughout the Anglican Communion, and spurred emergency meetings within the church.

More than 80 percent of the journalists, who all cover religion in the secular news media, also selected Robinson as their Religion Newsmaker of the Year, beating out Pope John Paul II, deposed Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, and National Council of Churches of Christ head Robert Edgar.

Members of the Religion Newswriters Association ranked 28 news items in a survey conducted Dec. 12-16, 2003.

The complete rankings of stories, in order are:

1. Episcopal Church approves and then ordains first openly gay bishop, spurring threats of a schism both in the U.S. and throughout the Anglican Communion, and leading to emergency meetings. The bishop of New Westminster Diocese in British Columbia draws criticism for approving same sex unions.

2. Pending war in Iraq splits religious communities; most mainline denominations, led by the National Council of Churches, oppose it, while many evangelicals support it. Religious groups sponsor follow-up relief efforts.

3 Definition of marriage becomes a hot topic as the Massachusetts Supreme Court overturns a gay-marriage ban; a constitutional amendment on marriage is proposed after the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down a ban against sodomy in Texas, and Ontario's highest court legalizes gay marriage.

[Religion Newswriters Association: 2003]

In a plea for reconciliation, Robinson added that "there are many faithful, wonderful Christian people for whom this is a time of great pain, confusion and anger. God is served by our being loving to them." In reference to the crush of media covering the consecration, Robinson said that "the eyes of the world are upon us. We couldn't buy this kind of publicity so let's use it for God. So many people don't know the love of God so let's tell them about how God has saved us by reaching out to all who are hungry for God."

In a statement released from Lambeth Palace, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said, "It is clear that those who have consecrated Gene Robinson have acted in good faith on their understanding of what the constitution of the American church permits. But the effects of this upon the ministry and witness of the overwhelming majority of Anglicans particularly in the non-western world have to be confronted with honesty.

"The autonomy of Anglican provinces is an important principle. But precisely because we rely on relations more than rules, consultation and interdependence are essential for our health.

"The Primates' Meeting last month expressed its desire to continue as "a communion where what we hold in common is much greater than that which divides us." We need now to work very hard to giving new substance to this, and to pray for wisdom, patience and courage as we move forward."

The American Anglican Council (AAC), quickly issued a statement that said: "Today is a grievous day in the history of our Church. Heresy has been held up as Holy. Blasphemy has been redefined as blessing. The hope of the transforming love of Jesus Christ has been denied. Holy Scripture has been abandoned and sin celebrated over sanctification. The arrogance of the leaders of the Diocese of New Hampshire and the Episcopal Church is nothing less than stunning....

"The time has come. Our family is now split and the whole cloth of the Anglican Communion is torn. Realignment has begun."

At the same time, Bishop Carolyn Irish Tanner was one of the first bishops to issue a statement. She said that, "There has since been an escalation of angry rhetoric by those in this country and abroad who seem to be strategizing for schism. By planning for separate enclaves or parallel communions of like-minded people, it appears that they want to create a whole new church, one very different from traditional Anglicanism.

"Our church is, and has always been, the most comprehensive of Christian families, because we have sought to embrace theological and cultural diversity of the kind that has sometimes fractured other Protestant churches. Presently the issue has put us on a global and very public stage, but that appears to be the new element in our situation, not the challenge of abiding in our differences. Indeed, more than abiding."

[ENS]