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New York New York – Gay issue may split Church
Published on: 4/21/06.
BY TONY BEST
A BAJAN CLERIC in New York City didn't have a vision but his prediction turned out to be a hard bit of reality.
"It is not about the civil rights of gay priests and bishops but the selfishness of one man and his lover," he said on August 6, 2003, the day after the General Convention of the United States Episcopal Church approved the election of the Rt Rev Gene Robinson as the first openly gay bishop of the United States Church.
What the rector of a Brooklyn parish was warning against was that Robinson's pursuit of a bishopric split the Church, which was once the dominant Christian body in the United States, but is now a shell of its former self.
"This is going to cause so much trouble, turmoil and dissension within our church that it could lead to irreparable harm," added the graduate of Barbados' Codrington College.
Time has shown him to be correct. For June can be a make or break month for the church with a membership of about 2.2 million Episcopalians, down from the four to five million mark registered in the early decades of the 20th century. The church's General Convention is scheduled to meet in June, the first national gathering since Bishop Robinson was consecrated, and the clergy and laity, some Bajans and other West Indians among them, must decide if their Church must "repent" or "apologise" for its decision to embrace homosexual bishops.
If the Convention refuses to budge, then more trouble lies ahead.
<font color="green"> For instance, there is the real possibility that the primates of the worldwide Anglican Communion, including His Grace Drexel Gomez, Archbishop of the West Indies, a Bahamian, and a former Bishop of Barbados, may decide to cut loose the Episcopal Church from the fold by withholding an invitation to the 2008 Lambeth Conference, the once in a decade global gathering of Anglican bishops who serve in dioceses in almost every corner of the globe.
</font> Barbados' Anglican bishop the Rt Rev John Holder is expected to vote at Lambeth.
Back in 1998 when bishops from all over met at Lambeth they passed
a resolution that declared homosexuality "incompatible with scripture."
"But five years later, not only did the United States Episcopal Church turn up its nose at the decision by approving Bishop Robinson's election but it effectively challenged Anglicans worldwide to do something about its theologically wayward behaviour.
Bishop Robinson, who acknowledged to New Yorker Magazine recently that he had been practising homosexual for most of his life, dating back to his teenage years, while admitting to himself while he was in a theological seminary in Manhattan several years later that he was gay, is said to be now trying to find a compromise to save the Episcopal church from tearing itself apart or from being kicked out of the Anglican Communion.
Interestingly, the jolt for action against the United States church has come from Anglicans in Global South, a group in the developing world that now constitutes the largest in the communion. Global South, which includes Anglicans in Africa and the West Indies, has challenged Episcopalians who oppose the acceptance of homosexuality either to leave the church altogether or shut up.
This issue is of considerable importance to West Indians at home and in the United States. For one thing, many of the dioceses in the West Indies have formed partnerships with the United States church and receive financial benefits from the arrangement.
Codrington College in Barbados is in partnership with the Long Island Diocese in New York. For another, more than 200 000 worshippers from Caribbean nations now worship in Episcopal churches across the United States.
New York New York – Gay issue may split Church
Published on: 4/21/06.
BY TONY BEST
A BAJAN CLERIC in New York City didn't have a vision but his prediction turned out to be a hard bit of reality.
"It is not about the civil rights of gay priests and bishops but the selfishness of one man and his lover," he said on August 6, 2003, the day after the General Convention of the United States Episcopal Church approved the election of the Rt Rev Gene Robinson as the first openly gay bishop of the United States Church.
What the rector of a Brooklyn parish was warning against was that Robinson's pursuit of a bishopric split the Church, which was once the dominant Christian body in the United States, but is now a shell of its former self.
"This is going to cause so much trouble, turmoil and dissension within our church that it could lead to irreparable harm," added the graduate of Barbados' Codrington College.
Time has shown him to be correct. For June can be a make or break month for the church with a membership of about 2.2 million Episcopalians, down from the four to five million mark registered in the early decades of the 20th century. The church's General Convention is scheduled to meet in June, the first national gathering since Bishop Robinson was consecrated, and the clergy and laity, some Bajans and other West Indians among them, must decide if their Church must "repent" or "apologise" for its decision to embrace homosexual bishops.
If the Convention refuses to budge, then more trouble lies ahead.
<font color="green"> For instance, there is the real possibility that the primates of the worldwide Anglican Communion, including His Grace Drexel Gomez, Archbishop of the West Indies, a Bahamian, and a former Bishop of Barbados, may decide to cut loose the Episcopal Church from the fold by withholding an invitation to the 2008 Lambeth Conference, the once in a decade global gathering of Anglican bishops who serve in dioceses in almost every corner of the globe.
</font> Barbados' Anglican bishop the Rt Rev John Holder is expected to vote at Lambeth.
Back in 1998 when bishops from all over met at Lambeth they passed
a resolution that declared homosexuality "incompatible with scripture."
"But five years later, not only did the United States Episcopal Church turn up its nose at the decision by approving Bishop Robinson's election but it effectively challenged Anglicans worldwide to do something about its theologically wayward behaviour.
Bishop Robinson, who acknowledged to New Yorker Magazine recently that he had been practising homosexual for most of his life, dating back to his teenage years, while admitting to himself while he was in a theological seminary in Manhattan several years later that he was gay, is said to be now trying to find a compromise to save the Episcopal church from tearing itself apart or from being kicked out of the Anglican Communion.
Interestingly, the jolt for action against the United States church has come from Anglicans in Global South, a group in the developing world that now constitutes the largest in the communion. Global South, which includes Anglicans in Africa and the West Indies, has challenged Episcopalians who oppose the acceptance of homosexuality either to leave the church altogether or shut up.
This issue is of considerable importance to West Indians at home and in the United States. For one thing, many of the dioceses in the West Indies have formed partnerships with the United States church and receive financial benefits from the arrangement.
Codrington College in Barbados is in partnership with the Long Island Diocese in New York. For another, more than 200 000 worshippers from Caribbean nations now worship in Episcopal churches across the United States.
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