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Episcopal bishops gather to heal discord over gay member
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| Parent(s) |
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| Contributor | Gerald Farinas |
| Last Edited | Gerald Farinas Mar 19, 2004 03:34pm |
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| Category | News |
| Media | Newspaper - Chicago Sun-Times |
| News Date | Friday, March 19, 2004 06:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Episcopal bishops gather to heal discord over gay member
The Chicago Sun-Times
The Episcopal Church's bishops begin a closed-door meeting today in Texas, where they'll try to quiet the discord that has torn at the denomination since the consecration of an openly gay bishop, New Hampshire's V. Gene Robinson. Robinson is attending his first meeting as part of a hierarchy in which 41 percent of bishops who head dioceses voted against his consecration and 28 of the bishops have refused to recognize him as a colleague.
The bishops will discuss the current flashpoint, how to handle conservative parishes that don't want to quit the Episcopal Church but cannot accept the authority of local bishops who favor gay clergy. The proposed remedy is to provide dissenting parishes with special conservative bishops from outside their dioceses. Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold proposed a plan allowing outside bishops to work with conservative parishes though only with approval from the local bishop as required by church law, allowing for appeals to regional bodies in case of disagreements. Conservatives have rejected that. They don't want the local bishops to keep their veto power and claim liberals control the regional bodies that would hear appeals.
The leading conservative bishop is Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh, moderator of a "network" formed in January to unite Episcopal dioceses and parishes that insist upon the traditional Christian teaching against same-sex relationships. Duncan said the church must "come to its senses" and help conservatives because "the present course is a suicidal course, or at least a fratricidal course." Matters escalated last Sunday when five Episcopal bishops led a rebel confirmation service in Akron, Ohio, congregations that spurned local Bishop J. Clark Grew II, a Robinson supporter. |
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