wfn.org | [ENS] Robinson consent sent to House of Deputies

["Mika Larson" <mini_mika@earthlink.net>]

August 1, 2003

Robinson consent sent to House of Deputies

by David Skidmore
 
[ENS] The election of the church's first openly gay bishop may be
decided Sunday afternoon in the  House of Deputies. 
In the aftermath of an intense marathon hearing at the Hyatt Hotel
Friday morning, the Committee  on the Consecration of Bishops
recommended the consent resolution (C045) on Gene Robinson,
bishop-elect and current canon to the ordinary of New Hampshire, be
adopted by convention. 

Adhering to instructions from the Rev. Carolyn Keil-Kuhr, co-chair of
the committee, the crowd of  bishops and deputies and reporters packing
the hotel ballroom refrained from applauding or  cheering the
announcement. The committee's hope is that their decision "is received
with grace,"  said Keil-Kuhr. 

The measure is expected to be reported out to the House of Deputies for
action on Sunday  afternoon and, if adopted, go to the House of Bishops
as early as Monday morning.

The two-hour hearing held in the Hyatt's Nicollet Ballroom drew more
than 300 bishops, deputies,  reporters and supporters of Robinson and
the Diocese of New Hampshire. Nearly equal numbers of  speakers signed
up to speak for and against consent. When the allotted time ran out, 19
had  spoken for Robinson and 18 against. Most major papers and national
news programs were present.  CNN carried coverage of the consent at the
top of its broadcast throughout the day.

Robinson elected for his gifts, say supporters

The Rev. Randolph Dales, deputy from New Hampshire and one of five
diocesan representatives  invited to speak before the general testimony
period, said his diocese had chosen to call someone  who they knew had
the talents to be a bishop. His status as a gay man was not part of the
decision, he said. 

"The choice was a person, it was about the ministry, not an issue. We
called Gene Robinson for  his humanity, not his sexuality," said Dales
who also serves on the diocese's Standing Committee. 

His point was echoed by other New Hampshire representatives who talked
about Robinson's gift as a  leader and his teaching and pastoral skills.
"Never in my life have I worked with a person in  whom I have more
confidence than I do of Gene Robinson," said New Hampshire's current
diocesan  bishop, Douglas Theuner. Throughout his 17 years as bishop,
Theuner, who will be retiring in  March 2004, has known Robinson, first
as a consultant to the diocese and for the past 15 years as  his canon
to the ordinary.  

Describing him as a man of uncommon ability and proven worth, Theuner
said Robinson had always  conducted himself "with the greatest
integrity."

The delegation's youngest member, 15-year-old Jenny Lombardo of St.
Paul's, Concord, talked about  how Robinson had inspired her to greater
involvement in the church. "He respects youth and he  simply cares," she
said.

Also speaking was Robinson's daughter Ella who shared a statement from
Robinson's former wife,  Isabella (Boo) McDaniel. In her statement,
McDaniel took pains to correct a British newspaper  story widely
circulated that claimed her former husband had abandoned her and their
daughters to  take up a relationship with a gay man. The truth is they
chose to end their relationship after  years of dialogue and reflection,
she said, and eventually chose to release each other from  marital vows
in a private service conducted by a close friend.

She maintains close connections to Robinson and his partner, Mark
Andrews, she said, and they  continue "to cherish each other's families,
heritages, and values." 

As for Robinson's suitability for the episcopate, McDaniel praised his
strength of character, his  intellect and organizational ability,
pastoral sensitivity and charisma, which she said "will  draw more
people to the church than will leave due to his sexuality."

Marriage affirmed as sacrament

During questioning by the committee, Robinson said he was making an
effort to reach out to	members of his diocese opposed to his election.
He has appeared at several forums and has been	making unannounced
Sunday visits to congregations for the past few weeks. Noting that there
are  three or four people in virtually every parish troubled by his
election, Robinson said he was	asking clergy to join him in reaching
out to them, "just as on the international level it will be  all of our
jobs to reach out to the Anglican Communion."

Taking issue with New Hampshire's emphasis on the personal qualities of
Robinson as opposed to	his sexual orientation was committee member Dean
Mark Lawrence of San Joaquin who stressed that	sexuality cannot be
divorced from the matter.

Asked by Lawrence about God's purpose in creating sexual beings, male
and female, Robinson said  he believed that God gave humanity sexual
nature so "we might express with our love the love that  is in our
hearts" and which is lived out in marriage. The mutual desire between
two humans "is	just a glimpse of the desire that God has to be in
relationship with us," he said, and why this  love, as expressed in
marriage, is a sacrament.

Robinson said that he experiences this same love in his relationship
with his partner and through  it "experiences, just a little bit, for
the kind of never ending, never failing love that God has  for me."

Church's teaching threatened, claim critics

Most of Robinson's critics, particularly the bishops, distinguished
their appreciation for	Robinson as a gifted leader and Christian from
his suitability to be a bishop of the church.  Bishop John Howe of
Central Florida, disputing Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold's position in
a  recent letter to the church's bishops that the election did not
change church teaching, said past  statements, studies and resolutions
have "unambiguously" affirmed the church's teaching that  sexual
intimacy must be confined to heterosexual marriage. "In commending to
the church as a  wholesome example a person who is sexually intimate in
a relationship other than holy matrimony  is a massive repudiation of
that teaching," said Howe.

Bishop David Bane, suffragan of Albany, said a Robinson consent
separates the church from  traditional teaching and "threatens to
shatter the Episcopal Church as we know it." He justified  his statement
citing the overwhelming vote at the 1998 Lambeth Conference upholding
traditional  teaching on marriage, the House of Bishops Theology
Committee report urging the church to avoid  legislative action on
same-sex unions, recent statements from the primates of the communion,
and  British priest Jeffrey Johns standing down from his appointment as
bishop of Reading. 

Said Bane: "We will lose vast numbers of congregations, members and
revenue, and this act will  show us not to be the prophets of the
Anglican Communion but American mavericks going our own  way." 

Stating he was "humbly" asking Robinson to step down as bishop-elect,
Bane warned that proceeding  to a vote, up or down, "will simply rupture
the Episcopal Church family."

Ominous warnings were also given by Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh
and Bishop Edward Little  of Northern Indiana. "The departure from the
Christian consensus will separate us from the one  holy catholic and
apostolic Church," said Duncan, "and in the matter of the historic faith
we  will separate ourselves from the teaching about apostolicity."  

Given the church's fourth-century ruling that a council erring on one
matter of faith invalidated  all other actions of that council, Duncan
warned that chaos created by a consent adoption would  free many church
members to "disregard all actions of this convention: its resolutions,
its  canons, and its budget."

An adoption by convention, he said, "will invite intervention precisely
because the council has  erred and the only court of appeal is outside
this nation," referring to the primates and other  provinces of the
Anglican Communion.

Noting the difficulty in offering pastoral care to gays and lesbians and
still remaining faithful  to scripture, Bishop Little warned that
confirming Robinson's election would effectively end  dialogue on the
issue. "We will have set aside the moral consensus of the Christian
church	throughout the ages, and there will no turning back," he said.
"It will be a definitive moment."

The tragedy of that action, he added, will be the likelihood of
fostering "deeper and more  disastrous conflicts" over the church's
faith and order.

Fear of schism overstated, supporters say

Warnings of schism and impaired communion were countered by Robinson's
supporters who pointed out  that the Episcopal Church's vote in 1976
admitting women to the priesthood and the Massuchusetts  diocese's 1989
election of Barbara Harris as the first woman bishop in the Anglican
Communion had  not resulted in a lasting break with other Anglican
provinces. "Instead it has made us stronger  and a more vibrant church
with the full inclusion of women in ministry," said Massachusett's
Bishop Thomas Shaw, arguing the same could hold true for extending the
church's full ministry to  gays and lesbians.

At the 1998 Lambeth Conference, Harris and the other 10 women bishops
were warmly welcomed, he  said. "Far from being spurned, far from
causing schism, they were the toast of the town." 

The potential for experience to transform people's understanding of
scripture and tradition was  also shared by the Rev. Mariann Budde of
Minneapolis. When she was called to her first parish,  Trinity Church in
Toledo, Ohio, in 1988 the members had never experienced a woman priest.
Some  were confused and stayed away, but after several months they came
back and told her they believed  she was called to the ministry. The
same could hold true for Robinson, she said.

It is not the Episcopal Church that is abandoning the historic catholic
and apostolic faith,  argued the Rev. Howard Anderson of Minnesota. In
keeping with its 20/20 mission, the Episcopal  Church is at a place
where it could spread its doors wide open to welcome all people into its
ministry, he said, and the confirmation of Robinson would be one sign of
that.

The Episcopal Church, unlike the Roman Catholic Church, is known for its
unique charism of  inclusivity, he said. "We ordain women. We know the
primary sacrament is baptism, not  ordination." The committee needs to
think hard about this charism, he said, "and decide whether  we will be
the last catholics - big 'c' or little 'c' - or whether we will be
watered down Roman  Catholics trying to defend some moral like the
Pharisees, or dressed up Presbyterians."

Issue moves to deputies, bishops

At the end of the testimony the committee withdrew to an adjacent room
for a closed-door  discussion lasting 15 minutes. In her report on the
committee's decision, Keil-Kuhr did not  indicate whether the
committee's vote was unanimous, saying only that it was taken by secret
ballot. She also reminded their action is not a final decision. It will
be up to both houses to  approve the consent, she said.

The plan, confirmed at this morning's news briefing, is for the
resolution to be placed on the	House of Deputies' daily legislative
calendar for Sunday afternoon. If adopted there, the measure  goes to
the House of Bishops for action, possibly as early as the Monday morning
legislative  session.

In his remarks following the committees vote, Bishop Chester Talton, Los
Angeles, bishops chair,  said the six bishops on the committee found the
hearing to be fair and the groundwork laid for a  full discussion in the
House of Bishops.

With 106 bishops with jurisdiction in the church, the consent may
require up to 54 affirmative  votes to pass. In the consent votes on two
other bishops-elect yesterday, the votes totaled 99  and 102 in the
house. The bishops customarily have voted after the consent to seat the
new  bishops and give them voice during the sessions.