wfn.org | ACNS3649 Canon Gene Robinson addresses Halfway to Lambeth by

["Anglican Communion News Service" <acnslist@anglicancommunion.org>]

ACNS 3649     |     ENGLAND	|     25 OCTOBER 2003 

Canon Gene Robinson addresses Halfway to Lambeth by satellite link

by Matthew Davies

Speaking via a live satellite link from New Hampshire today, the Revd
Canon V Gene Robinson, who will be consecrated as the Anglican
Communion's first openly gay bishop next week, told the Halfway to
Lambeth conference that "the issue of homosexuality in the Church should
not be elevated above all that holds us together".

The conference, which is being held in Manchester this weekend, has been
organised by the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement to provide an
opportunity for bishops, and others from the Anglican Communion, to
listen to the experience of homosexual people. 

More than 250 people, including international guests and keynote
speakers, filled a lecture hall at Manchester University to hear the
45-minute live broadcast. 

Canon Robinson told the conference about how Jesus had been a model of
strength and stability for him throughout the past few months. "I have
been reflecting a lot about Jesus at His trial," he said. "It has given
me a profound respect for our Saviour who was silent at His trial and
just absorbed the evil that was there."

He also spoke about Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and how difficult
it can be sometimes to move forward in God's way. "It was the religious
establishment that were often enraged by what Jesus said and did. It is
the marginalised who rejoiced. In some ways the world hasn't changed."
he said. "This loving God of ours offers us a promised land, just as He
did to the Hebrews."

After Canon Robinson's opening speech, an opportunity was allocated for
questions. Elaine Graham, Professor of Social and Pastoral Theology at
the University of Manchester, asked Canon Robinson how important the
Anglican tradition has been to him. "We continue to disagree about all
sorts of things but can still come together around the altar rail," he
said. "Our tradition is not a narrow one but a very broad, encompassing
one."

Asked what he thought about Archbishop Rowan Williams' public
disapproval to his consecration, he said, "I am doing my best to follow
God's call to me, as I know Rowan Williams is and as I know the Primates
are, but that does not mean we need to separate. We have far more that
keeps us together than separates us."

Canon Robinson said that the media had been an astounding presence in
his life since his appointment and that the publicity his election had
generated had helped him to attract people back into the Anglican
Church.

Earlier in the day the Rt Revd Michael Ingham delivered a speech on
Reclaiming Orthodoxy. The full text can be found at:
www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/articles/36/25/acns3648.html.

Other keynote speakers included: the Very Revd Rowan Smith, Dean of Cape
Town Cathedral in South Africa; the Revd Mario Ribas, Rector of All
Saint's Church in Sao Paulo, Brazil; and Christopher Senteza, Vice
President of Integrity, Uganda.

A conference service will take place at the Parish Church of St John
Chrysostom tomorrow (Sunday 26 October) at 12:30pm.

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