wfn.org | Amid cheers and protests, Robinson consecrated in Diocese of New

[ecimafonte@episcopalchurch.org]

Hampshire

11-01-2003

by James Solheim

[Episcopal News Service] 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.

Threats to Anglican unity

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 from Orford, New Hampshire, said that "sexual activity
outside of marriage is contrary to God's will," adding that "if we go
forward the Anglican family will be torn apart."

The Bishop David Bena of Albany then stepped forward and read a statement
signed by 36 bishops who 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."

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.

A symbol of unity like never before

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 the state 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 receiving 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."

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."

Reactions continue

In a statement released from Lambeth Palace at the end of the consecration,
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said, "The divisions that are
arising are a matter of deep regret; they will be all too visible in the
fact that it will not be possible for Gene Robinson's ministry as a bishop
to be accepted in every province in the communion.

"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."

Stunning arrogance

The American Anglican Council (AAC), an umbrella organization of
conservatives that has strongly opposed the consecration, 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, "Because of Robinson's homosexual
orientation and partnership there has since been an escalation of angry
rhetoric by those in this country and abroad who seem to be strategizing for
schism, as they have threatened to do for several years.  In fact, by claims
for a singular orthodoxy, recommended breaches in diocesan and provincial
integrity, the diversion of financial support for the Episcopal Church USA,
and 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 of homosexuality has put us on a global and
very public stage, but that appears to be the really new element in our
situation, not the challenge of abiding in our differences.  Indeed, more
than abiding."

--James Solheim is director of Episcopal News Service.