Congratulations, Bishop Robinson

This entry was published at least two years ago (originally posted on November 2, 2003). Since that time the information may have become outdated or my beliefs may have changed (in general, assume a more open and liberal current viewpoint). A fuller disclaimer is available.

After far too much controversy — which is, unfortunately, far from finished — Gene Robinson was consecrated as Bishop on Sunday. It sounds like, while there were objections raised and protests held near the site of the consecration, overall it went pleasantly and without any undue problems.

After the objections were raised, [Presiding Bishop Frank T.] Griswold thanked attendees “for bringing their concerns before us.” But he also seemed to make a case for unity when he related a story of a primate who told him that “the Holy Spirit can do different things in different places,” adding, “That is precisely what we are doing here.”

Robinson received a more effusive endorsement from the Rev. Douglas Theuner, who he is replacing. Concluding a humorous and wide-ranging address that lightened the mood in the arena, Theuner told Robinson that his consecration is not the defining battle in the history of the church that some have made it out to be.

“When a young man unsure of his sexual orientation reads ‘The Episcopal Church Welcomes You’ on a sign outside the church and enters that church, that’s a defining moment in Christian life,” he said.

Many congratulations and best wishes go out to Bishop Robinson.

5 thoughts on “Congratulations, Bishop Robinson”

  1. 11-01-2003

    Amid cheers and protests, Robinson consecrated in Diocese of New Hampshire

    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.

  2. ACNS 3659 | USA | 3 NOVEMBER 2003

    Mixed feelings as first openly gay Anglican bishop is consecrated

    Over 3,000 people, including 54 bishops and ecumenical guests, gathered
    today at the Whittemore Center – part of the University of New Hampshire,
    Durham – to celebrate one of the most controversial and momentous occasions
    in the history of the Anglican Communion.

    The Rt Revd V Gene Robinson, an openly gay man, was consecrated as
    Bishop-coadjutor of New Hampshire this afternoon in a three-hour long
    ceremony that involved choirs, bell ringers, brass bands and thunderous
    applause, but also heard the witness of some Episcopalians who were not so
    happy with the first openly gay bishop to be consecrated in the Anglican
    Communion.

    There is always a point during a consecration service when people are asked
    whether they know of any just reasons why the person should not become a
    bishop. Before any objections were raised the Presiding Bishop of the
    Episcopal Church, USA (ECUSA), reminded everybody that “the people who are
    to speak are our brothers and sisters in Christ and there should be no
    public responses voiced from the congregation”.

    One of the objections was read by Meredith Harwood, a parishioner of St
    Mark’s Episcopal Church, Ashland, NH. “To press forward with this
    consecration will be to turn our backs on Almighty God,” she said. “This is
    the defiant and divisive act of a deaf church…. 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.” She concluded her speech
    by saying, “We must not proceed with this terrible and unbiblical mistake
    which will not only rupture the Anglican Communion, it will break God’s
    heart.”

    The Rt Revd David Bena, Bishop Suffragan of the Diocese of Albany, read a
    statement that endorsed the “assessment of the Primates of the Anglican
    Communion”. Part of the statement, which was signed by 38 bishops from the
    Episcopal Church, said, “All Christians, and bishops in particular, are
    called to guard the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of
    God… It is impossible to affirm a candidate for bishop and symbol of unity
    whose very consecration is dividing the whole Anglican Communion.”

    After the pronouncements had been raised, Bishop Griswold said that, as
    there were no objections other than those which had already been debated
    extensively at General Convention and at other times, the consecration would
    proceed. He added that “one of the African Primates at the meeting in
    Lambeth Palace [two weeks ago] had said that the Holy Spirit can be doing
    different things in different places and I think that’s precisely what we
    are doing here.”

    During the sermon the Rt Revd Douglas Theuner, VIII Bishop of New Hampshire,
    expressed his confidence in Gene Robinson’s consecration to the episcopate
    saying, “Because of who you are Gene, you will stand as a symbol of the
    Church like none of the rest of us can. Because of your presence, the
    episcopate will be more of a symbol of unity than it ever has been.”

    Bishop Theuner continued by describing what he called “defining moments” in
    the Christian life. “When an abused woman attends a bible study in a local
    church and feels enough love and support there to realise that she is a
    child of God filled with worth and value…that’s a defining moment in
    Christian life. When a young man unsure of his sexual orientations reads
    ‘The Episcopal Church welcomes you’ on a sign outside a church and enters
    that church and finds out through the love and acceptance of its members
    that the church really means what the sign says, that’s a defining moment in
    the Christian life.”

    It is biblical interpretation that is the driving force behind the entire
    altercation regarding human sexuality, and the conservative debate is
    grounded firmly in the belief that the Bible is clear on homosexual
    practice, not to be altered or interpreted in light of cultural
    developments. Many societies in the West are coming to terms (however
    uneasily) with the presence and participation of homosexual people in the
    church and in society but countries in the southern hemisphere are far more
    uncomfortable with the matter.

    Questioned by an interested news editor, the Sub-Dean of the Anglican
    Cathedral in Harare said, “It is the Bible that decides on the way forward
    because it is the final authority or reference point on this matter. Bishop
    Robinson must be expelled from the Church and no Anglican must pull out of
    the Church in protest.”

    The American Anglican Council issued a strong statement shortly after the
    consecration asking for people to redirect their financial giving “to
    ministries or organizations that call Jesus Lord”. The statement also
    included such lines as “Heresy has been held up as Holy” and “Blasphemy has
    been redefined as blessing”.

    On the other side of the dispute the Revd Colin Coward, Director of Changing
    Attitude – a national organisation of Bishops, Priests and Lay People in the
    Church of England calling for the full participation of lesbian and gay
    people in the Anglican Communion – said that “Gene Robinson’s ministry will
    inspire lesbian, gay, bisexual and heterosexual Christians with new
    confidence that we have a full place at the communion table of our Lord. The
    highest offices of the church can be open to lesbian and gay people without
    pretence.” He added that “a new honesty is present, undermining the secrecy
    of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policies and the fear of discovery and abuse
    which many lesbian and gay Christians live with.”

    Outside the hall protestors gathered from both sides of the issue. One
    person told ACNS that “Gene Robinson is living his life in defiance of the
    Lord God almighty”. Marshall Greenleaf, a student from the University of New
    Hampshire, said that he felt it was about time that people came together and
    accepted one another.

    The Revd Richard Kirker, General Secretary of the Lesbian and Gay Christian
    Movement, said, “Despite all the furious debate this ordination has stirred,
    what strikes me as I speak to people here, is the admiration and love felt
    by all who know Gene Robinson. Even those who are troubled by his sexuality
    are full of praise for him as a Man of God, pastor and teacher.”

    He added, “We Christians have so much to unite and inspire us, let us seize
    the moment and let our love for each other triumph over our divisions.”

    Bishop Robinson told the congregation this afternoon that, although he felt
    deeply honoured, he urged compassion towards church members angered and
    upset by his consecration.

    “Our God will be served if we are hospitable and loving and caring towards
    them,” he said, fighting back the tears. “If they must leave, they will
    always be welcomed back into our fellowship.”

    [Photographs to accompany this article are available from
    http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/articles/36/50/acns3659.html.%5D

  3. Should a bishop who cheated on his wife and is living unmarried with someone be leading his flock?

    I guess that would depend on whether you believe in the ability to ask for forgiveness and the ability to be forgiven. Of all of the arguments for a marrage annullment (Yes, I have family members with letters of legitimacy from the pope.), “Societal pressure forced me into a situation that wasn’t a real marrage.” is a pretty good one, and being unmarried is an enforcement of secular law, not his choice, I’m certain.

    I say congratulations, Bishop Robinson.

  4. At this point, it doesn’t matter one bit whether the flock or America in general is homophobic. What does matter is that he is/was an important leader who has/had an impact on people’s lives and choices. Religious leaders will always have a responsibility to uphold what they speak of. If the religion he follows thinks being gay is an abomination, that was probably established a long time ago. To become a major leader of a religion then claim gayness and put a religion in crisis and not be willing to back off…that’s very selfish, in my opinion. He’s not trying to teach a lesson in scripture. How many fundamental christian bible stories do you know that support the gay lifestyle? There are none. The fact is, he’s gay and now in a position of power to fight for what he thinks is right but is ultimately wrong (as far as the bible goes). There’s nothing wrong with him being opinionated…thtat’s every person’s right, but being opinionated to the point of brushing aside a doctrine that was established since the beginning of time…that’s a bit arrogant and self-serving. If he were breaking any new ground or showing the world his goodness or a new side of being a bishop while supporting the church as a whole, I’d support him, but he is treading dangerous ground and won’t budge, just because he wants to be a bishop AND be gay.

    I hope the church splits, as he’s tainted it quite a bit, IMO.

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