Split looms over gay US bishop

By ROBERT VERKAIK

The leaders of an American church who appointed a gay bishop last year have rejected a call to halt the promotion of homosexual priests.

Frank Griswold, the presiding Bishop and Primate of the United States Episcopal Church, said yesterday that his church was seeking to live the gospel "in a society where homosexuality is openly discussed and increasingly acknowledged".

Yesterday, Church of England leaders in London demanded an apology from the Episcopal Church - the US version of Anglicanism - for the consequences of appointing Canon Gene Robinson, which they said had caused "deep offence" to Anglicans.

In an attempt to find a way through what many Anglicans believe is a theological impasse, Robin Eames, the Archbishop of Armagh, has called for the beginning of a process of reconciliation.

The alternative could be an irrevocable split in the church, says a study carried out by the Lambeth Commission, set up by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, and led by Eames.


Fifty American bishops attended the consecration of Canon Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire last year, causing outrage among the traditional sections of the church.

Griswold, writing on behalf of his congregation, said in an open letter: "We regret how difficult and painful actions of our church have been in many provinces of our communion, and the negative repercussions that have been felt by brother and sister Anglicans."

But he added: "Other provinces are also blessed by the lives and ministry of homosexual persons.

"I regret that there are places within our communion where it is unsafe for them to speak out of the truth of who they are."

The Lambeth Commission, established last year after Robinson's appointment, urged conservatives and liberals to use their faith to find agreement over the issue of gays within the church.

If they failed, it said, the world's 76 million Anglicans would fracture into a collection of disparate churches.

Many conservative clergy believe the Bible explicitly condemns homosexuality, and African church leaders say it is a strong cultural taboo in many areas on their continent.

Yesterday, Anglican leaders were deliberately critical of the American and Canadian churches for promoting gay priests and conducting gay marriages without a proper consensus from the rest of the communion.

The Lambeth report also invited the Episcopal Church to call a moratorium on promoting any other person living in a same-sex union to be a bishop "until some new consensus in the Anglican Communion emerges".

And it demanded an explanation from the Episcopal Church as to "how a person living in a same-gender union may be considered eligible to lead the flock of Christ".

The commission asked that this explanation be backed up by passages from scripture.

But Eames and his 16 fellow bishops also criticised the "demonising" of homosexuality.

"Any demonising of homosexual persons, or their ill-treatment, is totally against Christian charity and basic principles of pastoral care," said their report.

Griswold said he noted that the emphasis should be on future conciliation, but this did not mean the process should end in one point of view.

A spokesman for Robinson said the bishop would not comment until he and an executive committee of the Diocese of New Hampshire had a chance to read the full report.

- INDEPENDENT