Calif. Episcopalians
May Elect Gay Bishop
By AP from the
NYTimes on the Web, May 3, 2006
SAN FRANCISCO -- What's left
of unity in the Episcopal Church is at stake heading into a weekend election for
bishop of California that sets up a major clash over gays' role in the church.
Three of the seven candidates are openly gay, and choosing one of them to head
the Diocese of California would further alienate Episcopal conservatives already
feeling betrayed that the church approved a gay bishop three years ago. It
could also fracture the strained relationship between America's 2.3 million
Episcopalians and their parent body, the worldwide Anglican Communion.
A vote against a gay bishop would likely preserve the fragile truce.
The Rev. Paul Zahl, dean of the conservative Trinity Episcopal School for
Ministry in Ambridge, Pa., likened the election of a gay bishop in California to
''a terrorist bomb, which is timed to destroy a peace process.''
Anglicanism, which includes the U.S. Episcopal Church among its 77 million
followers in 164 countries, has been torn over the issue of gay clergy for
years.
In 2003, New Hampshire Episcopalians elected the Rev. V. Gene Robinson, who has
a longtime male partner, as their bishop. A year later, an international
Anglican panel asked U.S. dioceses to stop installing bishops in same-sex
relationships for now, and requested that the Episcopal Church show ''regret''
for the turmoil its actions had caused.
On Saturday, about 700 priests and lay people will gather for a special diocesan
convention at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco to elect a new bishop to replace
the retiring Rev. William Swing.
Among the candidates they'll consider will be two gay men -- the Rev. Canon
Michael Barlowe of San Francisco, and the Very Rev. Robert Taylor of Seattle --
and a lesbian, the Rev. Bonnie Perry of Chicago. All three live openly
with same-sex partners.
The four other candidates are: the Rt. Rev. Mark Handley Andrus of
Birmingham, Ala.; the Rev. Jane Gould of Lynn, Mass.; the Rev. Donald Schell of
San Francisco; and Canon Eugene Taylor Sutton of Washington National Cathedral.
The delegates know their actions will be closely watched by Anglicans around the
world. But conservative Canon Bill Atwood of the Ekklesia Society, an
Episcopal aid network based in Carrollton, Texas, predicts the Californians will
''totally ignore the consequences'' of their actions.
''I don't think there's any question they'll be compelled to elect a partnered
gay,'' Atwood said. ''I think they've got a mistaken understanding of
issues of justice. Huge portions of the Episcopal Church are theologically
adrift.
''I'm not saying there isn't religion, but it's not the historic Christian
faith.''
But the Rev. Susan Russell of Integrity, the national gay and lesbian Episcopal
caucus, said the Diocese of California has no obligation to elect a heterosexual
as the Communion struggles to remain unified. She argued that a ''radical
conservative fringe'' within Anglicanism is determined to bring about a split no
matter what concessions the American church makes.
''For any elector to allow the current political climate in the global church to
hamstring the Holy Spirit would be working against who we are when we're at our
best as a church,'' Russell said.
The seven nominees spent much of April touring churches and meeting
parishioners. They were asked not to give any interviews in the week
before the election.
On Saturday, delegates will cast their ballots until one of the candidates gets
a simple majority of the votes. If no winner is declared, voting will
continue the following Saturday, May 13.
The winner cannot be consecrated without approval from the Episcopal church's
legislative body, the General Convention, which meets in June.
The Convention has a long history of deferring to dioceses' choice of
leadership, but the head of the denomination -- Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold
-- warned last month it would create ''definite difficulty'' between
Episcopalians and the rest of the Anglican Communion if California elects the
church's second openly gay bishop.
The Communion lacks an authoritative leader, someone who functions as the pope
does for Roman Catholics, for example. Each province within the Anglican
Communion can make its own decisions and Griswold, whose term ends later this
year, has repeatedly expressed the desire to remain part of the Communion.
An Episcopal panel studying the issue proposed last month that dioceses use
''very considerable caution'' in electing bishops with same-sex partners, but it
stopped short of a moratorium. That recommendation is among several the
General Convention will consider at its meeting June 13-21 in Columbus, Ohio.
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