Gay Cleric Elevated To Bishop

(AP)  The Episcopal Church became the first major Christian denomination to make an openly gay man a bishop, consecrating V. Gene Robinson on Sunday as bishop of New Hampshire. The act almost certainly means disgruntled conservatives will break from the church.

Robinson, 56, became a bishop when the 55 other bishops attending his consecration surrounded him for the laying on of hands.

The historic moment came more than an hour into the ceremony and after two Episcopal clerics took advantage of the traditional opportunity to object.

Conservatives have made moves to split the church over Robinson and leaders of the global Anglican Communion have said his consecration puts their worldwide association, with 77 million members, in jeopardy.

Assistant Bishop David Bena of Albany, New York, spoke for 36 opposing bishops in the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada. They said they and most bishops in the international Anglican Communion will not recognize Robinson as a fellow bishop.

Reading from a statement, Bena said Robinson's "'chosen lifestyle' is incompatible with Scripture and the teaching of this church."

Bena spoke after Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold asked if there was "any reason why we should not proceed," a traditional part of Episcopal consecration services.

The Rev. Earle Fox from the Pittsburgh Diocese also objected. But when he began citing specifics of same-sex behavior, Griswold politely cut him off, saying "please spare us the details and come to the substance."

In all, the objections took about 10 minutes.

The consecration was held before an audience of about 4,000 at a University of New Hampshire sports arena. Outside, a handful of anti- and pro-gay demonstrators were kept apart by police. Armed officers also stood on the roof.

Dissenting traditionalists held a competing Communion service at a nearby church.

The consecration sermon by New Hampshire's retiring Bishop Douglas Theuner was interrupted twice by vigorous applause as he defended Robinson's gay commitment against detractors.

Theuner said Robinson "will stand as a symbol of the unity of the church in a way none of the rest of us can" because he will "bring into our fellowship an entire group of Christians hitherto unacknowledged in the church."

Though there have been gay bishops in the past, all were closeted when they were elevated to their posts. Robinson has been open about his 14-year relationship with his partner throughout the process in which he won election to the new post.

The title conferred on Robinson, a longtime assistant to New Hampshire Bishop Douglas Theuner, is "bishop coadjutor," meaning he automatically becomes head of the diocese when Theuner retires March 7.

A national association for conservatives opposed to ordaining gays, the American Anglican Council, says parishioners already were drifting away in protest of Robinson's elevation. It plans to hold the denomination's conservative flank together by building a network of "confessing" dioceses and congregations.

The network will exist more or less separately from the national denomination, claiming to preserve the traditional beliefs of the Episcopal Church and the international Anglican Communion of which it's a part.

Some predict this will develop into the worst Episcopal split since the denomination was founded in 1789. And depending on the shape things take, a spate of church lawsuits may well result.

But Griswold, the leader of the 2.3 million-member U.S. denomination, has downplayed the negative fallout. He said two weeks ago that members who oppose Robinson's elevation "for the greatest part ... are committed to remaining within the Episcopal Church" and living with "divergent points of view."

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, Anglicanism's spiritual leader, said Saturday that he believes divisions within the worldwide Anglican Communion over Robinson's selection will eventually heal.

"And one day we shall be led, in both thankfulness and repentance, to share with one another what we have learned apart, to bring to one another a history not without its shadows and stresses, but still one in which something quite distinctive has been learned," Williams said in London.

The 37 top bishops of the world's Anglicans met last month to affirm the faith's opposition to gay clergy and same-sex behavior. They also warned that churches in many nations would refuse to recognize Robinson as a bishop and would suspend ties with the Episcopal Church.