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Religion

Episcopalians seek peace amid din over gay clergy

Leaders with different views about gay clergy attend a conference, where all agree on the mission of the church.

By WAVENEY ANN MOORE
Published January 16, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG - The point was clear to the dozens of Episcopalians who had gathered for a conference at St. Peter's Cathedral:

Though dissension has roiled the denomination for almost two years, it's now time to unite in a common mission of charity, hospitality and prayer.

A music-filled Celtic Eucharist, in the tradition of the ecumenical Iona Community of Scotland, helped set the conciliatory mood.

During the course of the weekend, the theme was to be reinforced by Bishop John B. Lipscomb, head of the Diocese of Southwest Florida, and expanded upon by keynote speaker Diana Butler Bass.

It might have been a fragile peace, however, set as it was amid ongoing turmoil and uncertainity in the 2.4-million member Episcopal Church. Lipscomb, who told those gathered he was pleased to have been invited, has different views about gay clergy from the weekend's main speaker and Via Media, the Episcopal group that sponsored the event with St. Peter's.

Butler Bass, senior research fellow in church history at Virginia Theological Seminary, was glad Lipscomb was there. "He came. He clearly blessed the event," she said. "There we were, in the same room, and clearly agreeing on the mission of the church."

The weekend gathering came just days before Lipscomb traveled to Salt Lake City to meet with other Episcopal bishops about the Windsor Report, a document issued by the 77-million-member worldwide Anglican Communion, of which the Episcopal Church is a part.

The report, which addressed the Episcopal Church's 2003 consecration of an openly gay bishop, told the American church to apologize for its actions, not to elect any more gay bishops and to stop blessing same-sex unions.

In a statement Thursday, Episcopal bishops expressed their "sincere regret for the pain, the hurt and the damage caused to our Anglican bonds of affection by certain actions of our church." The statement said nothing about imposing the requested moratoriums.

Passions have run high over the consecration of the Rev. V. Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire. Some who oppose Robinson's elevation have united under the banner of the Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes. On the other side of the issue is Via Media, which is pushing for a more inclusive and hospitable church, and whose local chapter sponsored the St. Peter's gathering.

It was against this background that Butler Bass offered her message of hope. She said society is undergoing a massive change, becoming more global and less "the ordered village" of the 1950s and mid '60s, when "everybody knew what was expected of them and had a role and a place."

Such upheaval frightens people, she said in an interview.

"I think some of the conflicts and divisions come when we misdirect that anxiety. So we blame our neighbors, the new minister, gay marriage. It's not really the election of Gene Robinson, the bishop who is gay, that is causing our problem," she said.

"The whole world is changing around us, and we have to figure how our religion fits into it."

Butler Bass says polarizing issues will become less important as church members concentrate on being Christians together - praying, being charitable and welcoming strangers into their midst.

"The more we pay attention to Christian practice, the less we'll be fighting about divisive national issues," said Butler Bass, author of The Practicing Congregation: Imagining a New Old Church.

A friend of Robinson's, she said that many bishops were caught off guard by the opposition to his election. Many dioceses, particularly in big cities in the Northeast, West and upper Midwest, have openly gay and lesbian clergy, she said.

"I suspect that our clergy ratio is about 5 percent" homosexual, and most live moral lives, she said. "All the gay and lesbian clergy I know, when they date, are dating within the parameters that match their vows."

She said she knows that Robinson's consecration has been painful for many in the church, though.

"I'm not hardened to the pain of change and the fear of change," she said, adding that although some people might break away from the Episcopal Church, they will tend to be extremists. The more moderate will continue to talk, she said.

Indeed, at last weekend's conference, two priests on opposite sides of the issue collaborated to discuss the Windsor Report. Both are members of the diocese's committee on conversation and reconciliation.

The Rev. John S. Adler, pastor of Iona-Hope Episcopal Church in Fort Myers, belongs to Via Media and its steering committee. Fredrick A. Robinson, rector of Church of the Redeemer in Sarasota, belongs to the Anglican Network.

Fredrick Robinson said he thinks everyone should be welcome in the church, but that special care should be taken when choosing its leaders. "We need to be very careful that their lifestyle is consistent with Christian teaching. . . . A person living in a sexual relationship outside the bonds of marriage is clearly not living according to Christian moral principles," he said.

"So while I believe that homosexual persons need to be welcomed and are full members of the church, just like heterosexuals, both heterosexuals and homosexuals who are not living according to the moral standards of the church should not be put into leadership positions."

Despite their different views, Fredrick Robinson and Adler are friends. Last week's conference at St. Peter's was important, Adler said.

"I saw it as an opportunity for people to come together and to really spend some time really thinking of going forward together, ways of thinking how we can do things together . . . to find a place to stand together, rather than gripe and complain and grouse."

[Last modified January 16, 2005, 00:33:22]