Gay Bishop Says "I Am Not An Abomination Before God"
(The Lord in Leviticus 18:22 said, "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is an abomination.")"An Impossible Moment"COLUMBUS, OH, 6/14/06--The breadth of the chasm over homosexuality in the U.S. Episcopal Church (ECUSA) was on full display here Wednesday evening, at a General Convention legislative committee hearing that filled a 1,500-seat hotel ballroom and overflowed into the hall outside.
During a two-and-a-half hour meeting that heard comments from nearly 70 bishops, deputies and others - including the Archbishop of York, a guest at the convention - it became painfully clear how difficult it will be for the convention to find agreement on legislation that could determine whether ECUSA remains part of the "official" Anglican fold.
"I think we've reached an impossible moment in holding it together," said Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan, Moderator of the conservative Anglican Communion Network. Duncan cited Dr. N.T. Wright, the Church of England's Bishop of Durham, who called on ECUSA in an essay published Wednesday to repent or face the alienation of the Anglican Communion. Wright was a member of the panel that produced the 2004 Windsor Report, which recommended steps for ECUSA to take help repair damage to Anglican relationships caused by its 2003 approval of actively gay bishop V. Gene Robinson and same-sex blessings.
Robinson himself told the hearing, "It seems to me that this debate is about one thing: do we recognize the mark of Christ and the Creator in the faces of the people of this communion?...Do we see Christ and are we courageous enough to acknowledge Christ in the lives and relationships of our gay and lesbian neighbors?... "Our homosexual agenda is Jesus Christ. By the living Christ who has acted in my life I am convinced that I am not an abomination in the eyes of God...Let us say our prayers and stand up for right."
Meanwhile, another voice from England cheered on efforts of liberals in ECUSA. The Rev. Colin Coward, a homosexual activist in the Church of England, told the Special Committee, "ECUSA has worked diligently at the listening process and the rest of the communion has done almost nothing." Coward labeled the global Lambeth Convention of 1998, which declared homosexuality incompatible with the Bible, "dysfunctional."
Left-wing clergy and laymen took to the floor to proclaim the need for public and pastoral recognition of homosexual unions. One priest said, "These blessings are not officially authorized, however they are not private or hidden or veiled." A homosexual wedding ceremony, he added, is "not just a pastoral act but an evangelical act and a beautiful act."
FULL STORY at