[Mary] Glasspool, canon to the bishops of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, was elected bishop suffragan of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles on Saturday. The Annapolis resident is to be installed in May, pending the consent of the bishops and standing committees of the 108 other Episcopal dioceses of the United States.
In a release, Bishop of Los Angeles J. Jon Bruno said the denial of consent “would be a violation of the canons of this church. At our last General Convention, we said we are nondiscriminatory.”
Bruno, whom Glasspool would assist as bishop suffragan, acknowledged rumors of a concerted effort not to give consent over her sexuality. Glasspool has been in a committed relationship with her partner for two decades.
“I would remind the Episcopal church and the House of Bishops they need to be conscientious about respecting the canons of the church and the baptismal covenant to respect the dignity of every human being,” Bruno said. “To not consent in this country out of fear of the reaction elsewhere in the Anglican Communion is to capitulate to titular heads.”
OK So now it is being said that: “[i]not to give consent to this election is a violation of the canons.[/i]”
So a person — let’s say a bishop — whose conscience does not permit giving consent to this election, is nonetheless being bullied into going against his/her conscience based on this interpretation of the canons.
Does this now finally put such a bishop in the position of seeing that continued membership in TEC is untenable?
Or do we just draw another erasable line in the sand?
Oh, BTW Jon, I wasn’t baptized using the words of the TEC ‘baptismal covenant’ so that particular contract doesn’t apply to me.
Actually, it’s precisely because we respect the dignity of every human being that orthodox folks have to say no.
Bishop Bruno should look in a mirror before he decides to accuse anyone of not obeying his Church’s canons!