The first bishop married his gay partner in New Hampshire this weekend. The second bishop will be settling into a new house with his wife in a New Jersey suburb, chosen so that he can shuttle more easily between conservative churches opposed to the first one’s theology and lifestyle.
Bishop V. Gene Robinson of the Episcopal Church USA and Bishop Martyn Minns of the Anglican Church of Nigeria are the twin bookends of the current struggle within the worldwide Anglican Communion. Fallen bookends, one might add, insofar as they are the only two Anglican bishops so far to be dis-invited from the Communion’s once-a-decade Lambeth Conference this July by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams.
The tall, British-born Minns, 65, got the boot because he led a batch of U.S. Episcopal congregations, including the one where he was church rector, out of Episcopalianism and into the authority of the Anglican archdiocese of Nigeria ”” primarily out of dismay that Episcopalianism had elected the openly-gay Robinson to be the bishop of New Hampshire. And Robinson, 61, a chatty, gray-haired Kentuckian who once said he looked forward to being a “June bride,” was blackballed from Lambeth, (which will convene in Canterbury), because Williams felt that the Episcopal church in the U.S. had made him a bishop in the teeth of advice by the Anglican leadership not to engage in such a divisive move.
So where does that leave the two antagonists this summer? In each case, the present is about family and the near future about religious politicking. Robinson got hitched Saturday to his partner of 20 years, Mark Andrew, at St. Paul’s Episcopal church in Concord, N.H. in a civil union presided over by a justice of the peace, according to the Concord Monitor. In a recent essay he says he regretted the June bride remark, noting that he should have made a more sober statement about the longing of gays and lesbians to celebrate their own “faithful, monogamous, lifelong-intentioned, holy vows,” the kind of sentiment he also expressed in his recent book In the Eye of the Storm: Pulled to the Center by God.
Minns, meanwhile, is spending his weekend in Morristown, N.J, where he moved last month.
The article strikes me as glib, shallow, very New York City…putting an instant price tag on on things. Hey, at least our cause got a mention.
And has anyone ever said Gene Robinson wears horns and a dress?
This is like a conservative saying they want liberals to see that they don’t behead their children for untruthfulness or keep their wives barefoot and shackled to the bedstead. Ain’t no one sayin’ that, so are you just trying to imply that your counterparts are silly & ignernt?
Not conducive to dialogue, dude.
What is even worse than the shallowness and blatant liberal bias is that this journalist doesn’t even get the FACTS right. A glaring example of such an error is found in the second paragraph cited, where Gene Robinson and +Minns are said to be the only two bishops disinvited from Lambeth. Tell that to +Cavalcanti of Recife, or to +Atwood, or +Guernsey etc. And it overlooks the case of Zimbabwe’s scandalous and disgraced (and now ex-communicated) Bishop of Harare, Nolbert Kunonga, the ecclesial chum of its notorious dictator, Mugabe.
I agree with the commenters above. This is a pathetic and disappointing article. It smacks more of being an editorial column than it rsembles fair reporting. But then again, it’s not the first time this sort of journalistic travesty has taken place in the liberal “mainstream” media coverage of this wearisome dispute. And unfortunately, it certainy won’t be the last.
David Handy+
[blockquote]”…faithful, monogamous, lifelong-intentioned, holy vows…”[/blockquote]
There’s nothing holy about the “vows” that were made on Sat., but they were when he made them to his wife, the mother of his chldren, the grandmother of his grandchildren.
[blockquote]In each case, the present is about family…[/blockquote]
Excuse me???? What family is Gene Robinson & Mark Andrew going to have? The LBGT activist family?
Someone help me with that line.
Morristown? That’s incredibly symbolic. I wonder if he appreciates just how appropriate that is.
When I saw the phrase “Episcopalianism had elected” I instantly knew this was not penned by someone with a thorough knowledge of the situation, or of us. It’s appropriate in a way, TEC used to be a part of Anglicanism, now it’s becoming an “ism” all its own.
#5 Alta Californian, what is the significance of Morristown, please? I know that Agnes Sanford lived there for a time, and was wondering if there is a connection with her.
At least he got this one right:
[blockquote] Although the event has long been heralded as the potential Armageddon where opposing bishops could finally duke out a position on sexuality and biblical fidelity, Lambeth’s planners intentionally left out any opportunity to produce a concluding statement, [i] apparently turning the meeting into a toothless series of conversations. [/i]
[/blockquote]
Morristown is where the Bishop of the Diocese of Newark hangs out. Also home of “Mother Elizabeth Keaton”. The Diocese of Newark, from the days of Jack Spong, has affectionately been known among reasserters as the “Diocese of Darkness.” It was, on the other hand, also the main base for George Washington and the Continental Army for most of the Revolutionary War. Lots of symbolism here to mull over!
Thank you Chris Taylor. Much symbolism indeed! My imagination fills with images of light invading darkness …