MINNEAPOLIS — A New Hampshire priest who survived 11th-hour allegations of sexual misconduct and pornography was approved Aug. 5 as the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal church. The 62–43 vote by the church’s House of Bishops sets the stage for a possible schism with conservatives, who repeatedly warned that Robinson’s election will split the U.S. church and the wider Anglican Communion. Immediately following the vote, more than a dozen conservative bishops walked out of the meeting, appealing to overseas bishops to “intervene in the pastoral emergency that has overtaken us.”
“This body, willfully confirming the election of a person sexually active outside of holy matrimony, has departed from the historic faith and order of the church of Jesus Christ,” Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh said on behalf of the dissenting bishops.
Robinson, 56, was cleared after a 24-hour investigation into last-minute accusations he sexually harassed a Vermont man at a church meeting in 1999.
Conservatives said the church had severed itself from Christian tradition and Scripture by voting in favor of Robinson, a divorced father of two who has been living with his partner, Mark Andrew, for 13 years. (TAB)
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