COLUMBUS, Ohio — As the conflict over homosexuality in the Episcopal Church boiled to the surface during its national convention June 13–21 in Columbus, Ohio, the lesbian dean of Cleveland’s Trinity Cathedral said she has withdrawn her name from consideration to become a bishop.
A search committee in the diocese of Newark, N.J., notified Dean Tracey Lind earlier that she and others would be scrutinized and interviewed for the job.
While the dispute over gays’ and lesbians’ roles in the church seemed to dominate this convention, Lind said that her decision to withdraw from consideration for bishop “doesn’t have to do with my sexuality; it’s a matter of my calling. I believe God wants me to remain at Trinity and serve my congregation there.”
Currently only one Episcopal bishop — V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire — is openly gay, but there is wide speculation that the Newark diocese could elect the church’s second openly gay bishop later this year.
Meanwhile a denominational committee at the convention proposed that the church name no more bishops from among its gay and lesbian clergy for the time being, in deference to the wishes of conservative Episcopalians and the worldwide Anglican Communion, of which the Episcopal Church is a part.
Robinson joined two national gay-rights advocates in urging the convention to reject any moratorium aimed at mollifying the Anglican Communion.
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