 February 2004
American Friends Service Committee Peacework Magazine Sara Burke, Managing Editor Sam Diener, Editor Pat Farren, Founding Editor 2161 Massachusetts Ave. Telephone number: Fax number:
pwork@igc.org Peacework has been published monthly since 1972, intended to serve as a source of dependable information to those who strive for peace and justice and are committed to furthering the nonviolent social change necessary to achieve them. Rooted in Quaker values and informed by AFSC experience and initiatives, Peacework offers a forum for organizers, fostering coalition-building and teaching the methods and strategies that work in the global and local community. Peacework seeks to serve as an incubator for social transformation, introducing a younger generation to a deeper analysis of problems and issues, reminding and re-inspiring long-term activists, encouraging the generations to listen to each other, and creating space for the voices of the disenfranchised. Views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of the AFSC. |
The Ordination of a Gay Bishop Robert Dove is Office Manager at the American Friends Service Committee’s New England Regional Office.
At four o’clock on a gray, slightly wet afternoon, November 2, 2003, on the day in the liturgical calendar called All Saints Sunday, the Reverend Canon V. Gene Robinson was ordained a bishop in the Episcopal Church of the United States. Gene Robinson is an openly gay man who has lived with his partner for over 13 years. There are other gay bishops, but Robinson is the first to be honest about it. The AFSC in New Hampshire and the UNH Campus Ministry provided training and coordination for about 75 peacekeepers for the event. Our role was to be a calming presence, supporting an atmosphere of respect. Some 3,000 people attended, including 45 bishops and hundreds of clergy, from New Hampshire itself and from around the world. The only space large enough to hold the throngs who wished to attend was a hockey arena at the University of New Hampshire. On the walkway to the entrance of the arena, behind some orange plastic fencing, stood about ten people from the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas, holding various multi-colored fluorescent signs, including, "God hates fags." A larger group of counter-demonstrators assembled on the other side of the walkway, also behind orange plastic fencing. They carried signs such as, "God loves everyone." Many wore t-shirts proclaiming: "Gay? Fine with me" (the slogan of an anti-bigotry initiative begun at Duke University, www.finebyme.org). The presentations and testimonials had a Quaker flavor to them; they were basically resolutions and minutes which assured us that everything had been done according to the rules and procedures established by the Church. The entire event was translated into American Sign Language. The seven consecrating bishops signed the documents and the Presiding Bishop asked if there were objections to the ordination. Ordinarily, there aren’t any. Today was different, and everyone in the arena knew it. Fourteen years ago, some people threatened to split from the church when Barbara Harris was ordained as the first female Episcopal bishop, claiming it violated tradition. Some of the same people object to Gene Robinson, claiming that his unashamed homosexuality disregards the commands of Scripture. The objectors repeatedly referred to him as a "practicing homosexual," though heterosexual people are seldom called "practicing heterosexuals." The Presiding Bishop thanked the objectors, reminded us to listen to these objections with respect and love, noted that the issues they raised had been discussed at length in various gatherings, and then asked the whole assembly, "Is it your will that we ordain Gene a bishop?" To which there was a thunderous "Yes." Lengthy prayers were followed by readings from Scripture. The first, "from Hebrew Scriptures" was read first in Hebrew then in English. This was followed by a lesson "from Christian Scriptures" and "the Gospel." The sermon was given by the present bishop of New Hampshire, Douglas Theuner, whom Gene Robinson will succeed this spring. He began by saying that in preparation for this sermon he had reread all four gospels. He spoke of how Jesus’ entire ministry and message was to bring the marginalized and the outcast into the center. Jesus spent virtually all of his time with the outcast. When the marginalized come into the center, the center has to get bigger. And the people who are already in the center usually don’t like the change. Expanding on the Presiding Bishop’s remarks and the sermon of the bishop of New Hampshire, Gene Robinson implored us to do everything in our power, everything imaginable, to reach out with love and understanding to the people who objected to his ordination. Indeed, he told us that if we could do that, then truly this would be the work of God. The ongoing controversy surrounding Robinson’s ordination highlights the tenaciousness of patriarchy and heterosexism both inside and outside major religious institutions. Yet the dignity and beauty of the ordination itself underlined the power of love, spiritual inclusiveness, and liberation. 
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