Election of lesbian bishop ‘is very serious’, says Dr Rowan Williams
Election of lesbian bishop 'is very serious', says Dr Rowan Williams
Ruth Gledhill, Times Religion Correspondent
The Archbishop of Canterbury warned today that the election of a lesbian bishop in the United States raises "very serious questions" for the entire Anglican church.
Dr Rowan Williams added that the choice of Canon Mary Glasspool, who has lived with a woman partner since 1988, to be a suffragan in Los Angeles, had "important implications".
The fragile unity of the church will be further imperilled by Canon Glasspool's election – the second of an openly gay bishop in the US Episcopal Church.
It confirmed fears among evangelicals in the 70-million strong Anglican Communion that crucial votes at last summer's General Convention of the Episcopal Church had in effect ended the moratorium on gay bishops.
The Archbishop of Canterbury and a majority of the other 38 Anglican primates had requested a moratorium on gay bishops and same-sex blessings in an attempt to prevent the Communion from splitting between evangelicals and liberals.
The Rev Rod Thomas, of the conservative evangelical group Reform, said he was "deeply ashamed" that Canon Glasspool, 55, who has lived with her partner Becki Sander since 1988, hads been elected as assistant bishop in the diocese of Los Angeles.
He said that a schism was "absolutely inevitable".
Kendall Harmon, of the conservative diocese of South Carolina, said that the election of Canon Glasspool was damaging. “This decision represents an intransigent embrace of a pattern of life Christians throughout history and the world have rejected as against biblical teaching.”
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