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The Anglican Communion is an international association of national and regional Anglican churches (and a few other episcopal churches) in full communion with the Church of England (which is regarded as the mother church of the worldwide communion^[1]) and specifically with its principal primate, the Archbishop of Canterbury.^[2] There is no single "Anglican Church" with universal juridical authority as each national or regional church has full autonomy.

The status of full communion means, ideally, that there is mutual agreement on essential doctrines and that full participation in the sacramental life of each church is available to all communicant Anglicans.

With a membership currently estimated at 80 million members worldwide,^[3] the Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion in the world, after the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Churches. Some of these churches are known as Anglican, such as the Anglican Church of Canada, due to their historical link to England (Ecclesia Anglicana means "English Church"). Some, for example the Church of Ireland, the Scottish and American Episcopal churches, and some other associated churches have a separate name. Each church has its own doctrine and liturgy, based in most cases on that of the Church of England; and each church has its own legislative process and overall episcopal polity, under the leadership of a local primate.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, religious head of the Church of England, has no formal authority outside that jurisdiction, but is recognised as symbolic head of the worldwide communion. Among the other primates, he is considered as primus inter pares.

The Anglican Communion considers itself to be part of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church and to be both Catholic and Reformed. For some adherents it represents a non-papal Catholicism, for others a form of Protestantism though without a dominant guiding figure such as Luther, Knox, Calvin, Zwingli or Wesley.^[4] For others, their self-identity represents some combination of the two. The communion encompasses a wide spectrum of belief and practice including evangelical, liberal, and Catholic.

The Anglican Communion Office is headed by its Secretary General, the Reverend Canon Kenneth Kearon.^[5]

Ecclesiology, polity, ethos[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

The Anglican Communion has no official legal existence nor any governing structure which might exercise authority over the member churches. There is an Anglican Communion Office in London, under the aegis of the Archbishop of Canterbury, but it only serves a supporting and organisational role. The Communion is held together by a shared history, expressed in its ecclesiology, polity and ethos and also by participation in international consultative bodies.

Three elements have been important in holding the Communion together: First, the shared ecclesial structure of the component churches, manifested in an episcopal polity maintained through the apostolic succession of bishops and synodical government; second, the principle of belief expressed in worship, investing importance in approved prayer books and their rubrics; and third, the historical documents and standard divines that have influenced the ethos of the Communion.

Originally, the Church of England was self-contained and relied for its unity and identity on its own history, its traditional legal and episcopal structure and its status as an established church of the state. As such Anglicanism was, from the outset, a movement with an explicitly episcopal polity, a characteristic which has been vital in maintaining the unity of the Communion by conveying the episcopate's role in manifesting visible catholicity and ecumenism.

Early in its development, Anglicanism developed a vernacular prayer book, called the Book of Common Prayer. Unlike other traditions, Anglicanism has never been governed by a magisterium nor by appeal to one founding theologian, nor by an extra-credal summary of doctrine (such as the Westminster Confession of the Presbyterian Church). Instead, Anglicans have typically appealed to the Book of Common Prayer and its offshoots as a guide to Anglican theology and practice. This had the effect of inculcating the principle of lex orandi, lex credendi ("the law of prayer is the law of belief") as the foundation of Anglican identity and confession.

Protracted conflict through the seventeenth century with more radical Protestants on the one hand and Roman Catholics who still recognised the primacy of the Pope on the other, resulted in an association of churches that were both deliberately vague about doctrinal principles, yet bold in developing parameters of acceptable deviation. These parameters were most clearly articulated in the various rubrics of the successive prayer books, as well as the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion. These Articles (though no longer binding) have had an influence on the ethos of the Communion, an ethos reinforced by their interpretation and expansion by such influential early theologians as Richard Hooker, Lancelot Andrewes, John Cosin, and others.

With the expansion of the British Empire, and hence the growth of Anglicanism outside Great Britain and Ireland, the Communion sought to establish new vehicles of unity. The first major expression of this were the Lambeth Conferences of the communion's bishops, first convened by Archbishop of Canterbury Charles Longley in 1867. From the outset, these were not intended to displace the autonomy of the emerging provinces of the Communion, but to "discuss matters of practical interest, and pronounce what we deem expedient in resolutions which may serve as safe guides to future action."

Chicago Lambeth Quadrilateral[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

One of the enduringly influential early resolutions of the conference was the so-called Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral of 1888. Its intent was to provide the basis for discussions of reunion with the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches, but it had the ancillary effect of establishing parameters of Anglican identity. It establishes four principles with these words:

That, in the opinion of this Conference, the following Articles supply a basis on which approach may be by God's blessing made towards Home Reunion:

(a) The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as "containing all things necessary to salvation," and as being the rule and ultimate standard of faith.

(b) The Apostles' Creed, as the Baptismal Symbol; and the Nicene Creed, as the sufficient statement of the Christian faith.

(c) The two Sacraments ordained by Christ Himself - Baptism and the Supper of the Lord - ministered with unfailing use of Christ's Words of Institution, and of the elements ordained by Him.

(d) The Historic Episcopate, locally adapted in the methods of its administration to the varying needs of the nations and peoples called of God into the Unity of His Church.^[6]

Instruments of communion[link]

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As mentioned above, the Anglican Communion has no international juridical organisation. The Archbishop of Canterbury's role is strictly symbolic and unifying and the Communion's three international bodies are consultative and collaborative, their resolutions having no legal effect on the autonomous provinces of the Communion. Taken together, however, the four do function as "instruments of communion", since all churches of the communion participate in them. In order of antiquity, they are:

1. The Archbishop of Canterbury (ab origine) functions as the spiritual head of the Communion. He is the focus of unity, since no church claims membership in the Communion without being in communion with him. The present incumbent is Dr Rowan Williams.
2. The Lambeth Conference (first held in 1867) is the oldest international consultation. It is a forum for bishops of the Communion to reinforce unity and collegiality through manifesting the episcopate, to discuss matters of mutual concern, and to pass resolutions intended to act as guideposts. It is held roughly every ten years and invitation is by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
3. The Anglican Consultative Council (first met in 1971) was created by a 1968 Lambeth Conference resolution, and meets usually at three year intervals. The council consists of representative bishops, clergy, and laity chosen by the thirty-eight provinces. The body has a permanent secretariat, the Anglican Communion Office, of which the Archbishop of Canterbury is president.
4. The Primates' Meeting (first met in 1979) is the most recent manifestation of international consultation and deliberation, having been first convened by Archbishop Donald Coggan as a forum for "leisurely thought, prayer and deep consultation".

Since there is no binding authority in the Communion, these international bodies are a vehicle for consultation and persuasion. In recent years, persuasion has tipped over into debates over conformity in certain areas of doctrine, discipline, worship, and ethics. The most notable example has been the objection of many provinces of the Communion (particularly in Africa and Asia) to the changing role of homosexuals in the North American churches (e.g., by blessing same-sex unions and ordaining and consecrating gays and lesbians in same-sex relationships), and to the process by which changes were undertaken. Those who objected condemned these actions as unscriptural, unilateral, and without the agreement of the Communion prior to these steps being taken. In response, the American Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada answered that the actions had been undertaken after lengthy scriptural and theological reflection, legally in accordance with their own canons and constitutions and after extensive consultation with the provinces of the Communion.

The Primates' Meeting voted to request the two churches to withdraw their delegates from the 2005 meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council. Canada and the United States decided to attend the meeting but without exercising their right to vote. They have not been expelled or suspended, since there is no mechanism in this voluntary association to suspend or expel an independent province of the Communion. Since membership is based on a province's communion with Canterbury, expulsion would require the Archbishop of Canterbury's refusal to be in communion with the affected jurisdiction(s). In line with the suggestion of the Windsor Report, Williams has recently established a working group to examine the feasibility of an Anglican covenant which would articulate the conditions for communion in some fashion.^[7]

Provinces[link]

All 38 provinces of the Anglican Communion are autonomous, each with its own primate and governing structure. These provinces may take the form of national churches (such as in Canada, Uganda, or Japan) or a collection of nations (such as the West Indies, Central Africa, or Southeast Asia). They are, in alphabetical order:

A world map showing the provinces of the Anglican Communion (Blue). Also shown are the churches in full communion with the Anglican Communion: the Nordic Lutheran churches of the Porvoo Communion (Green) and the Old Catholic churches of the Utrecht Union (Red).

In addition, there are six extraprovincial churches, five of which are under the metropolitical authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

• The Anglican Church of Bermuda (extraprovincial to the Archbishop of Canterbury)
• Iglesia Episcopal de Cuba (Episcopal Church of Cuba) (under a metropolitan council)
• The Parish of the Falkland Islands (extraprovincial to the Archbishop of Canterbury)
• The Lusitanian Catholic Apostolic Evangelical Church (extraprovincial to the Archbishop of Canterbury)
• The Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church (extraprovincial to the Archbishop of Canterbury)
• The Church of Ceylon (extraprovincial to the Archbishop of Canterbury)

In addition to other member churches, the churches of the Anglican Communion are in full communion with the Old Catholic churches of the Union of Utrecht in Europe, the India-based Mar Thoma and Malabar Independent Syrian churches and the Philippine Independent Church, also known as the Aglipayan Church.

History[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

The Anglican Communion is a relatively recent concept. The Church of England (which until the 20th century included the Church in Wales) initially separated from the Roman Catholic Church in 1538 in the reign of King Henry VIII, reunited in 1555 under Queen Mary I and then separated again in 1570 under Queen Elizabeth I (the Roman Catholic Church excommunicated Elizabeth I in 1570 in response to the Act of Supremacy 1559). The Church of England has always thought of itself not as a new foundation but rather as a reformed continuation of the ancient "English Church" (Ecclesia Anglicana) and a reassertion of that church's rights. As such it was a distinctly national phenomenon. The Church of Scotland separated from the Roman Catholic Church with the Scottish Reformation in 1560, and the split from it of the Scottish Episcopal Church began in 1582, in the reign of James VI of Scotland, over disagreements about the role of bishops.

The oldest-surviving Anglican church outside of the British Isles (Britain and Ireland) is St Peter's Church in St. George's, Bermuda, established in 1612 (though the actual building had to be rebuilt several times over the following century). This is also the oldest surviving non-Roman Catholic church in the New World. It remained part of the Church of England until 1978 when the Anglican Church of Bermuda separated. The Church of England was the established church not only in England, but in its trans-Oceanic colonies.

Thus the only member churches of the present Anglican Communion existing by the mid-18th century were the Church of England, its closely linked sister church, the Church of Ireland (which also separated from Roman Catholicism under Henry VIII) and the Scottish Episcopal Church which for parts of the 17th and 18th centuries was partially underground (it was suspected of Jacobite sympathies).

However, the enormous expansion in the 18th and 19th centuries of the British Empire brought Anglicanism along with it. At first all these colonial churches were under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London. After the American Revolution, the parishes in the newly independent country found it necessary to break formally from a church whose Supreme Governor was (and remains) the British monarch. Thus they formed their own dioceses and national church, the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, in a mostly amicable separation.

At about the same time, in the colonies which remained linked to the crown, the Church of England began to appoint colonial bishops. In 1787 a bishop of Nova Scotia was appointed with a jurisdiction over all of British North America; in time several more colleagues were appointed to other cities in present-day Canada. In 1814 a bishop of Calcutta was made; in 1824 the first bishop was sent to the West Indies and in 1836 to Australia. By 1840 there were still only ten colonial bishops for the Church of England; but even this small beginning greatly facilitated the growth of Anglicanism around the world. In 1841 a "Colonial Bishoprics Council" was set up and soon many more dioceses were created.

In time, it became natural to group these into provinces and a metropolitan was appointed for each province. Although it had at first been somewhat established in many colonies, in 1861 it was ruled that, except where specifically established, the Church of England had just the same legal position as any other church. Thus a colonial bishop and colonial diocese was by nature quite a different thing from their counterparts back home. In time bishops came to be appointed locally rather than from England and eventually national synods began to pass ecclesiastical legislation independent of England.

A crucial step in the development of the modern communion was the idea of the Lambeth Conferences (discussed above). These conferences demonstrated that the bishops of disparate churches could manifest the unity of the church in their episcopal collegiality despite the absence of universal legal ties. Some bishops were initially reluctant to attend, fearing that the meeting would declare itself a council with power to legislate for the church; but it agreed to pass only advisory resolutions. These Lambeth Conferences have been held roughly every 10 years since 1878 (the second such conference) and remain the most visible coming-together of the whole Communion.

Ecumenical relations[link]

Historic episcopate[link]

The churches of the Anglican Communion have traditionally held that ordination in the historic episcopate is a core element in the validity of clerical ordinations.^[8] The Roman Catholic Church does not recognise most Anglican orders (see Apostolicae Curae.^[9]) Some Eastern Orthodox Churches have issued statements to the effect that Anglican orders could be accepted, yet have still reordained former Anglican clergy; other Orthodox churches have rejected Anglican orders altogether. Orthodox bishop Kallistos Ware explains this apparent discrepancy as follows:

Anglican clergy who join the Orthodox Church are reordained; but [some Orthodox Churches hold that] if Anglicanism and Orthodoxy were to reach full unity in the faith, perhaps such reordination might not be found necessary. It should be added, however, that a number of individual Orthodox theologians hold that under no circumstances would it be possible to recognise the validity of Anglican Orders.^[10]

Controversies[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

One effect of the Communion's dispersed authority has been that conflict and controversy regularly arise over the effect divergent practices and doctrines in one part of the Communion have on others.^[11] Disputes that had been confined to the Church of England could be dealt with legislatively in that realm, but as the Communion spread out into new nations and disparate cultures, such controversies multiplied and intensified. These controversies have generally been of two types: liturgical and social.^[12]

The first such controversy of note concerned that of the growing influence of the Catholic Revival manifested in the tractarian and so-called ritualism controversies of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.^[13] This controversy produced the Free Church of England and, in the United States and Canada, the Reformed Episcopal Church.

Later, rapid social change and the dissipation of British cultural hegemony over its former colonies contributed to disputes over the role of women, the parameters of marriage and divorce, and the practice of contraception and abortion.^{[citation needed]} In the late 1970s, the Continuing Anglican movement produced a number of new church bodies in opposition to women's ordination, prayer book changes, and the new understandings concerning marriage.

More recently, disagreements over homosexuality have strained the unity of the Communion as well as its relationships with other Christian denominations, leading to another round of withdrawals from the Anglican Communion.^[14] Some churches founded outside the Anglican Communion in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, largely in opposition to the ordination of openly homosexual bishops and other clergy are usually referred to as belonging to the Anglican realignment movement, or else as "orthodox" Anglicans.^[14] In some ways they represent a stronger opposition because they have the backing of many member provinces of the Anglican Communion and, in some cases, are or have been missionary jurisdictions of such provinces of the Communion as the Churches of Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, and the Southern Cone of America.^{[citation needed]} Simultaneous with debates about social theology and ethics, the Anglican Communion has debated prayer book revision and the acceptable grounds for achieving full communion with non-Anglican churches.^[15]

See also[link]

• Affirming Catholicism
• Anglican Communion Network
• Anglican ministry
• Anglican sacraments
• Anglicans online
• Anglo-Catholicism
• Church Mission Society
• Church's Ministry Among Jewish People
• Continuing Anglican movement
• Historical development of Church of England dioceses
• Liberal Anglo-Catholicism
• Reform (Anglican)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Anglicans Online
• Decentralised nature of worldwide Anglicanism
• Project Canterbury Anglican historical documents from around the world

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The Right Reverend  Gene Robinson
Bishop of New Hampshire
Province	Episcopal Church in the United States
Diocese	New Hampshire
Enthroned	2004
Reign ended	Incumbent
Predecessor	Douglas Edwin Theuner
Orders
Ordination	December 15, 1973
Consecration	November 2, 2003
Personal details
Born	(1947-05-29) May 29, 1947 (age 65) Lexington, Kentucky
Spouse	Isabella "Boo" McDaniel (1972–1980s) Mark Andrew (2008– )
Children	Jamee Robinson (b. 1977) Ella Robinson (b. 1981)

Vicky Gene Robinson^[1] (born May 29, 1947 in Fayette County, Kentucky) is the ninth bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire in the Episcopal Church in the United States of America.^[2][3] Robinson was elected bishop in 2003 and entered office in March 2004. Before becoming bishop, he served as assistant to the retiring New Hampshire bishop, as Canon to the Ordinary.

Robinson is widely known for being the first openly gay, non-celibate priest to be ordained a bishop in a major Christian denomination believing in the historic episcopate.^{[note 1]} His sexual orientation was privately acknowledged in the 1970s, when he studied in seminary, was ordained, married, and started a family. He went public with his sexual identity and divorced in the 1980s. When delegates to the Episcopal convention were voting on the ratification of his election, it became an issue of controversy. His election was ratified 62 to 45. After his election, some theologically conservative parishes have aligned themselves with bishops outside the Episcopal Church in the United States, a process called the Anglican realignment. His story has appeared in print and film.

In 2009 he was given the Stephen F. Kolzak Media Award. He has announced his intention to retire in 2013, at 65.^[4]

Early life[link]

Robinson's parents were poor tenant farmers who worked in the tobacco fields as sharecroppers. The family used an outhouse, drew water from a cistern, and did laundry in a cast-iron tub over an open flame. Their house did not have running water until Robinson was ten years old.^[2] When Robinson was born, he was so seriously ill that the doctor was certain he would not survive. He was temporarily paralyzed from birth and his head was misshapen. So likely was Robinson's death that the physician asked Robinson's father Charles for a name for the baby's birth and death certificates. Robinson's parents were young (his mother Imogene was twenty) and they were hoping for a girl.^[2] They named the baby "Vicky Gene Robinson" for Charles' father Victor and the baby's mother Imogene.^[2][5] For a long time, Robinson's parents believed the boy would die soon. Much later in life, Robinson's father would tell him he couldn't take any joy in the boy's development because he always thought each step was going to be the last thing.^[2] Robinson's parents were and still are members of a small Disciples of Christ congregation. Robinson describes his childhood as very religious.^[2] Robinson had perfect Sunday School attendance for thirteen years.^[2]

Education and marriage[link]

Robinson chose The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, in 1965 because they offered him a full scholarship.^[2] Robinson intended to study towards a medical degree but decided to major in American Studies. During his college days, Robinson began to seriously consider the ordained ministry and said it almost immediately felt right.^[2] During high school and then college, Robinson had been exploring philosophical and theological questions and has said, "The Episcopal Church got a hold on me." He graduated from Sewanee with a Bachelor of Arts degree in American studies in 1969 and attended seminary that fall.^[2] Robinson studied for a Master of Divinity degree from the Episcopal General Theological Seminary in New York City. While doing an intern year as a chaplain at the University of Vermont, he began dating his future wife, Isabella "Boo" McDaniel. Robinson says that about "a month into their relationship, [he] explained his background and his fears about his sexuality." They continued dating and, as Robinson puts it, "about a month before the marriage, [he] became frightened that ... this thing would raise its ugly head some day, and cause her and me great pain." Robinson and Boo discussed it and decided to go ahead with the marriage in 1972.^[2]

Early career and children[link]

Robinson received his degree in 1973 and was ordained a deacon in June 1973 at the cathedral of the diocese of Newark, New Jersey. He served as curate at Christ Church in Ridgewood, New Jersey, and was ordained a priest six months later. He and his wife remained at the Ridgewood parish for two years until June 1975. They then moved to New Hampshire, where Boo had grown up. Their goal was to start a business and ministry: in the winter it was called "The Sign of the Dove Retreat Center" and in the summer it became "Pony Farm". Boo still runs "Pony Farm" as a horse camp for children.^[2] In 1977, Robinson began working with a committee in the Diocese of New Hampshire to study human sexuality and co-authored a small manual on the subject.^[2] Robinson and Boo's first daughter, Jamee, was born in 1977, followed by a second daughter, Ella, in 1981.^[2] Robinson treasures his marriage stating, "[T]hat is inextricably tied up with having children. And since I cannot imagine my life without Jamee and Ella, it's just a completely irrelevant question for me. And I don't regret having been married to Boo, either, even if there had not been children. It's just a part of my journey, and why would I possibly regret that?"^[2]

Coming out and career[link]

Robinson came out to his and Boo's friends^[when?] and he sold out his part of the business to Boo. They remain friends.^[2] In November 1987, Robinson met his partner, Mark Andrew, while on vacation in St. Croix. Andrew was on vacation and worked in Washington, D.C., at the national office of the Peace Corps. On July 2, 1988, Robinson and Andrew moved into a new house and had it blessed by Bishop Douglas Theuner, an event which they considered to be the formal recognition of their life together.^[2] Andrew currently works in the New Hampshire state government. He was legally joined to Robinson in June 2008 in a private civil union ceremony, followed by a religious ceremony, both in St Paul's Church, Concord.^[6][7] Earlier, Robinson had said, "I always wanted to be a June bride."^[8][9]

Robinson became Canon to the Ordinary in 1988, the executive assistant to the then bishop of New Hampshire, Douglas Theuner. Robinson remained in this job for the next seventeen years until he was elected bishop.^[2] Robinson and his daughters are very close. Ella actively helped her father with public relations at the General Convention in 2003. Just a week before the General Convention, Robinson had been with his daughter Jamee and held his four-hour-old first granddaughter.^[2] He now has two granddaughters.^[3][10]

Election as bishop[link]

Bishop Robinson in 2006, during the 75th General Convention of The Episcopal Church

Robinson was elected bishop by the New Hampshire diocese on June 7, 2003, at St. Paul's Church in Concord. Thirty-nine clergy votes and 83 lay votes were the threshold necessary to elect a bishop in the Diocese of New Hampshire at that time. The clergy voted 58 votes for Robinson and the laity voted 96 for Robinson on the second ballot.^[2] The Episcopal Church requires in its Canon 16 that the election procedure and the candidate who is elected be subjected to review and must be consented to by the national church. No objections were raised to the procedure of the election. If diocesan election occurred within 120 days (3 months) of a General Convention, canon law requires consent by the House of Deputies and then the House of Bishops at the General Convention itself.^[2] Consent to the election of Robinson was given in August at the 2003 General Convention. The General Convention of 2003 became the center for debate over Robinson's election, as conservatives and liberals within the Church argued over whether Robinson should be allowed to become bishop. Some conservative factions threatened a schism within both the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion should Robinson be elected. Before the House of Deputies can vote on a resolution, a legislative committee must examine the piece of legislation first. The Committee on the Consecration of Bishops held a two-hour hearing on Robinson's election and supporters and opponents were allowed to speak. One of the speakers was Robinson's daughter, Ella, who read a letter from his ex-wife Boo in strong support of Robinson. The House of Deputies, which consists of laypersons and priests, voted in the affirmative: the laity voted 63 in favor, 32 opposed, and 13 divided; the clergy voted 65 in favor, 31 opposed, and 12 divided.^[2]

Robinson won the first two of three votes required for his election to be ratified, but allegations suddenly arose in August 2003 that Robinson had inappropriately touched a male parishioner and had connections with OutRight.org, which at the time carried a link to AllThingsBi.com, a resource site for bisexual people that included links to pornography sites. The final vote was postponed to address these last-minute charges. David W. Virtue, a critic of gay ordination, brought up the pornography allegation, claiming that: "Gene Robinson's website is linked by one click to 5,000 pornographic websites."^[11] When no such link was found on the Diocese of New Hampshire web page profiling the bishop-elect, Virtue stated that the link was on the website of an organization Robinson supported. Robinson was already known to be associated with Outright, a secular organization for the support of young LGBT people. Fred Barnes, a Fox News commentator, repeated the allegations on the website of The Weekly Standard.^[12] On the day the allegations arose, the website issued a press release^[13] stating that it had removed the offending link, that it had been unaware of the pornographic links on allthingsbi.com, and that Robinson had no involvement with that particular chapter of Outright.

The male parishioner of Manchester, Vermont (in a diocese neighboring Robinson's) who had alleged the "touching," was then reported to have said, during the investigating committee's telephone call with him, that the acts in question were two separate occasions of what felt to him like intentionally seductive arm-squeezing and back-stroking, although in a public setting. The man acknowledged that others might have regarded the two incidents as "natural," yet the incidents were disturbing to him nonetheless.^[2] The investigating committee's report also stated that man regretted having used the word "harassment" in his e-mail, and that man declined an invitation to bring formal charges.^[2] After a two-day investigation, neither allegation proved of merit.^[2] The House of Bishops voted for Robinson in the affirmative, with 62 in favor, 43 opposed, and 2 abstaining.^[2]

Ordination as bishop[link]

The election in New Hampshire, like all elections of bishops in the Episcopal Church, was done by a synodical election process, unlike many other parts of the Anglican Communion where bishops are appointed.^[2] This detail would be misunderstood when the international commentary following Robinson's election suggested he should voluntarily step down or be asked to do so.^[2] The Jeffrey John case in the Church of England is the best example to contrast the election of bishops with the appointment of bishops.^[2] Jeffrey John is an openly gay priest living in a long-standing celibate relationship (he self-identifies as celibate) and was appointed as a bishop.^[2] One person, the Bishop of Oxford, had the authority to make John the new Suffragan Bishop of Reading.^[2] The Archbishop of Canterbury, however, allegedly persuaded him to not proceed with the appointment.^[2] This precedent would be used by the wider Anglican Communion to pressure Robinson.^[2] Robinson said that "there was not a single bishop involved in the choosing of me to be Bishop of New Hampshire."^[2]

The Elections and Transitions Committee arranged for the Whittemore Center to be used for the consecration, a large hockey rink on the campus of the University of New Hampshire in Durham. The numbers expected were about 3,000 people, 300 press, a 200 strong choir, and 48 bishops. The security was strong: just as Barbara Harris had to wear a bullet-proof vest at her consecration,^[14] Robinson was showing his bullet-proof vest to Harris herself. Robinson's parents, sister, daughter and their families and his ex-wife Boo were all at the consecration. Robinson was consecrated on November 2, 2003 in the presence of Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold and six co-consecrating bishops: 48 bishops in all.^[2]

Robinson's election and consecration prompted a group of 19 bishops, led by Bishop Robert Duncan of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, to make a statement warning the church of a possible schism between the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, stated that "[it] will inevitably have a significant impact on the Anglican Communion throughout the world and it is too early to say what the result of that will be." He added: "[I]t is my hope that the church in America and the rest of the Anglican Communion will have the opportunity to consider this development before significant and irrevocable decisions are made in response."^[15] Retired South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu stated that he did not see what "all the fuss" was about, saying the election would not roil the Church of the Province of Southern Africa. Other senior bishops of the church, like Archbishop Peter Akinola of the Church of Nigeria and head of the Global South, have made Robinson a figurehead in their dispute with the Episcopal Church.^{[citation needed]} Some disaffected Episcopalians have disaffiliated from the Episcopal Church and formed the Convocation of Anglicans in North America with the support of the Nigerian church.

After ordination[link]

Reports from the UK describe how Robinson has received death threats, had to wear bulletproof vests, and needed protection since his election and ordination.^[16][17][18]

In February 2006, Robinson was treated at an inpatient rehabilitation facility to deal with his "increasing dependence on alcohol".^[2] Diocesan officials were surprised by the news and asserted that they did not notice his alcoholism affect his ministry in any way. The Episcopal Church, through its General Convention, has long recognized alcoholism as a treatable human disease, not a failure of character or will. The members of the Standing Committee issued a statement fully supporting Robinson.^[19] He returned to work in March 2006.^[20]

Robinson was featured prominently in a documentary film entitled For the Bible Tells Me So, which screened at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.^[21]

In 2008, Robinson said that he had led a retreat a few years before for gay Catholic priests.^{[citation needed]} He has opposed the Roman Catholic ban on homosexual seminarians, stating : "I find it so vile that they think they are going to end the child abuse scandal by throwing out homosexuals from seminaries."^[22]

Due to the controversy surrounding his consecration, Bishop Robinson was not invited to the 2008 Lambeth Conferences by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams.^[23] A group of conservative bishops (including Akinola and Duncan) who opposed Robinson's consecration gathered in Jerusalem one month prior to Lambeth 2008, at the Global Anglican Future Conference, an event which is perceived by some as schismatic.^[24][25]

Robinson did however visit the United Kingdom privately in July 2008, during which he participated in a film screening and question and answer session with Sir Ian McKellen at the Royal Festival Hall, and was invited to preach at St Mary's Putney, events which attracted much media attention. The sermon was interrupted by a heckler who was then escorted out of the service. Robinson asked the rest of the congregation, most of whom greeted the interruption with slow-clapping, to "pray for that man", before completing his sermon.^{[26][27][28][29]} The Primate of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan, Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul, on July 22 at a public press conference during the 2008 Lambeth Conference called for Robinson to resign, and for all those who had participated in his consecration to confess their sin to the conference.^[30]

In 2009 Robinson was selected to deliver the invocation at the kickoff event of President Barack Obama's inaugural weekend. Despite his extended involvement with Obama during the campaign, his selection was widely discussed as an effort to counterbalance the role of the choice of evangelical pastor Rick Warren. Media outlets noted Warren compared the legitimization of same-sex marriage to the legalization of "incest, polygamy or 'an older guy marrying a child'".^{[31][32][33][34][35]} Warren also supported California Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in the state.^[36][37] However, Warren took a conciliatory tone towards Obama: "I applaud his desire to be the president of every citizen."^[38] The kickoff event was held at the Lincoln Memorial two days before Obama's swearing-in.^[39] It asked "the God of our many understandings" for seven blessings, and to help Obama, as President, in seven ways. Neither HBO's exclusive live broadcast, nor the Presidential Inauguration Committee's blog of the event included the invocation, but the prepared text was posted in full on the website of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire, and video shot informally by attendees was posted on YouTube. National Public Radio, which relied on the HBO feed that omitted it, broadcast a recording the following day with an interview of Robinson about its limited exposure; in that venue, Robinson described it as conforming to the four-fold Franciscan prayer model. According to the Washington Blade, it was the Presidential Inaugural Committee that made the decision for the prayer to be a part of the pre-show and not the show, itself, with a spokesman from that committee maintaining the prayer was dropped through an unspecified "error." Some gay activists maintain that this was a slight on the part of the Obama administration.^[40]

In April 2009, Robinson made the Out magazine Third Annual Power 50 list of the most influential gay men and women in the USA, landing at number 7.^[41] In August 2009, Gene Robinson was a key speaker at the 2009 Greenbelt Festival, held at Cheltenham Racecourse, Gloucestershire, England. Here he delivered three talks, each garning an attendance in the thousands, based not only on his views of Christianity and homosexuality, but also on human sexuality in general and the rights of LGBT members of society. The three talks were entitled "Homosexuality: What the Bible says & why it matters", "Keeping your cool in the eye of the storm" and "Sexuality and spirituality: keeping them together"^[42] As well as these three talks, Gene Robinson made a big impact on some gay and lesbian festival-goers by leading them collectively in prayer on the second night of the festival as part of a small group.

See also[link]

Anglicanism portal

• Gay bishops
• Homosexuality and Anglicanism
• Homosexuality and Christianity

Notes[link]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Hein, David; Gardiner H. Shattuck, Jr. (2004). The Episcopalians. New York: Church Publishing. ISBN 0-89869-497-3. 
• Robinson, Gene (2008). In the Eye of the Storm: Swept to the Center by God. Seabury Books. ISBN 1-59627-088-8. 

External links[link]

• Biography of Bishop Robinson at the Diocese of New Hampshire website
• Messages from Bishop Robinson
• CNN June 8, 2003 "Episcopalians Approve Gay Bishop, and Conflict"
• CNN Nov. 2, 2003 "Gay bishop-elect: 'This is what God wants for me'"
• The Guardian 10/21/03 "Profile: Gene Robinson"
• Online radio interview with Gene Robinson and Donald Armstrong, March 2007
• Invocation at "We Are One" Concert before Obama Inaugural, YouTube video recorded January 18, 2009.