The Anglican Church is set to consecrate its first openly gay bishop today in a ceremony that will reverberate throughout the 70 million-member Anglican faith, possibly tearing it apart.
The Rev. Canon V. Gene Robinson, a New Hampshire priest, is scheduled to formally become a bishop at a ceremony that will be marked by pomp, circumstance, and even a formal chance for his opponents to object.
Rev Robinson has pleaded for unity and says he has no intention of backing down, but conservative members of the worldwide Anglican Communion are warning that his consecration could have dire effects on the 450-year-old Christian faith.
The Anglican Church in Tanzania, whose 3 million members outnumber the 2.3 million Episcopalians (Anglicans) in the United States, warned the US church not to appoint an openly gay bishop, saying it would violate the word of God.
"If they proceed with the consecration of Rev. Canon Gene Robinson, the homosexual, to the episcopate, they will be acting against the faith and order of the Church and ... separating themselves from the majority in the Anglican Church worldwide," the Tanzanian church said in a statement yesterday.
Rev Robinson, a 56-year-old father of two who has lived with his male partner for 13 years, says the world church will not split over the issue and noted that many Anglicans disagree with the ordination of women. "We've not come apart over that and there's no reason for us to come apart over this," he said in an interview with CNN yesterday.
"Surely these people don't believe that if I were to step aside that all of this would die," he said. "There are many extraordinarily gifted gay and lesbian people in positions of leadership throughout our church. My stepping aside would not stop this one bit."