Gene Robinson is Indeed a Bishop

Some traditionalists have reacted to the consecration of Bishop Gene Robinson with outrage, announcing that they refuse to recognize him as a bishop.

Jesus said you will know them by their fruits. From everything I've read, Bishop Robinson is a good man and a fine priest; his fruits so far appear to be pretty good.

Like it or not, Gene Robinson was consecrated a bishop after having been duly elected and confirmed according to the canons. He is certainly no less a bishop than Bishops Chuck Murphy and John Rodgers of the Anglican Mission in America.

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--D. C.

Comments

Actually he is only a priest if Christ makes him one. He is in name only. As a person who left his wife and children, moved in with a man, lives with this man, and continues to do so...how can he be consecrated if the vows that he took, he breaks every day?

sorry, but I feel he is a Bishop in name only. When he starts to hold his vows and promises he made to God, I'll start to listen, but not before...

[DCT]

Would your view be different if Robinson had been divorced and then had been remarried to a woman?

Here's an extract from a BBC profile that seems relevant:

[Robinson] sought therapy to change himself while studying at the General Theological Seminary in New York and believed himself ready to commit to a woman when he met Isabella Martin while on an internship at the University of Vermont.

But he still explained to her his concerns about his sexuality though he did believe the therapy had helped.

They married and Canon Robinson took a job as a curate in New Jersey before they moved to New Hampshire in 1975.

The couple had two daughters - Jamee and Ella - and the clergyman set up successful youth programmes and ran a retreat.

In 1985, Canon Robinson again began to think about his sexuality and, after counselling, he and his wife decided they should separate.

When it came time to divorce, they released each other from their wedding vows, asked each other's forgiveness and committed themselves to the future of their children for whom they had joint custody.

Close family

Eighteen months later, when Isabella had remarried, Canon Robinson met and began to date Mark Andrews who subsequently moved to New Hampshire where the couple have lived together for more than a decade.

By all accounts, the extended family remains close - at the wedding of his elder daughter, Canon Robinson's partner led his ex-wife down the aisle.

Robinson said, in an on-camera interview, that "We ended our marriage in church. We took a priest with us to the judge's chambers, for the final divorce decree; we went back to his church, and then returned our wedding rings to each other as a symbol of the vows that we no longer held each other to. My wife was remarried, already remarried before I ever met my partner."

At the national church's Consecration Committee, one of Robinson's daughters read a statement from his ex-wife. According to this transcript of a PBS News Hour piece (which apparently showed video of her doing so), she said, "Gene Robinson is a good man, a good priest, a good husband and partner and good father. That's my mom's story and here's mine. Divorce is never a good time but it was through love and dedication that both my sister and I were able to come away with more happy experiences and memories than sad ones."

I also read that Robinson's ex-wife and daughters participated in his consecration as bishop, along with his now-partner.

--D. C.