ACTIVITIES AT THE YEAR 2003 GENERAL CONVENTION

Responses were highly polarized, as expected:

	Church spokesman Daniel England called the approval "an important step for the church...Some will be elated at this news, others very disappointed. And yet the decorum and the civility throughout leads me to believe that things will hold together."
	Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh, PA is opposed to Robinsons consecration. He said that those who fought approval of his election were "filled with sorrow" and feel a "grief too deep for words...This body has denied the plain teaching of Scripture and the moral consensus of the church throughout the ages. This body has divided itself from millions of Anglican Christians throughout the world....May God have mercy on his church." Later, Bishop Duncan read a statement by than a dozen conservative bishops. He said: "With grief too deep for words, the bishops who stand before you must reject this action....We are calling upon the primates of the Anglican Communion, under the presidency of  the Archbishop of Canterbury, to intervene in the pastoral emergency that has overtaken us." Their intervention will have to be limited to persuasion, as the Anglican Communion cannot order one of their Provinces, like the Episcopal Church, USA to do anything. With the majority of Episcopalians in New Hampshire voting in favor of Robinson's election, and a majority of laity, priests and bishops having separately voted to confirm Robinsons election, the rest of the Communion has a weak case if they wish to roll back time.
	The Rev. Susan Russell of the gay Episcopal group Claiming the Blessing, said she believes the church is strong enough to survive the conflict over gay and lesbian priests and bishops. She said: "Yes, there's a lot of fear, but I happen to believe the love of God can overcome that....What we really need to do is hang together as we have in this convention through this difficult time, and find a way through this." On another occasion, she said: "This is an example to the country, to the culture, and to other denominations that diversity is something to be celebrated and that the entire family of God is enriched by individuals who commit themselves to each other." 10
	Bishop Edward Little of Indiana warned that: "The Episcopal Church will emerge from this convention broken, wounded, divided and desperately polarized."
	Rev. David Anderson, president of the conservative American Anglican Council, said: "The repercussions will start when people go home to their congregations, when records meet parishioners at the church door, when people start to say, 'I'm out of here'." He said that he will organize a meeting of conservative Episcopalians in October to carefully consider their options, including the possibility of forming orthodox parishes into a new Anglican province in the United States whose territory would be geographically identical to the Episcopal Church, USA.
	Rev. Kendall Harmon, canon theologian for the Diocese of South Carolina, said that the three votes were too close to be definitive: The lay members of the House of Deputies voted 63 to 32 to confirm Robinson's election The clergy followed suite by voting 65 to 31. The vote by the House of Bishops was 62 to 43 with two abstentions. 10 This gave Robinson a 19 vote margin.  Harmon allegedly said the approval had only a nine-vote margin. He seems to have meant that if nine supporting bishops had changed their mind and voted against Robinson that his confirmation would not have occurred. Under church law, a simple majority of all three groups is sufficient.
	Dorothy Spaulding, 74, a church member from Virginia, said: "I feel betrayed...We have a lot of gays in our parish and most of them are nice people. They are still living in sin." She did not know whether she would attend church this Sunday. If she goes, she does not know whether she will put money on the collection plate." 11
	About 300 Episcopalians -- including about 20 bishops -- who opposed Robinson's election, met for worship at Westminster Presbyterian Church. "In the pews, several people wept. Some spoke of the decision as a death."
	Bishop Robert W. Duncan of the Pittsburgh Diocese said: "We've been dealt a grave blow. How do we go forward and forth? I want to suggest to you, you already know the answer. It's one word, five letters. Jesus." On another occasion, he stated: "This body willfully confirming the election of a person sexually active outside of holy matrimony has departed from historic faith and order of the Church of Jesus Christ." 12
	Archbishop Peter Jensen of Sydney said that the Episcopalians were "turning away from the clear teaching of the Scriptures."
	Bishop Robinson thanked his supporters and pledged to work towards reconciliation. He said: "I am proud to be in a church which works to be a safe place for all of God's children." 12

It would be interesting to compare the above positive and negative comments with debates in 1976 when the church debated whether to allow women to be ordained as priests, and with debates in the mid-19th century over the abolition of slavery. There might well have been many points of similarity. The Episcopal Church avoided schism on those two occasions. They will probably lose some congregations and members this time around, but will probably avoid a schism.

It is understandable that the entire Anglican Communion will be thrown into turmoil over the election of the first openly gay bishop. However, as in the case of other moral issues such as human slavery, contraception, and ordaining women, it was necessary for one Province to deviate from the consensus within the Communion -- to take the first step, and lead the other Provinces towards change.