Bishop readies for next round

CONCORD, N.H. - Five years after he was consecrated a bishop in a nearby hockey arena, wearing a bulletproof vest under his new golden vestments, Gene Robinson is bracing for another round of controversy.

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Next month, his new book is to be published, and in it, amid the assertions of his deep faith in Jesus and a self-examination of his theological beliefs, are the emphatic expressions of disappointment in the leadership of his Anglican Church. Robinson is frustrated that those Anglican leaders, known as primates, asked for time to consider the issues but then refused to meet with him.

In June, Robinson plans to enter into a civil union with his partner of 20 years, Mark Andrew. He says he will do everything he can to keep photographers away, out of deference to those who find his same-sex relationship offensive, but he acknowledges that the event is likely to attract negative attention nonetheless.

And then, in July, he will head to London, as the most prominent uninvited guest of the Lambeth Conference, the decennial gathering of the world's 800 Anglican bishops. Robinson was not invited by the Archbishop of Canterbury because he is a noncelibate gay man, a status that many Anglican leaders believe is prohibited by the Bible.

The Anglican Communion offered to allow Robinson to appear at a booth in an exhibition hall, rather than attending the meeting; that proposal was ridiculed by a columnist for one British newspaper, the Guardian, who suggested, tongue in cheek, that the invitation for Robinson to appear in the so-called "marketplace" was made "presumably so that passing bishops can poke him in his cage with a stick."

Robinson said that because he will not be permitted inside the Lambeth Conference, he will instead be outside the meeting daily, talking to anyone who will listen. He said he is working with gay organizations internationally who hope to have gay people from throughout the Anglican Communion in London to show the bishops that the issue is global.

"One of the things I think I've learned in the last five years is that, as much as I wanted to be known as the good bishop, and not the gay bishop, there's no escaping," Robinson said in an interview last week at the diocesan headquarters here. "I would love just to be a simple country bishop, but that just doesn't seem to be in the cards."

Robinson was elected bishop of New Hampshire by local Episcopalians, and his election was approved by other Episcopal bishops in the United States.

Robinson's consecration as the first openly gay bishop threw the Anglican Communion - at least at the level of its leadership - into turmoil. Anglican primates have demanded that the Episcopal Church, which is the American province of the Anglican Communion, be punished for consecrating a gay bishop. Within the Episcopal Church, a number of parishes have effectively seceded from the US church and declared themselves affiliated with more theologically conservative Anglican provinces, primarily in Africa, which condemn homosexuality.

Continued... @   Bishop readies for next round
Boston Globe