Uninvited gay US bishop will attend bishops' conference

The openly gay US bishop at the heart of the Anglican Church’s schismatic row over sex is to “marry” his partner in June and attend the 2008 Lambeth Conference in Canterbury this summer, despite not being invited.

The Right Rev Gene Robinson, Bishop of New Hampshire, has pointedly not been asked by Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, to attend the conference in his official capacity as an Anglican bishop.

But Bishop Robinson, who will also be in Britain next week to launch his new book, In the Eye of the Storm, to be serialised from next Monday by The Times, is planning to attend the conference anyway. He was elected as a bishop by the Episcopal Church of the US in 2003. He will also take part in a series of public events to highlight what his supporters regard as homophobic discrimination throughout the Anglican Communion.

Bishop Robinson’s decision to be in England in July and August throughout the three weeks of the ten-yearly conference will put paid to any hopes that Dr Williams had of keeping away the issue of gay sex. The last event, in 1998, was dominated by the debate. This time, Dr Williams, who is in charge of the conference as the “primus inter pares” of the Anglican Communion, has scheduled an “official” agenda with the focus on Bible study, prayer and discussion.

Bishop Robinson’s decision to be active on the “outside” of the conference will add to the pressures on the Archbishop, who is struggling to keep his church united in line with the Gospel imperative of “one Church”.

As Lambeth approaches, bishops in the Church of England are becoming increasingly concerned that divisions over homosexuality seriously afflicting the US church could be about to cross the Atlantic.

About 200 refusenik bishops opposed to the liberal agenda are understood to be going to a “rival” Lambeth – the Global Anglican Future Conference or “Gafcon”, organised by conservative evangelical Anglicans in Jordan and Israel in June. Insiders say that it is not a question of “when” the schism within the Anglican Communion will take place. They claim it has already happened.

On Saturday the Rt Rev Peter Price, Bishop of Bath and Wells, said that the Lambeth Conference was likely to be controversial. He said it was “regrettable” that many bishops would be attending Gafcon instead of Lambeth and criticised those who wanted some superior authority to punish those who are “perceived as having deviant theological outlooks”.

“Once we get into the need for legislation, or tribunals, monitoring or punishments, we lose the meaning of communion,” he said. More than 800 bishops and their spouses have been invited to the Lambeth conference, but so far barely more than 600 have accepted.

Bishop Robinson is regarded by liberal Episcopalians as a champion against long-term injustice in the Christian Church. He told a conference in the US last year: “I always wanted to be a June bride.” He said that he will enter a legal union with his partner Mark Andrew in June. New Hampshire authorised such unions from January.

There is speculation that Bishop Robinson and Mr Andrew will take the opportunity of the Lambeth Conference to “honeymoon” in England. But Mr Andrew dislikes the media spotlight and may prefer to stay away.

This week the Rev Giles Fraser, a London vicar and long-time supporter of Bishop Robinson and Mr Andrew, will issue an official invitation to him to preach at his church in the Southwark diocese.

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