Gay consecration extremely distressing

LOCAL Anglican Bishop Rev Calvin Bess yesterday said “it was extremely distressing” to learn about gay priest, Rev Gene Robinson being consecrated a Bishop.

Speaking to Newsday yesterday, the Bishop added that he had hoped “common sense would have prevailed and Robinson would have withdrawn” from the ceremony which took place over the weekend at the Episcopal Church in Durham, New Hampshire. Bess said Caribbean Bishops would meet in Antigua all of next week, and the issue was on the agenda for discussion. He promised that a statement would be issued following those disucssions. Meanwhile, Rev Dean Knolly Clarke, who is usually outspoken, yesterday refused any comment, saying he preferred not to express his personal opinion, because it might “jeopardise everything.” He stated that he could not say anything until the discussions in Antigua.

Rev Canon V Gene Robinson, 56, and a father of two, was living with his male partner for 13 years. He is a New Hampshire priest and was consecrated as Bishop into the Episcopal Church. His ordination creates history as he is the first openly gay bishop to be ordained. The consecration has sparked contraversy in the Anglican community, as many are of the view that it is “against the word of God” and that he should not have been elected because he is a practising homosexual. But Robinson, in response to this, stated that his consecration should not cause the church be separated, since the the issue with the ordination of women in the Anglican Church had not caused the church to “come apart.” He also stated that throughout the church there are a lot of “extraordinarily gifted” gay and lesbian people in the church and if he steps down that would not stop them.