Anglican Progress: U.K. Gay Bishop Possible
Five years after deep-seated tensions in the Anglican church were quickened by the elevation to bishop of openly gay U.S. Episcopalian clergyman V. Gene Robinson, a gay British clergyman may soon be nominated to become a bishop in Wales.
Anti-gay conservatives, already demanding that the church "repent" for its acceptance of gays and lesbians, say that such an appointment will worsen the schism that has been forming in the worldwide communion in recent years.
Bishops in developing countries in Africa, as well as in Latin American and Asian nations, have taken an increasingly hard-line stance against the inclusion of gays and lesbians as senior clergy in the church. They also have condemned branches of the church that bless unions between congregants of the same gender.
The U.K. newspaper The Times reported in a Sept. 2 article that Dr. Jeffrey John was on the verge of being appointed Bishop of Reading in 2003, when an outcry from conservatives led to the Anglican church's leader, Dr. Rowan Williams, the Bishop of Canterbury, to derail the appointment.
The worldwide communion has abided by an agreement not to appoint any further openly gay clergy to the position of bishop, but the post of Bishop of Bangor, in Wales, lies outside the authority of Dr. Williams and the church hierarchy; moreover, the Bangor diocese is no longer officially part of the British Anglican communion, The Times reported.
Dr. John is a Welsh speaker and a prominent scholar in the field of theology--all of which makes him a good candidate for the office of Bishop.
Dr. Johns is celibate, reported The Times, but that has not prevented him from forging a lifelong commitment with another protest, the Rev. Grant Holmes, with whom Dr. John has entered into a civil union, as permitted under British civil law.
The article reported that Dr. Barry Morgan, the Archbishop of Wales, has expressed support for the idea of a gay bishop.
The appointment, if indeed Dr. John is nominated, is expected to succeed or fail by a thin margin, the article said.
The Times quoted one unnamed church official as saying, "One member of the college is going to put Jeffrey John's name forward."
Added the source, "It will be a very close thing."
Another Church in Wales insider said: "He has a good pastoral record. He might well be considered."
"Jeffrey John would make an absolutely splendid bishop," sad the clergyman who established the Inclusive Church lobby, Rev. Giles Fraser.
Added Fraser, "This is not before time. This is a man who does not contravene the guidelines on human sexuality at all."
The same anti-gay elements who protested Dr. Johns' nomination to Bishop of Reading are speaking out already against the possibility of Johns' nomination in Wales.
The Times reported that two members of the anti-gay organization Anglican Mainstream, Chris Sugden and Philip Giddings, issued a new statement, saying, "If [Johns] is being nominated to a Welsh episcopate, the obstacles remain the same as to his previous candidacies for senior appointments."