The first openly
gay Episcopal bishop announced he will have no official
role in a meeting this summer of world Anglican leaders,
saying restrictions that organizers wanted to place on
his involvement had caused him ''considerable pain.''
New Hampshire
bishop V. Gene Robinson had been told last year that he
could not fully participate in the once-a-decade gathering
in England, called the Lambeth Conference, as the
world Anglican Communion sat on the brink of schism
over his 2003 election.
Still, Episcopal
leaders had been negotiating with the Anglican Communion
Office to allow him to join the event in some capacity. The
Episcopal Church is the Anglican body in the United
States.
At a meeting of
the Episcopal House of Bishops Monday night in Texas,
Robinson said that the final offer to include him was in
effect a ''non-offer,'' and he had declined it.
Anglican leaders
said Robinson could ''be present'' in the conference
Marketplace, or convention hall, where exhibitors and church
agencies set up stalls, and that he could participate
in one ''high-profile'' event, such as a news
conference, at the 20-day summit. The exhibit hall is open
to the public, while the Lambeth discussions are private.
Robinson told the
bishops in Texas that ever since he got word of the
proposal late last Friday, ''I have been in considerable
pain.'' He said he had hoped to participate in Bible
study and small group discussions with other bishops.
''I am dismayed
and sickhearted that we can't sit around a table, as
brothers and sisters in Christ, and study Scripture
together,'' he said. ''It makes me wonder, if we can't
sit around a table and study the Bible together, what
kind of Communion do we have and what are we trying to
save?''
A spokesman for
the Anglican Communion did not respond to a request for
comment.
The spiritual
leader of the Anglican Communion, Archbishop of Canterbury
Rowan Williams, didn't invite Robinson to Lambeth, partly to
appease theological conservatives, who believe the
Bible bans gay relationships. Some had threatened to
boycott the meeting if he attended.
Williams also
didn't invite Bishop Martyn Minns, who leads a network of
conservative breakaway Episcopal parishes in the United
States that have aligned with the like-minded Anglican
Church of Nigeria
Still, five
Anglican archbishops from Africa and South America said
recently they would boycott Lambeth because they could not
share communion with the Episcopal bishops who had
consecrated Robinson. The five are among several
Anglican conservatives who are holding an
international gathering in June in the Mideast that is seen
as a rival to Lambeth.
The Lambeth
Conference is scheduled July 16 through August 3 at the
University of Kent in England.
Some Episcopal
bishops who believe that committed gay relationships are
acceptable in Scripture had discussed boycotting the event
if Robinson couldn't attend.
But Robinson
repeatedly urged them to go.
''For God's sake,
don't stay away,'' Robinson said. He plans to travel to
the event on his own, staying in the Marketplace to be
available for anyone interested in talking with him.
''Pray for me,''
he said. ''I will need that. A lot.'' (Rachel Zoll,
AP)