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48 °F 5 Day Forecast Friday, November 28, 2003 --> Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | eSouthernOregon | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find a Rental Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Email Story to a Friend November 2, 2003 The Rev. Jim Boston of St. Luke�s Episcopal Church in Grants Pass says the issues that unite his congregation should be more important than what has divided his flock recently. Mail Tribune / Roy Musitelli Episcopalians consider fractured future Split over gays leads some to leave Grants Pass church By JOHN DARLING for the Mail Tribune For Gordon Rendall, the issue is simple: He and his wife, Mavis, quit St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Grants Pass because homosexuality violates Scripture and disqualifies any gay from being a bishop. While most local Episcopal ministers say the international church will survive today’s scheduled consecration of openly gay Bishop-elect V. Gene Robinson in New Hampshire, Rendall believes it will split the church and doom the liberal branch that follows the "if-it-feels-good,-do-it attitude of our country. Twenty-four St. Luke’s members have quit over the issue, said Rendall. Advertisement They will likely form a new congregation under the Anglican Communion (with diocese headquartered in Seattle), as did St. Andrew’s in Jacksonville when Episcopals authorized women priests in 1978. "There’s a good deal of suffering on all sides," said the Rev. Jim Boston of his flock in Grants Pass. "We’ve lost 10 families from our active membership, more than any of the 72 churches in the Oregon diocese. "I don’t think we’re going to see resolution on this issue for many years and the worst case is that we could end up with two Anglican Communions." At Trinity Episcopal in Ashland, two members have quit, but three have joined, stating they did so because of the church’s stance on Robinson, said the Rev. Anne Bartlett. St. Mark’s in Medford is going through controversy — "some happy, some unhappy" — but no one is quitting over it, said the Rev. Chuck Christopher. The national Episcopal convention recently confirmed the election in New Hampshire of Robinson as its first openly gay bishop. He will be consecrated in a ceremony today, an act that leaders of the parent Anglican Communion worldwide have said jeopardizes the 77 million-member congregation’s unity. They have named a commission to begin "urgent and deep theological and legal reflection" on ways out of the impasse. "We didn’t leave the church — it left us," said Rendall. "They have consecrated a practicing homosexual who left his wife and two children. The canons of the church and Bible clearly state what it takes to become a bishop and he doesn’t qualify. "They (church leaders) said they’re not going with the book (Bible) but with the spirit of it. We love St. Luke’s but I can’t abide by this ‘if it feels good, do it’ attitude of our country. We have to have the backbone to follow what we’re supposed to, the Bible. I don’t think the Episcopal Church will survive this, period." Another departed St. Luke’s parishioner, who asked not to be named, said Robinson "doesn’t fit the requirements for a bishop about having one wife, a good reputation and being above reproach — certainly a man there’s no question about, but he’s left his wife and gone to live with another man." For scriptural pronouncements on gay leaders, Rendall cited 1 Timothy 3 — that a leader or bishop "must be above reproach, faithful to his one wife, sober, temperate � have a good reputation � so that he may not be exposed to scandal and get caught in the devil’s snare." Trinity’s Rev. Bartlett said the church has survived many intense disputes, including the ordination of women priests in the 1970s, the first black bishop and the Civil War, which split many churches. "I pray for unity. It’s been the real gift of our tradition to be able to hold diverse theological views, as long as we pray and receive the sacrament together." The Rev. David Close of St. Mark’s in Medford agreed, predicting "a schism will not happen, because we’ve been through difficult conflicts before and always found ways to maintain a conversation." The church has not changed its traditional beliefs, he noted. It witnesses and "supports the lives" of gay and lesbian members, has for some time offered them baptism, the church’s highest sacrament and, in many congregations, offers a "blessing of same-sex marriages." The Rev. Christopher, also of St. Mark’s, said, "Some (members) are happy, some unhappy and some standing back, not making up their minds yet — but no one has bailed. It’s a community in dialogue, but the real issue we need to remember is how we serve the poor and treat each other with dignity." The Rev. Joe Crawford of St. Andrews in Jacksonville (the church that joined others splitting from the main church over women reverends) also condemned consecration as "morally wrong, unscriptural and very damaging to the church." He predicted a worldwide schism, noting the African and Asian Episcopal Communions have already declared an intent to leave. Church members now opposing a gay bishop are the same ones who opposed women priests, said the Rev. Harvey Ray, an assisting priest at Trinity in Ashland. He says those who oppose Robinson’s consecration use scripture to back it up, but their choice of scripture is "selective." The Old Testament contains five passages seemingly against homosexuality, but scripture, Ray said, has also been interpreted in the past to say women should not speak in public, men should be the head of the household, divorce is a sin, slavery is permissible and the world is flat. "Everyone does selective interpretation of scripture," Ray said, "even those who say they’re literalists. If you’re searching for something to uphold what you believe, you can find it. Scripture should be something to guide us, but we are also supposed to use our minds and our experience in the current world, just like the people who wrote the scriptures did. "In reading scripture, it’s our task to seek out of those themes the knowledge of God," he added. On their personal views of the gay bishop consecration, local church leaders covered the spectrum. Rev. Boston in Grants Pass called himself "conservative, but not way conservative," wishing the New Hampshire church could have handled the matter locally, without a national vote. "The issue is not one of believing what the Bible says, but how we read psychology and science in its dialogue with the Bible. The science on it is clearly not adequate to say homosexuality is freely chosen. Rev. Robinson was successfully married to a woman for a number of years and had the ability to cope with it, so I presume he is bisexual, so there’s the element of choice." Bartlett supports the consecration, she said, because, "the Gospel is imperative that love, inclusion, dignity and respect for every human being outweighs everything — and this is informed by the vast majority of scientific evidence, which says that homosexuality is not a choice, but is hard-wired into the individual. I personally have come to believe that evidence." Ray said, "My brother (Rev. Boston) is struggling and it’s a tough place to be, but it (consecration) is the right way to go because the underlying notion of creation is God’s love and, to express that, the Church has to seek to be inclusive." Close said, "It’s not about whether I approve or not. It’s up to the people of New Hampshire and what they, in their wisdom, choose to do ... ." In the big picture, Bartlett said, the church will endure as one. "The tradition that "people of great faith can see things differently" goes back to Britain’s Elizabeth I who, addressing the dispute over whether the Church would follow Protestant or Catholic dogma, said: "As long as we sit at the same table, we are one in the body of Christ." John Darling is a freelance writer living in Ashland. 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