Interview With Gene Robinson

From Ruth Gledhill via the Episcopal Café"

CofE 'would shut down' without its gay clergy, says +Gene.

Andrew Collier, a freelance journalist based in Scotland, has just interviewed Bishop Gene Robinson in London. We have reported in online. This is the bit I liked best: 'I think the thing that is the most mystifying to me and the most troubling about the Church of England is its refusal to be honest about just how many gay clergy it has – many of them partnered and many of them living in rectories. I have met so many gay partnered clergy here and it is so troubling to hear them tell me that their bishop comes to their house for dinner, knows fully about their relationship, is wonderfully supportive but has also said if this ever becomes public then I’m your worst enemy. It’s a terrible way to live your life and I think it’s a terrible way to be a church. I think integrity is so important. What does it mean for a clergy person to be in a pulpit calling the parishioners to a life of integrity when they can’t even live a life of integrity with their own bishop and their own church? So I would feel better about the Church of England’s stance, its reluctance to support the Episcopal Church in what it has done if it would at least admit that this not an American problem and just an American challenge. If all the gay people stayed away from church on a given Sunday the Church of England would be close to shut down between its organists, its clergy, its wardens.....it just seems less than humble not to admit that.'

The hypocrisy is bad enough, but pointing fingers at another church within the Anglican Communion, while at the same time covering up similar behavior in your own church, makes it all the worse.

The greater part of Gledhill's post is devoted to the interview by Andrew Collier with Gene Robinson. I was intrigued by Bishop Robinson's personal story, especially in light of my informal "survey" here.

Robinson: 'I think most gay people sense early on that they are different even if they are not exactly sure how they are different. That was certainly true for me by age 11 or 12. You have to remember that when I was that age, gay was not a word that was being used to describe homosexual people. There was very little discussion of it. There were certainly no role models like we have today of successful and productive people who were gay, so it was not something easily admitted to oneself, never mind the world.

The personal story continues at length, too long for me to quote, but it's quite good. I urge you to read the rest at Ruth Gledhill's site.