Bp. Skip Adams: "That's one of my roles as bishop, to respect...and listen to people."

CNY Episcopal clergy likely to join debate over sexuality
Thursday, July 09, 2009
By Renée K. Gadoua
Staff writer

Episcopal Bishop Gladstone "Skip" Adams and eight members of the Central New York Diocese will be in Anaheim, Calif., this week for the denomination's 76th General Convention.

The meeting is a triennial legislative gathering during which elected clergy and lay deputies and bishops will vote on budgetary, programmatic and policy issues for the 2.2 million-member national church. Õ7AdamsÕ [sic] Including voting participants, up to 10,000 people are expected to attend, according to Episcopal News Service.

Heated discussion is likely to surround resolutions that deal with sexuality. The agenda includes requests to overturn, nullify or supercede the 2003 ruling calling for "restraint by not consenting to the consecration of any candidate to the episcopate whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communion."

That resolution was in response to the 2003 convention when deputies voted to affirm the election of Gene Robinson, the Episcopal Church's first openly gay bishop.

The 2006 convention also made history, when the delegates affirmed the election of Katharine Jefferts Schori as the first woman to lead the national church.

Robinson's consecration as bishop strained relations between the Episcopal Church and the Worldwide Anglican Communion, threatening to split the church as the denomination sorts through stark differences about homosexuality and biblical authority.

Three congregations have withdrawn from the local diocese in recent years because of the dispute.

Adams is prepared for more spirited discussion on the issue.

"There are going to be folks from all kinds of positions who are entrenched," he said. "That's one of my roles as bishop, to respect that and listen to people." [and then intimidate and/or sue them if they don't agree: see here and here and here -PD]

Resolutions also will consider requests for authorization to develop rites for blessing of same-gender unions; propose adding names to the church's calendar of feasts; propose use of gender-neutral language for prayer book marriage services; establish a program to address poverty in areas such as Appalachia and federal reservations for American Indians; proposed revision of the church's disciplinary canons, including processes to deal with clergy who have been accused of inappropriate behavior. link