Irish Primate: ‘Gracious Restraint’ Is Over

The Living Church
April 6, 2010

By electing and approving a second bishop in a same-sex relationship, the Episcopal Church is no longer showing gracious restraint toward other Anglican provinces, the Archbishop of Ireland has said.

“This is a development which I deeply regret,” said the Most Rev. Alan Harper, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, in a statement issued to The Church of Ireland Gazette.

The archbishop began his statement by quoting from a letter written to the primates of the Anglican Communion by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori.

The Presiding Bishop described the approval of the Rev. Canon Mary Glasspool, suffragan bishop-elect for the Diocese of Los Angeles, as representing “the mind of a majority of elected leaders in the Episcopal Church, lay, clergy, and bishops, who have carefully considered the opinions and feelings of other members of the Anglican Communion as well as the decades-long conversations within this Church.” the rest