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| Bishop Robinson and his second wife are now splitsville. |
Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson invited by President Obama to meet Pope
Other invitees include transgendered and LGBT leaders. No orthodox Anglicans invited
COMMENTARY
By David W. Virtue DD
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| ELCA works closely with the Episcopalians; LCMS and WELS work closely with ELCA. |
www.virtueonline.org
September 16, 2015
CRUX carries an AP story reporting that President Obama has invited a whole range of religious leaders to the White House to meet Pope Francis when he comes next week. Among them is former New Hampshire Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in The Episcopal Church.
Robinson, you will recall, divorced his wife Boo, so he could marry his boyfriend Mark Andrew. Before "marrying" Mark Andrew, he and his wife went to the church where they were married and made up a ceremony in which they "released" one another from their vows. Then Robinson (who also struggles with alcoholism) "married" his boyfriend Mark and later divorced him too. It has been a rocky, public road for the bishop that no amount of public humiliation seems to have caused him to reflect on his behavior. Robinson, currently a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, has attended a number of religious events with the Obama administration, providing a prayer at President Obama's inauguration in 2009 and taking part in the 2014 National Prayer Breakfast. His hubris knows no end.
At the last General Convention in Salt Lake City, following the passage of gay marriage in the Church, he was heard to cry in the House of Bishops, "It is finished!" seeing himself, once again, the martyr being sacrificed on the phallic cross of his desires and of his own making. He has achieved what no bishop (not even the Borgia popes succeeded in doing) has done -- denying the creed and still holding onto his job and pension.
Robinson's consecration to Bishop of New Hampshire in 2003 was the cause of the single biggest exodus from The Episcopal Church since it was organized after the American Revolution, when it separated from The Church of England.
Over the next decade following his ordination, more than 200,000 practicing Episcopalians left the Episcopal Church, fleeing to safer spiritual climes like the Anglican Church in North America, the Roman Catholic Church, The Ordinariate, the Lutheran Church, and a number of other smaller orthodox denominations. It has been the worst flight in TEC's history with zero chance of recovery. There are less than 700,000 Episcopalians worshipping in some 6700 churches weekly, with two thirds of them made up of women over 60. Nearly half of all these churches have neither a full time rector nor a part time non-stipendiary priest.
Other invitees include a pro-abortion nun, and at least two openly gay Catholic activists who will be among the thousands greeting Pope Francis, thanks to decisions by the Obama administration.
LifeSiteNews has confirmed that Mateo Williamson, a biological woman who identifies as a man, and former co-chairman of the Transgender Caucus for Dignity USA, received an invitation to the White House when Pope Francis visits next week. Williamson declined to speak with LifeSiteNews about the invitation, instead commending invitation organizer Vivian Taylor.
Taylor is the executive director of the national LGBT advocacy arm of the Episcopal Church and a biological male.
Rev. Stephanie Spellers, an Episcopal theologian wasn't able to register for the event in time, but told CNS News she "did get the invite." Spellers is the author of "Radical Welcome: Embracing God, the Other, and theSpirit of Transformation."
Dissident Catholic nun, Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of the social justice group NETWORK and pro-abortion leader of "Nuns on the Bus," will also attend. Campbell is widely credited with undermining the abortion concerns of U.S. bishops when the Affordable Care Act was being debated five-and-a-half years ago.
An investigation of Campbell's organization, started by Pope Benedict XVI, ended earlier this year with few repercussions for the organization.
Perhaps most famously, gay Catholic blogger Aaron Ledesma -- who claims that Pope Francis drew him back to the Church earlier this year -- will be in the large crowd on White House grounds. Ledesma, 23, writes a blog called "The Gay Catholic."
Other confirmed attenders at the White House reception are the Rev. Joel Hunter, an evangelical megachurch pastor from Florida who is a confidant of Obama on spiritual matters; the Rev. Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, which represents about 40 conservative Christian denominations; and the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, a major US Latino evangelical group that, along with the US Roman Catholic bishops, has pressed lawmakers for immigration reform.
There will be thousands at this "audience" with Pope Francis. It's doubtful that Gene Robinson will be in the line up to meet Pope Francis personally, but I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him maneuvered into place for a photo with the Pope, which the mainstream media will then publish with the caption, "Pope Francis and Gay Bishop: Who Am I to Judge?" writes Catholic convert Dwight Longenecker.
Robinson has been a one man wrecking crew that got away with it because conservatives in The Episcopal Church kept drawing lines in the sand in the hope that the Episcopal Church would see reason, come to its senses and its leaders repent of their ways. It never happened.
FOOTNOTE. I have received press credentials to report on the Pope when he comes to Philadelphia -- as far as I know, the only Anglican journalist to obtain credentials. I will report first on the Synod on the Family, followed by the Pope's visit. I will file stories daily. You can see them at www.virtueonline.org
END
Robinson's consecration to Bishop of New Hampshire in 2003 was the cause of the single biggest exodus from The Episcopal Church since it was organized after the American Revolution, when it separated from The Church of England.
Over the next decade following his ordination, more than 200,000 practicing Episcopalians left the Episcopal Church, fleeing to safer spiritual climes like the Anglican Church in North America, the Roman Catholic Church, The Ordinariate, the Lutheran Church, and a number of other smaller orthodox denominations. It has been the worst flight in TEC's history with zero chance of recovery. There are less than 700,000 Episcopalians worshipping in some 6700 churches weekly, with two thirds of them made up of women over 60. Nearly half of all these churches have neither a full time rector nor a part time non-stipendiary priest.
Other invitees include a pro-abortion nun, and at least two openly gay Catholic activists who will be among the thousands greeting Pope Francis, thanks to decisions by the Obama administration.
LifeSiteNews has confirmed that Mateo Williamson, a biological woman who identifies as a man, and former co-chairman of the Transgender Caucus for Dignity USA, received an invitation to the White House when Pope Francis visits next week. Williamson declined to speak with LifeSiteNews about the invitation, instead commending invitation organizer Vivian Taylor.
Taylor is the executive director of the national LGBT advocacy arm of the Episcopal Church and a biological male.
Rev. Stephanie Spellers, an Episcopal theologian wasn't able to register for the event in time, but told CNS News she "did get the invite." Spellers is the author of "Radical Welcome: Embracing God, the Other, and theSpirit of Transformation."
Dissident Catholic nun, Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of the social justice group NETWORK and pro-abortion leader of "Nuns on the Bus," will also attend. Campbell is widely credited with undermining the abortion concerns of U.S. bishops when the Affordable Care Act was being debated five-and-a-half years ago.
An investigation of Campbell's organization, started by Pope Benedict XVI, ended earlier this year with few repercussions for the organization.
Perhaps most famously, gay Catholic blogger Aaron Ledesma -- who claims that Pope Francis drew him back to the Church earlier this year -- will be in the large crowd on White House grounds. Ledesma, 23, writes a blog called "The Gay Catholic."
Other confirmed attenders at the White House reception are the Rev. Joel Hunter, an evangelical megachurch pastor from Florida who is a confidant of Obama on spiritual matters; the Rev. Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, which represents about 40 conservative Christian denominations; and the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, a major US Latino evangelical group that, along with the US Roman Catholic bishops, has pressed lawmakers for immigration reform.
There will be thousands at this "audience" with Pope Francis. It's doubtful that Gene Robinson will be in the line up to meet Pope Francis personally, but I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him maneuvered into place for a photo with the Pope, which the mainstream media will then publish with the caption, "Pope Francis and Gay Bishop: Who Am I to Judge?" writes Catholic convert Dwight Longenecker.
Robinson has been a one man wrecking crew that got away with it because conservatives in The Episcopal Church kept drawing lines in the sand in the hope that the Episcopal Church would see reason, come to its senses and its leaders repent of their ways. It never happened.
FOOTNOTE. I have received press credentials to report on the Pope when he comes to Philadelphia -- as far as I know, the only Anglican journalist to obtain credentials. I will report first on the Synod on the Family, followed by the Pope's visit. I will file stories daily. You can see them at www.virtueonline.org
END
