Avowed Lesbian Elected Suffragen (Assistant) Bishop in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES: Episcopal Diocese Elects Lesbian as Bishop Suffragan
Archbishop of Canterbury rips decision, urges repudiation of vote

News Analysis

By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
12/7/2009

In a cliff hanging election that took seven ballots, the Diocese of Los Angeles elected an avowed lesbian to be the next Suffragan Bishop of the ultra-liberal diocese, setting off an ecclesiastical fire storm around the Anglican Communion that we have not seen since Gene Robinson, a non-celibate homosexual, was elected Bishop of New Hampshire.

The Rev. Canon Mary Douglas Glasspool, 55, who now serves as a canon to the Diocese of Maryland bishops, will be the second elected outed homosexual bishop in The Episcopal Church, an act that is being seen as further isolating and clarifying the theological differences between The Episcopal Church and the vast majority of Anglicans worldwide who are orthodox in faith and morals.

Almost immediately, the Archbishop of Canterbury issued a statement saying that the election of Mary Glasspool raises very serious questions, not just for the Episcopal Church and its place in the Anglican Communion, but for the Communion as a whole.

He urged that the election not be confirmed saying it should be rejected by diocesan bishops and diocesan standing committees, and citing "very important implications" if it did.

"The bishops of the Communion have collectively acknowledged that a period of gracious restraint in respect of actions which are contrary to the mind of the Communion is necessary if our bonds of mutual affection are to hold."

Katharine Jefferts Schori, The Episcopal Church's Presiding Bishop, told VOL that she never comments on episcopal elections and that it is keeping with her policy...it is in keeping with her established practice. There is speculation that the phone lines are running hot between Lambeth Palace and New York.

When he was confronted with a replica situation in 2003, then Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold told The Anglican Church's Archbishops that he would not lay hands on a homosexual bishop. He proceeded to do so three weeks later arguing that how a diocese voted was not in his control and he could not step back from his responsibilities as Presiding Bishop. It is expected that Jefferts Schori will argue much the same thing. In Lebanon, PA, recently she denied, when questioned, that there had been any moratorium on non-celibate bishops elected to high offices in the church.