Catholic Bishops Deeply, Publicly Divid On Anti-Gay Laws | HuffPost Relign

Contents:

• UNED METHODISTS ELECT ANOTHER GAY BISHOP, SET LIBERAL NEW DIRECTN
• UNED METHODIST CHURCH BODY ELECTS OPENLY GAY BISHOP VLATN OF S L: 'INMAT NNG THE ASYLUM'
• FIRST OPENLY GAY EPISPAL BISHOP TO DIVORCE HBAND
• WTERN JURISDICTN ELECTS OPENLY GAY UNED METHODIST BISHOP
• FIRST OPENLY GAY BISHOP TO LEAD THE EPISPAL DCE OF MISSOURI WH HOPE AND VISN
• FIRST OPENLY GAY EPISPAL BISHOP TO RETIRE
• GENE ROBSON, 1ST GAY BISHOP US, REMEMBERS TUTU’S GENEROSY
• CATHOLIC BISHOPS DEEPLY, PUBLICLY DIVID ON ANTI-GAY LAWS

UNED METHODISTS ELECT ANOTHER GAY BISHOP, SET LIBERAL NEW DIRECTN

”Showg the new normal, a send openly partnered, gay activist bishop, Cedric Bridgeforth, was elected the Wtern Jurisdictn, and a third me historilly close to beg elected the Northeast, openly breakg longstandg l banng “self-avowed, practicg homosexual” clergy. The growg uc of gay activist bishops will creasgly refe the nomatn.

But the gay activist bishops’ lavish, six-figure salari are subsidized annually by apportnments taken om Uned Methodist offerg plat across the untry. A regnal body of the Uned Methodist Church (UMC) voted to elect the nomatn's first openly gay Black bishop last week vlatn of s l prohibg the ordatn of "self-avowed practicg homosexuals.

UNED METHODIST CHURCH BODY ELECTS OPENLY GAY BISHOP VLATN OF S L: 'INMAT NNG THE ASYLUM'

Her ordatn was emed valid by the Uned Methodist Judicial Council 2017, but she remas her CHURCH OF ENGLAND OFFICIALS ENDORSE GAY MARRIAGE: ‘RANK HERESY’The UMC, which is the third-largt Prottant nomatn the U. Bishop Karen Oliveto, the UMC's first openly gay bishop, speaks at Iliff School of Theology, on April 26, 2017, Denver, Colorado.

"Several nservative members of the Methodist clergy told Fox News Digal June that far om settlg the issue, however, the 2019 vote was disregard by many liberal lears wh the UMC who cid to rema the nomatn while missng openly gay clergy and officiatg same-sex weddgs Lomperis of the Instute on Relign & Democracy, who has served as a UMC General Conference legate, told The Christian Post that Bridgeforth's promotn exhibs "further direct fiance of the UMC’s official l, which is creasgly beg normalized. 4, 2022, shortly after beg elected by legat of the Wtern Jurisdictn to be the first openly gay black bishop The Uned Methodist Church. Bridgeforth of the California-Pacific Conference a bishop.Bridgeforth, who has served as the California-Pacific Conference’s director of novatn and munitn, beme the first openly gay Ain Amerin bishop the UMC.Wtern Jurisdictn legat elected Bridgeforth on the 18th ballot, wh him receivg 73 vot out of 93 valid ballots st, havg need at least 63 ballots to be elected.Durg remarks ma shortly after beg elected, Bridgeforth told those gathered at the Wtern Jurisdictn meetg that he was “grateful to God Almighty” and “to my hband, Christopher.”“It’s the Church where I have found purpose, even when I felt like was chewg me up and sptg me out, I still uldn’t let go,” Bridgeforth said.“It wasn’t about the stutn; wasn’t about s l or s regulatns.

It was about the ll of God upon my life, to be bigger, to be better, to open doors where possible and to chart new ground where we have to.”Bridgeforth’s electn go agast the UMC Book of Disciple, which prohibs the ordatn of “self-avowed practicg homosexuals,” and th do not allow them to bee bishops.The Christian Post reached out to the Wtern Jurisdictn for ment, however, a spokperson explaed that they were unable to rpond by prs time due to travel schl and meetgs.John Lomperis of the Instute on Relign & Democracy, who has served as a UMC General Conference legate the past, viewed Bridgeforth's electn as part of a broar shift among UMC learship to embrace views that are ntrary to tradnal Christian teachg.“The first new bishop elected last week [Kenha Bigham-Tsai] has refed to say if she believ the physil rurrectn of J Christ. When the bishops are so openly breakg the standards, then this is a te ‘mat nng the asylum’ suatn.”For the past several years, the UMC has been embroiled a divisive bate over whether to change s official l barrg same-sex marriage and noncelibate homosexual ordatn.Although efforts by theologil progrsiv to change the nomatn’s l have nsistently failed, many have openly refed to enforce the standards regardg marriage and ordatn.In 2016, the Wtern Jurisdictn unanimoly elected Karen Oliveto to be bishop of the UMC Mounta Sky Area, makg her the first openly gay bishop the history of the UMC.While the UMC’s hight urt, the Uned Methodist Judicial Council, led 2017 that Oliveto’s electn was valid, as of November of this year, she remas office.The and other events have prompted many theologil nservativ recent months to leave the male nomatn and jo the newly created Global Methodist Church.Lomperis told CP that he believ such events will enurage more to the leave the UMC, as “remag Uned Methodist will require one to pay for and subm to the spirual thory of theologilly secularized lears who openly, forcefully oppose the biblil, Wleyan doctre and moral standards of the Uned Methodist Disciple.”“Time is nng out for ngregatns to act if they do not want to bee permanently trapped such a dysfunctnal, unfahful and hypocril system,” he add. NEW YORK — The first openly gay Epispal bishop, who beme a symbol for gay rights far beyond the church while eply dividg the world's Anglins, plans to divorce his Gene Robson announced the end of his marriage to Mark Andrew an email sent to the Dce of New Hampshire, where he served for ne years before retirg 2012.

FIRST OPENLY GAY EPISPAL BISHOP TO DIVORCE HBAND

Robson was barred 2008 by then-Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams om the Lambeth Conference, the once-a- global meetg of all Anglin bishops, as Williams stggled to fd a way to keep Anglins Robson was also wily celebrated as a pneer for gay rights, beme an advote for gay marriage and was the subject of several books and a documentary about Christiany, the Bible and same-sex livered the benedictn at the openg 2009 gural event for Print Barack Obama and, after retirement, beme a senr fellow at the Center for Amerin Progrs, a Democratic thk tank wh close ti to the Whe Hoe. The two men were joed a 2008 civil unn New Hampshire, and beme a legal marriage when the state regnized gay marriage 2010.

He be the first openly gay Ain-Amerin man to be elected a bishop The Uned Methodist Church.

WTERN JURISDICTN ELECTS OPENLY GAY UNED METHODIST BISHOP

” In 2021, he published his memoir, “Alabama Grandson: A Black, Gay Mister's Passage Out of Hidg. Wtern Jurisdictn elected the nomatn’s first openly gay Black bishop and first Filipo bishop. 3 ln members, Pastor Rohrer had been barred om the church bee of s “polici agast gay, lbian, bisexual, transgenr and queer dividuals, ” acrdg to Pastor Rohrer’s bgraphy on the Grace Evangelil Lutheran Church Megan Rohrer Pastor Rohrer was ordaed 2006 through the Extraordary Candidacy Project, now known as Extraordary Lutheran Mistri, which origated the early 1990s ristance to an Evangelil Lutheran Church policy that required s gay clergy to be celibate.

”In July 2010, Pastor Rohrer was one of seven openly gay pastors who had prevly been barred om mistry to be regnized as clergy members by the Evangelil Lutheran Church a news nference after the pastors were regnized, Pastor Rohrer relled facg challeng while growg up South Dakota and endurg discrimatn, such as havg holy water thrown at them the name of exorcisg them. Frank Wulf, another openly gay ndidate, had whdrawn earlier.

FIRST OPENLY GAY BISHOP TO LEAD THE EPISPAL DCE OF MISSOURI WH HOPE AND VISN

Bishop Melv Talbert, retired om the Wtern Jurisdictn, said he wasn’t sure he would ever live to see the day when the church would elect an openly gay bishop. The Book of Disciple, the church's lawbook, bans "self-avowed practicg homosexuals" om ordatn, but many gay clergy me out before General Conference 2016. Rob Renoe, print of Good News, an unofficial evangelil Uned Methodist anizatn that upholds the church’s current stance on homosexualy issu, said the electn and other actns by annual nference this summer ignored the Council of Bishops' proposal for a missn to exame all church law alg wh human sexualy.

FIRST OPENLY GAY EPISPAL BISHOP TO RETIRE

“Instead, the nferenc have moved ahead wh legislative enactments pledgg non-nformy wh the Book of Disciple, culmatg the electn of a practicg homosexual as bishop, ” said Renoe.

“I want to see gay and lbian people walk eely, ” he said. William Lawrence — former print of the Judicial Council, the church’s top urt — said before Oliveto was elected that if an openly gay person were elected bishop, anyone the nomatn uld file a plat. Rencilg Mistri Network, an unofficial Uned Methodist anizatn that advot for LGBTQ (lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer) “celebrat wh great joy the electn of the first openly lbian bishop The Uned Methodist Church.

“This is an historic moment the movement of Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgenr and Queer (LGBTQ) persons for spirual and civil equaly both the church and the public square, ” the group said a statement. Johnson’s transn to the role is historic: He’s the first openly gay bishop to lead the Dce of Missouri.

GENE ROBSON, 1ST GAY BISHOP US, REMEMBERS TUTU’S GENEROSY

' And so, that was kd of the begng of my procs of realizg that I was lled to So, you're a black man — you're an openly gay and married black man wh two kids. Why is important this day and age for people to see an openly gay person of lor, who's also an immigrant, such a high learship role the church like this?

I mean, most of the imag of black gay men are not necsarily always posive. STORY HIGHLIGHTSGene Robson, openly gay bishop New Hampshire, announc retirementHe says schism wh Epispal Church, ath threats are factorsHe will ntue servg as bishop until January 2013 (CNN) -- Gene Robson, the first openly gay bishop the Epispal Church, said Saturday that ath threats and ntued worldwi ntroversy about his selectn ntributed to his cisn to retire January 2013. " Conservative factns the Anglin Communn, a 77 ln-member nomatn worldwi that clus the Epispal Church, have opposed the ordatn of gay bishops.

Robson's appotment prompted a semi-official moratorium on namg new gay bishops, but they revoked that ban last year.

CATHOLIC BISHOPS DEEPLY, PUBLICLY DIVID ON ANTI-GAY LAWS

A number of Epispal dc broke wh the official church stcture, formg the breakaway Anglin Church North Ameri prott of the church's stance on homosexualy. "This is the one place on earth where I am not 'the gay Bishop.