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LOS ANGELES, CA: Episcopal delegates vote to protest edict
They oppose the decision discouraging the consecration of homosexual bishops.
By BETTYE WELLS MILLER
The Press-Enterprise
December 1, 2006
RIVERSIDE - Delegates to the 111th annual meeting of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles voted Friday to protest the national church's decision discouraging the consecration of homosexual bishops.
Some clergy and lay members noted that while the resolution adopted in June by the General Convention of the Episcopal Church does not refer specifically to homosexuals, it is clear that was its intent. That is discriminatory, they said.
The national resolution encourages discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in the selection and consecration of new bishops, Bob Long, senior warden at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, said in urging support of the local protest resolution he co-authored.
The ordination of gay clergy and blessings of same-sex unions in some North American parishes and dioceses in recent years has become increasingly contentious within the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion, the global network of which the American church is a part.
About 1,500 Episcopalians from Southern California are attending the two-day meeting at the Riverside Convention Center. The Diocese of Los Angeles includes parts of Riverside and San Bernardino counties as well as Los Angeles, Orange, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.
Some delegates Friday said opposing the national church's attempt at compromise would widen that rift.
"This resolution exhibits blindness," said Robert Ashton of St. Thomas of Canterbury Church in Long Beach. "The question is, who got snubbed? It's our Anglican brothers and sisters across the world. If we vote for this, what in the bleep are we doing?"
After the vote, the Rev. Canon David Baumann, rector of Church of the Blessed Sacrament in Placentia, criticized what he called the liberal element of the church for ignoring theologically conservative members of the church.
"By the negative witness of conservatives you have led us as a family to disaster," he said. "There will come a time when the voice of moderation will speak for the last time."
Delegate Robert Cameron Smith said with regard to homosexuality the issue is not sexual orientation.
"The Bible says the practice of homosexual sex is an abomination to God," he said. "Homosexual persons are welcome as long as they are celibate."
