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New Hampshire Episcopal Diocese Could Elect Another Gay Bishop
By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
March 19, 2012
When the Episcopal House of Bishops and Standing Committees in the Episcopal Church cast their votes for a new bishop in the Diocese of New Hampshire, they will have an opportunity to vote for yet another non-celibate homogenital bishop to replace Bishop Gene Robinson. It will be déjà vu all over again for this diocese.
On the short ballot of three nominees is the Rev. William Rich, Senior Associate Rector for Christian Formation at Trinity Church in Boston in the Diocese of Massachusetts. Massachusetts is one of the most revisionist dioceses in the Episcopal Church. If he wins, he will bring his "husband", Dr. Donald Schiermer, along to the party.
The other two candidates are the Rev. A. Robert Hirschfeld, who serves as rector of Grace Episcopal Church in Amherst, MA, and the Rev. Penelope Bridges, the rector of St. Francis Episcopal Church in Great Falls, VA. None of the candidates are from the Diocese of New Hampshire.
A shrewd observer noted that the other two nominees acknowledged going through divorce. "I'm quite accustomed to liberal dioceses not bothering to offer even a token conservative, but this is the first time (at least since I began watching) that a diocese did not present a heterosexual nominee who is divorce-free."
In a statement Rich said, "I am honored and humbled by the trust New Hampshire is placing in me."
Should he win, and there is every likelihood that he will, Rich will replace Bishop Gene Robinson, who has been the bishop of Diocese of New Hampshire since 2004. Robinson is the first consecrated gay bishop in the Episcopal Church. If elected, Rich would be the third gay bishop following the election last year of Mary Glasspool, Assistant Bishop of the Diocese of Los Angeles, an avowed lesbian.
At the beginning of May, the three nominees will take part in three "Meet and Greet" events that will take place at various locations in the Diocese. The diocese votes May 19. The new bishop will be consecrated Tenth Bishop of New Hampshire at St. Paul's Church in Concord on Jan. 5, 2013.
Figures from the Episcopal Church's Office of Congregational Vitality indicate that the diocese lost members from 2004 to 2007 and began regaining them in 2007. As of 2010, both baptized members and average Sunday attendance remained lower than in 2003. Pledge and plate income, however, steadily increased from 2004 to 2007, and remained higher than in 2003.
Hirschfeld has compared Robinson's election to the parting of the Red Sea.
"It seems to me that something in our Church has been split wide open for all God's children to step in," Hirschfeld wrote. "And it happened in New Hampshire, and the good people of your diocese bravely, miraculously set forth."
Hirschfeld has followed other priests in The Episcopal Church by declaring a moratorium on presiding at heterosexual weddings maintaining that homosexuals are disqualified from such blessings. He described it as a "justice issue."
Jeff Walton, a spokesman from the Institute on Religion and Democracy's "Anglican Action" program, said he was skeptical that any of the three nominees would be able to help revive a diocese that, like the rest of its denomination, is suffering from declining membership.
"The parishes that Bridges and Hirschfeld led have had either flat or declining attendance during their tenure, while the large Boston parish that Rich serves has seen an almost 40 percent drop in attendance over the past decade," said Walton.
"Considering that the Diocese of New Hampshire has struggled with a 13 percent membership decline and almost 20 percent attendance decline over the past decade, I don't see how any of these three candidates bring the needed experience to revitalize the diocese."
The consecration of Robinson tore the fabric of the Anglican Communion from which it has never recovered. Every act such as this only distances itself further from the Anglican mainstream. Next month GAFCON archbishops from the Global South will meet in London and will consider, among other things, their place and future in the Anglican Communion.
This past week Archbishop Rowan Williams announced he is fleeing back to academia nine years before his retirement age. It seems he is unable to handle the growing schism in the Anglican Communion and his failure to bring to heel errant provinces like The Episcopal Church for their communion breaking acts like these consecrations.
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