Heh

[selenite0]

A letter to the editor, found on Andrew Sullivan's blog:

The actions taken by the New Hampshire Episcopalians are an affront to Christians everywhere. I am just thankful that the church's founder, Henry VIII, and his wife Catherine of Aragon, and his wife Anne Boleyn, and his wife Jane Seymour, and his wife Anne of Cleves, and his wife Katherine Howard, and his wife Catherine Parr are no longer here to suffer through this assault on traditional Christian marriage.

Comments

[celticdragonfly.livejournal.com]

Personally I wouldn't compare him to McLain. (Not McCain, that's a US senator...)

This is assuming this is the story I'm thinking of, the gay bishop. Personally, I have no problem with him being gay. (Not that my opinion really matters to anyone, not being a member of that church.) I do have a problem with the guy, though, and it's in terms of his behavior. I read that he had been in a heterosexual marriage, with children (or at least a child), they didn't know he was gay, and he left them to go off with a gay lover. Abandoned them. Abandoning your wife and child(ren) to me is NOT the kind of behavior I think is acceptable in someone who becomes a bishop. The plumbing details of the lover don't matter to me in such a situation. If he'd treated his family badly to run off with a woman lover it would have been just as bad.

[patgund.livejournal.com]

Well, according to all the biographical information on Bishop Gene Robinson, he and his ex-wife parted as friends when he realized he was gay, up to a formal church divorce ceremony. And his ex-wife was one of the people who presented him at the ceremony elevating him to bishop.

The BBC profile on him had this to say -

In 1985, Canon Robinson again began to think about his sexuality and, after counselling, he and his wife decided they should separate.

When it came time to divorce, they released each other from their wedding vows, asked each other's forgiveness and committed themselves to the future of their children for whom they had joint custody.

And -

By all accounts, the extended family remains close - at the wedding of his elder daughter, Canon Robinson's partner led his ex-wife down the aisle.

The BBC profile is at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3208586.stm

It doesn't look to me like he abandoned his wife and children for his lover, (indeed, the BBC profile says he only started dating his lover after his ex-wife's remarrage). Certainly I'd agree with you if he had abandoned his wife and children, but the information on him suggests he handled the ending of his marriage and the custody of their children in a responsible and honorable manner.

[celticdragonfly.livejournal.com]

Your data is quite different from mine. Perhaps what I'd read was incorrect, or perhaps I got mixed up and was reading about a different guy.

[patgund.livejournal.com]

Possible with either one. Considering that the over all tone of the BBC articles about him were rather cool, I suspect that any negative info on him would gave been reported. But even the AP articles mentioned how close he and his ex-wife were.

I seem to recall a simular situation with another Christian denomination in which the person being elevated *had* abandoned his wife and children to be with his male lover. Maybe a cross-connection there?