Amid intense
international pressure not to elect the second openly gay
bishop in the worldwide Anglican Communion, the Episcopal
Diocese of California yesterday elected a straight
bishop. The Reverend Mark H. Andrus, bishop suffragan
of the Diocese of Alabama, won over several other
candidates, including three gay candidates, in the election
at San Francisco's Grace Cathedral, The New York
Times reports today.
Many observers had expected the diocese to
choose one of the gay candidates--the Reverend
Bonnie Perry of Chicago, the Very Reverend Robert
Taylor of Seattle, and the Reverend Canon Michael Barlowe of
San Francisco--to succeed outgoing Bishop
William E. Swing, thus further inflaming tension among
Anglicans about the role of gays and lesbians in
the church. Since Bishop Gene Robinson's election as head of
the Diocese of New Hampshire in 2003, many dioceses around
the world have threatened to secede, although many
people have also joined the church in support.
But although Andrus is straight, he is himself a
strong supporter of the full inclusion of gay people
in the church. "We must all understand, and here I
address the Diocese of California and those listening from
elsewhere, that your vote today remains a vote for inclusion
and communion--of gay and lesbian people in
their full lives as single or partnered people, of
women, of all ethnic minorities, and all people," he
said, according to the Times. ''My commitment
to Jesus Christ's own mission of inclusion is resolute.''
Andrus is expected to be consecrated as
bishop at the Episcopal Church's General
Convention in Columbus, Ohio, in mid-June, according to
the Times. (The Advocate)
