Two bishops at the heart of the U.S. Episcopal Church's divisions over sexuality and scripture will not be invited to next year's global gathering of Anglican prelates, the archbishop of Canterbury's office in London announced Tuesday.
Bishops V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire and Martyn Minns of the breakaway Convocation of Anglicans in North America were not among more than 850 bishops invited, said Canon Kenneth Kearon, secretary-general of the Anglican Communion.
Robinson was the first Anglican bishop to be openly living in a same-sex relationship, and his election in 2003 drove a huge rift between the liberal and conservative wings of the church.
Minns was consecrated bishop on May 5 in Woodbridge, Va., by Nigerian archbishop Peter Akinola, the most outspoken of the numerous Anglican critics of Robinson's elevation.
Robinson may be invited to attend the Lambeth Conference as a guest, but Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams is not contemplating inviting Minns, Kearon said.
''The question of Gene Robinson...I think has exercised the archbishop of Canterbury's mind for quite some time,'' he said, adding that there was no doubt that Robinson was duly elected and consecrated a bishop according to the rules of the Episcopal Church.
''However, for the archbishop to simply give full recognition at this conference would be to ignore the very substantial and very widespread objections in many parts of the communion to his consecration and to his ministry,'' Kearon said.
Robinson said Williams's decision was a ''great disappointment.''
''At a time when the Anglican Communion is calling for a 'listening process' on the issue of homosexuality, how does it make sense to exclude gay and lesbian people from the discussion?'' Robinson said in a statement released by his office. ''This is not about Gene Robinson nor the diocese of New Hampshire,'' he added. ''It is about the American church. It is for the Episcopal Church to respond to this divide-and-conquer challenge to our polity, and in due time, I assume we will do so.''
The conference, generally held every 10 years and covering all sorts of topics, will take place at the University of Kent in England, July 16–August 4, 2008.
Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of the U.S. Episcopal Church, had also been informed of the invitation decision, Kearon said.
He said Williams had expressed his displeasure about Akinola's intention to consecrate Minns as a bishop. ''There is no question that he [Minns] is a bishop, but his consecration is not regular,'' Kearon said.
''I am not aware of any intention to invite him as a guest. It is a very different situation,'' he added.
Kearon said Williams was deliberating on whether to invite one or two other bishops, but he declined to give any details.
The divisions wracking the 77 million–member Anglican Communion were prominent at the last Lambeth Conference in 1998.
By a large majority, bishops at that conference adopted a resolution ''rejecting homosexual practice as incompatible with scripture'' and declared their opposition to the ''legitimizing or blessing of same-sex unions nor ordaining those involved in same-gender unions.''
Nonetheless, Episcopalians in New Hampshire elected Robinson as their bishop, a choice confirmed by the Episcopal Church's governing General Convention.
A year earlier, the diocese of New Westminster in western Canada alarmed doctrinal conservatives by authorizing services of blessing for same-sex partnerships.
In his invitation letters, which were sent by e-mail, Williams said: ''At a time when our common identity seems less clear that it once did, the temptation is to move further away from each other into those circles where we only related to those who completely agree with us.
''But the depth and seriousness of the issues that face us require us to discuss as fully and freely as we can, and no other forum offers the same opportunities for all to hear and consider, in the context of a common waiting on the Holy Spirit.
''I have said, and repeat here, that coming to the conference does not commit you to accepting every position held by other bishops as equally legitimate or true. But I hope it does commit us all to striving together for a more effective and coherent worldwide body, working for God's glory and Christ's Kingdom.'' (Robert Barr, AP)
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