Rawstory has an article today about Bishop Gene V. Robinson, the historic first openly gay Episcopal bishop, and his decision to retire in 2013, when he'll be 65, seven years short of the mandatory retirement age for bishops in the Episcopal Church.
Bishop Robinson cites "death threats, and the now-worldwide controversy" surrounding his election as Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire in 2003 as the impetus for his early retirement, saying that it has been "a constant strain, not just on me, but on my beloved husband, Mark".
How wonderful to see that phrase used by an ordained and elected (male) bishop of a major Christian denomination ("my beloved husand, Mark")! How horrible to read both of Bishop Robinson's retirement and the reasons for it!
Let me disclose, first off, that I am only an interested observer. I am not Episcopalian. I am not Anglican. I'm not even a Christian. I'm an atheist. I'm not from New Hampshire. I'm from Pennsylvania. So I don't have a direct interest in this situation except for the shared sexual orientation of Bishop Robinson and myself. That counts for a lot, though.
I was raised Catholic. Generally, the differences between Catholic and the churches associated with the Anglican Communion are relatively minor, stemming as they do from a schism that was almost entirely about church governance, rather than doctrine ("Who's going to be in charge of the official religion of England, Rome or the King?"). So I have a family sentimentality for the Anglicans/Episcopalians/etc. I remember reading about the election of Barbara Harris as the first woman Episcopal bishop back in 1989 and feeling incredibly happy...and hoping for my own Church to get the message. And I remember when I first heard that a gay bishop was elected in New Hampshire, and feeling both incredibly happy and incredibly proud.
And then the fit hit the shan...the Anglican Communion went insane. Not unlike our current rash of Tea Partiers, the more conservative national churches in the Communion started threatening the Communion itself, in addition to conducting the religious analog to an 80s corporate hostile takeover in dioceses in the US that were determined to remain recalcitrantly UNchristian about the whole thing.
And now, thanks to this very unloving controversy, Bishop Robinson is feeling a need to take haven out of the spotlight, which I can't fault him for. I can, however, fault all the very unchristian people who have made his life and the life of his family hell for the last seven years, for basically having the guts to stand up and proclaim that he could be gay and serve the church he loves, too.
May the future find more Gene Robinsons in leadership positions, all over the world. God knows we need them.
NOTE: Crossposted to Street Prophets