ROUND THREE?

from Midwest Conservative Journal by The Editor

The Episcopal Organization’s next opportunity to outrage the Anglican world will take place in Utah:

"Utah could become only the third Episcopal diocese with an openly gay bishop.

"The Rev. Michael L. Barlowe — who married his partner, the Rev. Paul Burrows, in San Francisco in 2008, just before the fractious Proposition 8 vote banning gay marriage — is one of four finalists to replace retiring Bishop Carolyn Tanner Irish.

"Barlowe would join the Rev. Gene Robinson, of New Hampshire, and the Rev. Mary D. Glasspool, who is scheduled to be consecrated as an assistant bishop in the Diocese of Los Angeles on May 15, as the church’s only openly gay bishops.

"Picking a gay bishop also would not likely endear the diocese to Utah’s dominant Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which was among Prop 8’s strongest supporters.

“There are a lot of theological issues that divide our churches and [homosexuality] is certainly one of them,” Ric Tanner said. “Perhaps the best way to work toward understanding is to be engaged in conversation with views different than ours. That’s true of both groups.”

"But Barlowe’s sexuality may not matter to the 6,000 members of Utah’s Episcopal Church, which is on record supporting the ordination of gay and lesbian priests in committed relationships, Tanner said. At the denomination’s triennial meeting in Los Angeles last summer, the diocese sided with the majority in making the office of bishop open to all ordained persons, regardless of gender, race or sexual orientation.

"And it is the people in the pew who will have the final say."


Barlowe’s been up for a bishopric before in the most liberal of all Episcopal dioceses(Newark) and didn’t get it so there are no guarantees. But I can see TEO pushing hard behind the scenes to see that he gets this one.

For one thing, Utah’s one of the most conservative states in the country so a homosexual bishop there would get all kinds of media attention.

For another, the Mormons were and still are prominent opponents of homosexual marriage so the chance to stick a homosexual pointy-hat in the belly of the beast, as it were, would have to be irresistable.

Not that whoever wins will take over much of a diocese. 6,000 members? Try just over 5,000(as of 2008) according to TEO’s own numbers, And an ASA of 1,612, a 3.6% drop from the previous year.