Gay bishop consecrated

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DURHAM, N.H. -- The world's first openly homosexual Episcopal bishop was consecrated here yesterday in a ceremony attended by 3,000 well-wishers, 54 bishops, dozens of reporters, and protesters who condemned the church for allowing the event.

However, soon after all the bishops had laid their hands upon him in a 2,000-year-old rite said to confer spiritual authority, the new bishop, the Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, stood before the gathering in gold and green robes and tearfully told those assembled his election was a sign to those "at the margins" of society.

"Your presence is a welcome sign," he said, "for those people to be brought into the center.... You cannot imagine what an honor it is for you to have called me."

Bishop Robinson, 56, then urged his audience at a college sports arena to be "hospitable, loving and caring" toward those Episcopalians who disagreed with his election.

"They must know that if they must leave, they will always be welcome back in our fellowship," he said.

His June 7 election in Concord, N.H., and his confirmation by a majority of Episcopal bishops and deputies at the Episcopal General Convention last August in Minneapolis provoked an emergency meeting last month of the world leaders of the 70-million-member Anglican Communion, of which the Episcopal Church is one of 38 members, or provinces.

In London yesterday, the Archbishop of Canterbury expressed "deep regret" over the division caused by Bishop Robinson's elevation.

In a statement acknowledging "those alienated by decisions which appear to go against ... biblical teaching," Archbishop Rowan Williams said: "The divisions that are arising are a matter of deep regret. They will be all too visible in the fact that it will not be possible for Gene Robinson's ministry as a bishop to be accepted in every province in the communion."

World Anglican leaders released a statement saying the denomination could split over the consecration and that as early as today, other provinces might begin declaring themselves "out of communion" with the 2.3-million-member Episcopal Church.