Virginia diocese split over gay bishop

Six months after the Nov. 2 consecration of V. Gene Robinson as the world’s first openly homosexual Episcopal bishop, the issue divides the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia more than ever.

After Virginia Bishop Peter J. Lee became one of 62 bishops who voted last summer at a church convention to approve Bishop Robinson’s consecration, 24 parishes staged an economic boycott of the diocese.

That resulted in a $900,000 budget deficit. The diocese produced a “task force on giving” that will begin hearings this month, aimed at coaxing churches into giving far more to the Richmond-based headquarters.

But in the 89,000-member diocese, the country’s largest, many churches already have cut back budgets, frozen their building campaigns and lost members over the contentious issue. And just before diocesan clergy left for their annual retreat last week, word came out of a retired Episcopal bishop, 87-year-old Otis Charles, “marrying” his 62-year-old partner in an Episcopal church in San Francisco.

“The Gene Robinson thing has really caused a lot of people to stop and reflect and figure out what their options are,” said the Rev. Chuck Nalls, a canon lawyer who is a priest in one of many breakaway Episcopal denominations, the Diocese of Christ the King.

“There are two choices,” he said. “You declare there is a level of sexual deviance you have to accept to stay in an institution. Or you have to leave.”

Some church conservatives have left Episcopal parishes, taking their funds with them, while a few homosexual-friendly parishes have actually prospered from the increased polarization within the church.

The historic Christ Church in Alexandria, which draws 800 to 1,200 people on Sunday mornings, lost a $900,000 donation to a building fund because of the Robinson consecration.

In recent months, 10 families have left the church, 104 persons have not renewed their annual financial pledge and two parishioners say they have been told giving is down 20 percent.

The Rev. Pierce Klemmt, rector of Christ Church, said people are giving less because they fear “the future” on sexuality.

“Homosexuality is not a sin,” he said. “It is a gift from God, and I see this issue on the same issue as civil rights. Our brothers and sisters with the homosexual orientation should be supported and celebrated as any person should be.”

Some of the dissatisfied have made their way to St. Andrew and St. Margaret of Scotland Anglican Church in the Del Ray section of Alexandria, which has gained 75 members over the Robinson affair.

Collections are so good, said the Rev. Nick Athanaelos, that he has added a third service and is looking for an assistant.

“We get calls every week,” Mr. Athanaelos said. “A lot of folks are hurting and they feel their church has abandoned them. We knew there would be fallout, but we didn’t know to what extent.”

Others have ended up at the largest church in the diocese: The Falls Episcopal Church in Falls Church, which opposed the Robinson consecration. So many people are joining that the parish has drawn up a $3.9 million budget for 2004, outstripping the $3.8 million budget for the diocesean headquarters.

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