Gay Controversies Overshadow Installment of First Female Episcopal Head
WASHINGTON – Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori took office as the first female presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church on Saturday amid controversies over her views of homosexual relations and the Ted Haggard scandal.
An elaborate investiture ceremony at the Washington National Cathedral that included flying streamers, multicolored robes, and organ accompanied hymns welcomed Jefferts Schori as the top Episcopal leader as well as the first woman priest to head an Anglican province.
Jefferts Schori’s installment has caused further division in the already divided Episcopal Church with seven conservative Episcopal dioceses rejecting her leadership. The dioceses oppose the new presiding bishop’s support of ordaining gays and permitting blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples among other reasons.
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She had said in an interview with the Associated Press that she believes homosexuality is “how one is created” and the Church should help gays and lesbians find “holy ways of living in relationship.”
In 2003, she voted for the election of the denomination’s first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.
During Saturday’s installment ceremony, Jefferts Schori recognized the division within the U.S. Episcopal Church and responded, “If some in this church feel wounded by recent decisions, then our salvation or health as a body is at some hazard.” She called for members to seek “healing and wholeness.”
Meanwhile, the Ted Haggard sex scandal has shocked the nation. Haggard, who is the president of the influential National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), was accused by a male escort last week of paying him for sex for three years and for use of methamphetamine to enhance the experience.
Haggard was forced to permanently resign from his position as senior pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs on Saturday after the church’s independent investigation board found him guilty “without a doubt” of “sexually immoral conduct,” according to AP.
As the head of NAE, Haggard had been a spokesperson for traditional marriage and had condemned homosexuality. Haggard stepped down as NAE president on Thursday.
The 14,000-membered New Life Church, founded by Haggard, said that it will continue to investigate the extent of Haggard’s sexual misconduct.
The former NAE president had denied the accusation and said he paid for a massage and for methamphetamine but did not have sex with the male escort nor used the drug.
