DURHAM, N.H. — The Episcopal Church became the first major Christian denomination to make an openly gay man a bishop, consecrating V. Gene Robinson on Sunday as bishop of New Hampshire. The act almost certainly means disgruntled conservatives will break from the church.
The Rev. Robinson, 56, became a bishop when at least 40 other bishops attending his consecration surrounded him for the laying on of hands.
The historic moment came more than an hour into the ritual and after two Episcopal clerics and a parishioner took advantage of the traditional opportunity to object.
But the crowd of 4,000 worshippers attending the ceremony at a University of New Hampshire sports arena was overwhelmingly pro-Robinson. Presented to the audience at what's normally center ice, the Rev. Robinson was greeted by a rousing, three-minute standing ovation. He smiled, nodded and brushed away a tear.
In informal remarks, the Rev. Robinson's voice broke twice as he thanked New Hampshire for electing him a bishop and reaching out to the "people who find themselves at the margins," as Jesus did.
Conservatives have made moves to split from the church over the Rev. Robinson and leaders of the global Anglican Communion have said his consecration puts their worldwide association, with 77 million members, in jeopardy.
A spokesman for the Episcopal Diocese of Utah said the Right Rev. Carolyn Tanner Irish's schedule precluded her from attending Sunday's consecration, but she issued a statement making clear her support for the Rev. Robinson and her call for reconciliation on the issue.
"Our prayers for Gene Robinson, the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire, the Anglican Communion and the whole of Christ's church have been resolute and constant," the statement said.
"Our church is, and always has been, the most comprehensive of Christian Families, because we have sought to embrace theological and cultural diversity of the kind that has sometimes fractured other Protestant churches. . . . Reconciliation is the mission of God in this world, through his son, Jesus Christ. It is for that reconciliation which we must now pray," the Rev. Irish's statement said.
At Sunday's consecration ceremony, Assistant Bishop David Bena of Albany, N.Y., spoke for 36 opposing bishops in the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada. He said his group and most bishops in the international Anglican Communion will not recognize Robinson as a fellow bishop.
Reading from a statement, Bena said Robinson's "'chosen lifestyle' is incompatible with Scripture and the teaching of this church." Bena spoke after Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold asked if there was "any reason why we should not proceed," a traditional part of Episcopal consecration services.
The Rev. Earle Fox from the Pittsburgh Diocese also objected. But when he began citing specifics of same-sex behavior, Griswold politely cut him off, saying "please spare us the details and come to the substance."
In all, the objections took about 10 minutes.
Outside the ceremony, a handful of anti- and pro-gay demonstrators were kept apart by police. Armed officers also stood on the roof. Dissenting traditionalists also held a competing Communion service at a nearby church.
The consecration sermon by New Hampshire's retiring Bishop Douglas Theuner was interrupted twice by vigorous applause as he defended Robinson's gay commitment against detractors.
Theuner said Robinson "will stand as a symbol of the unity of the church in a way none of the rest of us can" because he will "bring into our fellowship an entire group of Christians hitherto unacknowledged in the church."
Robinson won more applause for reaching out to Episcopalians upset with his elevation. "They must know if they must leave, they will always be welcomed back," he said.
Though there have been gay bishops in the past, all were closeted when they were elevated to their posts. Robinson has been open about his 14-year relationship with his partner throughout the process in which he won election to the new post.
The title conferred on Robinson, a longtime assistant to New Hampshire Bishop Douglas Theuner, is "bishop coadjutor," meaning he automatically becomes head of the diocese when Theuner retires March 7.
A national association for conservatives opposed to ordaining gays, the American Anglican Council, says parishioners already were drifting away in protest of Robinson's elevation. It plans to hold the denomination's conservative flank together by building a network of "confessing" dioceses and congregations.
The network will exist more or less separately from the national denomination, claiming to preserve the traditional beliefs of the Episcopal Church and the international Anglican Communion of which it's a part.
Some predict this will develop into the worst Episcopal split since the denomination was founded in 1789. And depending on the shape things take, a spate of church lawsuits may well result.
But Griswold, the leader of the 2.3 million-member U.S. denomination, has downplayed the negative fallout. He said two weeks ago that members who oppose Robinson's elevation "for the greatest part ... are committed to remaining within the Episcopal Church" and living with "divergent points of view."
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, Anglicanism's spiritual leader, said Saturday that he believes divisions within the worldwide Anglican Communion over Robinson's selection will eventually heal.
"And one day we shall be led, in both thankfulness and repentance, to share with one another what we have learned apart, to bring to one another a history not without its shadows and stresses, but still one in which something quite distinctive has been learned," Williams said in London.
The 37 top bishops of the world's Anglican churches met last month to affirm the faith's opposition to gay clergy and same-sex behavior. They also warned that churches in many nations would refuse to recognize Robinson as a bishop and would suspend ties with the Episcopal Church.
On the Net:
American Anglican Council: www.americananglican.org
Episcopal Church: www.episcopalchurch.org
Diocese of New Hampshire: www.nhepiscopal.org/