A Worldwide Revolution

Bishop Robert Duncan argues that the consecration of an openly gay bishop may bring an end to a unified Anglican church.

By Elise Soukup

Bishop Robert Duncan is the leader of the Anglican Communion Network, a coalition of conservative Episcopal bishops that formed after the controversial consecration of gay Bishop V. Gene Robinson. Bishop Duncan spoke with Elise Soukup:

Ms. Soukup: What's the problem with consecrating homosexual bishops?

Bishop Robert Duncan: The love of Jesus is for absolutely everyone; everyone is invited into the church. But the church has always understood that those who lead the church must be converted. They must lead holy lives. So the problem with a bishop in a partnered relationship is that it isn't a holy relationship as God has defined and designed it. It's against God's will as expressed in scripture.

Soukup: I spoke with Bishop Robinson earlier and he reminded me that the church has departed from scripture before. A good example of that is in allowing for divorce.

Duncan: Bishop Robinson is exactly right. We've left scripture before and that's a problem.

Soukup: You have said that because of Bishop Robinson's consecration, the church has now come to a moment where it's impossible to stay together.

Duncan: The difficulty that we face is there are really two reasons people choose the Episcopal church. One is because it is a reliable way to be both evangelical and Catholic and to be completely within scripture and in the tradition of the church. That's certainly how I came to it. There's another group that chooses the church because of its revolutionary actions in regard to leadership, innovation and social issues. So what I'm saying is that since 2003—since the Episcopal Church chose to embrace something that the Christian church had never done and something that the Anglican Communion, in fact, said couldn't be done—it's impossible to hold those two groups together. That's the impossible task.

Soukup: Yet church leaders are currently meeting to try to work out a compromise on this issue. Will the conservative bishops go along with it?

Duncan: The church is seeking to find a middle way with the Christian church and the secular world. It's a problem when you try to do that with moral issues. One of the ways you can say this is, how do you compromise with adultery? Do you just not do it very often? You see that's quite different from compromising on how you say "thee" or "thou." This compromise [with homosexual bishops] would stretch us to a breaking point. The worldwide Anglican Communion has said to the Episcopal Church, "Do you realize that you went outside of the boundaries?" And at this convention, a compromise would say, "Well, maybe we did, but please keep us in anyway."

Soukup: How might a break manifest itself?

Duncan: We would all love for this to be over soon. But I think it's going to take a long time.

Soukup: Is there a chance that conservative bishops will leave the Episcopal Church after the convention?

Duncan: The simple answer is no. The Episcopal Church has acted in such a way that the Anglican Communion has said, "Do you realize that if you continue to go in this direction that you're walking apart?" So one can only imagine that the [Episcopal] church's connectivity [with the worldwide Anglican community] is going to get less and less. But we're not going anywhere.

Soukup: Some congregations have already left the Episcopal Church and joined up instead with foreign Anglican bishops. What is your stance on that?

Duncan: I support those kinds of arrangements. They've been forced out by the actions of this revolutionary, activist leadership and through their own consciences. Again, this is about a worldwide revolution. So there's going to be all kinds of shifting and realigning.

It's a chaotic process. There are already court battles going over property rights and pensions. It's abhorrent. This does not bring people to believe that the Episcopal Church is a good place to bring up children—not only with regards to these social issues, but in the way we behave.

Soukup: Some say that the average lay person doesn't even care about consecrating gay priests. Is this all much ado about nothing?

Duncan: The average layperson may very well not care, but that doesn't make it right or true. The savior of our world stood alone against the whole world and, remarkably, within two centuries the entire empire submitted. A majority opinion doesn't make it right.