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Episcopal Church Names Second Openly Gay Bishop

Mary Glasspool will head to LA Diocese

By the Associated Press

Posted Dec 6, 2009 6:07 AM CST

(AP) – The Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles yesterday elected the Rev. Mary Glasspool as its second openly gay bishop, underscoring Episcopal commitment to accepting same-sex relationships despite enormous pressure from other Anglicans. "Any group of people who have been oppressed because of any one, isolated aspect of their persons yearns for justice and equal rights," Glasspool said after the vote, thanking the diocese for choosing her.

Glasspool, 55 and of Baltimore, still needs approval from a majority of dioceses before she can be consecrated. She wrote in an essay that she had an "intense struggle" in college with her sexuality and the call to become a priest. "Did God hate me (since I was a homosexual), or did God love me?" she wrote. "Did I hate (or love) myself?" She has been with her partner, Becki Sander, since 1988.

Rev. Diane Jardine Bruce, second right, gets hug from JR Walz, right, Anne Garcia, second left, and Bob Gergen after she was elected first female bishop in LA diocese's history, Friday, Dec. 4, 2009.
Rev. Diane Jardine Bruce, second right, gets hug from JR Walz, right, Anne Garcia, second left, and Bob Gergen after she was elected first female bishop in LA diocese's history, Friday, Dec. 4, 2009.   (Francis Specker)
The Rev. Mary Glasspool, recently elected the Episcopal Church's second openly gay bishop.
The Rev. Mary Glasspool, recently elected the Episcopal Church's second openly gay bishop.   (ladiocese.org)
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One of the reasons she is the right person is that she knows who she is and she knows she belongs to God and she knows everything else falls in place when you keep that central.
- The Rev. Eugene Robinson, the Episcopal Church's first openly gay bishop

She's no stranger to people who think she shouldn't be a priest because she's a woman, or think she shouldn't be a priest because she's a lesbian. - The Rev. Eugene Robinson, the Episcopal Church's first openly gay bishop

This decision represents an intransigent embrace of a pattern of life Christians throughout history and the world have rejected as against biblical teaching. - The Rev. Kendall Harmon of the traditional Diocese of South Carolina

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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 120 comments
krymsonkyng
Dec 8, 2009 3:56 AM CST
"Cheese's Crust"
Forderon
Dec 8, 2009 3:38 AM CST
"Real Christians" like who, DLY? The ones who don't wear polyester? Better go check your closet.
krymsonkyng
Dec 8, 2009 1:06 AM CST
@Schmidtkoff- Right on target. Here, here.

Copyright 2013 Newser, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. AP contributed to this report.


The Los Angeles diocese's website
www.ladiocese.org

US

 
Episcopal Church • gay priests • Anglican Church • homosexuality • Gene Robinson • Anglican • Episcopalian • bishop • homosexual clergy • homosexual • Eugene Robinson • Mary Glasspool

 
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