‘A Worldwide Revolution’ (Newsweek)
June 18th, 2006 by Peter Frank
NEWSWEEK: 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.
NEWSWEEK: 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.
Bishop Robert Duncan: Bishop Robinson is exactly right. We’ve left scripture before and that’s a problem.
NEWSWEEK: 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.
Bishop Robert 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.