Controversial Griswold of ECUSA Speaks of Anglican Gay Divisions

The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church USA (ESUSA), the Most Red. Frank T Griswold was recently in Berea for the ECUSA’s international youth convention.

Rev Griswold has been the centre of great controversy over the past few years since he presided over the ordination of the first openly gay bishop in the Anglican Church.

Since that time, Griswold has faced great challenges in keeping his 2.3 million-member Church united and avoiding a schism.

In a recent interview with religion reporter Frank Lockwood, the controversial Griswold spoke about his Church and the challenges that he has faced and which lie ahead for the denomination.

Question: Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church USA: Is that a tough job these days?

Answer: It has its challenges, quite definitely. I see my ministry as one of connecting pieces, reminding people of a variety of points of view, that they don't have a corner on God's truth. God's truth has many dimensions. The Anglican tradition has always ... been a tradition in which widely divergent points of view have been held together not by one point of view capitulating to another but by common prayer, focusing beyond opinions on the person of Christ.

Q: What will it take to heal the divisions in the Anglican Communion?

A: Well, I think I see the healing already taking place. There is the public rhetoric, and then there is the actual reality. ... There are all these webs of relationships across the communion that are strong and doing good work. And certainly none of the provinces of the Anglican Communion are monochromatic. You may have angry words coming from a particular place, and yet on the ground, the relationships between bishops here and bishops there are quite strong and very positive. I think it's a question of mutual respect, time, and reliance upon the Holy Spirit, who can do amazing things in overcoming divisions.

Q: In a world with so many religions, why should somebody choose Christianity over a hundred other religions?

A: Having been shaped and formed by the Christian religion, and seeing the person of Jesus as fundamental to my sense of self and the world around me, I would want to make that deep sense of the joy and life that I receive from Christ available more broadly. But God is not restricted to the church. I think it's interesting that Abraham has three children: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. And what does this say about God's capacity to be present in other religious traditions? I think one of the things Christianity does for me is give me a lens through which I can look at other religions and see where God might be at work. Compassion in the Buddhist tradition is not far removed from love in our religion. Certainly,-Judaism and Islam at its best have the same core values, and all those core values are reflective of one divine reality.

Q: Here in Kentucky, members of three Episcopal churches have voted to leave the denomination. They said that the church has departed from historic Christianity. What would you say to these people?

A: We all claim the authority of scripture. The ancient creeds, the doctrine of the trinity, the nature of Christ -- all these things are not up for negotiation. ... I would say if sexuality becomes the ground on which division occurs, then it means that sex is more important than the doctrine of the holy trinity and the divinity of Christ, which is a very sorry situation to find oneself in. Isn't it ironic that people can overlook Jesus' words about divorce and remarriage and claim biblical orthodoxy and become hysterical over a reference in the letter to the Romans about homosexual behaviour? The Bible, of course, didn't understand homosexuality as an orientation. It only understood it as a behaviour. Clearly, the biblical writers presumed that everyone was naturally heterosexual.

Q: Now, Bishop Gene Robinson, the first openly gay (man elected) bishop, is actually a Lexington native. He grew up down the road. How is he doing?
A: You have to ask him. He's the bishop of New Hampshire, and for my money, he's doing what a bishop of New Hampshire should be doing.

Q: Do you think the Holy Spirit was guiding that election process?

A: I think that that's certainly the presumption of the bishops who voted to confirm the election and the deputies of the general convention who gave their consent and certainly the people of the diocese of New Hampshire who elected him.

Q: What would you want people in Kentucky to know about the Episcopal church?

A: The Episcopal Church is a questioning community. ... It's confident that Christ is at its centre, and that gives it the courage to look at things that are difficult. It also is a church which has lived with open-ended questions. It doesn't need to reduce things to absolutes. We can deal with shades of grey, we can deal with paradox and ambiguity without feeling that we are being unfaithful.


[Source: kentucky.com]