Source: Bilerico Project
by Rev. Irene Monroe
Is the Episcopal Church’s impeding schism really about the theological rift that sprung up after the consecration of its first openly gay bishop, the Rev. V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire?

Or, is the brouhaha really about a church in battle with itself about how to be financially solvent and theologically relevant in today’s competitive religious marketplace?

Last weekend, the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh voted in favor of separating from the national church over theological beliefs on homosexuality.

“What we’re trying to do is state clearly in the United States for the authority of Scripture,” Bishop Robert W. Duncan of Pittsburgh said after the vote.

Duncan, a former seminary classmate of Robinson's, is also the current moderator of the Anglican Communion Network (ACN), a theologically conservative network of diocese and parishes working toward realignment by passing anti-gay initiatives. And Duncan has been using the “authority of Scripture” argument to fight his battle.

But “authority of Scripture” doesn’t hold weight here because the Episcopal Church has always been challenged on this issue.

In the 1970's, the argument for authority of Scripture came up with the ordination of women – and so, too, did the threat of a schism. But in 1989, the Church consecrated its first female bishop – Barbara C. Harris. And conservatives like Duncan were not only theologically outraged, but also racially challenged because Harris is African American.

Just last year, gasps of both exhilaration and exasperation reverberated throughout the Anglican Communion when it was announced that Katharine Jefferts Schori would be the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church USA. Schori not only supports gay unions, but she also backed the holy consecration of Robinson.

The Episcopal Church’s real issue is not Bishop V. Gene Robinson at all. And Robinson said so in the pages of the Concord Monitor: “I think for a long time white men have ruled the world. With the emergence of people of color, the emergence of the women's movement, with the emergence of gay and lesbian folk standing up, … I think it's a threat to the way things have always been with white men being in charge."

While many would like to believe that the financial crisis in the Episcopal Church is brought on by secessionist congregations battling with liberal bishops endorsing sodomy, the church's coffers were bare prior to Robinson’s consecration. And the reason? Decline in its membership over four decades; the rise of its Third World bishops from countries in Africa, South America, and Asia; and its egregious act of inhospitality and exclusion of its lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender population.

Using Robinson as the reason for the church’s problem is the problem.