Bishop's Presentation to the General Convention...

The Right Reverend Peter H. Beckwith
Bishop of Springfield

Text of the presentation delivered by the Right Reverend Peter H. Beckwith, Bishop of Springfield on the floor of the House of Bishops at General Convention during the debate on the resolution to give consent to the election of Canon Gene Robinson as the Bishop Coadjutor of New Hampshire.

"Most Reverend Sir.

I sense an impending train-wreck the magnitude of which this portion of Christ's Church perhaps has never seen, but certainly not in the last 100 years. I also sense we as a body do not believe it, or we do not care.

My greatest frustration is that I believe the lack of leadership on the part of this body, the House of Bishops, is responsible for allowing our Church to come to this potentially destructive moment. Over the eleven years I have been a member of this House, we have not dealt with the critical issue of sexuality so that there might have been at least some consensus which would have allowed us to avoid this present situation.

Nevertheless, I have two major problems:

1) I've been taught by this Church since March 31, 1940, the date of my baptism, that sex outside of marriage of a man and a woman falls short of the mark God has set for all His people. Therefore, Bishop-elect Robinson's life style is inappropriate at best.

2) I am being asked to consent to the election of a person who if he were a priest in the Diocese of Springfield would be referred for canonical trial for conduct unbecoming a clergy person. As a result I cannot vote for him, nor would I be able to recognize his ministry were he to be consecrated in this Church.

I have wondered often whether I am on the same page with most of my colleagues in this House relative to the many issues which signal at least for me the direction and drift of ECUSA away from the Church Catholic. Today I question not whether we are on the same page or even whether we are in the same book. Rather, today I question whether we are in the same library.

If consent is given in this matter, my relationship with this body will be significantly and, I believe, negatively altered; and I believe the relationship between the Diocese of Springfield and the National Church likewise will be significantly and negatively affected.

I pray this House will NOT give consent to Canon Robinson's election."