(RNS) The Episcopal Church consecrated its secondly openly gay — and first lesbian — bishop on Saturday (May 15), provoking a relatively modest reaction from fellow Anglicans overseas.
Episcopal leaders portrayed the consecration of the Rev. Mary Douglas Glasspool, 56, as a suffragan (assistant) bishop in Los Angeles as an affirmation of its aim to be “inclusive” regardless of sexual orientation.
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion, last December called Glasspool’s election “regrettable” and warned it would affect the Episcopal Church’s role in the communion.
But Williams did not comment after Glasspool’s consecration on Saturday, and reaction from the rest of the Anglican Communion was relatively muted compared to the response after the first gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, was consecrated in 2003.
Anglican Mainstream, a conservative group based in England, called on the Episcopal Church to withdraw from the Anglican Communion, and for a new, conservative church to be recognized instead. A group of evangelical Anglicans in Ireland also expressed displeasure over Glasspool’s consecration.