FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Episcopal Diocese of Dallas Responds to Election of Gay Bishop

Dallas, Texas, August 8, 2003 - On Tuesday, August 5, at the Episcopal Church's General Convention in Minneapolis, 62 Episcopal bishops, of 107 entitled to vote, gave their consent to the consecration of Canon Gene Robinson who lives in a sexual relationship outside holy matrimony. It is anticipated that Canon Robinson will be consecrated in November in the Diocese of New Hampshire.

After the voting, 19 bishops who opposed the convention's action, including Bishop James M. Stanton of the Diocese of Dallas, were recognized by the Presiding Bishop and made the following statement:

"The bishops who stand before you are filled with sorrow. This body, in willfully confirming the election of a person sexually active outside of holy matrimony, has departed from the historic faith and order of the Church of Jesus Christ. This body has denied the plain teaching of Scripture and the moral consensus of the Church throughout the ages. This body has divided itself from millions of Anglican Christians around the world, brothers and sisters who have pleaded with us to maintain the Church's traditional teaching on marriage and sexuality.
With grief too deep for words, the bishops who stand before you must reject this action of the 74th General Convention of the Episcopal Church. As faithful Episcopalians and members of this house, we are calling upon the Primates of the Anglican Communion, under the presidency of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and in accordance with Lambeth Resolution 111.6(b), to intervene in the pastoral emergency that has overtaken us. Most Reverend sir (the Presiding Bishop), we must go to take counsel with our people and minister to them.
May God have mercy on His Church. "

Following a day of prayer and reflection, Bishop Stanton left the convention on Thursday, August 7 to return to Dallas. He stated, "We do not know what lies ahead. What we do know is that the decision was deeply painful to many in our Church, many in our own deputation."

In a pastoral statement to the Diocese of Dallas, Bishop Stanton wrote, "This General Convention has erred....The General Convention of the Episcopal Church this week has not been true to its calling to ‘uphold and propagate the historic Faith and Order’ of the Christian Church. It has provoked a crisis in the larger Anglican Communion to which we belong. It has exhibited to the world an all too typical trait of American hubris, the sense that we know better than anyone else where God is leading and how the Church may respond."

In a letter to his clergy, Bishop Stanton reminded them, “The convention of the diocese of Dallas has long asserted its will to affirm the Holy Scriptures in matters of human sexuality, and some of these decisions predate my consecration as your bishop. I am determined to uphold these expressions of our common mind, and I expect all the clergy of this diocese to do the same.”

Bishop Stanton stated that he is committed to the unity of the Diocese of Dallas, and its connection to the Anglican Communion around the world. He expects the worldwide Anglican Communion, of which the American Episcopal Church is a part, to respond to the convention’s action. Until then, he urged Episcopalians to “stand firm in your faith, constant in your prayers, faithful to the Scriptures, and open to the future which God has in store for us.”

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