Head of U.S. Catholic Ecumenism Says Episcopalian ‘Gay’ Bishop Harms Christian Unity

WASHINGTON, August 13, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The chairman of the U.S. Catholic Bishops’ Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, Bishop Stephen Blaire, said the recent elevation of a homosexual activist as an Episcopalian bishop has “serious implications in the search for Christian unity and for the work of our bilateral Anglican-Roman Catholic dialogue in the United States.”  Bishop Blaire praised years of progress in ecumenical understanding, but said the election of “a bishop who professes himself to be in an active homosexual relationship, and the recognition that some local Episcopal communities bless same-sex unions, new ecumenical challenges have been created.  “These decisions reflect a departure from the common understanding of the meaning and purpose of human sexuality,” Blarire added, “and the morality of homosexual activity as found in Sacred Scripture and the Christian tradition. As such they have serious implications in the search for Christian unity and for the work of our bilateral Anglican-Roman Catholic dialogue in the United States.”  To read the full statement:  https://www.usccb.org/comm/archives/2003/03-166.htm