Gay Bishops and imaginary devils ....

I watched a few minutes of livestream from Hartford yesterday --- where Jeffrey W. Mello (above) was being installed as the 16th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut.

Installation of an Episcopal bishop generally is not big news (Iowa Episcopalians installed Betsey Monnot as bishop earlier this year with little fuss). 

But in the case of the Rev. Mr. Mello --- he comes to his new diocese with a husband, Paul --- and is the sixth gay bishop elected during recent years within what officially is the U.S. branch of the worldwide Anglican communion.

So part of the news yesterday afternoon was the fact that Bishop Mello's installation seemed to arouse hardly any interest at all outside the circle of those involved or directly affected --- and they all seemed pleased.

Similar lack of interest certainly was not evident back in 2003 when V. Gene Robinson was consecrated as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire. The Rev. Mr. Robinson was advised, because of death threats, to wear body armor under his vestments.

And quite a few thousand disaffected Episcopalians marched away after that to align themselves with new groups where they would be safe from LGBTQ+ folks, as well as uppity women, in positions of authority.

In the years since, however, Mary Glasspool was elected suffragan bishop of Los Angeles in 2009, Thomas J. Brown was consecrated bishop of the Diocese of Maine in 2019, Bonnie A. Perry was installed as bishop of Michigan in 2020, and Deon K. Johnson was installed as bishop of the Diocese of Missouri during 2020, too.

So the times are a changing, or so it appears. Many years ago, in a different life, I used to attend Sunday afternoon services now and then with friends at one or another of the two LGBTQ+ congregations in Des Moines that flourished at the time --- and run into refugees from Chariton.

Those congregations are no longer active in large part because mainline denominations have opened their doors and --- even in Chariton --- there are safe places for gay people who wish to remain within the church to worship.

So the news within the Episcopal and some other denominations has been good for LGBTQ+ folks --- but elsewhere, many self-described Christians cling to the old philosophy that in order to flourish a devil is needed. And when casting about for ways to personify that imaginary threat, preachers still alight on LGBTQ+ folks and their allies.