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Article: Episcopal Bishop on `Trial' for Ordaining Gay
- Article from:
- Chicago Sun-Times
- Article date:
- February 25, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1996 Chicago Sun-Times. (Hide copyright information)
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The word "heresy" conjures images of the Middle Ages - torture
and burning of dissenters of the Roman Catholic Church during the
Inquisition.
The Episcopal Church this week will begin hearings in its own
heresy trial, in which a bishop is charged with ordaining a
non-celibate homosexual as a deacon in New Jersey.
Of course, the punishment allowed is far less severe than in
the Middle Ages. At worst, Bishop Walter Righter, retired bishop of
Iowa, could be stripped of his church rank.
While the hearings begin Tuesday in Delaware, the case is being
watched closely in Chicago, home to one of the the nation's first gay
Episcopalian laity groups. There also are a number of gay
Episcopalian ...