Date: Mon, 24 Oct 1994 07:46:23 -0500 (GMT-0500) From: "Thomas W. Holt Jr." Subject: Gay activists protest bishop's enthronement (fwd) ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sun, 23 Oct 1994 21:50:38 EDT From: Song Weaver To: Multiple recipients of list GLB-NEWS Subject: Gay activists protest bishop's enthronement Gay activists protest bishop's enthronement LONDON, Oct 22 (Reuter) - Gay activists on Saturday disrupted the ceremonial enthronement of a senior bishop who apologised for his court conviction 26 years ago for gross indecency with another man. Protesters shouting "Sack the bishop" surged forward as Annglican Bishop Michael Turnbull was about to knock three times on the north door of 900-year-old Durham Cathedral for admission, the traditional start to the ceremony. The leader of the gay rights group OutRage, Peter Tatchell, was bundled to the ground by police and arrested along with another man. One of the demonstrators, Glenn Halton, said: "Michael Turnbull has stated that in his view homosexuality is incompatible with full-time stipendary ministry. We feel it is extremely hypocritical in view of his previous conviction." Turnbull apologised during the ceremony to the 1,500-strong congregation, saying people had "a right to be shocked about what happened." The incident has revealed "the depth of God's forgiveness for us all," he said. Turnbull succeeds David Jenkins in what is the fourth most senior post in the Church of England. Jenkins courted controversy with his maverick views. He said he did not believe in permanent hell, the physical resurrection of Christ or central aspects of the Christmas story. Turnbull has refused to step down since disclosure of his conviction last month touched off a public outcry. Even his own parish priest, Rev. John Marshall, believes Turnbull should resign. In a television interview to be broadcast on Sunday, Marshall says the overwhelming majority of his congregation felt let down by the new bishop. "The younger clergy might be able to accept what has happened, but it is very disturbing for priests of my generation, and for our wives," he said in excerpts from the programme trailed in Saturday's newspapers. The controversy over homosexuality in the Church of England was further fuelled before Turnbull's enthronement when a former monk, Sebastian Sandys, named three bishops as being gay. "I can support the claims I am making because I am a friend of one of these men -- or at least I was until now," Sandys, a member of OutRage, said in a debate on Friday evening at Durham University in northern England. REUTER