Belize, Caribbean Anglicans oppose gay Bishop
Homosexuals in the church… it’s not a topic that is featured in Sunday sermons, but the proposed ordination of an openly gay priest as Bishop in the Episcopal Church in the United States is threatening to split the Anglicans in two. And the fallout could have repercussions all the way to Belize. According to Anglican Bishop Sylvestre Romero Palma, while the issue will hurt his flock in the short run, it will in the end serve to strengthen the over seven thousand strong local diocese.
Sylvestre Romero Palma, Anglican Bishop
“My reaction is already set because the diocese of Belize is a part of the province of the West Indies and there are eight dioceses in the province of the West Indies. Our culture is totally different from the culture in the United States when it comes to this particular case. There are homosexuals in Belize and lesbians, but many of these persons are still in the closet, it’s not an issue…it’s not something that we talk openly about or somebody expresses or confesses that he or she is a homosexual or lesbian. But our province has already made a statement that we will not ordain homosexuals within the church, we will not bless same sex marriages; so we are set in our ways.”
Patrick Jones
“Bishop Romero, if this man succeeds and is ordained as a gay Bishop in the United States, how is it likely to affect the Anglican church here in Belize?”
Sylvestre Romero Palma
“Lot of churches like ours depend on contributions that we receive from the United States, from the church in the United States. And when the church is divided, then funds begin to dwindle and so we will definitely suffer economically. But we will also suffer because it will divide that church itself in the United States.”
“For example, they sponsored a housing project that is going on in Caye Caulker, and after the hurricane they gave us funds to help in Monkey River and other places. If the church divides because of this issue and homosexuality, then there will be less funds going to the presiding Bishop fund, which means that they will not respond as generously as they have been doing. It weakens their own budget that they have to handle. And so it will affect us financially, but that is something that we have to live with. Sometimes those issues help us to learn to stand up on our own feet as well, which we are trying to do to get people to give more so that we can sustain the work that we are called to do. I always say that God writes straight in crooked lines…But we cannot and we must not reject any person because of his or her sexual orientation. This is quite clear, scripturally; we cannot reject a person because of his or her sexual orientation. But to participate as an ordained person within the church, that’s a big difference.”
Romero says Belize’s response to the election of a gay Bishop is guided by the views of the Archbishop of the West Indies, Drexel Gomez, as expressed in a letter to the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church of the United States. That letter strongly objects to homosexual clergy and the blessing of same sex unions.
