Gay Episcopal bishop to meet with antigay parishoners


Members of a church in Rochester, N.H., who rebelled against the election of openly gay Episcopal bishop Gene Robinson will meet with him next week. Several parishioners at the Church of the Redeemer left in protest after Robinson was consecrated as bishop of New Hampshire last year. Others have pushed to have the church removed from his administration. "We don't want to leave the Episcopal Church; we just want to be under the care of different bishop," said Kathy Lewis, treasurer of the church's vestry.

Robinson has said he is willing to allow visiting bishops to provide pastoral care to the congregation, but he said they must accept his leadership of the diocese. He agreed to provide church members with a list of conservative bishops from which they could choose whom he would accept as a visitor to his diocese. But the opposing parishioners want to be clear of Robinson entirely and install another bishop.