Episcopal Bishops Won’t Appeal Heresy Case Dismissal

A historic ruling by an Episcopal Church court dismissing heresy charges against retired Bishop Walter C. Righter for ordaining a non-celibate gay man will not be appealed by the 10 bishops who brought the charges against him.

Instead, they said this week that they will resume their fight against the ordination of non-celibate gays and lesbians when the church’s highest policymaking body, the General Convention, meets next year in Philadelphia.

“I’m really on top of a mountain now,” Righter said when informed that his acquittal would not be appealed. “I’m glad they’re willing to let it go to General Convention.”

Righter, the retired bishop of Iowa, ordained the Rev. Barry L. Stopfel as a deacon in 1990 in the Diocese of Newark, N.J., at the request of its liberal bishop, the Rt. Rev. Shelby S. Spong.

Spong later ordained Stopfel as a priest. Stopfel lives with his life partner in the parish rectory where he serves.

The church court ruled last month that there is no “core doctrine” in the church expressly forbidding such ordinations. But the court also cautioned bishops not to proceed with further ordinations until the issue is settled by the whole church--advice echoed this month by the archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. George L. Carey, during a visit to Los Angeles.