Church picks gay priests

Only weeks after the Episcopal Church ended a de facto moratorium on promoting gay men and lesbians into the church hierarchy, church leaders in Los Angeles nominated two openly gay priests as assistant bishops on Sunday.

The move came a day after a church search committee in Minnesota announced that it had settled on three candidates, one of them a lesbian, for bishop.

The decisions are certain to rekindle the hostilities between the liberal and conservatives factions within the Episcopal Church in the United States and between the church and the Anglican Communion, the generally conservative global network of churches to which the Episcopal Church belongs.

The moratorium on ordaining gays and lesbians into the church hierarchy was adopted three years ago and helped calm conservatives in the Anglican Communion, which was nearly torn apart by the election in 2003 of the church’s first and only openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire. But church members voted overwhelmingly on July 14 at a general convention in Anaheim, Calif., to reopen the door to bishops who are openly gay.

The Diocese of Los Angeles, one of the largest and most liberal in the country, announced Sunday the nomination of six priests as candidates for two assistant bishop jobs. The list included two openly gay clerics, the Rev. Canon Mary D. Glasspool, 55, who is currently canon to the bishops in the Diocese of Maryland, based in Baltimore, and the Rev. John L. Kirkley, 42, who is rector of St. John the Evangelist Church in San Jose, Calif., part of the Diocese of California.

“I affirm each and every one of these candidates, and I am pleased with the wide diversity they offer this diocese,” the Rt. Rev. J. Jon Bruno, bishop of the Diocese of Los Angeles, said in a statement.

The two new assistant bishops are to be chosen in December during the annual convention of the diocese.

The nominations of Ms. Glasspool and Mr. Kirkley came after the search committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota announced the names of three candidates for bishop, including the Rev. Bonnie Perry, rector of All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Chicago.

Ms. Perry, who has served as vicar and rector of All Saints’ for nearly 17 years, has for the last 22 years been in a relationship with the Rev. Susan Harlow, who is also an Episcopal priest.

“As we continue to discern God’s call,” Ms. Perry said in a statement on Sunday, “I pray that we will bear witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ that changes people’s lives and proclaims the profound inclusivity and hospitality of God.”’

Ms. Perry, 47, was ordained in 1990 and spent two years serving at various churches in New Jersey before going to Chicago. In 2005, she was one of five nominees for bishop of California.

Saturday was the first day of a two-week petition process which allows for open nominations for the next Episcopal bishop of Minnesota.

A full slate, including both search committee candidates and petition candidates, is to be announced on Sept. 25, and the election of the new bishop is scheduled for Oct. 31, during the annual convention in Minneapolis.