Gay bishop barred but presence felt
The first openly gay U.S. Episcopal bishop was barred from a once-a-decade Anglican meeting so he wouldn’t become a focus of the global event.
Anglicans on all sides of the issue agree: The strategy has backfired.
New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson has been embraced by sympathetic Anglicans in England and Scotland who view his exclusion as an affront to their Christian beliefs.
Robinson plans several appearances on the outskirts of the Lambeth Conference to be what he called a “constant and friendly” reminder of gays in the church.
“I’m just not willing to let the bishops meet and pretend that we don’t exist,” Robinson said in an interview Sunday. “They’ve taken vows to serve all the people in dioceses, not just certain ones.”
The Anglican spiritual leader, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, did not include Robinson and a few other bishops in the conference as he tried to prevent a split in the world Anglican Communion.
NICE, France
Jolie, Pitt revel in twins’ arrival
Brad Pitt was emotional but calm; Angelina Jolie laughed and chatted. The celebrity couple were joined in emotion during the birth of their twins – a boy and a girl – and all “are doing marvelously well,” the doctor who delivered the babies in a seaside hospital on the French Riviera said Sunday.
The newborns – Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline, born one minute apart Saturday evening – are the ultimate million-dollar babies, with experts estimating their first photos will fetch a fortune.
“In the celebrity world, it seems to be the double second coming,” said Darryn Lyons, owner of Big Pictures, a photo agency in London.
For now, mother, father and newborns are resting out of the public eye on the fifth floor of the Lenval hospital, behind blue mirrored windows that provide sweeping views of Nice’s sun-drenched beaches but are specially treated to deflect the prying lenses of paparazzi.
Jolie’s obstetrician, Dr. Michel Sussmann, said Pitt was at Jolie’s side during the delivery, looking on as the doctor performed a Caesarean section to deliver Knox, slightly more than 5 pounds, and Vivienne, 5 pounds.