Gay bishop says church can heal, to discuss issue at VU

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070413/NEWS06/704130396/1023/NEWS

[Tennessean] 13 Apr 2007--"I'd rather he didn't come here," said the Rev. Richard Kew, interim rector of the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection in Franklin. "This has torn at the very fabric of the Anglican church. I don't how someone can live with themselves after doing something like that."

Bishop John Bauerschmidt, newly elected bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee, was opposed to Robinson's consecration but had planned to meet with him while he was in town.
"Bishop Robinson and I had hoped to meet, but I will be out of town for the funeral of a close friend while he is here," Bauerschmidt said.

Bauerschmidt declined to say how many churches within the diocese have left or are threatening to leave or how many priests have been defrocked over the issue.

"The diocese has had good leadership in the past and is in good shape now," he said. "Some congregations have seen a significant level of conflict that mirrors controversies on the national front."