The Rev. Canon V. Gene Robinson was consecrated on Sunday as the first openly gay bishop of the U.S. Episcopal Church, a move that threatens to tear apart the worldwide Anglican community.

The Most Rev. Frank Griswold, presiding bishop of the U.S. Episcopal Church, consecrated Robinson amid cheers and applause from the several thousand people who gathered under tight security for the ceremony in a college sports arena.

Robinson, his voice trembling, told the congregation he felt deeply honored but also urged compassion toward church members angered and upset by his consecration.

Bishop Gene Robinson waves to the assembled congregation after being consecrated as the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church in Durham, New Hampshire, November 2, 2003. Some fear that Robinson's consecration will cause a split in the worldwide Anglican Church.  [Reuters]

"Our God will be served if we are hospitable and loving and caring toward them," said the new bishop, wearing a robe of gold, red and green. "If they must leave, they will always be welcomed back into our fellowship."

Earlier, in a sanctioned but tension-filled protest, opponents formally voiced their objection to installing an openly gay man as bishop.

Griswold interrupted one cleric as he launched into a graphic description of homosexual acts. Another woman said that consecrating Robinson would tear at the fabric of the worldwide church.

"To press forward with this consecration will be to turn our back on Almighty God," she said. "The vast majority of Anglicans worldwide have told us not to take this step."

The opponents walked out after making their statements. Moments later, Griswold asked those remaining if Robinson, a 56-year-old divorced father, should be ordained a bishop.

"That is our will!" the congregation chanted loudly.

LIBERAL WING

Robinson, who has lived with his male partner for 13 years, has pleaded for unity. But conservatives warn that his installation may split the 70-million-member Anglican Communion.

The church's Lambeth Conference of 1998 held that the Anglican communion regards homosexual practice as "incompatible with scripture" and condemned the blessing of same-sex unions.

The Rev. Canon David Anderson, president of the American Anglican Council, called Robinson's consecration "schismatic" and said his group was already preparing to lead a break from the more liberal wing of the U.S. Episcopal Church.

"I would anticipate that by tomorrow morning, statements of repudiation will be coming in from primates (church leaders) around the world," Anderson said in a telephone interview from Atlanta, Georgia.

Sky News broadcast the service live in Britain, a sign of the keen interest the event generated in the home of the 450-year-old Anglican Church.

Outside the arena, mounted police stood by as protesters opposed the church for appointing an openly gay bishop and members of the congregation hailed the historic event.

"This is a wonderful situation," said John Ebel, a Roman Catholic from Buffalo, New York. "I admire the Episcopal church for recognizing Gene's skill and ability to be bishop."

But others, including members of a Baptist church from Kansas, shouted at participants and waved neon-colored placards with homophobic messages like "God Hates Fags."

Some members of the U.S. church have said they plan to ask Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican faith, for permission to separate from the Episcopal Church.

Williams has said Robinson should not have been elected a bishop because he is a practicing homosexual. The archbishop spoke last month of a "huge crisis looming" as a result.

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