The Episcopal Church, which has just begun ordaining women as priests, added a new twist to that innovation last week. New York City's liberal Bishop Paul Moore ordained the Rev. Ellen Barrett, 30, the denomination's first openly committed homosexual priest of either sex. In an unusual last-minute plea to prevent the action, Colorado's Bishop William Frey had wired Colleague Moore: "Ordination of practicing homosexuals does not represent the mind of the church and is plainly contrary to the teachings of Scripture which we have all sworn to uphold."
During Barrett's ordination service, another priest, James Wattley, spoke out against it as a...