Tag Archives: Episcopal (Anglican)

Episcopal General Convention Recap

Here are various summations of the recently completed Episcopal General Convention. For anyone who missed it, the big news out of the convention was the overwhelming support for resolutions to allow LGBT persons in all levels of ministry, including the episcopate. This decision was made in the face of conservative resistance at home but especially abroad where the world Anglican communion has expressed strong opposition.

Susan Russell is a lesbian pastor at a parish in Pasadena, California and the president of Integrity USA, the primary LGBT friendly organization within the Episcopal Church. Her personal blog, An Inch at a Time, contains her own remembrances of the convention’s high points. My favorite among her offerings is the story of the 14 year old boy whose mother has known he was gay since he was 4. Mother and son attended the Integrity Eucharist together, and afterwards he confided his orientation to her, which she had known all along.

"I’ve known he was gay since he was about 4," she said, her eyes welling up. "And have been waiting for him to figure it out. The fact that he came to himself in the context of a celebration of the Eucharist — that he’s never going to have to wonder if his church or his family will love and accept him as he is — I just can’t thank you enough."

The official blog of Integrity contains a Monday morning list of news items about the convention.

Pastor Elizabeth Kaeton from New Jersey offers her own remembrances on her blog, Telling Secrets. In her Sunday post, she shared a personal moment reminiscent of the woman with the hemorrhage tugging at Jesus’ robe. One day, participants in the convention demonstrated solidarity with the mostly Hispanic hotel workers who labor without a contract. Pastor Kaeton plunged into the crowd offering an anointing and a blessing.

It didn’t take long before I was surrounded by people – men, women and children – who suddenly seemed to be everywhere: tugging at my blouse and pulling at my skirt. I cannot put into words what it felt like to have people call to me, "Madre, Madre. Unteme! Unteme!"

I could feel people pressing in on my back and sides. I hardly knew where to turn next, but I took my time, looking deep into the eyes of each person – adult women, men and little children – and anointed them, in my faulting Spanish: “En nombre de Dios, de Jesuchristo y de Espirito Santo”.

"Gracias a dios," they said softly, thankfully. Funny how that works. I anointed them, but I was the one who was blessed. And, transformed. And, will never be the same.

John Dart, the news editor of the Christian Century Magazine, offers his summary in the magazine’s blog, Theolog. His perspective is that of an interested observer rather than an insider, and he addresses the issue of possible conservative fallout with links to conservative Episcopal bloggers. One key point made by Dart and others quoted in his blog is that the operative word of the resolutions is “may” and not “must” thereby making the gay ordination decision a local option.

In an interesting twist, Michael Sean Winters writing in the blog of America: the National Catholic Weekly, suggests the problem for the Episcopalians is not their gay affirming resolution and its potential for schism but their democratic ecclesiology that does not have overweening institutional authority to decide for all.

But, for two thousand years, the impulse to keep together, to put ecclesiology at the top of our concern, to take the Lord’s command that all may be one very seriously and to set up structures that facilitate that unity, that impulse has stood us in good stead.

The blog post ends up less about the Episcopalians than a self congratulatory slap on the back for the authority of Rome. Yep, that’s Christendom needs, more 19th century infallible decision-making. Unity and uniformity are more important than justice.

Finally, the USA Today blog of Faith & Reason wonders, “What next” for the conservative congregations within the Episcopal communion, and for the shrinking mainline Protestant denominations.

See you soon at the ELCA convention in August.

The Bishops did it!

In the bicameral legislative system of the Episcopal General Convention, the LGBT community has been holding its breath awaiting the action of the House of Bishops. Earlier, the House of Deputies voted overwhelmingly to adopt a resolution that would effectively counter the 2006 resolution that put a halt on ordaining gay bishops. Now, the House of Bishops has done the same.

Here is the press release from Integrity USA, the Episcopal LGBT advocacy group:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ANAHEIM, CA (July 13, 2009)–By a nearly 2-1 margin, the bishops of the Episcopal Church passed an amended version of resolution D025, which effectively ends the "BO33 Era" and returns the church to relying on its canons and discernment processes for the election of bishops. "While concurrence on the amended resolution by the House of Deputies is necessary before it is officially adopted by the church as a whole," said Integrity President Susan Russell, "there is no question that today’s vote in the House of Bishops was an historic move forward and a great day for all who support the full inclusion of all the baptized in the Body of Christ."

"It was a tremendous privilege to be a witness to the courage and candor of the bishops who spoke truth to each other and to us–and who called the Episcopal Church to speak our truth to our Anglican Communion brothers and sisters and to the world.

"The truth is we are a church committed to mission–we are a church committed to the full inclusion of all the baptized in that mission–and we are a church committed to creating as broad a place to stand as possible for ALL who wish to be part of this great adventure of being disciples of Jesus.

"In this carefully constructed and prayerfully considered resolution, our Presiding Bishop got what she both asked for and voted for: a positive statement about where we are as a church in 2009–a church striving to actually become the church former Presiding Bishop Edmond Browning called us to be nearly 20 years ago now…a church where there are no outcasts."

"The debate on the floor of the House of Bishops made it VERY clear that our bishops knew exactly what they were doing when they passed this by a nearly 2-1 margin. The resolution passed today by the House of Bishops was another step in the Episcopal Church’s ‘coming out’ process–and it sends a strong ‘come and see’ message to anyone looking for a faith community where God’s inclusive love is not just proclaimed but practiced."

It’s a good day to be an Episcopalian. For watchers of LGBT issues within Christian communities, the next event will be the ELCA convention in MPLS in August. As I have noted previously, I will be present and will live blog the Lutheran gathering.

Episcopal mid convention report

Roughly half way through the Episcopal convention, excitement and tension is building as the repeal of the 2006 moratorium on gay bishops moves forward. As part of the worldwide Anglican Communion, the proposed change faces resistance from without as well as within. When conservatives within the Church of England raised the suggestion that a conservative, breakaway group in the US (ACNA) might receive official recognition, the presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church warned that such action would only promote schism, according to an article in the Washington Times.

ANAHEIM, Calif. | The presiding bishop of the U.S. Episcopal Church warned the Church of England not to foment schism in America, responding to a threat made over the possibility that the U.S. church will start ordaining actively gay bishops.

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said Sunday, in response to questions from The Washington Times, that calls by conservatives in the Church of England for recognition of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) over gay-related issues would wound her church, already split by the secession of conservative dioceses and congregations to form the ACNA.

She urged Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams to remember the "pain of many Episcopalians in several places of being shut out of their traditional worship spaces, and the broken relationships, the damaged relationships between people who have gone and people who have stayed."

"Recognition of something like ACNA is unfortunately likely only to encourage" further secessions, she said, reminding the Church of England that "schism is not a Christian act."

The parliamentary procedure of the Episcopal convention posits a bicameral approach. On Sunday, The House of Deputies passed Resolution D025 (70-31 in the lay order and 74-35 in the clergy order). Among other things, the resolution provides: “Affirm that God has called and may call partnered gay and lesbian people to any ordained ministry,” according to Walking with Integrity, the official blog of Integrity USA. The measure must also be passed by the House of Bishops to become official.

In her personal blog (An Inch at a Time), the President of Integrity, Pastor Susan Russell, speaks to both optimism and pessimism as the convention waits on the Bishops. The excitement is also palpable on a couple of weekend postings on the Integrity Blog: We Could have Danced All Night offers a glowing report of the Friday night Eucharist of 1200 LGBT Episcopalians and the stirring sermon of Rt. Rev. Barbara Harris (the first woman bishop in the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion). The Integrity Blog also offers a daily YouTube update.

Of course, there are many other items of business at the convention, and the blog of Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation provides daily updates on issues pertaining to poverty and hunger.

Full inclusion of all the baptized in all the sacraments

I am following the Episcopal general convention through several RSS feeds, and one of the best is through Integrity USA’s blog, “Walking with Integrity”, which provides their own YouTube video updates entitled, “IntegriTV”. Integrity USA is the LGBT advocacy group within the Episcopal Church, and their motto is “full inclusion of all the baptized in all the sacraments.”

Yet, what seems so simple, obvious, and Christ-like remains an unrealized ideal in so many settings.

An ELCA pastor friend of mine married a country gal from South Dakota whose father was the local county sheriff, and the family belonged to a Missouri Synod congregation. When the newlyweds first visited, elders within the church kindly informed the sheriff that his new son-in-law would not be welcome at the table. The sheriff and his wife did the right thing and promptly resigned their membership in the congregation they had belonged to their entire lives.

Years ago when I took graduate classes at St John’s School of Theology in Collegeville (a Benedictine Community), I was a welcome addition as a Lutheran. The students consisted of three categories a) candidates for the priesthood, b) nuns and other Catholic women, and c) miscellaneous protestants such as myself. One evening a week, the resident students invited the non residents to a meal in the dorm dining room followed by a prayer service and Eucharist. Protestants participated in the Eucharist until a couple of priest candidates objected, and with much pain on the part of most of the Catholic teachers and students, the practice ceased.

child of god
A blogpost this morning tells another tale of pain following rejection at the Lord’s Table. Blogger Sarcastic Lutheran reports an 11 am Sunday phone call:

Finally in a shaky voice, this came out: “I’m at my parent’s church….they are doing communion…..and I’m not allowed to take it.”

The blogger is the mission developer for “House for all Sinners and Saints” — “a group of folks figuring out how to be a liturgical, Christo-centric, social justice oriented, queer inclusive, incarnational, contemplative, irreverent, ancient – future church with a progressive but deeply rooted theological imagination.” She did the right thing and brought Eucharist to the young woman at the Denver airport.

The Rainbow Sash folks over in the Catholic Church seek to let the rest of their church know their pain of exclusion as LGBT persons.

When James, the brother of Jesus and leader of the church in Jerusalem, sent word to Antioch that Peter must refrain from table fellowship with unclean Gentiles, Paul understood the pain of exclusion, left in a huff, and the mission of the Apostle to the Gentiles began in earnest. History reminds us that we must ever fight the good fight, even when church leaders warn against rocking the boat.

A word from the conventions, Part II: UCC, Episcopal, ELCA

An earlier post reported on the closing of the Mennonite USA convention and the opening of the United Church of Christ (UCC) General Synod. Since then, the UCC has concluded its business; meanwhile, the triennial General Convention of the Episcopal Church will convene in Anaheim on July 8.

Ballots

The main order of business for the UCC was the pro forma election of The Rev. Geoffrey Black to succeed the Rev. John Thomas as General Minister and President. Thomas was ineligible for an additional term. That Black was selected without opposition symbolized the unity and lack of divisive issues at the 27th General Synod. The UCC is one of the mainline Protestant denominations that welcomes gay clergy, and they appear to be at peace with the issue.

The Episcopal Church is also a denomination that ordains gay clergy, but the issue continues to roil. At the 76th General Convention since 1785, LGBT issues will dominate:

The Episcopal Church’s 45-year debate over human sexuality and the appropriate response to the desire of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people to participate fully in the church’s life will occupy General Convention’s attention once again as it meets July 8-17 in Anaheim, California.

Deputies and bishops are being asked to reconsider the 2006 convention’s stand that the church “exercise restraint by not consenting to the consecration of any candidate to the episcopate whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communion.”

Episcopal News Service, July 6, 2009

The Episocopal Church is part of the worldwide Anglican communion, and the 2006 resolution sought to mollify international concern with the episcopacy of gay Bishop Eugene Robinson of New Hampshire, in a classic “don’t rock the boat” expression of church polity over principle. As the 2009 General Convention approaches, the Episcopalian blogosphere is electric with anticipation.

Elizabeth Kaeton, a self-described “joyful Christian who claims the fullness of the Anglican tradition of being evangelical, Anglo-Catholic, charismatic, orthodox and radical”, serves as Pastor of an Episocopalian parish in New Jersey. In her “Telling Secrets” blog, she has a telling video that addresses the perception that all African Anglicans have a negative attitude toward gay inclusion.

From the opposite coast, Pastor Susan Russell of California offers regular updates and a photo montage of the Integrity Team in preparation for the General Convention at her “Inch at A Time” blog. Pastor Russell also serves as President of Integrity USA, “a faithful witness of God’s inclusive love to the Episcopal Church and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. We are working for the full inclusion of all the baptized in all the sacraments,” and the Integrity blog also has frequent updates.

Meanwhile, ELCA members and churches continue their 50 day prayer vigil that points toward their 2009 Churchwide Assembly in Mpls that begins August 17 and which will consider the ELCA versions of LGBT resolutions. I plan to be present in MPLS to liveblog the daily events.

Schism is in our genes

Those of us in the Judao – Christian family tree have a long history of internecine struggle and splits. I suppose we could go back even earlier and talk about Isaac and Ishmael if we want to include the Muslims in this family history. The Pharisees disagreed with the Sadducees over Torah and the Temple, and the Essenes had enough of each and ran away to the desert. Paul split with Peter and started his own Gentile mission apart from the Jewish Jesus movement in Jerusalem. Later, the Christians and the rabbis disagreed over who could worship in the synagogues. First, the Coptics retreated to Egypt; then, the Greeks packed up for Constantinople leaving the Catholics in Rome; and a millenium later, Luther spewed nourishment to new nestlings.

So why should I be surprised when several blogposts come through my RSS reader today about schismatics in today’s christendom?

Several hundred former Episcopalians, meeting in a school gym near the Dallas-Fort Worth airport, ratified a constitution Monday for the fledgling Anglican Church in North America as a direct challenge to the Episcopal Church USA and the Anglican Church of Canada.

So says the Washington Times online.

Frederick Clarkson in Talk to Action blog points out that noted evangelical Rick Warren spoke at this meeting, inciting the schismatic sentiment.

The Presbyterians apparently have the same schismatic genes. According to Pastor John Shuck on his Shuck and Jive blog:

When the two main branches of the Presbyterian Church finally decided the Civil War had ended in 1983, they reunited. Ten years prior to reunion, some congregations of the then “southern branch” broke away and formed their own denomination. The larger church had become too liberal for their tastes.

Each of these two latter day stories relate to LGBT issues, and whispers of schism within my own ELCA waft on the breeze emanating from the direction of the WordAlone Network if the ELCA does what the Network fears this summer and allows a local option for gay clergy and gay marriage. Fear of defections from the ELCA causes some to wring their hands and advocate for the status quo.

Schism is part of our history and undoubtedly part of our future. When defections occur, we should grieve the losses and then move on, but we should not retreat from principle. We should not fear history, nor should we ignore it, nor can we stop it.

Gay female bishop

I suppose most of us are proud of our ancestry. This week, I am especially proud to call myself a Swede upon news that the newly elected Lutheran bishop of Stockholm is a lesbian in a state registered homosexual partnership with another priest. That she is Lutheran is also a source of pride for me, and since my hometown is Upsala, Minnesota, the election of Rev. Eva Brunne from Uppsala, Sweden just makes it all the sweeter.

Episcopalian pastor and blogger Elizabeth Kaeton of Telling Secrets has the details in her post entitled “Another purple shirt with a pink triangle.” Kaeton reports:

Brunne, who is currently the dean of the Stockholm diocese, is the first Church of Sweden bishop to live in a registered homosexual partnership, the Uppsala-headquartered church said, and she is believed to be the first openly lesbian bishop in the world.

Brunne, 55, lives with priest Gunilla Linden in a partnership that has received a church blessing. They have a three-year-old son.

A comment following her post laments the lack of media attention to this breakthrough event compared to the extensive and continued coverage of the election of Eugene Robinson, an openly gay Episcopalian priest, to the bishopric of New Hampshire. Perhaps Europeans are more tolerant than Americans suggests one commentor or perhaps this is an evidence of sexism suggests another.

When the choice is between a story about a handsome Catholic priest who’s been photographed with a woman . . . and a story about two Swedish priests who are living together in a monogamous relationship, you know which one is going to grab all the attention.

As a hetero male, I would like to be counted among those “few good (straight) men” that Kaeton refers to in a separate blog post.

Solidarity is a powerful thing. It can embolden the bold who have become temporarily weary by the struggle.

It speaks a silent but powerful truth to power.

And, I know that those of you – LGBT and straight – who enjoy the sacramental grace of marriage will not know complete sacramental fullness until everyone who is called to stand where you are privileged to stand is allowed to pursue their vocation to marriage and family life.

Prop 8 Court decision due

The California Supreme Court has announced that its Prop 8 decisions will be made public at 10:00 on Tuesday, the 26th of May.

Episcopalian priest, Susan Russell of Sacramento, and her partner will be among those waiting. She calls the GLBT friendly faith community to vigil in her blog, An Inch At A Time.

California “Decision Day” is Tuesday … May 26 … stay tuned for more info as it comes in! Meanwhile, here are some links from our friends at California Faith for Equality:

By 10:00am on Tuesday, 36,000 of our community will know if their marriages will continue to hold legal standing. Thousands more will know if our Constitution really protects all Americans.

We have been waiting for months, but we have not been idle. Our faith and LGBT communities across the state are prepared to act for and celebrate justice. Here are three things you can do to be prepared for Decision Day and the days after:

Sign up for National Center for Lesbian Rights text service to know exactly when and how the Decision comes down.

Dial in with hundreds of other people of faith on Friday @ 10am. RSVP to http://bit.ly/zAszd for call-in information.

Attend a Decision Day event in your area and Meet CA Faith for Equality in the Middle at our “Faith Tent.” You can find Decision Day events listed in the websites in the right column.

And here’s where I’ll be on Tuesday.

I’ll be sitting at my desk in Northfield, Mn, but my thoughts and prayers will be with all.