INTEGRITY FORUM

A JOURNAL FOR GAY EPISCOPALIANS AND THEIR FRIENDS

c Integrity, Inc. 1977   ISSN: 0095-2184

Vol. 4  No.  1    November 1977

 

INTEGRITY FORUM:  A JOURNAL FOR GAY EPISCOPALIANS AND THEIR FRIENDS is the official newsletter of Integrity, Inc., a non-profit religious, charitable, educational and literary organization of gay episcopalians and their friends.  Integrity, Inc. maintains a national office at 3601 Locust Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19104, phone 215/386-5430, if no answer 215/629-1309.  Membership and subscription correspondence should be sent to Integrity Forum Publisher, David Williams, Integrity, P.O. Box 891, Oak Park, IL 60303, phone 312/386-1470.  Editorial correspondence should be sent to Integrity Forum Editor, William Doubleday, c/o Episcopal Divinity School, 99 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, phone 617/723-4336. 

 

Signed articles represent the views of the contributors.  The editor reserves the right to revise all sexist language. 

 

Copyright 1977 by Integrity, Inc.  10 issues per year.  Memberships are $10 per year; subscriptions without memberships  are $12 per year.  Add $3 if you would like your copy of Integrity Forum mailed in a plain envelope; Canadians remit in U.S. funds. 

 

President................................ The Rev. Ron Wesner

Vice President................................. John Lawrence

Secretary...................................... Donn Mitchell

Treasurer...................................... Raymond Conti

Editor..................................... William Doubleday

Publisher..................................... David Williams

 

FATHER CLARK WILLS ELECTED CONVENOR OF INTEGRITY/CHICAGO

 

The Reverend Clark Edward Wills was elected Convenor of Integrity/Chicago at the chapter's third annual banquet meeting, held November 6 at the Promenade Room of Marina City.  He succeeds David R. Williams, who has served the two lull terms permitted in chapter by-laws.  David Scribner, formerly of Integrity/New York, was elected Assistant Convenor; Bill Daniels, Secretary and Harry Granzow, Treasurer.  For the first time, three additional members were elected to the new Executive Board created by new by-laws; they are Tom Peters, Jim Edminster and Jerry Vogt.  The new Board will conduct the chapter's busi­ness and program between quarterly meetings of the full mem­bership.  Weekly Eucharists and social gatherings will continue.

 

Grant L. Ford, publisher-editor of Gay Life newspaper, and for­mer clergyman, was the main speaker at the banquet meeting, and was elected Honorary Member of the chapter.  Gay Life now has the second largest circulation nationally of any gay publication.  Also elected to honorary membership were the Very Reverend James E. Carroll, dean of St. James's cathedral, and his wife, Lanita Carroll, who have been good friends and sup­porters of the chapter.

 

Among the more than fifty persons attending the banquet was the Reverend Deacon William Landram, convenor of Integrity/Madison. The chapter presented the outgoing Convenor, David Williams, with a personal edition of the new Book of Common Prayer inscribed with a quotation from G. K. Chesterton, "Those who are marked with the cross of Christ go gaily in the dark," translated into Latin by the new Convenor (a former Latin teacher), as: "Qui Christi cruce signantur in tenebris feliciter procedunt."

 

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE WORD

Reported by Louie Crew

 

On Tuesday, October 25, 1977, between 5 and 6 a.m. and in less than a half-hour, vandals entered the office of Diana Press, a major feminist publisher, and poured acid on the presses and plates, put solvent on the paste-ups, destroyed most of the negatives, and mutilated a complete shipment of 5.000 copies of Rita Mae Brown's new Plain Brown Rapper ready for mailing.

 

No leads have turned up to suggest the identity of the spoilers. Their major damage was the destruction of months of the work of the women who work at the press.  Stripped of resources, they have had to go on welfare.  The press had recently move from Maryland to Oakland, California.

 

Those wishing to help restore this important enterprise should send checks payable to "Diana Press," 4400 Market Street, Oak­land CA 94608.  Adrienne Rich and Susan Griffin have been working to establish a national network of support, as have Susan Sherman, Bertha Harris and Charlotte Bunch.

 

DIOCESE OF OHIO COMMISSION ON MINISTRY RECOMMENDS ORDINATION AND MARRIAGE FOR GAYS

 

A task force appointed by the Commission on Ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio has recommended that practicing homosexuals can be ordained and married In the Church.  Bis­hop John H. Burt urged the task force to reconsider its findings, which are at variance with the report of the Committee on Theology of the House of Bishops [this report is reprinted on page 3 of this issue of Integrity Forum], of which he is chairman.  The eight member group, headed by Dr. Janeen Carrell-Brown, practicing psychologist and communicant at Trinity Cathedral, Cleveland, has replied that it will stand by the report and recom­mendations.  The report asserted that "sexual orientation has no relevance in consideration of a candidate for ordination ... un­less there is well-documented evidence that the 'sexual orienta­tion' is a 'symptom of some underlying personality problem or psychiatric illness' which, unless treated, would interfere with her or his professional performance as a clergyperson."

 

It said that "many philandering heterosexuals have been or­dained. Many promiscuous homosexuals have, too.  Still, the fo­cus lies on the heterosexuality or homosexuality of the clergy and not on their manner of expressing their persuasion."

 

Clinics, workshops and other educational programs were pro­posed by the report, "to enable persons to choose their sexual orientation with understanding and not by default."

 

MINNESOTA DIOCESE CREATES TASK FORCE ON SEXUALITY

 

A Task Force for Education in Human Sexuality was established for the Diocese of Minnesota in action taken at the annual con­vention held in Rochester October 15.  The purpose of the Task Force is to present a "full spectrum of attitude and conviction regarding the issue of Homosexuality," and its program will be designed to be presented on a regional level in each of the nine regions of the diocese.  The resolution creating the task force was drafted by Frs. Bozarth-Campbell, Beresford, Harvey and Martin, and encompassed input from Craig Anderson, Bill Herr­mann and Leo Treadway of Integrity/Twin Cities.

 

Other resolutions placing the diocesan convention in support of gay/lesbian ministry and civil rights, establishing study committees, and dealing with "norms of conduct" of ordinands were either tabled or withdrawn by their sponsors.

 

The Reverend Robert W. Anderson, Dean of St. Mark's Cathedral, Salt Lake City, was elected Bishop Coadjutor of Minnesota.  According to the November issue of the newsletter of Twin Cities' Dignity-Integrity, "Dean Anderson's views on Gay/Lesbian is­sues are not known at this time."

 

DIRTY LINEN & CLOSET FRESHENERS

 

The Wittenberg Door, national evangelical magazine dedicated to church renewal and reform, will address the subject of homosexuality in its November 22 issue.  Its three editors (Wayne Rice, Denny Rydberg, Mike Yaconelli) flew to Los Angeles for a three-­hour taped interview with Integrity's Malcolm Boyd on Michaelmas and then on to Miami for an interview with Anita Bryant on Oct­ober 12. ··· Thanks to Sophia Loren for her sympathetic re­marks about Italian gays.  Her new movie portrays her as a World War II housewife whose only friend, a male homosexual, is taken away by the fascists. ··· Despite support from Speaker Thomas P. McGee, Elaine Noble's bill prohibiting discrimination against gays in state jobs went down to defeat 101-120 in the Massa­chusetts legislature.  Her announcement that she will not seek re-election next year has nothing to do with the defeat, according to her office.  "If anything, the setback would make her want to come back," a spokesperson said.  She is leaving politics be­cause her father is ill. ··· Harold Voth, senior psychiatrist at the Menninger Foundation in Topeka, was quoted in an AP dispatch from San Diego as blaming the women's movement and the gay liberation movement for a decline in family unity and a weaken­ing of the nation.  Speaking to the Kiwanis Club, he said "homo­sexuals are sick and pathologically disturbed -- and that is documented amply." ··· Garry Wills's October 12 syndicated column was entitled "Podhoretz, the new Anita Bryant."  Norman Podhoretz, writing in October Harper's magazine, blames Eng­lish homosexual writers for the surrender to Hitler in the 1930s, says homosexuality in England was caused by the loss of Eng­land's "best and brightest" in World War II, and that homosexu­als are responsible for weakened will and knuckling under to communism.  He blames especially James Baldwin, Allen Gins­berg, and Gore Vidal.  Wills responds:  "It's hard to take Podho­retz seriously ... emotional exhibitionism on that scale is an offense to community standards." ··· The Quixote Center, Mt. Rainier, Maryland, a coalition of Catholics interested in "justice issues," has called on the Catholic hierarchy to "do everything in your power to reverse" the Vatican's gagging of the Rev'd John McNeill, SJ, author of The Church and the Homosexual. ··· At a Gay Rights National Lobby cocktail party in Denver in July, Ray Hartman, Los Angeles attorney, commented on the spreading gay boycott of orange juice:  "Many of us have been boycotting grapes for some time.  Now with the boycott of citrus products, we might well be the first minority in history to die of scurvy rather than bullets." ··· a Labour Party Member of Parliament for Northampton, North, Mrs. Maureen Colquhoun, is fighting a move by her constituency party to unseat her, after it was reported she had left her husband to live with a woman.  In Gay News she advised homosexuals not to hide away, but to "come out into the open."  She said she has received support from many constituents, particularly women. ··· Two position papers, one pro-gay and one anti-gay, were given at a Sympo­sium November 4-5 in Evanston, Illinois, sponsored by Plumbline, a church college work publication.  The pro-paper was to be given by James Johnson, and the anti-gay paper Rev'd Urban T. Holmes, co-editor with Ruth Tiffany Barnhouse of a book on the Joy of Episcopalian Sex, entitled Male and Female.  (Seabury, 1976.)  David Blix, member of Integrity/Chicago, was one of the respondents. ··· Louie Crew and Thomas J. Jackson have written a response to Bishop Benett Sim's pastoral letter condemning homosexuality.  It's called "Feed My Sheep," and is available from Louie at Box 5203, Ft. Valley State College, Ft. Valley, GA 31030, or Thomas Jackson at Integrity/Atlanta. ···

 

EPISCOPAL CHURCH NEWS

 

Moore Speaks to House of Bishops

 

The following is a statement by the Bishop of New York, the Rt. Rev. Paul Moore, to the House of Bishops, concerning the neg­ative resolutions on the subject of the Ellen Barrett ordination.

 

I have been called to the mission of the church in New York, that enormous, strange, desperate, vital city where the customs and the culture are so different from other parts of the country.  It is not easy to relate to such a mission, to make any impression on such a city, to be heard in such a noisy place.  However, from time to time, we have been heard there.  From time to time, we have been able to lift up a sign of hope in that city.

 

One such sign of hope was the ordination of Ellen Barrett.  It was not intended to be such, but because of the time at which it occurred and the media coverage it received, the city and the country came to know that we affirmed her candor, her courage, her honesty.  When she was ordained, the gay community felt it to be a sign that the Church finally accepted them as human beings.

 

Do you realize that every gay person in America will be watching what happens here this week?  Do you realize that if you officially condemn this ordination you will be casting a judgment upon the ministry of hundreds, perhaps thousands of Bishops, Priests and Deacons of the Church who live with this problem?  Do you realize that you will be removing a sign of hope they finally see in a church that has treated them so shabbily over the years?

 

We have shown great concern for the fifteen hundred church people at St. Louis.  Have we no concern for this huge and most misunderstood of all minorities to which our brothers, sisters, our children might belong?  Gay people live in constant fear for their jobs, their homes, their very lives.  You have no idea what this condition can mean in someone's life.

 

A priest who started me on my vocation lived a haunted, broken life because of the way the Church treated his homosexuality; and yet, were it not for him, I would not be here today.

 

No one of you dares deny the effective priesthood of homosex­ual clergy you have known.  Are you about to say that the grace of priesthood cannot function in such persons when their effectiveness has been shown again and again?

 

If you censure or deplore the action of the Diocese of New York, you are deploring the priesthood of any homosexually oriented priest whatever his behavior; and you are insulting hundreds of the clergy of our Church.

 

Please carefully listen to the possible consequences of this proposed action.  Aspirants for holy orders who sense a vocation within themselves will be encouraged to lie to their psychiatrist, standing committee, ministries commission, and Bishop.  Or­dained clergy of the Church who have declared themselves to be gay, will be left wondering when charges for deposition will be brought against them.  The Episcopal Church may become the scene of a McCarthy-like purge, rife with gossip, charges and counter charges.  Also the General Convention study pro­cess will be frustrated.  It may result in many communicants leaving this Church.

 

Bishop Myers and Bishop Corrigan's papers have set forth the deep reasons for not withholding orders from gay persons, rea­sons found in an understanding of the humanity of Jesus.  I need not rehearse them here.  But let me say that the sexuality of an ordinand is not what I am most concerned about.  When I inter­view a person for the ministry, I try to see into his heart.  I search for love, sensitivity, and courage in his dedication to our Lord Jesus.  Of such qualities is priesthood made.  The quality of courage has been sorely lacking in our church of late.  Perhaps cour­age is even more important than sexual orientation!

 

There has been much talk here about freedom of conscience.  We have said in many comments that our own Presiding Bishop has a right to deny the action of the General Convention of the Church. Given this principle of freedom of conscience do you then proceed to censure or deplore a Bishop and Standing Com­mittee acting with full canonical scrupulosity in ordaining some­one whom they believe qualified and whom most of you have never even met?  I think such an action is outrageous!

 

I have been a member of this House for almost fourteen years where, often with some difficulty of conscience, I have remained loyal to the doctrines, discipline and worship of the Episcopal Church, and to the so-called collegiality of this House.  To be coupled for criticism or perhaps censure with a Bishop who has flagrantly and often broken Canon Law, who is leading the Church into schism, makes me ashamed, humiliated, and brought to tears.

 

I have not broken any Canon Law.  I have not been accused of immorality.  I have not been accused of making any heretical statement.

 

What is the crime?  Am l being criticized for the remarks attributed to one of my clergy, after ordination, based on hearsay, and not made by me?  I remind you that the ordination itself had nothing to do with sexual practice but only with admitted orientation.  I also remind you that I was not called to task at the General Con­vention meeting of this House, by which time Ellen Barrett had been made Deacon.

 

What is the crime?  To rejoice that a sign of hope and compas­sion finally has been lifted up for a beleaguered community who until recently has not dared to say it exists?

 

What is the crime?  To attempt to bring the message and love of Christ to the great city of New York in a way that people outside the Church can understand?

 

In New York we are not ministering to the ideal American nuclear family.  Instead our Churches are full of divorcees, alcoholics, the aged, homosexuals, poor Blacks, Puerto Ricans, Chinese, Haitians, immigrants ‑‑ in a word the dispossessed.  These are our people, God's children, the poor beloved of Jesus of Nazareth.

 

If this action is formally disapproved, my brothers, I will feel that this House and I differ radically about what the meaning of this apostolic office is.  Is it to manage, administer, and keep safe a steadily decreasing number of frightened and confused people; or is it to see the modern world as it is, and bring to that chang­ing, suffering world the liberating, loving message of the Gospel of Christ.

 

Theology Committee Reports To The House of Bishops

 

The House of Bishops recognizes that during this triennium a Joint Commission of the General Convention has been instruct­ed to explore the problem of human sexuality.  While we await the report of this Commission two years hence, questions on human sexuality vex and perplex the Church today.

 

Bishops, commissioned as pastors and teachers of the Church, charged with interpreting the canons, and serving as chief liturgical officers in a diocese, are asked on occasion to rule on the use of the marriage service for persons of the same sex.  Bis­hops, likewise, as guides for prospective ordinands and as the ordaining minister, have in the past, and may in the future encounter, persons seeking ordination who acknowledge their homosexual orientation and, in some instances, overt homo­sexual behavior.

 

CONCERNING HOLY MATRIMONY

 

Both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament the understanding of sex is rooted in the conviction that the divine image in humanity is incomplete without both man and woman.  Hence, the aim of sexuality, as understood in Christian terms, is not merely satisfaction or procreation but completeness.  Interper­sonal completeness ‑‑ "The two shall become one" ‑‑ is the ancient prescription, a union of differences.  This does not mean simply genital differences, but all the differences biological and cultural that distinguish male and female all gathered into the symbol of "two shall become one."

 

The biblical understanding rejects homosexual practice.  Heterosexual sex is clearly and repeatedly affirmed as God's will for humanity.  The teaching of Jesus about marriage, the teach­ing of Paul and other biblical writers are unanimous and unde­viating in portraying heterosexual love as God's will and there­fore good and normative, at the same time keeping in mind our Lord's recognition (cf. Matthew 19:12) that there is also virtue in the celibate life.  It is clear from Scripture that heterosexual marriage is unanimously affirmed and that homosexual activity is condemned.  It is not clear from Scripture just what morality attaches to homosexual orientation, but the Christian message of redemption and sanctification is one of graceful acceptance leading to graceful wholeness for all people.

 

The Church, therefore, is right to confine its nuptial blessing exclusively to heterosexual marriage.  Homosexual unions wit­ness to incompleteness.  For the Church to institutionalize by liturgical action a relationship that violates its own teaching about sex is inadmissable.

 

The Church's liturgical action is corporate.  It is also public. It witnesses to what the Church stands for ‑‑ and to what it advo­cates as good for society as a whole.

 

CONCERNING THE ORDINATION OF HOMOSEXUALS

 

With respect to the question of ordaining homosexuals it is crucial to distinguish between (a) an advocating and/or practicing ho­mosexual and, (b) one with a dominant homosexual orientation only.

 

In the case of an advocating and/or practicing homosexual, ordination is inadmissable; first, because ordination is a corporate act which proclaims our understanding of ministry, the Church thereby sets forth its values, not simply for itself, but in evangel­istic terms for the social order.  The ordination of an advocating and/or practicing homosexual, therefore, involves the Church in a public denial of its own theological and moral norms on sex­uality .

 

Second, one of the vows required of an ordinand commits him or her to the fashioning of personal (and family or community) life after the manner of Christ so as to be an example to the Church .

 

The ordination of an advocating and/or practicing homosexual would require the Church's sanction of such a life style, not only as acceptable, but worthy of emulation.  Our present understand­ing of biblical and theological truth would make this impossible.

 

In our consideration of the two issues above, we call the attention of all Christians to the resolution of the 65th General Convention which expressed its conviction

 

"that homosexual persons are children of God who have a full and equal claim with all other persons upon the love, acceptance and pastoral concern and care of the Church"

 

and that, furthermore, they

 

"are entitled to equal protection of the laws with all other citizens, and calls upon our society to see that such protection is provided in actuality."

 

With dismay and with shock we note the deprivation of civil rights and the development of mass hysteria in parts of this country directed against persons known as homosexuals.

 

The same gospel which leads us to the above conclusion also compels us to treat every person of any sexual orientation as a child of God, entitled to our pastoral concern and guaranteed his or her civil rights.

 

                   The Committee On Theology

                   The Bishop of Ohio, Chairman

                   The Bishop of West Missouri

                   The Bishop of Western N. Carolina

                   The Bishop of Western Mass.

                   The Bishop of Quincy

                   The Bishop of Eau Claire

                   The Bishop of Kentucky

                   The Bishop of Massachusetts

 

FORUM:

Observations from some of our readers, and others.

 

A Letter to L., Upon Learning of the Silencing of Father John McNeill

 

Dear friend,

 

I tremble, afraid, in the San Francisco sunshine.  I think of your arms for the umpteenth time.

 

The news is that the Vatican, Rome, has silenced John McNeill ... he wrote The Church and the Homosexual.

 

The Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith closes those parameters of grace,

 

The open mind;

 

Forbidding the faithful lest they engender the logic of a different conclusion,

 

Lest some layperson (or even some priest) grow tolerant of human in an evolving cosmos,

 

Throwing himself headlong into a roiling sea of change, decision like a millstone

 

Tied to the Christian neck.

 

I tremble, afraid.

 

Amulet, talisman, this newspaper column could not be more pagan, more magical.

 

The pope's intentions for human nature wax esoteric, invisible, pentagrams chalked on the floors of the body,

 

Heinous, a picture of Dorian Grey.  Here is a great warrior god, feet astride the sides of

 

Neo-tribal altar; his creature, his worship is sacrifice.

 

In the sharp arc of priestly knives, honed keen on legend and myth, the ba'alim demand

 

Circumcision and an exclusive heterosexual orientation among the barbarian Gentiles of Galatia.

 

The Sacred Congregation forever looks back.  Other Christians, no doubt a minority,

 

Remember Lot's wife and the cruel intercourse of pride.  Inhospitality was a sin easily overlooked

 

When Josephus allied with the Stoics in first century,

 

A.D.

 

I think of your arms.

 

It is the stranger who is abused, forbidden to gather grain on the metaphysical fields

 

Already reaped by Aquinas and Augustine.  It will not lie fallow, this teaching.

 

Ignorance unfolds like a wimple around the meek throats of housewives and husbands;

 

The cardinals condemn feeling.

 

Puberty makes the children eligible for a delicious bondage of hating one's body,

 

Of blaming everything on the opposite sex.

 

It is not estrogen and testosterone that betray us,

 

Generation after generation,

 

In a sad canon of original sin, intrinsically disordered.

 

I tremble, thinking of your arms, my face warmed in the California sunshine.

 

We are not free, kneeling in bars or drinking in churches, from a customary mammalian need for

 

Getting on with life.  Men and women fall prey to all manner of limitations,

 

Not the least of which will be those prison sentences meted out to brother and sister Christians

 

For an infamous "crime against nature."  I hear the steel of jail cells banging shut,

 

Tearing the land asunder like an earthquake.  Saint Augustine peers over a steep edge,

 

His face a grey, hard granite discovered in the riven earth.  But I have a measure of Rome, terrible as a ten on the Richter Scale.

 

Augustine is still loathe to touch his penis, still

 

Eager to condemn and punish.  I hear the fearful teachings repeated, pink triangles become

 

Tinkling brass.  Taboo accumulates the false coin of forbidden lusts, beckoning,

 

Irresistible emblem of Turandot, an icy princess in the first act of Puccini's opera.

 

The swell of Saint Peter's is worthy of Machiavelli, a bell

 

Tolling for murder in a frigid house.

 

I tremble for the umpteenth time.

 

O these cardinals are no musicians!  No dancers like King David leaping before the Ark of the Covenant,

 

Forgetting himself before Yahweh, even naked.

 

No.

 

The imperious Magisterium demands foreskins as readily as King Saul.

 

We dare not mention Jonathan ... he warned sweet David to flee official wrath, Saul's melancholy envy ...

 

In the falling of his arrow was love;

 

Nor dare we mention Jesus.  His body and blood are usurped in a marketplace, moneychangers

 

Crowding the temple doorways and orifices of our body.

 

What twisted formality of justice occludes us, hard as stone? This Law is a tomb for prophecy,

 

Prophecy and eros.

 

For the umpteenth sunny day, I cherish a thought of your brown Italian arms ... relic of love unafraid.

 

It is no salvation, then,

 

When these proclamations crackle like fire around the bound feet in Foxe's

 

Book of Martyrs.  The truth is, we surprise ourselves, still, with a smile, able to lift weary arms,

 

Benediction, signalling our struggle to reach out, to burn inside for justice, for peace,

 

For love.

 

Jesus is here with us, dying.

 

A cross bears the human body, its thrust embarrassingly phallic, a wooden tree

 

Pushing into the sky black as newsprint.

 

We have read the headlines to Pontius Pilate.  We have studied the pretexts,

 

Feigning civilized curiosity.  Yet our history,

 

This millennium of fear and hatred and oppression remains penultimate, portend of hope,

 

Resurrection .

 

I am warm with the heat of your handsome flesh,

 

sanctified in the cup of your arms and the mulled fire of sunshine.

 

Here is a parable of fig trees and sunsets and signs of the times, when the lord of the Vineyard returns.

 

Will there be any faith, any love?

 

     Dan Fee 

     12 September, 1977 

     San Francisco, California

 

OUR OPINION

 

Financing Integrity's Ministry

 

It is canvas time in many parishes.  It is also time to realize that the ministry of Integrity needs your financial support at both the local and national levels.  Why not redirect a portion of your tithe to Integrity?  Why not make a special thank offering to Integrity?  Our national office, our present and future publications, the chapter visitations of our national officers, our preparations for General Convention 1979, and many other programs need your committed financial support.  Why not write a check today?

 

I don't often see fit to quote the Rev. G. Harris Collingwood of Church of the Advent in Boston, but will close this editorial with these words from one of his recent sermons:

 

"You have by now received the canvass mailing.  In the light of current crises, you may well have second thoughts about your pledge.  I can understand that.  As I reflected on my own pledge, I was reminded of Sir Richard, who is memorialized in his parish church near London:

 

  'In the year 1653

  When all things sacred in the kingdom

  Were either profaned or demolished

  This church was built by Sir Richard Shirley, Baronet,

  Whose singular praise it was

  To do the best things in the worst of times."'

 

                 ‑‑William A. Doubleday, Editor

                                Integrity Forum

 

PASSION AND THE CHURCH

by The Rev. Carter Heyward

 

I've done a lot of thinking about what it is I want to say tonight.  I've thought about feminism, homosexuality, lesbianism; about helping build a foundation for "theology of sexuality;" about lev­elling an indictment against the Church and the Judaic tradition in which the Church is rooted for what is at best gross irrespon­sibility in dominant ecclesiastical attitudes toward sexuality, sex and homosexuality.  I've attempted to sift through my own re­flections in order to focus on, and share with you, that which is for me most basic to a discussion of "feminism, homosexuality, and the church" (the topic suggested to me).

 

I want to speak of passion, and of how passion is, historically, so terribly feared, yearned for, hated, and admired by the ecclesi­astical authority of the Church.  The Church, which has over the years come to manifest itself as a passionless institution ‑‑ a body without depth; without intensity of experience, involvement relationship, life, and death; an institution without passion.  The Church, that which has traditionally fed itself on fear of passion; that which has consistently and predictably disclaimed its own hidden passion; that which has located and sought out its own passion elsewhere, and denounced the one, or ones, on whom its passion has been projected.  The Church has, historically, projected its passion onto women and homosexuals ‑‑ equating passion with sex, and "broads" and "queers" with passion, making us scapegoats; virtually the bearers of the passion of the Church.  This has been especially true, in recent years as well as long ago, of feminist women and of self-acknowledged, self-celebrating homosexuals: those who are "gay and proud."

 

Passion is deep-quality living ‑‑ like diving in and swimming instead of wading.  Passion is in or out of bed.  It's in homosexuals, heterosexuals, and bisexuals.  It's in celibates and genitally ­active women and men.  That we who are female and/or gay have come to symbolize passion is in its own way a tribute to us.  It is, in fact, a tribute that many of us do not merit, for there are of course many women (gay and straight) and many gay men who are not passionate people.  But in the mind of the Church ‑‑ Ro­man Catholic, Protestant, Episcopal ‑‑ we are viewed as the archetypical carrier of passion.  We are seen collectively as the character for whom Equus is God and lover: the boy who relates orgiastically ‑‑ with sweat, panting, screams and semen ‑‑ to the created world around him.  We are blown up into child-de­vouring monster proportions:  She/He who lives to lure, seduce, destroy whatever is pure, hence good.

 

And all around us, those who fear passion in themselves project it onto us ‑‑ us women and gays, who in many cases also fear passion in ourselves and have nowhere to project it; so we swallow it; and like all fear that is swallowed whole, it contributes to our psychological indigestion, which for women has been classic­ally labeled "neurotic depression" and for gays "inversion."  And people gawk at us and name us names not of our choosing ‑‑ names like "chick" and "doll" and "broad" and "fag" and "fem­me" and "butch" and "queer."  They name us names for so long that we begin to answer when we are called, to jump when the finger snaps, believing these names to be our own.

 

We women and gays have become a terrifying "other," a pas­sionate "not-me" to many practicing heterosexual men and wo­men; to many self-denying, self-denigrating gay people who cannot celebrate themselves because they have learned well to despise themselves; to many people writhing in the tension between active genitals and celibate psyches; and conversely to people caught in conflict between celibate genitals and sex­ually active psyches.

 

The Passion of Jesus ‑‑ a term that has traditionally marked the period of time between, and including, the Last Supper and the Crucifixion, was exactly that:  a time during which Jesus bore the passion of his time, his culture, his religious heritage. Jesus, one through whose passion his friends began to recognize their own; Jesus, for whom being human involved immersion in choices of real life and real death; Jesus, the passionate ‑‑ lover of broth­ers and sisters, man of many moods, person for whom all re­lationships bore bonds of intimacy; Jesus, whose passion -- capacity for life and death ‑‑ was a challenge, hence a threat, to those around him who were willing to settle for less than passion; less than living life and dying death (and the two do and must go together), less that being full, abundant, electric with contemplative and relational energy, less than becoming impassioned about matters of justice and dignity.  Jesus, the compelling and terrifying Christ, to whom people are often drawn and from whom we simultaneously step back.  Because our guts assure us that people of passion are people who are, in the words of my Dad, "just askin' for a lickin!"  Passion is hard to take, and so passionate people get clobbered. Like Jesus.

 

Taking cues from the culture that crucified Jesus, the Church cultivates passionless people ‑‑ more accurately, people who must deny their passion ‑‑ their full capacities for life and death ‑‑ in order to be acceptable as priests, ministers, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, people period ‑‑ in the Church and in the rest of society.  The Church has hailed the dispassionate Logos, Word of the Patriarchal Lord governing His earthly Manor, whose sterile and often rather pallid Son was born painlessly by an untouched Virgin, as that which is divine.  That which is not­God ‑‑ not the One in whose image we are created; that which is, for Christians, "not-me" ‑‑ has been branded as Satanic, demonic, evil ‑‑ passionate.  You may recall that early Church Fathers believed that evil, woman, and sex were virtually the same passionate phenomenon.  In other words, "evil," "woman," "sex," and "passion" were different names for the same experi­ence ‑‑ the same demon ‑‑ against which holy men believed they had to contend for the sake of an antiseptic God, in whose pure image they were said to be and whose Fatherly work they strove to do ‑‑ namely, the indictment and salvation of passion­ate souls.  Our sophistication notwithstanding, things are today not all that different.

 

What does this mean for us, now, in the church?  It means, I believe, that the ordination of women and homosexuals; the ERA; equal pay, equal employment opportunity and equal rights for homosexuals and women ‑‑ within and without the Church ‑‑ are worthy goals.  It also means that, while these goals for basic rights are good ones, it is imperative that those of us involved in these struggles keep clearly in mind that the attainment of such goals (in small and large ways; in the short- and long-run) is, in itself, not enough.  Ordaining women is not enough.  Blessing gay relationships is not enough.  Open housing for homosexuals and equal employment for women are, in themselves, not enough.  For women priests and gay relationships can be every bit as passionless as many male priests and straight relationships have been; every bit as devoid of depth, humor, pain, joy, full­ness of life and fullness of death.  We want more than this.

 

What we in the Church must be about, I am convinced, is a re­turn to religion of passion ‑‑ a way of being in which anything less than spilling-over with the Spirit of God is not enough; spilling over with tender toughness in our daily work and play, with righteous and active indignation at injustice, with careful caring for others and self, with courage to stand up and be counted ‑‑ when it counts; spilling over with integrity in relationship, with awareness of our oneness with all aspects and persons of cre­ation, with a peace of mind and spirit that we really can't under­stand.  As Chris Williamson shares her passion, "Filling up and spilling over" ‑‑ with the passion of Jesus.  Religion of passion.  This is where we are going, I hope, and I believe ‑‑ within or without the religious institutions we have known.

 

I bring this to a close on a rather personal note.  A fair number of my ecclesiastical brothers "accuse" me of being a "radical fem­inist," a "lesbian," a "witch," an "anarchist," and sometimes a "revolutionary."  These angry brothers do not realize what compliments they pay me!  They do not realize (nor do they care to realize) to what a long, strong line of passionate women they allude when they toss these epithets at my sisters and me.  They do not know (nor do they care to know) the strength and sensitivity of women who have cared more about honesty than seduction, and who have known that love without justice is no love at all.  Those who curse at us do not see (nor do they open their eyes to see) the creative caring of women who have loved them­selves not as shadowed, half-reflections of so-called "male­egos" but as human beings created in the image of a God of Power, of Wholeness, and of Passion ‑‑ Holy God.  The men who fear us have not felt (nor have they dared to feel) the wise caring of women who love women and men not as sex-objects but as sister and brother sojourners along a common way.

 

No, those who call me names, thinking they do me harm, do not know of whom, or to whom, they really speak.  They do not know me, and they shall not know me so cheaply.  They do not know Mary, the mother of Jesus, woman of strong will, who stood in defiance of Jewish custom.  Mary the strong mother of Jesus; They do not know Sappho, whose poetic spirit nurtured wound­ed souls by giving them power, Sappho, eloquent Sappho, who empowered those conceived and cultivated specifically to be powerless.  They do not know Sojourner Truth, wise old Sojourn­er whose truth cut through the crap of the ecclesiastical and educational elitism that booed her, and issued forth in relation­ship between black and white, poor and rich, women and wo­men ‑‑ as sisters.  My frightened brothers do not hear (nor do they try to hear) what Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas were saying to each other. They do not hear the passion.  Of the Pank­hursts, Virginia Woolf, Amelia Earhardt, Mother Jones, the One and the Many who have cooked the meals, sewn the gardens and the clothes; who have borne the children, contemplated in convents, worked in factories, fought in wars (alas); made love to sisters and to brothers in spirit and sometimes in body too; who have read and written and learned and taught and cared and paid and cried and held on and held up those around them ‑‑ and then have had to stand there and listen to men tell them that they are unfit, too weak, or too emotional to be taken seriously this time.

 

Those who say these things to us and behind our backs may, one day, any day, today, open their eyes and see that we move on.  We are sojourning.  We are not held back.  And when the frightened people see that this is so, they will either shrivel up and die on the spot, or they will journey with us, rejoicing so, into the unknown, further into consciousness ‑‑ faith ‑‑ whose soul is Passion.  Blessed be Passion, the daughter and son of God.

 

Editorial Note: The Rev. Carter Heyward is an Assistant Professor of Theology at the Episcopal Divinity School.  This paper was originally delivered to a meeting of the National Gay Task Force in New York City on March 6, 1976.

 

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Come, lord, Give to us your peace.  Then with hearts perfected we may joy in your presence.+

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INTEGRITY MEMBER WRITES BISHOP

 

This is the continuation of the article carried in last month's Integrity Forum.

 

I will make a few more comments regarding the themes we've discussed, but I really think that discussing the gay issue in the abstract will not really convince anyone to change their minds one way or the other.  I was quite a racist in my early teens, but when I met and related to Black people in college my shallow prejudice could not withstand the witness of their suffering and our common humanity.  Similarly, it is possible to discuss the origins and varieties of homosexuality (or of heterosexuality) ad infinitum without answering the pressing moral, social, political and religious issues.  I cannot agree with what you seem to imply ‑‑ that the Church must wait for a consensus among psycholo­gists about the age at which a person's sexual orientation is established.  However interesting and relevant that sort of infor­mation may be, it is not the sort of thing that will "speak with power or authority."  If such findings were to deny the wholeness of gay people whose primary and predominant experience of the love, grace and reconciliation of God has been mediated by other gay people, gay friendships and gay sex, then for them to accept such findings would be a betrayal of the gospel and an idolization of psychological pronouncements ‑‑ which have al­most as dubious a history as theological pronouncements.  There will be reports and conclusions presented by psychologists on both sides of this issue, and just as the Nazis had plenty of sci­entists, doctors and psychologists who "proved" that Jews were sub-human mutants, so ultra-conservative Episcopalians will quote the words of Ruth Barnhouse and others to justify their bigotry and to deny the wonderful gift of gay life and gay love with which God has so graciously blessed many of his children.  My own belief is that, though the debates and discussions are necessary in order for us, as rational creatures, to deal with the issues and to grow in our understanding of the biblical revelation, nevertheless the cause will be won or lost depending upon how many non-gay church people meet and relate to their gay bro­thers and sisters as such.  Gay church people are in a terrible bind ‑‑ should they minister to their non-gay brothers and sisters, risking all that "coming-out" entails, or should they stay quietly in their closet-role of eunuch and be ostracized by the Church they love and which they have served and supported with so little reciprocation?  I certainly sympathize with gay clergy such as you mentioned in your letter, but in years hence they may reflect that the "protection" of their bishop and fellow priests inhibited them from ministering to their colleagues, their people, and their Church in a significant way in a major crisis.  It is not my place to judge them for that is their decision alone, seeking such advice as is available.  Nor do I doubt that your "protection" of them is well intentioned.  But is it not also true that this is a way of avoid­ing the greater embarrassment, decision and conflict involved in your supporting an openly gay priest as such?  It is also a way of keeping the gospel of God's indiscriminate love and acceptance from being preached to gay Episcopalians as such.  Your gay clergy do you a great favor by accepting this "protection" but is it best for the Body of Christ to live by subterfuge?

 

I read lately that the Diocese of Los Angeles has made some well-intentioned (but, in my opinion, misguided) steps in the direction of defining the parameters of sexual activity of those in or seeking Holy Orders.  The gist seems to be that the person's sexual activity should be expressed only in relations with which one has or is intending a long-term relationship.  There are manifold difficulties with this.  Some people "fall in love" three times a day, fully intending life-long unions.  Others may not seek long-­term relationships but have relatively few sexual experiences, yet those they do have may be meaningful, sincere and mutually humanizing.  The rejection of "promiscuity" is also a legalistic nightmare ‑‑ with how many people, how often, over what period of time does one have to have sex before he/she is considered "promiscuous?"  In your letter you do not address yourself to the great majority of single people who are in between the extremes of those who "sleep around with everyone he can get his hands on" and the "celibate."  This gets back to the argument of my last letter which was that the Church needs to deal with the whole issue of sexual ethics, recognizing monogamous life-long unions as a special vocation and not a universal fate.  For instance, if one accepts that masturbation fulfills a common biological and psychological need for those who are single and do not have a regular "partner" for sex, and is therefore not immoral, then why should it be "immoral" to masturbate in the company of and mutually with a friend as a part of play?  Friends invite each other to share a meal, thus stimulating their taste and olfactory senses.  They share art, stimulating their visual and auditory senses to­gether.  They may participate in sports, stimulating the body generally.  So what is so different about the sexual organs?  There is a comparison with ecumenical eucharistic theology.  I used to be of the school that said that eucharistic fellowship should only be shared amongst those churches that fully recognized each others' orthodoxy and ministry, and that it was profaning the Sacrament to share it "promiscuously" with others on the shallow level of "pan-protestantism."  I do not see that dichotomy any more.  The Eucharist is the means toward, as well as the expres­sion of, unity; and the "abuse" of the Sacrament is less deter­mined by the lack of theological agreement and ecclesiastic conformity of the participants than by the lack of the intention to become and to be one in Christ.  Similarly with sex, it is the natural sacrament of human unity; the unity of marriage yes, but also the unity of friendship.  I really don't think we can come up with statistical rules to determine sexual morality and have to see the person's sexuality as a part of his whole personal constellation.  I hope I'm wrong, but I know of no bishop who has really spoken to this basic understanding of sexuality.  To ask gay people who are ordained to conform to marriage-type norms in their rela­tionships and teach these as the only "moral" way to their fellows is to ask them to betray the majority of their people.  My own belief is that our humanity-in-Christ unity effected by the Incarn­ation and proclaimed in Baptism does make us one in him in body and soul and, though there may be many aesthetic, hygienic or practical reasons for not having sex with anyone who will, there really is no one who is "forbidden" to us sexually ex­cept those whose vows of marriage or of celibacy forbid it.  I consider this attitude biblically quite logical, stemming from the biblical view of sex as a joyous gift to be shared, our common humanity in Christ and the commandment to love one another.  Of course "loving one another" does not require having sex, but I can think of no biblical or theological reason except those above which would preclude sex between members of the Body.

 

If I may be permitted to give some advice (not "godly admonitions" of course) to yourself and whatever bishops I might reach indirectly, it is that you contact and meet with the gay clergy and laity of your diocese.  Get to know them as persons and share their understanding or morality, their role in the Church and the relationship between their gay life and their religion.  If your gay church people are too closeted or "invisible" for you to contact them, then write INTEGRITY and arrange for a speaker for your Clergy Conference.  Father Grant Gallup of Chicago is an excel­lent priest of long experience who could relate to most of your clergy and yourself.  Also if your church people are reluctant to speak to you as gay persons, contact the local Metropolitan Community Church or a gay activist group so that you can meet and associate with gay people on their own turf.  Go to a gay bar.  After the first shock wears off, I think you will find it liberating to see men who are not inhibited about touching, kissing and dancing with each other.  God made us to love people, not sexes.  On a purely sensuous basis, I would think that the people who can enjoy sex most (marital and otherwise) are those whose body-consciousness allows them to enjoy the bodies of others and their own sensations without feeling "uptight."  This does not mean one has to "do" a lot sexually; it's an attitude toward people and their bodies.  This awareness and acceptance of sexuality is a part of what gay people and their friends can bring to their non-gay peers in Church and society.  I think that the end result will be less of a preoccupation with sex and sexual issues in the Church and the ability to address ourselves and our en­ergies to the great issues of our day.

 

COMMITTEE PROPOSES NEW CONSTITUTION -- BY-LAWS

 

The new draft of the Proposed Constitution and By-laws is print­ed below in this issue of Integrity Forum for informational pur­poses only.  By-laws can be amended by mail ballot.  The Con­stitution can now only be amended by a convention.  We hope to act on By-law changes by mail ballot next Spring so that they will be operational in revised form at the 1978 Convention.  We plan to print a draft of the Constitution and any proposed alter­native amendments so that they can be efficiently discussed and expeditiously acted upon at the 1978 Convention in Min­neapolis.  To facilitate this, we are asking that chapters and in­dividuals review the revised draft carefully and thoughtfully.  This draft was revised at convention by a committee of eight people representing all size chapters from all parts of the country.  Those members have been listed in the September issue of Integrity Forum.  The committee is now a standing committee and will con­tinue to function at least until convention, 1978.

 

If you have any alternative proposals for any section or item of either the Constitution or By-laws, you are asked to submit them to me by January 15, 1978 if possible.  When alternatives are submitted, they will be formulated into a ballot for the various sections and you will be able to indicate your preference section by section.

 

When you submit a proposed amendment you must:

 

1.  Identify the section of the draft which your item would replace (i.e., Constitution. Section III-A-1, etc., or By-laws Section II-B­2).  If your proposal is an addition or deletion and not a replace­ment, state that.

 

2.  Submit the proposed amendment, addition, or deletion in the exact wording that you wish it to read (or wish deleted) if approved.  We will not be able to accept vague ideas or generalities.  You must be specific.

 

3.  Submit a rationale for your proposed change/amendment.  Why do you wish to make the change?

 

Proposed amendments may be submitted by chapters or indi­viduals. We are, however, asking individuals who wish to submit an alternative amendment to discuss it at least with their chapter and, if possible, obtain endorsement for it.  If the chapter chooses not to endorse an individual's proposal, it may of course still be submitted, but we would recommend rethinking the propriety of submitting it if it has been received negatively by most members of your chapter.  We ask this because we have some fears of being deluged with proposals.  Please make amendment proposals only after much thought and a conclusion that you can't live with some given section as proposed in the draft.  We also wish to remind you that this process is not ultimately final, the "last chance."  Amendments may be introduced and voted upon at future conventions and of course the by-laws can be changed at any time by mail ballot upon petition.

 

We look forward to receiving your constructive suggestions, and thank you for your continued interest, support and cooperation in this important process.

 

          ‑‑John Lawrence

          Vice President, Integrity, Inc.

          10 Mercier Av

          Dorchester, MA 02124

 

CONSTITUTION OF INTEGRITY, INC.

 

As proposed and drafted by the Constitution and By-Laws Committee at the Third Annual Convention in Philadelphia, PA, August, 1977.

 

                          I. PREAMBLE

 

We, the members of Integrity, Inc., recognizing the presence of Christ in our gay brothers and sisters as well as in all that God has created, and relying on the guidance of the Holy Spirit, have established ourselves as a national charitable, religious, educational and literary non-profit organization, and do hereby establish this Constitution and herein state our purposes and principles of governance.

 

II. MEMBERSHIP

 

1.  Membership in Integrity, Inc., shall be open to all gay Episcopalians and their friends and requires the payment of dues in the amount decided upon annually by the Executive Committee.

 

2.  The names and addresses of members or any other correspondents of Integrity, Inc., shall be kept confidential among the elected officers and staff, shall not be disclosed without the written permission of the respective member or correspon­dent, and shall not be sold.

 

                        III-A. OFFICERS

 

1 .  The officers of this organization shall be a President, a Vice-President, a Secre­tary, a Treasurer and the Regional Representatives.

 

2.  The officers shall constitute the Executive Committee of Integrity, Inc., which shall be responsible for conducting the affairs of the organization.  A quorum of the Executive Committee shall consist of those attending, after due notice of a meet­ing. Due notice shall be determined by the Executive Committee.

 

3.  Officers shall be elected for two (2) years or until their successors are elected and the duties of each shall be as stated in this Constitution and in the By-laws of this organization.  Vacancies, other than in the office of President, shall be filled as provided for in the By-laws.

 

4.  Removal of any officer shall be effected by a two-thirds (2/3) vote of those mem­bers timely returning a mailed ballot; such vote to be taken as action on a petition signed by at least ten per cent (10%) of the dues-paid members of the organization.

 

5.  The Regional Representatives shall be elected to the Executive Committee.  The membership of the organization shall be divided into regions for purposes of representation on the Executive Committee.  Each region shall be entitled to elect one (1) representative to the Executive Committee.  The Executive Committee shall periodically review and determine the composition of the regions, subject to an override by a majority of the National Convention.

 

             III-B. GENERAL DUTIES OF THE OFFICERS

 

1.  President ‑‑ The duties of the President are to call and preside over national meetings of the organization, to call and preside over meetings of the Executive Committee, to represent the national organization in dealings with other organiza­tions, and to serve as Chief Liaison with chapters of Integrity.

 

2.  Vice President ‑‑ The duties of the Vice President are to assist the President and to preside in his/her absence, and in the event of a vacancy in the office of President, to succeed to that office.

 

3.  Secretary ‑‑ The duties of the Secretary are to handle correspondence of the organization, to keep records and files, to maintain a membership list and to assist the Treasurer in the filing of all local, state, and federal forms which may be required of the organization.

 

4.  Treasurer ‑‑ The Treasurer shall be responsible for all financial affairs of the organization.

 

                      III-C. PUBLICATIONS

 

 

The Executive Committee shall appoint an Editor and a Publisher for the official publication(s) of Integrity, Inc.

 

                         IV. CHAPTERS

 

Chapters of Integrity, Inc., shall be designated and certified as such by the Presi­dent, subject to the approval of the Executive Committee.  A President's refusal to grant certification may be overruled by a majority vote of the Executive Committee.  In order to be designated and certified, a chapter-in-formation shall:

 

     a.  Subscribe to the goals and purposes of this organization:

 

     b.  Have held at least three meetings over a period of at least ninety days; and

 

     c.  Have at least five individuals who have paid dues to this national organization.

 

Chapters shall raise or collect national dues from all members and forward them to the National Treasurer.  Chapters shall have the right to develop their own local or regional constitutions and by-laws provided they are consonant with the national constitution and by-laws, to elect their own officers under such form of governance as they might choose, and to handle their own finances, including the levying of chapter dues.  Each chapter may develop its own programs, so long as they are consonant with the aims and objectives of Integrity, Inc., as set forth in its Consti­tution and current By-Laws.

 

         V. LEGISLATION AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS

 

All policies not set forth in this Constitution or in the By-laws shall be made by the Executive Committee, subject to review by the membership as set forth in the By­-laws.

 

This Constitution can be amended by a two-thirds (2/3) majority vote of those mem­bers timely returning a mail ballot.  A proposed change in this Constitution must be endorsed by a majority vote of the Executive Committee or be endorsed by a petition bearing the signatures of at least ten per cent (10%) of the membership.   The membership shall be notified of all proposed amendments to the Constitution, either in two successive issues of an official publication of Integrity, Inc., distributed to all members, or by an official mailing at least two months before the date of voting.

 

                  BY-LAWS OF INTEGRITY, INC.

 

As proposed to be Amended by the Committee on the Constitution and By-Laws, meeting at the Third National Convention in Philadelphia, August, 1977.

 

                     PROGRAMMATIC PREAMBLE

 

It is the intention of Integrity, Inc., to establish programs that serve to unite gay Episcopalians and their friends, to develop leadership within the organization, and to be an instrument through which gay Episcopalians may communicate with the Church and Society.

 

We, the members of INTEGRITY have four major areas of concern:

 

                         A. RELIGIOUS

 

The spiritual development of ourselves as mature Christians is the primary pur­pose of our existence and a key to the effectiveness and success of our ministry.  Integrity shall strive to achieve this maturity through all means at our disposal and shall establish such programs as further this purpose

 

                        B. EDUCATIONAL

 

We wish to inform ourselves in all matters of faith as well as matters that concern gay people and thus develop the maturity of outlook required to live fulfilling lives in which spirituality and sexuality are an integrated fact, and to prepare us for service both to gay people and others.  To this end programs will be established as are found fit to meet the needs of the membership.

 

                   C. SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

 

As Episcopalians, and more importantly, as human beings redeemed by Christ, we have a distinct and important mission in life: we are being called as witnesses to the love of Christ and to bring this message of love to all.  To this end Integrity, Inc., will strive to work within and outside of the Church; to encourage dialogue between gay people and the Church and State; to be ever ready to defend against incursions of the rights accorded to all by Canon and Civil Law; and to work in any such area as it may be found that the ministry of Christian witness may be required.

 

                   D. LITERARY/PUBLICATIONS

 

Ever mindful that Integrity began as a small newspaper and fully realizing the power of communication by the printed word, we will continue to publish Integrity:  Gay Episcopal Forum and encourage the use of the publication as a forum of interest.  We will also encourage writing in the areas of religion and homosexuality and in any other area which may be of benefit to the organization and the community.

 

                   I. DUTIES OF THE OFFICERS

 

In clarification of but not superseding Section III of the Constitution of Integrity, Inc., the following are the nominal powers of the national officers:

 

                         A. PRESIDENT

 

1.  The President shall appoint committees and individuals to assist in carrying out the duties, programs and obligations of the national organization;

 

2.  Appoint persons to fill vacancies in the offices of the Executive Committee, subject to the approval of the Executive Committee.  Before filling vacancies in the offices of the Regional Representatives, the President shall consult with the region.

 

3.  Represent Integrity, inc., in all matters of national concern, in consultation with the Executive Committee;

 

4.  Sit in an "ex-officio" capacity on national committees but shall vote only to break a tie vote in such committees;

 

5.  Serve as chief liaison with chapters and shall certify and designate duly consti­tuted new chapters, subject to the approval of the Executive Committee;

 

6.  Report regularly to the membership, chiefly through Integrity: Gay Episcopal Forum, and by visits or letters to the chapters.

 

                       B. VICE PRESIDENT

 

The Vice President shall assist the President, shall preside in his/her absence, shall perform the functions of the President in the event of her/his disability, and shall succeed to the office of President in the event of a vacancy.

 

                         C. SECRETARY

 

1.  The Secretary shall serve as the chief business officer of the organization and assist the other officers in the execution of their duties.

 

2.  Keep and maintain records of all the business of the organization, including a membership list, minutes of the meetings of the Executive Committee, national business meetings, and shall have charge of the national correspondence files.

 

3.  Act as liaison between the national organization and the chapters in matters pertaining to the membership rolls.

 

4.  Keep membership rolls confidential and release the names of members only with their written consent.

 

5.  In the absence of both the President and Vice President the Secretary shall preside, and, in the event of vacancies in both offices, shall succeed to the office of President.

 

                         D. TREASURER

 

1.  The Treasurer shall collect and receive from the Secretary all monies, handle all financial billings and shall keep accurate records of receipts and disbursements;

 

2.  Be responsible for the preparation and filing of all required local, state and federal forms;

 

3.  Provide to the membership, by publication in Integrity:  Gay Episcopal Forum, or by special mailing to the membership, a regular accounting of all finances and proposed major expenditures;

 

4.  Prepare a national budget for submission to the membership during the national meetings of the organization;

 

5.  Provide any figures and assistance which may be required by any committee appointed to raise funds or other financial assistance for the national organization.

 

             II. DUTIES OF THE PUBLICATIONS STAFF

 

                           A. EDITOR

 

1.  The Editor shall supervise and direct the preparation of all official publications of Integrity, Inc. in accordance with the aims of Integrity, Inc., as set forth in its Constitution and these By-Laws.

 

2.  The Editor may select his/her own assistants and may attend Executive Com­mittee meetings with voice but no vote.

 

                         B. PUBLISHER

 

1.  The Publisher shall arrange for the production and distribution of all official publications of Integrity, Inc.

 

2.  The Publisher shall prepare a budget or submission to the Treasurer and shall provide the Treasurer with any financial information necessary in the performance of her/his duties.

 

3.  The Publisher may select her/his own assistants and may attend Executive Com­mittee meetings with voice but no vote.

 

                  III. DUES AND SUBSCRIPTIONS

 

A.  The Treasurer shall recommend the amount to be charged for dues in the national organization and for subscription to publications and the Executive Committee shall, by majority vote, fix such fees.

 

B.  The setting of chapter dues for membership in chapters shall be the business and prerogative of the chapters.

 

                         IV. CHAPTERS

 

A.  The conditions for the designation of chapters are clearly spelled out in the Constitution.

 

B.  No person shall initiate the formation of a chapter without the permission of the President.

 

C.  Chapters in formation shall be considered as "missions" of the national organi­zation until such time as they have given evidence of stability and have complied with the stipulations of the Constitution on the certification of chapters.

 

                 V. CONVENTIONS AND DELEGATES

 

A.  Integrity National Conventions shall be held annually.

 

B.  Every certified chapter shall be entitled to two (2) voting delegates to the Con­vention.

 

C.  Each chapter will be allotted one additional voting delegate for every fifteen (15) dues-paid national members on its rolls.

 

D.  For purposes of representation at National Convention, a member must belong to a chapter.

 

E.  For the purpose of determining delegate allotments, each chapter shall submit a list of only those members who are dues-paid both locally and nationally by May 1 of each year.  The Secretary shall receive and process such lists Delegate allotments will be assigned to chapters on the basis of those names submitted.  Mem­bers enrolled subsequent to May 1 of said year shall not be counted toward entitled convention delegates until the following year when a new list is submitted.

 

F.  The Secretary shall, after checking the membership lists submitted, inform the Convenor of each chapter of the number of delegates to which the chapter is entitled, such notification to occur no later than sixty days prior to Convention.

 

G.  Chapters shall then elect delegates and inform the Secretary of the names and addresses of those elected not later than thirty days prior to the Convention.

 

H.  Chapters may elect as many alternate delegates as they are entitled to elect delegates.

 

I.  The Secretary shall maintain a master list of those certified delegates and alter­nates who shall be identified as such at the Convention.

 

J.  During the Convention business meetings, delegates shall be seated in a special voting section of the meeting room,

 

K.  A delegate or delegates from any chapter sending fewer than the number of delegates or alternates to which it is entitled shall cast as many votes as that chapter is entitled to, except that no delegate may cast more than two votes.

 

L.  A quorum to do business shall consist of a majority of those delegates in attendance at a Convention.

 

M.  The President shall, at least four months prior to Convention, appoint a Dean of the Convention who shall be responsible or planning the program of the Convention.

 

N.  Each Convention may determine the site, month and date of the next Convention before adjourning or may authorize the Executive Committee to determine any or all of these.  If a chapter must withdraw an invitation after acceptance by Conven­tion, the Executive Committee shall determine the Convention site and date.

 

                   VI. ELECTION OF OFFICERS

 

A.  At the National Convention preceding an election year, a nominating Commit­tee shall be appointed by the Executive Committee which shall include a geo­graphic distribution representative of the United States.  The nominating committee shall elect from its membership a chairperson.

 

8.  The nominating committee shall cause to be published in the January and Feb­ruary issues of Integrity:  Gay Episcopal Forum, a reminder to the membership that it is an election year and request that suggestions from the membership be sent to the chairperson of the nominating committee.

 

C.  The chairperson of the Committee shall forward the names received for consideration to the membership of the nominating committee.

 

D.  The nominating committee, upon majority agreement, shall cause the names of its nominees to be published in the May issue of Integrity:  Gay Episcopal Forum, and shall have ascertained that said nominees would be willing to serve if elected.

 

E.  Officers shall be elected in a secret written ballot by convention delegates during the business meeting.

 

F.  Those candidates receiving the highest number of votes in the balloting shall be deemed elected.

 

G.  Any delegate shall be entitled to make nominations from the floor of individuals other than those proposed by the nominating committee.

 

H.  Any delegate shall be entitled to "write-in" the names of candidates other than those nominated, in any case.

 

1.  The Secretary shall be responsible for maintaining a list of those voting and shall verify each ballot against said list as it is deposited.

 

J.  The ballots shall be counted by a Board of Tellers to consist of the Dean of the Convention or his/her representative, and by two other delegates to the convention appointed by the Dean, each from a separate chapter Current officers, other members of the Executive Committee, candidates for office and members of the Nominating Committee shall not be appointed tellers.

 

K.  The Dean of the Convention shall be responsible for conveying the results of the election to the presiding officer of the Convention, who shall announce the results to the Convention.

 

L.  Newly elected officers shall take office immediately following adjournment of the convention at which they are elected.

 

M.  The Secretary shall hold the ballots for a period of sixty (60) days a which time the ballots shall be destroyed if no one has contested the results of the election.

 

N.  Election results shall be published in the next issue of Integrity:  Gay Episcopal Forum.  Such results will include the vote for each nominee and all write-ins.

 

           VII. ELECTION OF REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVES

 

A.  The National Officers shall be empowered to arrange for the first election of Regional Representatives.

 

B.  Thereafter, the Executive Committee shall arrange for the election of Regional Representatives prior to the expiration of its term or at a national convention.

 

                  VIII. DISBURSEMENT OF FUNDS

 

A.  The Treasurer may, upon verification of the expenditure, disburse funds under $100.00 for any purpose.

 

B.  Travel expenses for the national officers are to be authorized by the President and disbursed by the Treasurer subject to review by the Executive Committee.

 

                 IX. AMENDMENTS TO THE BY-LAWS

 

A.  Amendment to these By-Laws shall be enacted by a majority vote Of the mem­bership by the mail process of balloting or a majority vote of the certified voting delegates at a National Convention of this organization.

 

B.  Proposed amendments must bear the signatures of three (3) members and shall be submitted to the Secretary and shall be reviewed by the Executive Committee before submission to the membership or Convention.  The Executive Com­mittee shall submit proposed amendments with or without its recommendation.

 

C.  Propose amendments shall be published in Integrity:  Gay Episcopal Forum or mailed to the membership thirty (30) days prior to the voting deadline or Con­vention.  Acceptance or rejection of the amendments shall be published in the same manner.

 

JOIN INTEGRITY

 

Enclosed is my check or money order for $_______. 

Please [_] enter or [_] renew my subscription as indicated.

 

[_] $10 One Year Membership

[_] $20 Two Year Membership

All memberships include Integrity Forum.

[_] $12 One year Integrity Forum, non-member subscription

[_] $ 3 Additional charge for Plain Envelope (this must be

        enclosed with any of the above categories.)

$______ is enclosed as my contribution for the general purposes of the national office.  Contributions are needed to support Integrity's ministry.

 

Name______________________________________________

Address___________________________________________

City State & Zip__________________________________

 

Canadian and Foreign subscription remit in U.S. funds.  Air Mail extra.  Return to: INTEGRITY, P.0. Box 891, Oak Park IL 60303.

 

LOCAL CHAPTERS

 

* INTEGRITY/ALBUQUERQUE Convenor David Maulsby, P.O. Box 4996, Albuquerque, NM 87106

INTEGRITY/ATLANTA Convenor Thomas J. Jackson, Station C.P.O. Box 7934, Atlanta GA 30309

* INTEGRITY/AUSTIN Convenor Charles Arthur, 9904B Randall, Austin, TX 78753

INTEGRITY/BOSTON Convenor William Doubleday, Box 2582, Boston, MA 02208 617/723-4336

* INTEGRITY/CENTRAL INDIANA Convenor Orlando Gustilo, 5220 W. 30th St., Apt. C8, Indianapolis, IN 46224

INTEGRITY-DIGNITY/CHAPEL HILL Convenor Hogan Gaskins, P.O. Box 385, Chapel Hill, NC 27514

INTEGRITY/CHICAGO Convenor David Williams, P.O. Box 2516, Chicago, IL 60690 312/388-1470

INTEGRITY/DENVER Convenor Rev'd Thomas Dobbs, 1734 Washington Street, Denver, CO 80203

INTEGRITY/DETROIT Secretary-Treasurer Nick Benard, 22105 Gaukler, St. Clair Shores, MI 48080 313/771-0654

INTEGRITY/EUGENE Convenor Larry Monical, 310 East 14th Av., Eugene, OR 97401.

INTEGRITY/FORT VALLEY Co-Convenors Ernest Clay and Louie Crew, 701 Orange Street, #6, Fort Valley, GA 31030 912/825-7287.

INTEGRITY/HARTFORD Co-Convenors Kenneth Woods and Bonnie Gray, P.O. Box 603, Glastonbury, CT 06033

INTEGRITY/HOUSTON P.O. Box 3554, Houston, TX 77001

INTEGRITY/KNOXVILLE Convenor Jim Fleenor, P.O. Box 8174, U.T. Station, Knoxville, TN 37916

INTEGRITY/LOS ANGELES Convenor Jim Pressler, 5629 Monte Vista, #7, Los Angeles, CA 90032 213/462-5936

INTEGRITY/MADISON Rev'd Bill Landram, 21 W. Gilman St., Madison, WI 53703

INTEGRITY/MIAMI Convenor Bill Worley, P.O. Box 680457, Miami, FL 33168

* INTEGRITY/NEW HAVEN Convenor Clinton H. Warner, P.O. Box 1777, New Haven, CT 06507

INTEGRITY/NEW ORLEANS Convenor L. Sam Myers, P.O. Box 15586, New Orleans, LA 70175 504/861-1663

INTEGRITY/NEW YORK CITY Convenor Charles Kast, G.P.O. 1549, New York, NY 10001

* INTEGRITY/NORFOLK Write to the National Office

INTEGRITY/PHILADELPHIA Convenor Dr. Richard Keiser,130 S. 39th St., Philadelphia, PA 19104 215/349-7214

INTEGRITY/PHOENIX Convenor Bob Eff, P.0. Box 27212, Phoenix, AZ 85017

INTEGRITY/PORTLAND Convenor Randy West, P.0. Box 1323, Federal Station, Portland, OR 97207

INTEGRITY/RICHMOND Convenor Edward Meeks Gregory, 1907 N. 23rd St., Richmond, VA 23223

INTEGRITY/ROCHESTER Convenor Kevin Scahill, 42 Tyler House, 17 S. Fitzhugh St., Rochester, NY 14614 716/232-6521 or 716/458-8628

INTEGRITY-DIGNITY/SALT LAKE CITY Co-Convenors Hal Carter and Charles Lovely, P.O. Box 11873, Salt Lake City, UT 84147 801/268-0641

INTEGRITY/ST. LOUIS Convenor Jim Ellsworth, P.O. Box 7213, St. Louis, MO 63177 314/776-8210

INTEGRITY/SAN ANTONIO Convenor David Allen White, 417 E. Locust #3, San Antonio, TX 78212 515/735-4393

INTEGRITY/SAN FRANCISCO Convenor Patrick Waddell, P.O. Box 6444, San Jose, CA 95150 415/776-5120

* INTEGRITY/SEATTLE Write to the National Office

* INTEGRITY/SOUTHERN OHIO Convenor Joshua Moore, 19 Bryant Ln #3, Hamilton,OH 45013 513/895-2276

INTEGRITY/TORONTO Convenor John Gartshore, 20 Berryman St., Toronto, Ontario, CANADA M5R 1MB

* INTEGRITY-DIGNITY/TUCSON Convenor George Neumann, P.O. Box 27929, Tucson, AZ 85726 602/624-4544

INTEGRITY/TWIN CITIES Convenor Craig Anderson, P.O. Box 3565, Upper Nicollet Station, Minneapolis, MN 55403

INTEGRITY/WASHINGTON, DC Convenor Wayne Fortunate-Schwandt, 2112 32nd St. S.E., Washington D.C. 20020 202/583-2158

* INTEGRITY/WESTERN MICHIGAN c/o Rev'd Donn Dunn, 311 Irwin Av., Albion,, MI 49224 Office 517/629-8710 Home 517/629-8269

 

* Indicates that a new chapter is in formation.

 

If you are interested in starting an Integrity chapter in your area, contact our President, Rev'd Ron Wesner, Integrity, Inc. 3601 Locust Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19104  Telephone 215/386-5430, if no answer 215/619-1309