This is an electronic reproduction of The Voice of Integrity, the quarterly publication of Integrity, Inc., the lesbian and gay justice ministry of the Episcopal Church.  All materials except those reproduced from other sources are copyrighted by Integrity, Inc.  You may reproduce all original material herein if you state "Reproduced from the Fall, 1992 issue of The Voice of Integrity, the quarterly publication of Integrity, Inc., the lesbian and gay justice ministry of the Episcopal Church."

Material may not appear exactly as published since some changes were made after the document was transferred to desk top publishing format.

We encourage you to join Integrity.  We encourage non-Episcopalians and non-lesgay persons to join.  If you are a lesbian or gay Episcopalian and don't belong to Integrity, you're benefitting from all our work and we hope you'll strongly consider helping us by joining.  Individual annual membership $25, Couple's annual membership $40, Low income/student/sr. citizen $10.  Please mail check or money order to Integrity, Inc., P.O. Box 19561, Washington, DC 20036-0561.

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Fall 1992

*The Voice of Integrity*

Volume 2, Number 4

Published by Integrity, Inc.

P.O. Box 19561

Washington, D.C. 20036-0561

Telephone 718-720-3054

Bruce Garner, President

Edgar Kim Byham, Publisher

R. Scott Helsel, Editor

Contributing Editors:

Claudia Windal, Louie Crew

Blair McFadden, Layout

Dorothy Gunn, Production

Editorial Office:  201-868-2485

PO Box 5202; NYC, NY 10185

Member Episcopal Communicators and Gay Lesbian Press Association

Copyright 1992

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*TABLE OF CONTENTS*

President's Club 

California Bishops Make History in Pride Marches

  (Cover Story)  

Lesgay Seminary Scholarship Honors Louie Crew  

The National Church Finally Calls For Accountability

  in Dialogue Promise  

Rievaulx Abbey:   Home of Our Patron St. Aelred

The Episcopal News Service Needs Your Help     

Art Imitates Episcopal Life  

Claudia's Column 

The Vatican Openly Opposes Our Civil Rights    

Spahr Clears One Hurdle:  One To Go

Strange Resolutions Mark Presbyterian Convention     

Pro-Lesgay Churches Expelled by Southern Baptists    

United Church of Canada Ordains First Open Gay 

Renewal Movement Leader Comes Out Involuntarily

Australian Bishop Arrested   

1992 CONVENTION SUPPLEMENT

Proclamations    

In Pre-Convention Interview Browning Urges

  Continued Dialogue   

Browning Tells Us To 'Hang in' Despite

  Church's Ambiguity   

The Presiding Bishop's Sermon

Gay, Lesbian Episcopalians Open Meeting With

  Bishop Visit   

PB Hopelessly Heterosexist   

Warner Traynham's Address    

Not To Save The Righteous    

Episcopal Bishop Airs Views on Integrity, Church     

Reflections On Convention    

Convention Awards

Bishop Benitez's Snub of Leader Not Acceptable

  Behavior To God

President's Page 

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*PRIESTS IN EXILE?*

A support group is forming for clergy who have left the institutional church because of its position on gayness and priesthood.  If interested please write:  Father Andrew, c/o Integrity/Western North Carolina, P.O. Box 15305, Ashville, NC 28813.

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MEMBERSHIP FORM

*INTEGRITY*

P.O. Box 19561, Washington, DC 20036

I want to share in Integrity's work for justice for lesbians and gay men.  Please enter my membership as checked below and begin my subscription to "The Voice of Integrity."

[ ] Individual annual membership     $25

[ ] Couple annual membership         $40

[ ] Low income/student/sr. citizen   $10

Mr./Ms/Miss

Mrs./Rev./Dr.  __________________________________________

Address _________________________________________________

City _________________________  State ___________________

Phone ________________________  Zip _____________________

Please mail with your check or money order to:  INTEGRITY, INC., PO Box 19561, Washington, DC 20036-0561.  All contributions tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

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*IN MEMORIUM*

This issue is dedicated to the memory of

*Michael Bushek*

July 19, 1941 to March 28, 1992

Dignity/USA National Editor

*The Rev. Theodore L. F. (Ted) Boya*

June 23, 1952 to June 29, 1992

Priest, most recently at Grace Cathedral

as Pastoral Asst. and Liturgical coordinator

Long-time Integrity member

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*PRESIDENT'S CLUB*

By Bruce Garner

      Contributions, over and above membership dues, are what allow Integrity to influence the Church.  We rely on your responses to donation appeals to fund our General Convention presence, to publish educational materials, and send openly lesbian and gay representatives to church bodies.  Dues alone would barely cover "The Voice of Integrity," record keeping and Board meetings.  Some people have given generously, and for that reason in 1984 we established the President's Club.  This now honors those who give $250 or more.  As of August 1, 1992, 195 have been welcomed into the President's Club.  As a token of our appreciation, President's Club members are sent Integrity shield lapel pins.  Lists of donors appeared in the November 1985, June 1986, February, 1988, and Spring, 1989 issues of "News and Notes."  These are some whom we have honored since then:

 1.  Ms. Judith Bailie                  Baltimore, MD

 2.  Mr. Larry Bandfield                Santa Fe, NM

 3.  Ms. Dorothy A. Beattie             Kenwood, CA

 4.  Ms. Larkette Lein                  Fullerton, CA

 5.  The Rev. Canon Edward Curtis       Chicago, IL

 6.  Mr. E. Bruce Garner                Atlanta, GA

 7.  The Rev. Willa M. Goodfellow       Grinnell, IA

 8.  Ms. Loudene I. Grady               Salinas, CA

 9.  The Rev. William A. Greenlaw       New York, NY

10.  The Rt. Rev. Barbara Harris        Boston, MA

11.  Ms. Adelaide B. Kent               Edgartown, MA

12.  Ms. Rita Kresha and

       Susan Vanderberg                 Mesa, AZ

13.  Ms. Nayan McNeill                  Monte Sereno, CA

14.  Ms. Catharine B. Reid              Seattle, WA

15.  The Rev. H. Patrick Sullivan       Austin, TX

16.  Dr. Edward Walton                  Morgantown, WV

17.  The Rev. Alden E. Whitney          Danbury, CT

18.  Mr. John C. Wiecking               Washington, DC

19.  The Rt. Rev. R. Stewart Wood       Detroit, MI

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*LETTER TO THE EDITOR*

Dear Scott,

I have always in the past been a little impatient when hearing the expression "I'm gay and proud of it."  I have always thought it made as much sense as saying, "I'm right handed (or blue eyed) and proud of it."  After reading your summer 1992 Issue, however, I can say without a doubt that I am proud of the Integrity newsletter, and as a Gay, out, priest canonically-resident-in-the-Diocese-of-San-Joaquin-and-licensed-in-the-Diocese-of-Texas-as-long-as-I-am-celibate (delicately balanced as it were between the frying pan and the fire), I'm proud of the voice you give all of us who struggle to serve Christ and maintain our balance.

Yours in Christ Jesus,

Glynn C. Harper, Assisting Priest,

St. Stephen's Church, Houston, TX

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*CALIFORNIA BISHOPS MAKE HISTORY IN PRIDE MARCHES*

For the first time in any Lesgay Pride March in the United States, two Episcopal bishops marched with Integrity in 1992.

The Rt. Rev. Richard Shimpfky, Bishop of El Camino Real, marched in the second annual Pride Parade in San Jose on June 14, receiving widespread media coverage.  Bishop Shimpfky was quoted in *The San Jose Mercury News* as saying he marched because of "the appalling silence of decent people in positions of leadership" during what he believes are dangerous times for lesgay persons, comparable to "Hitler's early days."

And he marched because he believed it's his pastoral duty to lesgays in the 18,000-member diocese.  "It is clear that whenever a group of people comes together," Shimpfky said, "10 percent of whoever shows up is going to be gay.  And therefore, 10 percent of my diocese is gay.  These are people that I know and care about, and they care about this day, so I need to be there."

This was not Bishop Shimpfky's first pride march, however.  He had marched in past lesgay pride parades in New York when he was a rector in the Diocese of Newark.  He announced his plan to march with Integrity in the San Jose parade in a letter to the diocese and he received numerous responses with mainly favorable reactions.

"One of the reservations I had about doing this is I've only been here 18 months," he told *The Mercury News*.  "If I had been here for four or five years, people would have really known that ... I'm there because something in what I hold to be sacred is calling me."

Two weeks later, on June 28, The Rt. Rev. Chester L. Talton, Suffragan Bishop of Los Angeles, became the first leader of any mainline denomination to participate in the West Hollywood parade, the second largest in the country with 200,000 marchers.

The morning began with a pre-parade street Eucharist, celebrated at the marching unit staging area.  Larkette Lein, president of Integrity/Southland described the festivities:  "As the morning wore on and walkers gathered, it became apparent that not even a strong pair of early-morning earthquakes had shaken the commitment of these Episcopalians to share the Good News, and by the time the Bishop joined us after his morning's parish visitation, we were nearly 200 - gay and straight together.

"The banner of the Diocese of Los Angeles led our contingent, and was followed by three rainbow gay liberation flags and two Episcopal church flags swelling in the breeze.  Next, a bagpipe and drum corps in traditional kilts provided a distinctive change of pace from the throbbing disco beat popular with other entries.  Following in the first convertible was Jack Plimpton, head of the Diocesan Commission on AIDS Ministries, and the Rev. Malcolm Boyd.

"I had the honor of riding in the second convertible with the Bishop.  And following behind us, carrying signs identifying participating parishes and organizations, followed such a throng of parishioners that our entry was one of the biggest in the parade."

The bishop attended the festival after the parade, stopping to greet visitors to the diocesan booth.  Staffed during both days of the festival, the booth offered free coffee and a listening ear for those with questions or comments, and distributed literature including *Integrity/Southland News*, a brochure which describes the national church's positions on lesgay issues and provides a list of parishes which had asked to be advertised as welcoming and affirming, and information on the diocese's AIDS ministries.

Lein continued, "We even made *The Los Angeles Times*.  Their coverage of the presence of our church at the parade closed with this statement by Fr. Mac Thigpen, the Bishop of Los Angeles' liaison to the lesgay community:  'There are many, many gay and lesbian people who have been spiritually damaged by their families and by the church who are in desperate need of knowing something of God's incredible grace and love.  I think that is what is motivating all of us to walk in this parade.'  That, and I don't think there's any way you can have more fun and do evangelism with 200,000 people at the same time!"

Integrity also had a major presence in the New York and Toronto marches.  In New York, Integrity's founder Louie Crew led a contingent of almost 300, representing chapters from all over the northeast.  The march was followed, as it has been for seven years, with solemn evensong at the Church of St. Luke in the Fields in memory of those who have died as a result of AIDS.  In Toronto, The Rev. James Ferry, recently inhibited from priestly duties by the Bishop of Toronto, and probably now the most widely-known clergy person in Canada, was enthusiastically greeted by the crowd as he rode on the Integrity/Toronto float.

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*LESGAY SEMINARY SCHOLARSHIP HONORS LOUIE CREW*

Thanks to the generosity of Dr. David Lochman of Integrity/Chicago and almost 150 other Integrity members, a scholarship has been established for lesgay students at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, MA.  Dr. Lochman established a $10,000 challenge grant in April.  By June 30,   $10,670 in additional funds had been raised, primarily as a result of a mailing by Integrity.

The scholarship honors Integrity's founder and may be the first scholarship fund at a mainline denominational seminary specifically designated for lesgay students.  Dr. Lochman's gift will be added to the seminary's permanent endowment to establish the Dr. Louie Crew Scholarship Fund.  Income from the fund will be provided each year to an eligible student or students.  The matching gifts have been allocated for current financial aid grants given directly to lesgay students.

In response to this initial effort, EDS has also received additional commitments of $20,000 to start a new challenge for 1992-93.  Again, the $20,000 from the challengers will be added to the EDS endowment fund in Louie Crew's name.  The matching gifts will be used for current, direct support to students.  If the total of matching gifts exceeds the amount of financial aid current lesgay students require, the excess will be added to the endowment fund.

It is the challengers' hope and EDS's that the Louie Crew Scholarship Fund will reach a minimum of $100,000.  The income, along with income generated by two other recently established scholarship funds for lesgay students at EDS, would ensure a steady source of financial aid on an annual basis.

Retiring EDS Dean, Bishop Otis Charles, sent Integrity the following message:  "All of us at EDS thank you for the help you have given to gay and lesbian students preparing for ordained ministry in the Episcopal Church and for your support of the School in its commitment to justice and a fully inclusive church.  EDS is deeply grateful to the many members of Integrity and Integrity chapters in Baltimore, Mid-Tennessee, and San Diego who made this success possible through their contributions."

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*WOULD YOU LIKE TO BECOME A FRANCISCAN*

A new order of Franciscans is being proposed to work in one specific area, care for people with ARC and AIDS.  The Order itself would be trained to give emotional and practical support to individuals with the disease, then it would train individuals through local parishes who would be interested in becoming caregivers to people with AIDS.  The way this Order would differ from the "First Order," is that they would only work in this field.  Also, people who are HIV Positive  could join if they were still healthy enough that they could do the work.  The Order would wear the habit of St. Francis in public while they do their work, as a sign of obedience to the Order and as a sign of poverty.  I am looking for interested persons who feel that they are called by God to live a religious life as a Franciscan, and who are also interested in caring and ministering to people with AIDS.  For more information please call:  Brian Jones (415) 992-4334

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*THE NATIONAL CHURCH FINALLY CALLS FOR*

*ACCOUNTABILITY IN DIALOGUE PROMISE*

May 25, 1992

To the active Bishops of the Church

Re:  General Convention Resolution A104sa:  Human Sexuality

Dear brothers and sister:

      The national A104sa Steering Committee is now prepared to offer your diocese a way to respond to the mandate from General Convention to initiate a dialogue on human sexuality in all congregations.  Learnings from this are to be submitted to the committee working with Dick Grein in preparing a pastoral teaching as well as to the several Provinces and to the 1994 General Convention.  While we are recommending two possible study courses, our procedure will also work for those of you who have already moved forward with your own program.

STUDY TEXTS

      The resolution calls for study and dialogue on human sexuality in general, not just on one specific aspect of it.  We are pleased to be able to offer two excellent courses designed to facilitate this dialogue.  The first, *Human Sexuality:  A Christian Perspective*, has been developed by Province 7 as a direct response to the General Convention resolution.  We have reviewed it and believe it answers well the needs of most congregations.  The work on this study has just been concluded and it is now being put into final form.  We anticipate that we will be able to distribute a final draft copy to each diocesan Bishop and to each Provincial Steering Committee by mid-June.  At that time we will let you know how to obtain printed and bound copies which should be available by late summer.

      The second course we recommend is the excellent one which the Lutherans (ELCA) have prepared entitled *Human Sexuality and the Christian Faith*.  A review copy will be sent to each diocesan bishop and to each Provincial Steering Committee member by mid-June along with the draft copy of the study described above.  We feel that if the Lutheran study is to be used it should have an Anglican theological/ethical supplement to replace Chapter 3.  This is now being prepared by Ted Jones and will be sent to each diocesan Bishop and to each Provincial Steering Committee by mid-August.

      Both recommended texts will be distributed together.  This will provide dioceses and congregations with a choice between two very solid study courses.  At the same time, as a third possibility, we recognize that some dioceses have already moved ahead to prepare or select their own.

      As you know, General Convention provided no funding for carrying out its mandate.  We do not have the resources, therefore, to produce or distribute the study broadly.  It will be up to each diocese to make its own plans to select study material and distribute it to its own congregations.  Each Provincial Steering Committee is charged with encouraging its dioceses to participate in this study as well as with serving as a resource to them.

TRAINING FOR TRAINERS

      The key to the effectiveness of this process is in the preparation of discussion leaders in each congregation so that they can assist in moving out of a climate of debate into one of dialogue.  [Please review our CONTEXT STATEMENT sent to you in our last mailing.  Also see INTRODUCTION:  A STATEMENT OF THEOLOGICAL CONTEXT enclosed with this mailing.  It is important that both of these statements be shared with diocesan Steering Committees.]  It is critical, therefore, that these congregational leaders have training for their task.  To facilitate this, three Regional Training Sessions for *diocesan trainers* are being offered.  Each diocese should select as soon as possible at least two persons, one male and one female, already skilled in group work, to be the trainers of discussion leaders for each congregation.  (Larger dioceses may wish to have two or more teams of leaders.)  Resolution A104sa calls for us to enter into dialogue.  This is not an easy transition on such an issue as human sexuality which has become so highly polarized through debate and legislative efforts.  Real dialogue may very well offer us a way to move forward as a church in this as well as in other controversial areas.  However, dialogue will not just happen.  We need trainers in every diocese who can enable this process.  To that end, it is critical that diocesan trainers participate in one of the three Training Sessions.

Eastern Region

September 18-20 (Friday dinner through Sunday lunch)

National 4-H Center, Washington, DC

Central Region

October 2-4 (Friday dinner through Sunday lunch)

Mount Conference Center, Atchison Kansas (near Kansas City)

Western Region

October 24-26 (Saturday lunch through Monday lunch)

Mercy Center, Burlingame, CA

      Trainers are not limited to attending sessions in their own Region if the session at another station is more convenient. 

TIME FRAME FOR THE STUDY IN CONGREGATIONS

      It is our expectation that each participating congregation will schedule its study for five weeks anytime between All Saints' Day this fall and Easter Day 1993.  We expect that most congregations will hold their study either in Epiphany or in Lent.  Congregations should begin now to schedule the study and to make plans for it, especially by selecting a two-persons team, one male and one female, to receive training from the diocesan trainers and to lead the study in their own congregation.  This process needs to be initiated by a strong directive from the diocesan bishop.

FEEDBACK

      Resolution A104sa calls for gathering the learnings of this dialogue and for submitting them to the Pastoral Teaching Committee, to the Provinces, and to the 1994 General Convention.  A Questionnaire is in preparation.  *It is essential that all participating congregations--no matter what study materials they use--(a) receive training for their leaders and (b) utilize the same church-wide questionnaire.*  Otherwise it will be impossible to correlate the responses.  Diocesan trainers will have the opportunity at their Regional Training session to become familiar with the feedback instrument.

HISPANIC PARTICIPATION

      It is our expectation to provide a Spanish language version of the study *Human Sexuality:  A Christian Perspective* for use by domestic dioceses that have hispanic ministries.  We understand a translation of the Lutheran study is also available.  It will be reviewed as soon as we have a copy.  (Province IX, in view of its varied cultural needs, will develop its own approach with the support of the national Steering Committee.)  Likewise the Questionnaire will be available in a Spanish language version as well.  An hispanic bibliography is also being prepared.  Those dioceses which have an hispanic ministry should plan to send their bi-lingual diocesan trainers to the *Central Region Training Session*, which will have an hispanic dimension.

COSTS

      We are expecting the costs per person for the regional training session to be under $200.  Further, the training sessions have been scheduled over a Saturday night to take advantage of the lowest air fares.  The cost of the course material will also be modest.  For *Human Sexuality:  A Christian Perspective*, a guide is required for each leader at a cost of $7.50 per person.  There will be five focus papers which each participant needs.  Each diocese will be licensed to reproduce the number of papers it needs for use within the diocese.  The cost of the license will be $75 for each diocese.  (In addition, of course, there will be the cost of photocopying).

      The Lutheran study, *Human Sexuality and the Christian Faith*, sells for $1.00 per copy (plus handling and postage).  Each participant in this case needs a copy.  In addition, the supplementary paper replacing Chapter 3 will need to be reproduced for each participant, involving the cost of photocopying.

      Lastly, the Questionnaire will need to be reproduced by each diocese in the quantity needed.  We will supply a master copy for each diocese.

      All in all, we believe we have developed a program that is highly cost effective and prohibitive to no diocese.  Overall, the cost should be approximately the same no matter which course is selected.

TIME FRAME FOR EACH DIOCESE

Summing things up, the following time frame would work most effectively for each diocese:

By June 15, 1992

  a.  Bishop commends study of Human Sexuality to all congregations to take place between All Saints' Day 1992 and Easter Day 1993.  Invites each congregation to select local leaders.

  b.  The Diocesan Steering Committee should be in place and aware of its responsibilities.  To this end, copies of all this material should be in their hands.

By June 30

  a.  Study material should be reviewed and selection made or options offered for congregations within the diocese.

  b.  Diocesan trainers (at least one male and one female with group skills) should be designated.  They should register for the appropriate Regional Training Session.

  c.  Diocesan Committee should select the time and place for diocesan training.  An overnight would be most appropriate.

By September/October   

  Diocesan Trainers participate in aRegional Training Conference.

Oct/Nov 1992

  Diocesan Training offered for discussion leaders in each congregation.

Advent 1992, Epiphany or Lent 1993

  Five-session Study is conducted in each congregation.

By April 18, 1993

  The Discussion Leaders in each congregation tabulate results of its own questionnaires and sends the results to its Diocesan Steering Committee.

By May 1, 1993

  Each Diocesan Steering Committee tabulates the responses of its congregations and forwards the results to its Provincial Steering Committee.

By May 15, 1993

  Each domestic Provincial Steering Committee tabulates the results from its own Dioceses and forwards the results to the national Steering Committee.

By June 1, 1993

  The national Steering Committee tabulates results from the 8 domestic Provinces and submits them to the Pastoral Teaching Committee.  The national Steering Committee also begins preparation of its report to the 1994 General Convention.

  This is a simple time line.  The process will work to the degree each diocese and congregations enables it to work.  The critical dynamic will be in helping everyone shift from the debate mode into a dialogue mode -- with a variety of perspectives in each discussion group so that there really *is* true dialogue.

  On behalf of the national Steering Committee, we welcome any feedback which will help you and the church to respond to the General convention resolution--and will help us to be faithful to the task assigned us.

      Faithfully in Christ,

      O'Kelley Whitaker

      Steering Committee Convener

*CONTACT THESE PEOPLE!!!!*

PROVINCIAL STEERING COMMITTEE ON IMPLEMENTING A104sa

*Convener*

      The Rt. Rev. O'Kelley Whitaker

      306 Sycamore Road

      Portsmouth, VA 23707-1217

        Tel. 804-397-1211 (Voice and Fax)

*Province 1*

      The Rt. Rev. Edward C. Chalfant

      Diocese of Maine

      143 State Street

      Portland, ME 04101

      The Rev. Jane Garrett

      RD 2, Box 1550

      Middlebury, VT 05753

      Mr. Donald Burke

      120 Simonds Road

      Lexington, MA 02173

*Province 2*

      The Rt. Rev. David C. Bowman

      Diocese of Western New York

      1114 Delaware Avenue

      Buffalo, NY 14209

        Tel. 716-881-0660

      The Rev. Maria Aris-Paul

      The General Seminary

      175 Ninth Avenue

      New York, NY 10011

        Tel. 212-645-2267 (Wed--Fri)

             212-627-3359 (after 9:00 p.m.)

      Mr. Warren Ramshaw

      25 Payne Street

      Hamilton, NY 13345

        Tel. 315-824-7544

*Province 3*

      The Rt. Rev. Robert D. Rowley, Jr.

      Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania

      145 West Sixth Street

      Erie, PA 16501

        Tel. 814-456-4203

      The Rev. Rosemari G. Sullivan

      The Church of St. Clement

      1701 Quaker Lane

      Alexandria, VA 22302-2398

        Tel. 703-998-6166

      Mr. John L. Harrison, Jr.

      8520 Hagys Mill Road

      Philadelphia, PA 19128

        Tel. 215-972-7808

*Province 4*

      The Rt. Rev. Robert Estill

      Diocese of North Carolina

      Box 17025

      Raleigh, NC 27619-7025

        Tel. 919-787-6313

      The Rt. Rev. Robert G. Tharp

      Diocese of East Tennessee

      401 Cumberland Avenue

      Knoxville, TN 37902

        Tel. 615-521-2900

      Dr. Lillian Robinson

      Diocese of Louisiana

      1623 Seventh

      New Orleans, LA 70115-4411

        Tel. 504-895-6634

      Dean James Burns

      Diocese of Lexington

      166 Market

      Lexington, KY 40586

        Tel. 606-252-6527

*Province 5*

      The Rt. Rev. Hays H. Rockwell

      Diocese of Missouri

      1210 Locust Street

      St. Louis, MO 63103

        Tel. 314-231-1220

      The Rev. Anne Wilson Robbins

      St. Patrick's Episcopal Church

      7121 Muirfield Drive

      Dublin, OH 43017

        Tel. 614-766-2664

      Ms. Katherine Tyler Scott

      405 East 52nd Street

      Indianapolis, IN 46205

        Tel. 317-253-0060 or 317-636-5323

*Province 6*

      The Rt. Rev. C. I. Jones

      Diocese of Montana

      515 North Park Avenue

      Helena, MT 59601

        Tel. 406-442-2230

      The Very Rev. Frank Edge Clark

      P.O. Box 9336

      Fargo, ND 58106

      Mr. Robert Maule

      P.O. Box 1831

      Winner, SD 57580

*Province 7*

      The Rt. Rev. William E. Smalley

      Diocese of Kansas

      Bethany Place

      835 Polk

      Topeka, KS 66612

        Tel. 913-235-9255

      The Rev. Rayford High

      St. Paul's Episcopal Church

      515 Columbus Ave.

      Waco, TX 76702

        Tel. 817-753-4501

      Ms. Cynthia H. Schwab

      2700 E. 15th St.

      Joplin, MO 64804

        Tel. 417-623-8865

*Province 8*

      The Rt. Rev. Richard L. Shimpfky

      Diocese of El Camino Real

      P.O. Box 1903

      Monterey, CA 93942

        Tel. 408-394-4465

      The Rev. Warner R. Traynham

      514 W. Adams Blvd.

      Los Angeles, CA 90007-2616

        Tel. 213-747-6285

      Ms. Elizabeth Cole

      17 Shinumo-Ovi

      Flagstaff, AZ 86001

        Tel. 602-525-1018

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*RIEVAULX ABBEY:  HOME OF OUR PATRON, ST. AELRED*

by Brian Bailey

      The soaring piers and majestic arches of Rievaulx Abbey rise from the valley floor of Ryedale into such a picturesque ruin-in-a-landscape that we are forced to wonder whether the sensuous magic of the place worked as effectively on twelfth-century saints as it does on twentieth-century sinners.  And when we find that the ground space of the site was so restricted that the alignment of the nave is north-south instead of the traditional east-west, we know for certain that the situation had a very strong appeal for the medieval holy men.  In fact however, the Cistercian monks described this place as one of "horror and waste solitude."  True to form, it was the solitude that appealed to them, the church's axis being forced on them by confines of a heavily wooded valley.  Yorkshire's desolate landscape, not yet recovered from the devastation wrought by William the Conqueror, presented ideal sites to the Cistercians, who wanted no intercourse with local inhabitants to cloud the purity of their remote and self-reliant existence.

      Rievaulx, with its early Gothic arches, is one of the most priceless treasures of England's heritage, even in its fallen state, although - we are led to suppose - in the days before the Dissolution, men were less responsive to architectural beauty.  Certainly any aesthetic merits the building had were provided for the greater glory of God, not for the hedonistic appreciation of man.  Indeed, the Cistercians were noted for the austerity of their architecture as well as their living standards, and their best known and most influential medieval figure, Abbot Bernard of Clairvaux, made a famous attack on the decorative church sculpture of other orders:

     What profit is there in these ridiculous monsters, in that marvelous and deformed comeliness, that comely deformity?  To what purpose are those unclean apes, those fierce lions, those monstrous centaurs, those half-men, those striped tigers, those fighting knights, those hunters winding their horns? ... We are more tempted to read in marble than in our service books and to spend the whole day in wondering at these things than in meditating the law of God.  For God's sake, if men are not ashamed of these follies, why at least do they not shrink from the expense?

When we consider that so many of the finest monastic ruins in Britain - Rievaulx, Fountains, Tintern - were Cistercian houses, it is difficult to argue with the principle of simplicity, even if we cannot go along with the reasoning.

      It was very soon after St. Bernard's strictures appeared that Walter l'Espec, lord of the manor of Helmsley, granted some land in the Rye valley to the abbot and twelve monks who became the nucleus of the first large Cistercian establishment in England.  The Norman lord, a bearded warrior whose voice was 'like the sound of a trumpet,' entered the abbey as a novice himself, in advanced age, and died here in silence after making his peace with the Almighty.  The date of the abbey's foundation was 1131, and within thirty years the third abbot, Aelred, was apparently presiding over a hundred and forty monks and some five hundred lay brothers in a spacious monastic settlement with extensive agricultural interests, though how the place could have accommodated so many is a mystery.  The lay brethren were the poor and illiterate whom the Cistercians habitually sheltered in return for their labor.

      The buildings were erected in sandstone quarried near the site and at Bilsdale, a little to the north, and the church and principal living quarters were completed in a remarkably short time.  The nave is older than any Cistercian nave remaining in France.  The aisles were separated from the nave in early Cistercian churches by stone walls between the hugh square piers, but at Rievaulx these were removed in the fourteenth century.  By that time a choir and presbytery had been added to the southern end of the church which were scarcely in accord with the principle of plain architecture enjoined upon the earlier brethren, having stone-ribbed vaults and arcading, some Gothic ornament, and flying buttresses, the floor being paved with glazed tiles in green and yellow patterns.  Such relative ostentation was a symptom of the corruption that brings down ecclesiastical empires as well as secular ones, for as the monasteries grew increasingly wealthy, so they abandoned their allegiance to austerity, and the numbers of the faithful decreased.  And even its isolation could not protect Rievaulx from Scottish raids and the devastation of the Black Death, the abbot being among those who succumbed to the dread plague in 1349.  By the time of the Dissolution, there were only twenty-two monks left at Rievaulx.  The property was granted to the Earl of Rutland, and a village grew up near the site with houses built of stone plundered from the monastery buildings.  It is only because of the relative isolation of Rievaulx that so much of the decayed monastery building is left to us.  Its stone would certainly have been carted away in great quantities if it had been nearer to a larger or growing population.

      The chapter house, with its rounded apse, is among the most easily distinguishable of the buildings, though none of its walls remains intact.  It was rectangular at first, in accordance with Cistercian custom, the apse being added later.  Here in the monastery's early years its abbots were buried, and gravestones of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century abbots can still be seen, together with uninscribed graves and the shrine of the first abbot, William, who had been secretary to Bernard of Clairvaux and died in 1148.

      It is to the medieval centuries of prosperity that we return in imagination, seeing the brethren bustle about their business, summoned by bells to matins, keeping silence in the cloister, intoning their prayers in the church, studying in the library, tending their sheep in the fields and revitalizing their circulation before the two great fires of the warming house in the bitter northern winters.

      Six hundred years on, William Cowper was tempted to make his home here so that he could gaze at the ruins for the rest of his life.  And after him came Wordsworth.  His sister Dorothy recorded in her journal in 1802 that she 'went down to look at the Ruins -- thrushes were singing, cattle feeding among green grown hillocks about the Ruins ... I could have stayed in this solemn quiet spot till evening without a thought of moving, but William was waiting for me, so in a quarter of an hour I went away.'  The abbey featured in Scott's Ivanhoe and also in the paintings of the Romantic artists.

      All this, of course, was after Burke's discovery of the sublime, and by the Wordsworths' time, the Duncombe family of Duncombe Park had built the so-called Rievaulx Terrace in the course of landscaping their vast grounds.  From this high viewpoint we can gaze upon the abbey ruins - the forlorn but still magnificent work of twelfth-century masons - which formed part of the picturesque Rye valley landscape stretched out below.

-----

The abbey, which is in the care of the Department of the Environment, is in the village of Rievaulx, two and a half miles north-west of Helmsley, and is within the North York Moors National Park.  There is a car park at the site.  No visitor should miss the view from Rievaulx Terrace, which is in the ownership of the National Trust.  SE 576849.

------

Copyright 1984, The National Trust.  This is an excerpt from *The National Trust Book of Ruins*.

An important reminder:  PLEASE OBSERVE THE FEAST OF ST. AELRED, JANUARY 12, IN YOUR CHAPTER.  We published an excellent guide to keeping our patronal feast by the Rev. Paul Woodrum in the Winter 1992 issue of *The Voice*, but it arrived too late for many chapters to plan a special occasion.  If you need a copy of Fr. Woodrum's liturgical suggestions, please contact the editorial office.

********************

*AN AMAZING OPPORTUNITY*

An Integrity member recently visited Rievaulx Abbey and purchased an original print of St. Aelred's home from a local artist.  We thought many in Integrity might be interested in having one of these *signed and numbered prints* for themselves.  We arranged with the artist to do a special pressing just for Integrity and we now offer them to you.

ONLY $25.00, plus $2.00 shipping.

Don't miss this opportunity.  The picture, in browns and blues, is extraordinary and will make a wonderful Christmas gift for any Integrity member or any Episcopalian on your shopping list.  And chapters should consider this as a thank-you gift for those who have made special contributions to Integrity.

Write Integrity, P.O. Box 5202, New York, NY 10185 or phone 201-868-2485.

********************

*'Excellent Resource for Dialogue'*

               -- Bruce Garner, mbr. Comm. on Human Affairs

*A BOOK OF REVELATIONS*

Stories of 52 Lesgay Episcopalians

*Now with a FREE Study Guide*

*Perfect for Parish Study*

Individual copies $12 incl. shipping

Contact:  Integrity, PO Box 5202

New York, NY 10185-0043

201-868-2485

Write or call for quantity discounts

********************

*THE EPISCOPAL NEWS SERVICE NEEDS YOUR HELP*

*How is the church doing?*

      ENS would like to do a survey article on the church's response to General Convention's call for dialogue.  And we need your help.

      We need you to gather information in your diocese about the response to A-104sa.  You will need to spread your net widely and gather information about congregational response.  Begin with the bishop and deputies to the General Convention -- they have the responsibility to see that the diocese participates.  Are they carrying out that responsibility?

      You may wish to speak to rectors and wardens in places that are involved in the local dialogues.  How are the dialogues going?  What has been their experience?  Also, you might want to talk to both Integrity members and some traditionalists for responses.  Make sure to get direct quotes.

      If your diocese is not participating yet, why is that the case?

      We will want to release this article in the November 17 packet of ENS.  Therefore we will need a page or page or two of information to use as raw material for the article.  *We will need the information by October 30.*

*Contact James Solheim and Jeffrey Penn, ENS, 815 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10017.*

********************

*ART IMITATES EPISCOPAL LIFE*

by Kim Byham

      The extremely handsome but unmarried rector of a prominent Episcopal parish on Philadelphia's mainline has been removed from his post by the Bishop of Pennsylvania.  This resulted from an effort by the Vestry of St. James, Llanview, PA to sever the pastoral relationship under Title III, Canon 19, following rumors in the parish that the priest, The Rev. Andrew Carpenter, was gay.  Fr. Carpenter refused to directly answer the allegation which stemmed from his counseling of a gay teenager and the fact that his brother died of AIDS.  Although the congregation seemed largely reconciled following a display of the AIDS quilt on the church lawn, the bishop nevertheless decided that Carpenter was too controversial and should be shifted to administrative duties in the diocese.

      All of this controversy was played out before eight million people every day, a far larger audience than is usual for Episcopal disputes over lesgay issues.  It was the main summer story line on the 24-year old ABC soap opera, *One Life to Live*.

      The Episcopal Church's reaction to homophobia became a part of daytime drama because *One Life's* head writer is Michael Malone, a parishioner at St. Peter's Church in Philadelphia's Society Hill.  He says the model for Andrew Carpenter, though not for the story line, is his rector, the Rev. Tad Meyer.

      Malone is not a typical soap writer.  A Harvard Ph.D., he  taught fiction at Yale, Swarthmore and the University of Pennsylvania and has published seven novels.

      When ABC hired movie producer Linda Gottlieb (*Dirty Dancing*) to revitalize the ailing *One Life*, she looked for a special writer.  "What she said was, 'I'm looking for the American Dickens,' and what novelist could resist that?" Malone told *The Los Angeles Times*.  He had never watched an episode of a soap opera.

      *One Life* needed a lift when Malone joined it in September of 1991.  In increasing ratings, Malone has balanced stories about the show's core family, the Buchanans (Mrs. Victoria Buchanan is Sr. Warden at St. James), with interesting new characters.  Not surprisingly, Malone added an Episcopal priest since there is one in each of his novels.

      The Rev. Andrew Carpenter, played by Wortham Krimmer, was introduced several months before the homophobia story line began on June 18.  "He looks like an Episcopal priest," said vestment designer Victor Challenor, "They did his garb well.  Andrew is tastefully apparelled in cassock and surplice and even the requisite tweed jacket."  The character appeared so much like a priest that when he dated women the show received numerous letters of complaint from viewers who assumed he was Roman Catholic.  To offset this, the show meticulously refers to him as a "minister."  This led Challenor to write a protest letter to which Michael Malone responded.  Challenor was satisfied and concluded that this one "liberty" with Episcopal polity was forgivable, "I've watched them like a hawk and they've done well."

      The credit for this accuracy clearly goes to Malone and to Fr. Meyer, who from Andrew's arrival has served as a special consultant to the show.  "Tad is a model for Andrew in many ways: his Anglophilia, his bird watching," Malone told *The Voice*.  Malone and Meyer met when the latter was Curate at Christ Church, New Haven.  After his move to St. Peter's, Malone and his family, who had earlier moved to Philadelphia, joined the parish.

      Meyer has been closely consulted about the current story line.  While he hasn't had any personal confrontations with homophobia, it is an issue on which he agrees with the character. "Andrew takes stands that are dear to me, but they don't necessarily reflect my words," he told *The Voice*.  As chair of the diocesan Commission on Ministry, he believes sexual orientation should not be a matter determining fitness for ordination.

      Meyer gave suggestions about dealing with a Vestry and how priests dress.  But what fascinated him was a "priest who's being depicted as a human being and going through "Sturm und Drang" about issues of prayer and principal.  Michael wanted the priest to have a strong faith and wanted to show how that faith could be lived out."

      "I wanted to talk about prejudice," Malone said.  "That's why we made the story one based on an accusation.  The Church is beautifully placed to illustrate the effects of prejudice and how it is overcome.  Andrew, like Thomas More, is a man of conscience.  His refusal to name names is like Germans who refused to give the names of Jews and those who refused to give the names of Communists to Joseph McCarthy.

      "Bigotry divides, tolerance and acceptance unite people," he continued.  "That's what made the quilt such a wonderful symbol -- it's stitching people together."

      With a Daytime Emmy nomination for outstanding writing to his credit, Malone found ABC receptive to his story but somewhat frightened.  "I'm proud of our audience.  We had feared loss of affiliates and sponsors.  That hasn't happened.  99% of the mail has been positive.  But there have been hate letters -- all religiously couched, saying things such as, 'You'll burn in hell.'"

      The story line began with a young woman that Fr. Carpenter had been counseling trying to seduce him.  Next 16-year-old Billy Douglas, played by Ryan Phillippe, confessed to the priest that he was gay.

      As a summer story, it was designed to "hook" younger viewers on daytime television.  And it did that.  Malone reports, "We have received thousands of letters from young people, many saying 'I thought I was the only gay teenager.'"

      Phillippe, 17 and straight, was hesitant about accepting the role of Billy. There have been some negative reactions back home in Delaware.  "I've grown up in a Baptist school.  I go to church every Sunday.  Some people in the church don't accept my decision; I can tell by the way they look at me, which is how a gay person must feel," Phillippe told *The Chicago Tribune*.

      Before filming started, Gottlieb brought in psychiatrist Richard Isay, author of *Being Homosexual: Gay Men and Their Development*.  "I had a lot of questions," said Phillippe in *Entertainment Weekly*.  "But when he told us that three times as many gay teenagers kill themselves as do straight teens, I realized that maybe this role is where I'm supposed to be.  Maybe some kids will see that there are ways to deal with this positively."

      "Michael [Malone] has a hidden agenda," Meyer revealed, "not to proselytize people to Christianity or to the Episcopal Church, but to get people to ask basic faith questions.  In this age we've lost the ability to ask questions.  The story is an excellent paradigm of the faith."

********************

*CLAUDIA'S COLUMN*

"I am convinced that this church will never be reconciled about any issue unless we can reclaim the struggle in Christ's name with Christ's methods."

                       --The Most Rev. Edmond L. Browning

Based upon the message of our presiding bishop and those stories of pain, frustration, humiliation, and rejection that were shared in Houston with Bishop Browning and members of the Commission on Human Affairs, I offer this column.  As The Rev. Leonardo Boff has written:  "The Way of the Cross seeks to use both eyes of theology.  It is a Way of the Cross with one eye focusing on the historical Jesus:  his life, condemnation, death, and resurrection.  It is also a Way of Justice, its other eye focusing on the Christ of faith who continues his passion today in his brothers and sisters (within the lesgay community)"

            --Leonardo Boff, *WAY OF THE CROSS-WAY OF JUSTICE*.

*JESUS FALLS THREE TIMES ON THE WAY TO CALVARY*

You knew your mission, Jesus:

     It would not end until you reached Calvary.

Despite excruciating pain and exhaustion,

     You pressed on through the jeering crowds.

Finally, you were unable to continue,

     and finally, you fell.

If you hesitated even for a moment

     at the time of your other falls,

          wondering about getting up,

You must have been even more tempted now,

     to remain there, and call it quits.

Somehow, you mustered your strength one more time

     and slowly and painfully,

          resumed your journey.

Maybe it is here, Jesus,

     that I relate most closely with your journey to Calvary.

I can relate to repeated falls and the struggle

     to get up and continue after each of them.

It seems that things are finally

     going better in the church:

          There's a discussion group in the parish

               on human sexuality,

          No one has objected that I'm working

               with the altar guild,

          And it was okay to go along with the high school kids

               on their Boundary Water canoe trip.

Then suddenly,

          The rector needed to let me know

               That my Lay Reader's license will not be renewed

          And that John and I are inappropriate when

               we kiss at the sign of Peace.

We struggle.

"Maybe it would be easier

     to leave the Episcopal Church;

          to look at membership in the Metropolitan Community

               Church instead."

"If I can't be a Lay Reader, then I'll also stop teaching Sunday

     School and I'll never do another coffee hour."

No!

We've worked too hard and come too far

     to believe those messages.

You, Jesus, are our inspiration

     when it seems that we can no longer continue.

Sometimes I look at where we've been

     and what we've done.

We have accepted ourselves

     as lesgays.

And we've come out

     to parents, family, friends, co-workers,

          and now to the church.

We've been rejected by many

     and pitied by some.

We've been condemned

     to death by others.

"Why do all of this?"

     we sometimes ask ourselves.

"It would be easier just

     to be .......

To live life,

     not as witnesses,

          not as prophets,

To live with no vision

     for the next generation

          of lesbians and gay men."

Tomorrow won't be

     any easier for us.

Some of us already know that our

     honesty is not appreciated

And that our lambda and pink triangle pins

     are unacceptable.

We know that our Lay Reader licenses

     won't be restored

And that the struggle for ordination

     will be there when we awake.

There will continue to be

     denials for blessings of relationships

And rejection in the pews.

No,

Tomorrow won't be any easier at all.

We know that, Jesus,

But we'll go on anyway

     with you at our sides

And your courage

     as our model.

We'll get up, muster our strength

     and continue with our journeys.

-----

We remain deeply indebted to the Rev. Claudia Windal, our Contributing Editor, for her wonderful contributions.

********************

*Support from Arizona Episcopalians*

      Two of Arizona's most prominent Episcopalians, former Senator Barry Goldwater and Bishop Joseph T. Heistand, joined other religious and political leaders in a successful effort to gain passage of a lesgay-rights ordinance in the Phoenix City Council.  The ordinance, passed in July, prohibits discrimination against gays and lesbians in public places and in jobs.  Speaking at a news conference prior to the council's vote, Goldwater said, "Under our Constitution, we literally have the right to do anything we may want to do, as long as the performing of those acts does not cause damage or hurt to anybody else.  I can't see any way in the world that being gay can cause damage to somebody else," Goldwater added.

********************

*THE VATICAN OPENLY OPPOSES OUR CIVIL RIGHTS*

*"SOME CONSIDERATIONS CONCERNING THE RESPONSE TO LEGISLATIVE*

 PROPOSALS ON THE NON-DISCRIMINATION OF HOMOSEXUAL PERSONS"*

Issued by the Congregation for the doctrine of the Faith

Originally mailed to U.S. bishops on June 25, 1992

Revised text issued July 23, 1992

*[Editor's note:  Even those of us who are rarely surprised by statements of the Roman Catholic hierarchy were shocked by the tone of the following, reprinted here in its entirety.]*

Foreword

      Recently, legislation has been proposed in various places which would make discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation illegal.  In some cities, municipal authorities have made public housing, otherwise reserved for families, available to homosexual (and unmarried heterosexual) couples.  Such initiatives, even where they seem more directed toward support of basic civil rights than condonement of homosexual activity or a homosexual lifestyle, may in fact have a negative impact on the family and society.  Such things as the adoption of children, the employment of teachers, the housing needs of genuine families, landlords' legitimate concerns in screening potential tenants, for example, are often implicated.

      While it would be impossible to anticipate every eventuality in respect to legislative proposals in this area, these observations will try to identify some principles and distinctions of a general nature which should be taken into consideration by the conscientious legislator, voter, or church authority who is confronted with such issues.

      The first section will recall relevant passages from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's "Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons" of 1986. *[editor's note:  This is often referred to in dignity circles as "the Halloween Encyclical"]*  The second section will deal with their application.

*"RELEVANT PASSAGES" FROM THE CDF'S "LETTER"*

      1.    The letter recalls that the CDF's "Declaration on Certain Questions Concerning Sexual Ethics" of 1975 "took note of the distinction commonly drawn between the homosexual condition or tendency and individual homosexual actions," the latter are "intrinsically disordered" in no case to be approved of" (No 3).

      2.    Since "[i]n the discussion which followed the publication of the (aforementioned) declaration ..., an overly benign interpretation was given to the homosexual condition itself, some going so far as to call it neutral or even good," the letter goes on to clarify:  "Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil; and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder.  Therefore special concern and pastoral attention should be directed toward those who have this condition, lest they be led to believe that the living out of this orientation in homosexual activity is a morally acceptable option.  It is not" (No. 3).

      3.    "As in every moral disorder, homosexual activity prevents one's own fulfillment and happiness by acting contrary to the creative wisdom of God.  The church, in rejecting erroneous opinions regarding homosexuality, does not limit but rather defends personal freedom and dignity realistically and authentically understood" (No. 7).

      4.    In reference to the homosexual movement, the letter states:  "One tactic used is to protest that any and all criticism of or reservations about homosexual people, their activity and lifestyle, are simply diverse forms of unjust discrimination" (No. 9).

      5.    "There is an effort in some countries to manipulate the church by gaining the often well-intentioned support of her pastors with a view to changing civil statutes and laws.  This is done in order to conform to these pressure groups' concept that homosexuality is at least a completely harmless, if not an entirely good, thing.  Even when the practice of homosexuality may seriously threaten the lives and well-being of a large number of people, its advocates remain undeterred and refuse to consider the magnitude of the risks involved" (No. 9).

      6.    "She (the church) is also aware that the views that homosexual activity is equivalent to or as acceptable as the sexual expression of conjugal love has a direct impact on society's understanding of the nature and rights of the family and puts them in jeopardy" (No. 9).

      7.    "It is deplorable that homosexual persons have been and are the object of violent malice in speech or in action.  Such treatment deserves condemnation from the church's pastors wherever it occurs.  It reveals a kind of disregard for others which endangers the most fundamental principles of a healthy society.  The intrinsic dignity of each person must always be respected in word, in action and in law.

      "But the proper reaction to crimes committed against homosexual persons should not be to claim that the homosexual condition is not disordered.  When such a claim is made and when homosexual activity is consequently condoned, or when civil legislation is introduced to protect behavior to which no one has any conceivable right, neither the church nor society at large should be surprised when other distorted notions and practices gain ground, and irrational and violent reactions increase" (No. 10).

      8.    "What is at all costs to be avoided is the unfounded and demeaning assumption that the sexual behavior of homosexual persons is always and totally compulsive and therefore inculpable.  What is essential is that the fundamental liberty which characterizes the human person and gives him his dignity be recognized as belonging to the homosexual person as well" (No. 11).

      9.    "In assessing proposed legislation, the bishops should keep as their uppermost concern the responsibility to defend and promote family life" (No. 17).

*"APPLICATIONS"*

      10.   "Sexual orientation" does not constitute a quality comparable to race, ethnic background, etc. in respect to non-discrimination.  Unlike these, homosexual orientation is an objective disorder (cf. "Letter," No. 3) and evokes moral concern.

      11.   There are areas in which it is not unjust discrimination to take sexual orientation into account, for example, in the placement of children for adoption or foster care, in employment of teachers or athletic coaches, and in military recruitment.

      12.   Homosexual persons, as human persons, have the same rights as all persons including the right of not being treated in a manner which offends their personal dignity (cf. No. 10).  Among other rights, all persons have the right to work, to housing, etc.  Nevertheless, these rights are not absolute.  They can be legitimately limited for objectively disordered external conduct.  This is sometimes not only licit but obligatory.  This would obtain moreover not only in the case of culpable behavior but even in the case of actions of the physically or mentally ill.  Thus it is accepted that the state may restrict the exercise of rights, for example, in the case of contagious or mentally ill persons, in order to protect the common good.

      13.   Including "homosexual orientation" among the considerations on the basis of which it is illegal to discriminate can easily lead to regarding homosexuality as a positive source of human rights, for example, in respect to so-called affirmative action or preferential treatment in hiring practices.  This is all the more deleterious since there is no right to homosexuality (cf. No. 10) which therefore should not form the basis for judicial claims.  The passage from the recognition of homosexuality as a factor on which basis it is illegal to discriminate can easily lead, if not automatically, to the legislative protection and promotion of homosexuality.  A person's homosexuality would be invoked in opposition to alleged discrimination, and thus the exercise of rights would be defended precisely via the affirmation of the homosexual condition instead of in terms of a violation of basic human rights.

      14.   The "sexual orientation" of a person is not comparable to race, sex, age, etc. also for another reason than that given above which warrants attention.  An individual's sexual orientation is generally not known to others unless he publicly identifies himself as having this orientation or unless some overt behavior manifests it.  As a rule, the majority of homosexually oriented persons who seek to lead chaste lives do not publicize their sexual orientation.  Hence the problem of discrimination in terms of employment, housing, etc., does not usually arise.

      Homosexual persons who assert their homosexuality tend to be precisely those who judge homosexual behavior or lifestyle to be "either completely harmless, if not an entirely good thing" (cf. No. 3), and hence worthy of public approval.  It is from this quarter that one is more likely to find those who seek to "manipulate the church by gaining the often well-intentioned support of her pastors with a view to changing civil statutes and laws" (cf. No. 5), those who use the tactic of protesting that "any and all criticism of or reservations about homosexual people ... are simply diverse forms of unjust discrimination" (cf. No. 9).

      In addition, there is a danger that legislation which would make homosexuality a basis for entitlements could actually encourage a person with a homosexual orientation to declare his homosexuality or even to seek a partner in order to exploit the provisions of the law.

      15.   Since in the assessment of proposed legislation uppermost concern should be given to the responsibility to defend and promote family life (cf. No. 17), strict attention should be paid to the single provisions of proposed measures.  How would they affect adoption or foster care?  Would they protect homosexual acts, public or private?  Do they confer equivalent family status on homosexual unions, for example, in respect to public housing or by entitling the homosexual partners to the privileges of employment which could include such things as "family" participation in the health benefits given to employees (cf. No. 9)?

      16.   Finally, where a matter of the common good is concerned, it is inappropriate for church authorities to endorse or remain neutral toward adverse legislation even if it grants exceptions to church organizations and institutions.  The church has the responsibility to promote family life and the public morality of the entire civil society on the basis of fundamental moral values, not simply to protect herself from the application of harmful laws (cf. No. 17).

*VATICAN PRESS STATEMENT*

Issued July 23 by Joaquin Navarro-Valls,

director of the Vatican press office

      For some time, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has been concerned with the question of legislative proposals advanced in various parts of the world to deal with the issue of the non-discrimination of homosexual persons.  A study of this question culminated in the preparation of a set of observations which could be of assistance to those concerned with formulating the Catholic response to such legislative proposals. 

      In view of the fact that this question is a particularly pressing one in certain parts of the United States, these considerations were made available to the bishops of that country through the good offices of the pro-nuncio for whatever help they might provide them.  It should be noted that the observations were not intended to pass judgment on any response which may have been given already by local bishops or state conferences to such legislative proposals.  The observations, then, were not intended to be an official and public instruction on the matter from the congregation but a background resource offering discreet assistance to those who may be confronted with the task of evaluating draft legislation regarding non-discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

      With the idea that the publication of the observations would be something beneficial, a slight revision of the text was undertaken and a second version prepared.

*RESPONSE OF NEW WAYS MINISTRY*

      New Ways Ministry, a Roman Catholic organization which tries to promote lesgay rights in the church without seeming to directly oppose church "teaching," leaked the original text of the Vatican statement to the press on July 15.  They characterized it as an "embarrassment" to U.S. Catholics, "seriously flawed" and "ultimately unconvincing."

      The New Ways Ministry response, *Human Dignity and the Common Good*, states that there is a "serious and growing gap" between the Vatican's understanding of the legal and moral issues and that of the U.S. Catholic bishops.  The response cites statements of U.S. Catholic bishops which flatly contradict some Vatican assertions about the impact of lesgay civil rights on society.

      According to Greg Link, director of New Ways Ministry, the new pronouncement is "probably a reaction to increasing Catholic support for gay civil rights in employment."  A recent Gallup poll, co-sponsored by New Ways, indicates that 78% of Catholics support equal rights for gay and lesbian persons in employment.  "It could also be related," said Link, "to a marked decrease in episcopal opposition to civil rights legislation in such places as Chicago and Connecticut, positive support in Hawaii and opposition to an anti-gay ordinance in Oregon."

      "While the document mouths token support for the dignity of the homosexual individual," says Link, "it is actually a massive and unconscionable attack on that dignity.  This new statement indicates a fear in the Vatican that they are losing ground on the issue of civil rights."

      New Ways, a 15-year old Washington-based group reportedly under Vatican scrutiny for its work with lesgay Catholics, sponsored a national symposium in March in Chicago.  The symposium was co-sponsored by more than 90 Catholic organizations and drew more than 500 participants including 3 bishops who spoke about pastoral issues related to homosexuality.

      Upon release of the revised version on July 23, New Ways Ministry described it as "no improvement and [it] could be seen as worse than the first."  Among other additions, the second version added the argument to paragraph 14 opposing homosexuality as a "basis for entitlements" because this would encourage a homosexual person to "declare his orientation or even to seek a partner in order to exploit the provisions of the law."

*THE AMERICAN HIERARCHY RESPONDS*

      David E. Anderson, UPI Religion Writer, observed: "To be charitable, it is possible that the Vatican bureaucracy does not understand the Roman Catholic Church in the United States.To be less than charitable, it is equally possible that it does understand -- and doesn't like what it sees.  And when it's Cardinal Josef Ratzinger's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, it's usually a combination of the two and the result is actions that put the American hierarchy on the spot."

      Many U.S. bishops have been more conciliatory toward lesgay persons than the Vatican's statement is.  In a letter to their parishioners last year, the U.S. bishops said, "We call on all Christians and citizens of good will to confront their own fears about homosexuality and to curb the humor and discrimination that offend homosexual persons."  Homosexual activity is wrong, the bishops said, but "such an orientation in itself, because not freely chosen, is not sinful."

      Confusion surrounded the new Vatican statement.  The National Conference of Catholic Bishops directed inquiries about the statement directly to the Vatican.  William Ryan, Deputy Director of conference's media office said that conference officials were not even sure whether the statement had been sent to bishops outside the United States [it was not sent to Canadian bishops].  While the original statement mentioned Italian fair-housing policies, many of its references seemed tailored to fit American political developments.  John Gallagher, a theological consultant at New Ways Ministry, suggested that the statement might have been drafted in the United States and issued by the Vatican.

      Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk of Cincinnati, president of the United States Catholic Conference, said that bishops will evaluate lesgay civil rights laws with the Vatican document in mind.

      The document, he said, "rightly warns" against proposals that are designed less to secure basic civil rights and more to grant legitimacy to homosexual behavior.  The Vatican is also correct, Pilarczyk said, to oppose laws "which tend to promote an equivalence between legal marriage and homosexual lifestyles."

      At the same time, Pilarczyk said, "I believe that the bishops of the various local churches in the United States will continue to look for ways in which those people who have a homosexual orientation will not suffer unjust discrimination in law or reality because of their orientation."

      Some bishops were more critical of the Vatican.  Archbishop Rembert Weakland of Milwaukee said, "The Vatican statement raises serious questions of discrimination, fairness and compassion . . . . It is not clear how helpful the document will be in the United States."

      Vatican statements normally prescribe general moral principles and leave their legal applications to the local bishops.  The statement's focus on specific legislation was unusual. "Previous documents have brought up the question of legislation," said Archbishop Weakland, "but this is the first time I have seen anything so detailed."

*OTHER REACTIONS*

      Boyd Bosma, a senior associate with the National Education Association, said it is wrong for a church to say who should or should not be hired in a public setting such as a school.

      The Rev. Jim Mitulski, of the Metropolitan Community Church in San Francisco asked, "What's new?  Homophobia is a renowned tradition in the Catholic Church, just like sexism.  All they did was issue a formal statement.  There's been no change in the Catholic Church."

      Dignity/USA issued a statement that they were "outraged, saddened and dismayed."  The organization described the document as "blasphemous to the Gospel the bishops are called to teach.  It is impossible to imagine Christ issuing such a statement.  The Vatican has clearly disregarded Christ's mandate to love."

      "The Roman Catholic Church's leaders have called an all-out war of oppression against gay men and lesbians.  This attack will not go unanswered," said Allen Carson of Outrage! San Francisco, a direct-action group similar to Queer Nation.

      "One grieves for the institutional church to think they can be so naive and ignorant and uncaring and insensitive," said Sr. Margaret Traxler, a board member of the National Coalition of American Nuns.

      The head of Italy's largest lesgay rights group, Arcigay, called the document "racist" and urged lesgay Roman Catholics to convert to "other more tolerant Christian denominations."

********************

*SPAHR CLEARS ONE HURDLE*

*ONE TO GO*

      A June 30 ruling by a Presbyterian judicial panel would let the Rev. Jane Spahr, who is openly lesbian, accept a job as co-pastor at Rochester, NY's Downtown United Presbyterian Church.

      However, the Rev. Ron Sallade, pastor of a Presbyterian Church in nearby Scottsville, and his supporters, who had filed the complaint at the synod level, appealed to the highest judicial body in the church.

      The 17-member Permanent Judicial Commission of the General Assembly, equivalent to the Supreme Court of the 2.8 million-member Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), is expected to hear the case at its next meeting, Oct. 30-31 in Dallas.

      After she learned of the decision, Spahr said she and her partner, MCC minister Coni Staff, prayed together.  "We also prayed for those people who don't understand us, or who are afraid.  Hopefully, this can open the door."  She initially was supposed to begin the job in April.

      When asked why he is concerned about the sexual orientation of a pastor of a different church, Sallade said: "In the Presbyterian Church, we believe that it's one body, and therefore what affects one, affects the whole church.  We are individual congregations, but it's one church.  For her to be allowed to practice in that church means the rest of us must allow it."

      The complaint to the Permanent Judicial Commission Synod of the Northeast contended that the Presbytery [diocese] of the Genesee Valley, which approved Downtown Presbyterian's decision to hire Spahr, was out of order.

      The commission, in a 9-to-1 vote, disagreed.  In its majority opinion, the synod commission wrote that disapproving Spahr's call to the Downtown Church, an 800-member congregation that declares itself one of 45 "More Light" churches open to ordaining gay and lesbian leaders, would "have the effect of denying to an ordained minister an opportunity to fulfill his or her ministry."

********************

*STRANGE RESOLUTIONS MARK PRESBYTERIAN CONVENTION*

      The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) held its 204th annual General Assembly in Milwaukee in June.  There were few of the fireworks that characterized the 1991 Assembly in Baltimore, but pro- and anti-lesgay resolutions were considered.

      One resolution before the nearly 600 delegates urged congregations to find out whether local Scout troops uphold the national organization's ban on gays, and to consider banning them from using churches if they continue to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.

      Surprisingly, the resolution was recommended by the Committee on Educational Ministry.  "The Christian community can neither condone nor participate in the widespread contempt for homosexual persons that prevails in our general culture," said the resolution.

      The committee, whose members were randomly selected, voted 26-14 to recommend the resolution.

      A Presbyterian Scouting group said the Boy Scout policies are meant to provide a basis for selecting leaders with "traditional values."

      People on both sides of the debate noted the church's own ban on lesgay clergy.  Last year, in rejecting a report that would have welcomed lesgay members, the General Assembly affirmed its earlier statements declaring homosexuality "is not God's wish for humanity."

      On June 9, the General Assembly voted 365-162 to reject the resolution.

      Advocates of the resolution argued that the Boy Scouts of America policy on lesgay violates Presbyterian policy.  Robert Brozoski, a youth advisory delegate from St. Augustine, Fla., said he would celebrate his 10th anniversary in scouting this year and that "one of my leaders was a homosexual leader.  I must say that he was probably the best leader that I have ever had."

      The resolution cited a 1978 Assembly resolution that said the "Christian community can neither condone nor participate in the widespread contempt for homosexual persons" and "must do everything in its power to prevent society from continuing to hate, harass and oppress them."

      Two anti-gay resolutions never got to vote in Milwaukee.  Two "overtures" were introduced by the San Joaquin (CA) Presbytery [diocese].  One called for lesbians and gay men to seek another denomination to join and the other called for the expulsion of congregations that allow openly lesgay persons to be ordained.

       The Rev. Howard B. Warren, who is the sole member of Presbyterian ACT-UP, gave the former considerable publicity by publicly announcing he would "go on a medical fast.  I will no longer take the AZT which has for three years been warding off the invading diseases of AIDS...  I ask you to return this resolution to the sewer of filth from whence it came," he told the committee that was considering it.

       The overtures were tabled and Warren resumed taking his medication.

********************

*PRO-LESGAY CHURCHES EXPELLED BY SOUTHERN BAPTISTS*

      In June, Southern Baptists meeting in Indianapolis condemned distribution of condoms at public schools, expressing their "moral outrage at this unprecedented usurpation of parental rights and violation of family integrity."  They said "forced availability of birth control devices to minors ... endangers the health and lives of children and is a violation of the rights of the family."

      In another action, the Baptists praised the Boy Scouts for maintaining their oath referring to God and for barring gays and lesbians.  Lesgays and atheists were blamed for trying to eliminate the Scouts' "historic commitments" and their "proper work among the boys and young men of America."

      These actions followed the convention's precedent-shattering exclusion on June 9 of two congregations for welcoming lesgay members, a move that could lead to similar ousters for other behaviors.

      The convention, attended by about 18,000 people, voted overwhelmingly to expel two North Carolina congregations.  The Pullen Memorial Church in Raleigh had blessed a union of two men and the Binkley Memorial Church in Chapel Hill had licensed a gay man to preach.

      The convention said the two churches' actions were "contrary to the teachings of the Bible on human sexuality and the sanctity of the family and are offensive to Southern Baptists."  The denomination had never before expelled a church in its 147-year history.

      The Baptists also set in motion a change in bylaws to exclude other churches that might ever be lesgay friendly.  The change in bylaws, which mandates the ouster of any church that "acts to affirm, approve or endorse homosexual behavior," must be ratified again next year to go into effect.

      "This is a major shift for Baptists," said the Rev. David Sapp of Richmond, VA "I'm morally opposed to homosexuality, but I'm also opposed to the convention intruding in the affairs of the local church.  The question in the minds of a lot of us is that in excluding these churches about this issue, then what's the next issue?"

      But others attending the convention of the nation's biggest Protestant denomination insisted that the expulsions were not likely to lead to other infringements on local church independence.

      "It was a highly unusual case that required highly unusual procedure," said the Rev. David Hankins of Lake Charles, La., chairman of an executive committee that proposed the action.  He said, however, there "is a danger" that other causes might be pushed forward as necessitating such penalties.  "There's a ditch on that side of the road.  We have to be cautious."

      Others took a dimmer view.  "We have very seriously violated the autonomy of the local church," said the Rev. Jack Harwell of Atlanta, editor of a moderate-oriented weekly, *Baptist Today*.  "It's a major break in a wall which has protected one of the most vital principles of our heritage for 150 years," he added.

      "I think it becomes a convenient first step for the Southern Baptist Convention to banish other congregations with whom they find themselves in disagreement," said the Rev. John Hewett of Asheville, past moderator of the national Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

      The ousted congregations had taken their actions regarding homosexuals after months of discussion [see *Voice of Integrity*, Summer, 1992]

      "We responded as faithfully as we knew how to requests for pastoral care," the Rev. Mahan Siler, pastor of the  Pullen  Church, said after the vote.  "It's unfortunate that this has been a source for a break in fellowship.  I hate to see Baptists make essential to cooperation and membership any of our positions on social issues," he added.  "It is dangerous.  It does violate our kind of freedom."

      The Rev. Linda Jordan of Binkley Memorial said that the church "has been very disappointed with the direction of the Southern Baptist Convention" for several years and that the expulsion was no surprise.  Neither congregation had representatives at the convention.

      A few days following the convention, members of Binkley voted to rescind a statement it had issued when it licensed a gay divinity student.  But it was "not a response to the Southern Baptist Convention action at all," Pastor Jordan said after the 151-24 vote.

      The rescinded statement prefaced the congregation's decision to license John Blevins, a Duke University divinity student.  Some church members complained that the approval of the statement violated procedural rules because of insufficient notice of the vote.  Seven of Binkley's 20 deacons have resigned since the licensure.

      In other Baptist convention actions, delegates voted overwhelmingly to make a year-long study of Masonry after some delegates attacked the movement as a satanic cult.  Dr. Larry Holly of Beaumont, TX presented a resolution asking for the study.  He contends Masonry is a religion whose doctrines are incompatible with Christianity.

      Three U.S. denominations, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, the Assemblies of God and the small Presbyterian Church in America, have stands against Masonic membership.

      Although Roman Catholicism in 1974 lifted its prohibitions, the Vatican reimposed them in 1981, calling such membership "serious sin," but not cause for excommunication.

      Holly, who wants the convention to bar Masons from being church pastors, deacons or Sunday school teachers, says the now-ruling biblical conservatives "have been valiant to point out the sins of the liberals," and need to do the same to themselves.  He said that "Masonry largely is a sin of the conservatives among us."

      The Vice President of the United States also addressed the Baptist convention.  Calling the family a "sacred institution," Dan Quayle decried attitudes that the family "is an arbitrary arrangement of people who decide to live under the same roof - that fathers are dispensable and that parents need not be married or even of opposite sexes."

      He said those with a sense of morality "shall carry the day" and that family values "are still there.  They live in our thousands of Southern Baptist churches and other places of worship across America."

      "The triumphalist tone of their meetings has been progressing for five or six years now," said Stan Hastey, who heads Alliance of Baptists, a moderate-oriented organization of 72,000 Southern Baptists who feel alienated from current conservative church leadership.

      "When you consider that President Bush addressed them last year, it appears these annual meetings are increasingly turning into campaign stops for the President and Vice President, a cheerleading section for sitting Republican politicians."

********************

*UNITED CHURCH OF CANADA ORDAINS FIRST OPEN GAY*

by Kim Byham

      On August 20, the United Church of Canada voted to leave the decision whether to bless same-sex relationships in the hands of local congregations.  Congregations that want to solemnize same-sex unions should have resources and materials available to them, the church's General Council decided.  The United Church had voted in 1988 to remove inhibitions to the ordination of self-affirming lesbians and gays.

   By a vote of 290-77, delegates to the council meeting in Fredericton, N.B., adopted a report acknowledging that the church is split on the issue.  The report says the church needs time to consider the implications of solemnizing lesgay relations.  It is still unclear "what God's complete intention is in relation to human sexuality," the report says.

      The failure of the General Council to take definitive action followed much consideration on the conference (diocesan) level.

      At its annual meeting in mid-May, the United Church's Toronto Conference voted down a proposal calling on the national church to recognize and bless same-sex relationships.  The secret vote was 209 to 180 against the proposal.

      There was a different result when the British Columbia Conference voted in secret ballot on a similar proposal, approving it by 195 votes to 181.  The conference also voted to ordain the United Church's first openly lesgay person to the ministry.

      On the same weekend, delegates to the London (Ontario) Conference adopted a motion calling on the United Church's General Council, which meets in Fredericton, N.B., in August, to ignore proposals to bless same sex relationships.

      At the end of May, the Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario Conference adopted proposals to bless lesgay relations. The Hamilton (Ontario) Conference rejected a proposal that General Council not bless same-gender relationships, while the Saskatchewan Conference voted to open up at least 10 pulpits to lesgay clergy over the next three years.

      Four years after it adopted a statement that says all church members, regardless of sexual orientation, are eligible to be considered for ordination, Canada's largest Protestant congregation is still divided on lesgay issues.

      But church officials, who listened to the debates at the annual conference meetings, say they sense a more temperate climate.  Despite some sabre-rattling by the Community of Concern, established to fight the ordination of openly gay and lesbian candidates, the church appears headed toward a progressive consensus on the lesgay issue.

      After a 10-year journey, the openly gay Tim Stevenson of Vancouver was ordained by the B.C. Conference on May 24.  And, according to news reports, the ordination took place without bitter opposition.  Roughly 500 delegates to the annual B.C. church convention voted in a secret ballot to ordain Stevenson while only 30 delegates opposed.

       When the president of the United Church in B.C. asked the gathered assembly Sunday if it would accept Stevenson and three others into the ministry, more than a 1,000 voices answered: "It is our will. Glory be to God."  Moments later, history was made as three church members came forward, placed their hands on Stevenson's head and ordained him, making him the first openly gay person to be ordained by a major Canadian Christian denomination.

      As Stevenson, a tall 46-year-old with dark hair and moustache, walked away from the altar with the other three newly-ordained ministers, the large congregation spontaneously burst into sustained applause.

      In a autobiographical statement, Stevenson said he loves theology, takes an interest in certain world affairs and has helped raise his partner's three daughters (from his partner's previous marriage).  He is expected to minister in a Manitoba congregation.

       United Church National Moderator, the Rev. Walter Farquharson, who attended the B.C. Conference meeting, was encouraged by the lack of acrimony in the debate over Stevenson's ordination.  "Certainly some people will be discouraged by the action of the conference, and that is not surprising," he said. "But the indication is that, more and more, the homosexual issue is but one of the issues that concern us."

      Farquharson, who supports the national church's 1988 statement regarding gay ordinations, said there is also room in the church for those who do not support its stand.

      Farquharson said there is nothing to prohibit a congregation from authorizing a service affirming same-gender covenants. However, there is concern, he said, that if the proposals were to be adopted by the national church, there would be attempts to pressure clergy and congregations not ready to endorse formally same-gender relationships.

      The Rev. Howie Mills, the church's general secretary, sees no inconsistency in one conference supporting, and another rejecting, proposals to bless lesgay relationships.  "Each conference is autonomous in the sense of having the right to express its mind on matters that come before it," Mills said.

      As the vote suggested, delegates to the Toronto Conference's annual meeting were about equally divided on the lesgay blessing proposal.  Some delegates who supported the proposal in principle conceded they were surprised to find themselves at the microphone arguing it was premature to adopt such a proposal when the church is beginning to recover from the ordination controversy.

********************

*RENEWAL MOVEMENT LEADER COMES OUT INVOLUNTARILY*

by Kim Byham

      The Rev. W. Graham Pulkingham, one of the best known members of the charismatic movement in the Episcopal Church, has been

temporarily suspended from functioning as a priest by the Diocese of Pittsburgh.  Fr. Pulkingham has acknowledged having had sexual relationships with several men who were members either of the parishes he served or of the religious order he founded.

      Fr. Pulkingham gained fame as rector of a widely publicized Episcopal charismatic parish in Houston, the Church of the Redeemer.

      The revelations began as a result of a woman from Topeka, KS writing to the Bishop of Kansas, the Rt. Rev. William Smalley, in early August.  She claimed that her marriage had been destroyed by Pulkingham's affair with her British-born husband.  The husband, who was in his 20s at the time, had been counseled by Pulkingham.  Pulkingham has admitted the affair with the man, who now lives in London, which continued from 1978 to 1982 while the man was a member of the Community of Celebration, the order founded by Pulkingham in 1964. 

      "I don't think I want blood; well, maybe I do," the deserted wife said in her ten-page letter to Bishop Smalley, "but I do want the Episcopal Church to put their house in order."  The unusual aspect of her claim is that her husband's affair with Pulkingham ended before the couple were married in 1982.

      Smalley forwarded the letter to the Bishop of Pittsburgh, where Pulkingham is now canonically resident.  The Rt. Rev. Alden Hathaway was vacationing in Maine when it arrived.  After a phone confrontation with Pulkingham, who admitted to the allegations, Hathaway summarily inhibited him from performing priestly functions as well as serving as leader of the Community of Celebration, located in Aliquippa, PA since 1985.

      In a letter to the order and to diocesan clergy, Hathaway said that Pulkingham had confirmed the allegations and had come "to see that [his actions] were an abuse of power and trust from which he now fully repents and is heartily sorry."  Hathaway reported that the diocese will reach out to various persons with whom Pulkingham has had sexual relationships "in order to provide pastoral care and counseling."  The Rev. Austin Hurd, who chairs the Pittsburgh Standing Committee, said that a full investigation of the allegations is underway and may last for two years.  He pointed with pride to a recently drawn up diocesan policy on clergy sexual misconduct.  This new policy was prompted by the successful lawsuit against Bishop William Frey and the Diocese of Colorado for $1.2 million.

      The letter from the diocese was extremely legalistic in tone, suggesting that defense against possible lawsuits was the paramount issue.  This is ironic since the woman who initiated the investigation would have no grounds to sue Fr. Pulkingham, let alone the Diocese of Pittsburgh to which he moved only seven years ago.  The contrast with the handling of the Colorado case in which Frey counseled a woman who had been abused by a priest to be silent and get psychiatric help while transferring the priest to a larger parish, should be obvious.

      The news was especially upsetting in Aliquippa, where Pulkingham had been Vicar of All Saints mission from 1986 through the end of 1991.  Aliquippa is northwest of Pittsburgh, only three miles from Ambridge, the home of Trinity School for Ministry (headed by Bishop Frey) and the nerve center of the charismatic or renewal movement in the Episcopal Church.  The Community of Celebration, which had 26 members when they arrived in Aliquippa but now has only 18, is best known for its musical component, the Fisherfolk, who have made 45 recordings.  Pulkingham's wife, Betty, was the principal arranger of their music and two of her arrangements are in "The Hymnal 1982."

      Pulkingham, 66, was born in Ohio but raised in Canada and went to the Seminary of the Southwest in Austin.  He spent his early ministry in the Diocese of Texas.  He became Rector of Redeemer, Houston in 1963.  The following year he received the "Baptism of the Holy Spirit" from Pentecostal minister and leading anti-gay crusader David Wilkerson.  Pulkingham never mentioned anything about being "healed" of his homosexuality in the three books he authored (he does refer to being "swept clean of all defilements") nor in any public statements; he was not a public supporter of so-called "ex-gay" ministries.  Nevertheless, following the August revelations, he said in an interview with Julia Duin, "I am deeply ashamed and totally guilty of what I did."  He said he had been "tormented" by homosexual inclinations since adolescence.  "When I was baptized in the Holy Spirit I was set free from that torment." 

      Apparently the "torment" returned fairly quickly.  After leaving Redeemer Pulkingham and his community were in various locations prior to their arrival in Pittsburgh:  England (1972-75), Scotland (1975-80), Houston (1980-82), Colorado (1982-83), and England (1983-84).  The affair that led to his suspension began in Scotland and continued with Pulkingham's return to Redeemer as associate rector for two years.  The now estranged wife was a member of Redeemer when she met her husband.

      There may be further revelations.  Pulkingham told Duin, "I took liberties with some persons ... that were sexual in nature."

********************

*AUSTRALIAN BISHOP ARRESTED*

by Kim Byham

      The Rt. Rev. Owen Dowling, 57, Bishop of Canberra and Goulburn and a leading figure in the effort to ordain women priests in Australia, announced that he is retiring at the end of the year because of stress arising from criminal charges filed against him and the women's ordination issue.

      He is charged with inviting or soliciting a man to prostitute himself in a public place.  The charge follows an alleged incident involving an off-duty policeman, Constable John Smith, in a Bendigo, Victoria park in early April.

      Dowling has indicated he will strongly contest the charge, which his lawyer has alleged was the result of police entrapment.  The case will be heard on September 7.

      Dowling, a bishop for nine years, attempted to ordain 11 women to the priesthood in February but the ceremony was blocked by legal action.

      In a similar incident, Pensacola, FL police arrested an Episcopal priest, the Rev. David Allen Bell, in June.  The report from "The Pensacola News-Journal" contained the following:

      An undercover police officer was in a mall restroom when he noticed a man fondling himself in a stall, the police report said.  The man in the stall walked out, stood next to the officer at the urinal, and continued to fondle himself, the report said.  "Do you have a place we can go?" the man asked the officer, according to the report.  Bell was arrested and taken to the Escambia County Jail.

********************

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********************

*AN INTEGRITY QUIZ*

We had no entrants, but we did have several people ask us for the answers to the quiz which appeared in the last issue.  Here are the answers:

1) False, the national office of Integrity, Inc. is not in Washington, DC because there is no national office anywhere.  There is only a post office box in Washington, which we share with the Washington chapter.

********************

2) Integrity, Inc. is incorporated in Illinois.

3) Integrity's first chapter was founded in Chicago.

4) Integrity's third largest chapter is Integrity/Western Massachusetts (New York and San Francisco are #s 1 & 2).

5) Integrity's first male co-president was Jim Wickliff (with Ellen Barrett).

6) Integrity, Inc.'s oldest board member (but not by too much) is Rob Rynearson.

7) False, in the last ten years, the president of Integrity, Inc. has only lived in the New York area for four years (Kim Byham 3 and Bob Armstrong 1).

8) the original Integrity publication was called the "Integrity Forum."

9) Integrity's second national convention was held in San Francisco in 1976.

10) 1991 was Integrity's 6th General Convention.

********************

*1992 CONVENTION SUPPLEMENT*

*ALL GOD'S CHILDREN*

*STATE OF TEXAS*

*OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR*

*AUSTIN, TEXAS*

June 26, 1992

Greetings:

It is my pleasure to join in celebrating the opening of Integrity's 14th National Convention and to welcome all its attendees to Texas.

Integrity plays a critical role in our nation's community of faiths, helping to keep the church doors open for every worshipper.  I am proud that you have chosen Texas and Province 7 of the Episcopal Church as the hosts for this convention, and I know it will be a successful and memorable event.

All my best!

           Sincerely,

           Ann W. Richards

           Governor 

********************

*Proclamation*

*INTEGRITY NATIONAL CONVENTION DAYS*

      WHEREAS, the lesbian/gay justice ministry of the Episcopal Church will hold the 14th Annual Integrity National Convention in Houston July 10 through July 12, 1992; and

      WHEREAS, The Most Rev. Edmond L. Browning, Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church will preach and celebrate the Eucharist at the opening service and will lead an open forum at the Integrity National Convention; and

      WHEREAS, also featured at the convention will be the Rev. Warner Traynham, Rector of St. John's Church, Los Angeles, one of the outstanding African American preachers of the Episcopal Church; and

      WHEREAS, Integrity was founded in rural Georgia in 1974 by Dr. Louie Crew, now a professor at Rutgers University, who will also be a featured speaker at the Integrity National Convention; and

      WHEREAS, Integrity, with over fifty chapters throughout the United States, Canada and Australia, is the second largest lesbian/gay religious caucus in membership numbers:

      NOW, THEREFORE, I, Robert C. Lanier, Mayor of the City of Houston, do hereby proclaim July 10 through July 12, 1992, as

*INTEGRITY NATIONAL CONVENTION DAYS*

in Houston, Texas and extend best wishes for a most successful convention.

          /s/  Bob Lanier

          Mayor of the City of Houston

********************

*IN PRE-CONVENTION INTERVIEW*

*BROWNING URGES CONTINUED DIALOGUE*

by Jeffrey Penn

      On the eve of his visit to the national convention of Integrity, Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning said that Christians must not shrink from addressing difficult issues, and must keep a listening ear and open heart toward persons who disagree.

      "I accepted the invitation to the Integrity convention because I wanted to go--I felt it was important to go," Browning said.

      Describing the vision that guides his ministry as "a church of compassion," Browning said that a basic respect for persons who disagree has been a hallmark of his term as presiding bishop.  "I think there can be disagreements in the life of the church," Browning said in an interview in his New York office.  "If we can share with one another what we believe and be open to learn from one another, we might discover things about ourselves we've never known."

*'HANG IN THERE'*

      Browning rejected the contention by some in the church that his presence at the Integrity convention might compromise the church's standards on sexuality.  "Dialogue brings into question what sin is, and what sin is not.  I don't have any feeling that [the General Convention in Phoenix] called for a compromising of the church's standards.

      "If I understand the church's ministry of reconciliation, of mercy, of love and caring, it seems to me that we are fulfilling that ministry by entering into the dialogue," Browning added.  "We are trying to understand what God is calling us to do and to be."

      Browning said that he was "sympathetic" to the impatience expressed by some gay and lesbian members of the Episcopal Church that the church is still an oppressive institution or not responsive to their concerns.  "Sometimes I think the church moves at a snail's pace," he said.  "I would encourage people who feel discouraged to 'hang in there.'  It is extremely important for their voices to be heard."

*GREATER OPENNESS IN THE CHURCH*

      Browning said that the dialogue on homosexuality is a deeply personal matter, one requiring a great deal of sensitivity and respect.  "Issues like this are not solved by voting on resolutions.  To share the story of your life with another person opens up the possibility of conversion and a change of heart."  He added that he perceived a "greater openness in the church" to engage in the dialogue and understand the issue.

      Browning disagreed with those who contend that homosexuality had taken on too much importance in the church.  "We have not addressed it as well as it could have been, so it has caused us more pain."

      "In the last triennium I was deeply disappointed that such a small number of dioceses had studied the question of homosexuality," Browning said.  "I detect a much deeper commitment for the next three years."

      Yet, despite his optimism about the dialogue, Browning acknowledged that the debate on homosexuality in the Episcopal Church would probably not end before his 12-year term expires in 1998.

*KEEP STRUGGLING*

      Browning asserted that his role as presiding bishop required him to keep the church alert to the difficult challenges it faces.  "So much is stirring in the church--not only about the issue of homosexuality--but also about racism and the urban crisis and poverty.  We cannot be negligent in addressing these issues," he said.  "I would hope to see us keep the church struggling with some sense of faithfulness."

      "When people accuse me of having an agenda or lobbying, I remind them that the responsibility of the presiding bishop is to keep the church struggling with these issues," Browning said, "because I think these are the things that hinder us in our mission."

      "When I came into this office, I had a sense of enormous diversity in the life of the church.  I felt that this church was ready to move out of the tensions over the ordination of women and revision of the prayerbook--to set it moving forward on its mission," Browning said.  "If we didn't have the grace to affirm that diversity and to hold up the gifts in the life of the church, then we could not move ahead."

      During his installation Browning said that the Episcopal Church must be a place where "there will be no outcasts."  Browning said that he might phrase it a little differently today.  "Maybe what I would say now is that the church is a place for outcasts."

      Browning said that the past six years had revealed "that there are many people who believe themselves to be outcasts, but who are not willing to come in the center and participate unless they can make others outcasts.  They come with strings attached.  We need to challenge that," he said.

      According to Browning the sacrament of baptism was the "underlying foundation" for his vision of inclusiveness.  "Baptism puts us in relationship--not only with Christ--but also with every other baptized person," he said.

      "There are people on the edges or the margins of the church who need to be brought into the center--into the body--who must be respected and honored," Browning added.  "This is the task of the Decade of Evangelism."

-----

Jeffrey Penn is Assistant News Director of *Episcopal News Service* which supplied this article.

********************

*BROWNING TELLS US TO `HANG IN' DESPITE CHURCH'S AMBIGUITY*

by Jeffrey Penn

      During what some observers called a "dramatic pastoral visit,"  Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning issued a strong clarion call to lesbian and gay Episcopalians to "keep the faith" and continue to "tell their stories" in a church that sometimes does not want to listen.

      "You've got to know how important it is for you to hang in," Browning told the nearly 200 members of Integrity, an organization of lesbian and gay Episcopalians and their supporters, during its 14th annual convention in Houston, Texas, July 9-12.

      Browning's presence at the convention was the first by a presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church.  The visit took place almost exactly a year after a highly contentious General Convention in Phoenix recognized the ambiguity Episcopalians have in addressing the issue of homosexuality.

      "Phoenix called the church into a dialogue on the issue of homosexuality, and it seems to me that my visit to the Integrity meeting is an important way of modeling the church's willingness to be in dialogue on the issue," Browning said in an interview prior to the Houston visit.  He noted that dialogue is a two-way conversation and "it is very important for the gay and lesbian community to be included in the dialogue, too."

*DIALOGUE WAS WATCHWORD*

      Dialogue was the first item on the agenda of the convention and the watchword throughout.  Members of the church's Standing Commission on Human Affairs held an open hearing and invited participants to "share their everyday experiences in the church."  Representatives from the commission asked members of Integrity, "Have you been welcome?  How have you been treated?  Do you have full and equal claim with all other persons in your baptism?"

      For three hours, members of Integrity told the commission that they had received a double message from Episcopal Church--a history of both acceptance and rejection, particularly in local congregations.  One priest called it a "checkerboard of experiences."

      Several persons reported that there are subtle messages of discrimination in most parishes against gay and lesbian persons, while others reported examples of outright hostility.

      Tom Martin of Lakeland, Florida, reported that he was run out of his church after his pastor warned him about God's punishment.  "He said to me, `If you become a practicing homosexual, you will have your blessings withdrawn from the Lord,'" Martin said.

      Dottie Fuller, formerly from the Diocese of Northern California, reported that she and her partner, Gil Grady, were denied communion by their priest unless they "confessed the sin" of their relationship.

      "We are not asking for special consideration--just the same consideration," said the Rev. Jim Ferry, a priest in the Anglican Church of Canada who was recently removed from his congregation because he admitted to his bishop that he was involved in a gay relationship.  "Not stones for the minority while bread for the majority," he asserted.

*PERSEVERANCE IN THE STRUGGLE*

      At the heart of the convention, 500 people packed the Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church for a festival Eucharist in a setting that blended incense, organ and trumpets, and a procession of colorful banners from many of the 50 Integrity chapters across the country.

      In a sermon that played off the theme of the convention, "All God's Children," Browning spoke of his eight-month-old grandson, Joshua.  He said that he had both optimism and dread for the kind of world in which his grandson would grow up--a world that included bigotry, war and loneliness, but also compassion and reconciliation.

      Browning paid tribute to members of Integrity for their perseverance in the struggle for acceptance in the church.  "I thought about your origins.  I thought about what it has cost you to be honest about who you are.  I thought about how accustomed you must have become to having people, who have never met you, form judgments about you based upon what you are rather than who you are....And I wish with all my heart that you had never had to get used to that," he said.

      Yet Browning also called on Integrity members to reject the "world's values" where all struggle is pitched in a "win-lose" scenario.  "Is it possible to know the pain of what you have known and still find it within yourself to remain in the body where so much of that pain has occurred?" Browning asked.  "Can you be the reconcilers Christ calls all of us to be without either denying the reality of your pain on the one hand or denying the possibility of its coming to an end on the other--without either minimizing what you have felt or allowing it to overcome you?"

      "May you always seek earnestly after the reconciling love Christ offers you in such abundance," Browning added.  "May you

 gather strength and courage from one another and from the

communities in which you live...."

      During the communion, smiles and tears expressed the emotion of the congregation as individuals approached the altar rail. Browning later said of the Eucharist that "for just a moment I had a glimpse of the church that I have dreamed and visioned."

      Members of Integrity greeted the presiding bishop with two thunderous standing ovations and gave him a stole that included symbols of Integrity and the lesbian and gay community [designed by Challwood Studios].  Local dignitaries and clergy welcomed Browning to the city of Houston, and Texas Governor Ann Richards sent a greeting praising Browning as "a strong and important leader in the Episcopal Church [whose] efforts to reach out to every member are deeply appreciated by all."

*`WE ARE EVANGELISTS'*

      "I think he said what needed to be said, that no one will be reconciled unless it is in the manner of Christ," said Bruce Garner of Atlanta, president of Integrity.  "I doubt he will ever be the same -- and probably Integrity won't either.  His visit represented a portion of acceptance at God's table that we've been working for.  We're not completely there yet--but this was another step."

      "I am very glad he was here although he may take some flak for it," said Patti O'Kane of New York.  "His visit was an

affirmation of our ministry.  We are evangelists.  We work to reconcile the world to Christ, and we do that work despite our own pain.  We've stayed.  We're here."

      Bryant Hudson from the Diocese of Dallas said that he had wept throughout the service.  "It was gratifying and encouraging that the presiding bishop would come to Texas....  He gave us courage and hope to hang on when some of our homophobic bishops do not."

      In an hour-and-a-half open session with Browning the following morning, members of Integrity engaged Browning in a face-to-face dialogue about their pain and hopes for their life in the church.

      One priest reported that she had been asked to leave several parishes when it was discovered that she was a lesbian.  She said that the experiences had been difficult, not only for her, but also for her partner and the two young children they are raising.  "What do I tell my children?" she asked.  She said that her children had always taken the bad news "better than I do.  They said, `Mama, things like that happen when you're gay.'"

*A SAFE AND AFFIRMING PLACE?*

      Another woman told Browning that she and her partner had received the support and blessing of her local congregation, but the church had an uneven record in relating to gay people and she is worried about the future.  Drawing on the image from Browning's sermon the night before, she told him, "If your grandson turns out to be gay, I hope he could have his relationship blessed, that he would find the church the safe and affirming place that many of us have found it, and envision it."

      Patrick Waddell, who served as a deputy to the 1991 General Convention from the Diocese of El Camino Real, decried what he called the "timid and palsied statements that don't give any relief for gays and lesbians" adopted by the convention.

      Browning urged members of Integrity to participate in the dialogue requested by the 1991 General Convention.  "It's going to depend on you.  You have to be willing to press your diocesan bishops.  You need to see that this study material is used and be involved so that your voices can be heard.

      "You are contributing to the health and well-being of the whole church.  You are a part of this church," Browning said.  "All over the country I say to the church that the gay and lesbian community is tired of being treated as an issue.  They want to be treated as people."

      "His [Browning's] visit was extremely encouraging.  He spoke personally and from the heart," said the Rev. David Norgard, director of the Oasis Ministry with the lesbian and gay community in the Diocese of Newark.  "We still have a ways to go on the road towards full acceptance of lesbian and gay people in the Episcopal Church, and I hope that he will be a part of that."   

      "The presiding bishop's ministry of presence really struck  me," said Carol LaPlante of the Diocese of Western Massachusetts. "To have such a visible symbol of the organized church among us to preach and celebrate was extremely important."  Asked what she would take back home with her, LaPlante said, "not only his witness but also ours, too.  We, too, are working on being a church that has no outcasts."

*FLAVOR WAS EVANGELICAL*

      Despite being dismissed a political lobby by some of its critics, the Integrity convention had a decidedly evangelical flavor.  Throughout a variety of forums at the convention, speaker after speaker addressed two questions that seemed to form a kind of informal mission statement for the group:  How can we share the Gospel of Christ in the lesbian and gay community?  And how do we share our experience as lesbian and gay Christians with other members of the Episcopal Church?

      The convention's business sessions and workshops resembled meetings of almost all other organizations in the church.  Participants tinkered with details about budget and bylaws, shared ideas on how to encourage deeper participation by local chapters in the national organization, encouraged each other to promote a more inclusive racial and ethnic participation in the membership, and talked about how to be effective evangelists.

      "The pain in the church over this issue is excruciating," said Sue Thompson of the Diocese of Atlanta as she reflected on the convention.  "I want to dream of a church that is big enough for everyone.  Everything I say is always taken as a political statement.  I don't want those opposed to me who stay in the church to feel like they've lost if I stay.  I want them to feel like it is their church, too."

      Others expressed impatience.  "It is time to get on to other work," said a woman from the Diocese of El Camino Real in one of the forums.  "We've spent 20 years studying this issue.  I would think that people in the church who are not gay or lesbian are tired of talking about this--we [in the lesbian and gay community] are certainly tired of it.  There is so much more Christians can do with their time and money than debate this issue."

********************

THE PRESIDING BISHOP'S SERMON

OPENING EUCHARIST

INTEGRITY NATIONAL CONVENTION

      I wonder if we might just bow our heads for a moment . . . Dear God, on this evening of your creation, we pray that you will be in our eyes and see through them, that we might behold all that you have made and know that it is good.  We pray that you will be in our minds, and that you will think through them, that we might know what it is that you have called us to be and to do, in our journey with you and with the rest of your creation.  And, dear Lord, we pray that you will be in our hearts, and set them on fire, through love for you, that that which you've called us to be and that which you've called us to do, we may do so to your greater honor and glory and to the service of your whole creation.  And we make this prayer in Jesus' name.  Amen.

      My how the devil likes a temptation!  I wasn't going to say this, but I can't help it.  This is the highest I've been in a long time.  *[laughter and applause.  Editor's note: this is a reference, in part, to the height of the pulpit]*  This is the first time I've been in Palmer, Palmer Church, Memorial Church, and I'm absolutely delighted to be here.  To be here with Jeff Walker.  I don't know where this choir came from, but they're absolutely marvelous.  And I feel that there's a tremendous spirit here in this congregation, so that the only way that I know how to greet you is by saying, 'Aloha.'  'Aloha.'  [Aloha.]  If you can't do better than that I'm going to go back where I came from.  'Aloha.'  *[ALOHA!]*

      Well I have to say, really, from the depths of my heart, how very delighted I am to be here this evening.  I want you to know that I talked just about two hours ago with Patti, and she wanted especially to be remembered to you.  She's not with us tonight because part of our family is visiting in New York and so it's hard to get her away from some of her children and grandchildren.  I'll say more about that later.  I did attend, several years ago, the conference that was known as 'Under One Roof,' which was a gathering of many organizations, and some of you were there.  Integrity was a part of that gathering.  But I think this is my first opportunity I've had to visit one of your regular meetings.  The invitation has been extended to me several times.  It was some time prior to Phoenix, I had a conversation with Bruce and because I had no conflicts in the schedules I accepted the invitation and I'm delighted to be here.  Thank you for the invitation.

      I have said that during all six years that I served as Presiding Bishop that I find that one of the important roles of offices that has been very significant to me is what I call the ministry of presence.  And one of the joys for me is that I've had the opportunity to travel around this church and to be able to come to know the wonderful people who are a part of it.  Because in that kind of ministry -- evangelism is that kind of job -- I have to say to you without any reservation, that it turns out, regardless of what else is involved in this office, I find this to be terribly strengthening.  Strengthening my faith and encouraging me in my ministry.  And I have to say to you that the challenge that I find in that travel and in being with different parts of this church excites me by its diversity.  And they make me thankful again and again by the sense that I receive that there really is more in this church that unites us than divides us.  And being here with you tonight and tomorrow, I've already known, and already know, is no exception to that  experience.  For that I give grateful thanks.  For again, we will celebrate that sense of our unity in Christ as we come together, and break bread together, in a few moments.

      Even though I've identified part of my roots I want to say that, as some of you may know, that I feel kindness and in as deep a sense as it might sound, I feel a very warm welcome.  I've come back to the state of my birth.  This is my home state.  And I think that many of my roots are still in Hawaii but I have to also state that many of my roots are here, particularly in Corpus Christi.  My mother still lives there.  My brother and his family live there, so your having me here in Houston really is, whether you know it or not, a kind of welcoming me back to the place from which I have come.

      And I don't know if your experience is like mine; that being back where you came from brings back memories you thought were long gone.  And we are formed, I think, by what we remember, and also formed by what we have forgotten.  So the exercise of remembering, and forgetting, is, I think, an important part of the Christian journey.

      Tonight, for the text that I would like to use, it's just a very brief word that is taken from the Gospel lesson.  It's the thirty sixth verse of the ninth chapter of Mark.  "And he took a child, and set him in the midst of them ...."  The Christian journey, as I was mentioning a moment ago, growing up from your roots has been on my mind lately because Patti and I have had the joy of being recently, as I said just a moment ago, with part of our family in New York.  I and Patti spent a wonderful Independence Day weekend with one of my very favorite people in the entire world.  He is eight months old.  His name is Joshua.  My mother has trouble with my children's children's names.  I think Joshua is a beautiful name.  He is the youngest of my grandchildren, who are increasing in number and beauty and intelligence, and are all making Patti and me just more happy than we thought we would ever be.  Not that we didn't have fun with his dad, and with his dad's brothers and his sister, but it turned out to be something that is quite different.

      Grandchildren are different.  And what I want to share with you this evening, is that I don't ever remember, I can't recall feeling the same poignant feeling about my own children that grips my heart when I think about Joshua and his cousins.  Now this is really kind of hard to explain, myself.  Its kind of strange to gather this point.  But what I find when I look at him I feel as if I were handing over the world to him, as if I were placing in his little tiny hands the world as a gift.  And mixed with joy in my giving him this gift, is at the same time, and this is what's really kind of hard to explain, is at the same time a kind of feeling of dread.  Because *I* know what's *in* the world that I'm handing over to Joshua, and he doesn't.  He doesn't know about bigotry yet, for instance.  Joshua likes everybody.  He goes to everybody.  He smiles at everybody.  But this world that I'm handing over to him has a lot of bigotry in it, and I have to say here that I dread his coming to know about it.  Joshua doesn't know about loneliness, either.  He's never been alone.  He's always had his mom or his dad or someone else who loves him around.  But the world I'm handing over to him is filled with lonely people, and I dread the thought that he may one day be one of them.  I, I don't want Joshua to know about war, either.  But this world I'm passing on to him is full of war.  And I hate it that he's going to have to know about that.

      You see, what I'm saying, is that the major portion of my life is now in the past.  I've lived more of it than I have left to live.  But his life is in the future.  And I *long* -- in a way that's filled with surprises, and continues to surprise me -- I long for Joshua's open-hearted surprise at the world as it unfolds before him to stay *just the way it is*.  I long for him never to know cynicism, and so my joy in this child is really bittersweet, for he will know about cynicism, and he will learn war -- and he will experience loneliness -- and I'm quite certain that he will understand, when he gets to my age, something about the adventure, *all* those things that we know something about here this evening.  He cannot stay a child forever.

      We have a little log cabin up in Pennsylvania, which enables us to get out of New York and away from the Center and everything, for a chance to rest and renew ourselves.  And that's where we were at the time of the Fourth of July.  And I was sitting outside watching Joshua crawl around while I was thinking about what I'd say to you.  I thought about your origins.  I thought about what it has cost you to be honest about who you are.  I thought about how accustomed you must have become to having  people, who have never met you, form judgments about you based upon what you are rather than who you are.  And I thought to my self, I guess that to some degree, they will say they've gotten used to it.  But when I think about the years you *spent* getting used to it, I have to say to you -- this is really the reason I'm here -- I have to say to you, that there is a catch in my heart that I feel exactly as I do about Joshua.  I wish with all my heart that you never had to get used to that.  I wish that you didn't have to know what you know.  My grandson has never known what it feels like to be rejected and despised.  I wish that you didn't know what it feels like, either.  But I imagine that there is not a person in this church tonight, who has not at some time been hurt and isn't hurt right to this moment.  That has not been stung by some this evening.  And I know they are saying that probably there are some among us continuing but still feel deeply that sting tonight.

      And so I come to see and say, or to ask, but I really think it was my intention to go to the community, but I come to say that, is it possible to know the pain of what you have known and still find it within yourself to remain in the body where so much of that pain has occurred?  Can you be the reconcilers Christ calls all of us to be without denying the reality of your pain on the one hand or denying the possibility of its coming to an end on the other, without minimizing what you have felt or allowing it to overcome you?  How can we struggle together in love, when so many of the models for struggle which we have are really not models of love, but they are models of hate?

      I want to say to you this evening that I believe with all my heart that we need a model for the struggle other than the ones the world presents us.  What do we see when we look around us?  We see the model of warfare:  I will have more soldiers and more money and better strategy than you have, and I will defeat you.  I will have the best defense of my position and I will convert you and everyone else to it.  I will win and you will lose.  To the victor go the spoils.  But that is not the model for our struggle.  We did not learn this way of war from the One who died for us on the cross of injustice and reached down from his agony to touch the ones who nailed him there with a loving word of forgiveness.

      So I think we have to ask, what, what will we be like when we have learned Christ?  What will we be like when we have learned Christ?  Jesus says today that we will approach the world as if it were an innocent child, a child in need of our protection, a child who brings out the best in us.  And we will be open to truth and good wherever we find it -- we will not refuse to see it in those who differ from us.  We will not be trying to win.  We will not be trying to hide our own doubts and weaknesses.  We will be showing them without fear, as a child shows a scraped knee to an adult for some kind of comfort.  We will be like children ourselves:  open, trusting, curious, willing to listen and willing to talk.

      I am very convinced that this church will never be reconciled about any issue unless we reclaim the struggle in Christ's name with Christ's methods.  And I am convinced that neither side can win a war.  Peace *must* break out.  Reconciliation *must* begin.  The struggle of Christ is not, and never has been and never will be, a project of seeing who can win.  This is really hard, I know, for us, for a body like ours, the Episcopal Church, to grasp, since we do our business in the form of resolutions which we vote up or down, upon which we choose sides and lobby and caucus and win or lose.  But we know that the legislative part of our common life as the Body of Christ is only one part, and I have to say to you, that I believe it is one of the smallest parts.  It's far from being the whole.  And when a resolution goes through General Convention, or when its by General Convention, we know that this is not the end of the struggle.  It is often only the beginning.  The work of reconciliation is not completed in resolutions.  It is a spiritual work, and its tools are spiritual tools.

      I'm often misquoted, and I dare say I'll be again.  But I get to say what I'd like to say.  This sermon is not a commercial for doing away with General Convention!  We're a big organization and we have to have meetings.  And we have to order them somehow, and we do the best we can.  I'm going to share with you parenthetically that we're trying to find a way to do it better if we can.  But we are not just any organization.  We are the Body of Christ.  When we borrow categories of organization from the world, we have not borrowed the values of the world, in which winning is everything.  We retain the values of Christ, in which the first are last and the last *are* first, in which a child, the weakest among us, is placed in the midst of us for us to serve and to protect.

      When the voting is over the work of reconciliation is still ahead.  And it is done in the magnificently unlikely way that Christ works -- and listen to this, it is probably the most important thing that I have to say tonight -- the magnificently unlikely way that Christ works:  the One through whom the entire sweep of creation came to be, the One who pulled the mountains up out of the sea and breathed life into everything that moves, this mighty God of everything that is and could ever be touches us gently, one by one, with a loving touch more tender than any touch that we have ever known.  This mighty God gives us the gentleness we need, just as God gives us the strength we need.  And this gentle God opens the hearts of those who call God's name, opens them to one another, melts the ice of estrangement, brings love out of hate, trust out of suspicion, confidence out of fear.

      We are promised this reconciliation.  It is the primary work of the church, the final fruit of Christ's saving death on the cross.  One day Christ will be all in all, and nothing can keep us from it if we want to be a part of it.  Christ longs for us to live together in this oneness, and we are sealed in it from the moment of our baptism.  Nothing we have endured or will endure will ever be able to separate us from the love of Christ.

      These are the thoughts I had as I watched Joshua play in the sunshine.  As I wrote them down, the catch in my heart, that feeling of dread that made my joy in him bittersweet, really melted away.  He will grow.  He will know his share of loneliness and betrayal, just like everyone else.  He will not be spared.  But he will not be separated from Christ because of it.  He will be comforted, same as I have been, same as you have been, same as everyone can be who wants to.

      And so I say to you, my sisters and brothers, in the Lord, I say to you, may you always want to.  May you always seek earnestly after the reconciling love Christ offers you in such abundance.  And may you gather strength and courage from one another and from the communities in which you live, and may your struggle be the loving struggle of Christ all the days of your life.  AMEN.

-----

Our thanks to Dorothy Ruhl, editor of "The Integrity/Austin News," for transcribing the Presiding Bishop's remarks from a tape.  The version that has appeared elsewhere is the pre-delivery text, which he modified on several occasions.

********************

*Gay, Lesbian Episcopalians Open Meeting With Bishop Visit

First Convention in Texas for Group Named Integrity*

By Steve Brunsman, Post Religion Reporter

In the first day of a national meeting here, gay and lesbian Episcopalians told church officials they had been preached against, denied communion and removed from the priesthood.

"I want to see the Episcopal Church change and love homosexual people for who they are," said Thomas Martin of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., after he told an open hearing Friday about being run out of one parish.

But the day's events shifted Friday evening when, for the first time, a presiding bishop visited the annual convention of gay and lesbian Episcopalians.

Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning, the church's national leader, preached and presided at the opening Eucharist service for the group, Integrity, at Palmer Memorial Church, 6221 Main.

Integrity members hailed the historic visit.

"He's celebrating communion with us.  The presiding bishop said there would be no outcasts in the church years ago, and now he's following through," said Dr. Bill Benefield of Austin.

Like many U.S. Protestant groups, the 2.5 million-member denomination hasn't quit debating homosexuality.  At a national meeting in Phoenix last year, the church affirmed that physical sex was appropriate only in the marriage of a man and woman.  But church leaders admitted they could not agree about homosexuality and called for a new, three-year study.

Some Episcopal bishops have ordained openly homosexual clergy, angering many church conservatives.

Integrity, a 2,500-member Episcopal group, opened its first meeting in Texas with a three-hour hearing before the church commission on human affairs, which has asked to hear about the experiences of homosexual church members.

Several Integrity members said they had found open support in parishes.  But horror stories were as common.  Martin, for example, said he was run out of his Lakeland, Fla., church after his pastor warned him about God's punishment.

"He said to me, 'If you become a practicing homosexual, you will have your blessings withdrawn from the Lord,'" Martin said.

Double standards are at work, others said.  One woman described how a parish in San Francisco helped her and a lover of 27 years come out of the closet; in another parish years later, the rector denied communion to them.

The Rev. James Ferry, a Toronto priest, won a standing ovation.  He lost his priestly duties in the Anglican Church of Canada after a church trial.  His parish was informed that he was gay by his bishop, Ferry said.

Browning will attend an open forum at the church at 9 a.m. today.  Episcopal Diocese of Texas Bishop Maurice Benitez has not attended the meetings, but six ministers concelebrated the Eucharist service.

-----

The above article appeared in *The Houston Post*, Saturday, July 11, 1992.

********************

*VIDEO TAPES FROM CONVENTION*

*#1*     Opening Eucharist with sermon by The Most Rev. Edmond L. Browning and Plenary Session with the Presiding Bishop

*#2*     Sermons by The Revs. Carmen Guerrerro and Rand Frew and

Address by The Rev. Warner Traynham

*#3*     3 Workshops:

  Integrity as a Sanctuary (Bruce Garner),

  HIV/AIDS Ministry and Evangelism (Rand Frew),

  Integrating Integrity (Louie Crew)

*#4*     3 Workshops:

  Exploring Feminst Spirituality (Carmen Guerrerro),

  Care Teams: A Model for Ministry (Earl Shelp)

  Evangelism Versus Political Action (Don Stouder)

$11.95 each, including shipping

*Integrity/Houston*

P.O. Box 66245

Houston, TX 77266-6245

********************

*OPINION*

              *PB HOPELESSLY HETEROSEXIST*

by Paul Woodrum

      Our Presiding Bishop is hopelessly heterosexist.  Concerned?  Yes.  Sympathetic?  Yes.  Compassionate?  Yes.

      Understanding?  Empathic?  No.

      No, at least where lesbian and gay justice issues are involved.

      I didn't fully understand this until I read the sermon he preached at Integrity's Houston Convention.  I hadn't been able to understand how he could make such a ringing cry for justice - "In this church there shall be no outcasts!" - upon his election and then drag his feet on implementing all those sexuality/dialogue resolutions or why it took six years to find an open spot on his calendar to meet with Integrity when he could be off in a New York minute to meet with those blackmailing the church by threatening schism.  I had mistaken his compassion for understanding.  His sympathy for empathy.

      The Primate's Houston sermon was a revelation.  It revealed, naively and unintentionally I suspect, one who easily wears the mantle of under-examined and completely enjoyed male heterosexual privilege.  Nothing mean or vicious about it.  Just to the heterosexual manor born.  In the context of Integrity's particular lesbian and gay ministry, what else can one make of a sermon two thirds of which is built on the preacher's own joyous and anxious experience of straight family life?

      One can't be other than empathic with Browning's love of his family and his concern for the type of world in which his grandchildren will grow up.  But, to those of us who are deemed unfit natural, adoptive or foster parents simply because of our sexual orientation, who hesitate to help gay youth who have the highest suicide rate in the country for fear of being prosecuted as child molesters, who in most places are banned from jobs or as volunteers in positions where children are involved, or who ourselves first faced as children the animosity and rejection of family, friends, church and society because we are gay or lesbian, such words only serve to emphasize and widen the gulf between heterosexual privilege and homosexual disadvantage and oppression.

      I rejoice that Edmond and Patti's marriage has been blessed by their quiver full of children.  What I sought and did not find is any acknowledgement or even awareness of the great privileges to which that marriage has entitled them.  Simply because they are married they enjoy public and family recognition and support for their intimate relationships; legal, inheritance and tax privileges; automatic access to a spouse in case of accident or emergency; increased possibilities for employment and promotion, etc.  I sought and did not find any sensitivity to what the denial of all this means to the stability and celebration of lesgay partnerships.

      I used to suspect it was to avoid a reactionary feeding frenzy which inhibited Browning, but now I see that only a deeply ingrained heterosexism begins to explain why this primate, so concerned for the church's outcasts, has failed to understand what extending the privileges of heterosexual marriage would mean to his lesgay sisters and brothers.  At least I can find no evidence that he has ever seriously considered using the considerable influence and appointive powers of his office to move his church even one centimeter closer to the liturgical blessing of lesgay unions.

      The other note sounded by the Primate in his Houston sermon called for Integrity and lesbian and gay Christians to hang in there while foregoing an adversarial and political approach to justice in favor of forgiveness and reconciliation.

      OK, if both sides act on the basis of honest and examined conscience.  However, conscience is no defense of bigotry.  What lesbians and gay men face is irrational homophobic fear and bigotry and/or deeply ingrained and unexamined heterosexism on the part of even the best intentioned and most progressive heterosexuals.

      Minority status has forced lesgay people to confront and examine all their relationships.  Indeed, their very being.  Heterosexuals can address these issues but, as members of the privileged majority, are not required to.  Few have.  Until they do, real understanding, dialogue, forgiveness and reconciliation are nigh impossible.  Unless this is recognized, the call for lesgay people to be patient, forgiving and reconciling comes across as blaming victims for being victims when they don't roll over and play dead in the face of their oppressor's power, privilege and bigotry.  This guilt trip is not acceptable.

      Those few of us who are still active members of the church have experienced and know the reconciling love of Jesus.  Through Integrity we share it with one another.  In our partnerships we share it on as intimate level as any heterosexuals.  What we ask for is a sign that the heterosexual majority is beginning to have an inkling of how its protected and privileged position victimizes those it excludes.  I sought and did not find the Primate facing this part of the reconciliation equation.

      Though with decreasing effectiveness as more and more gay people come out of the closet, the most insidious weapon still used against lesbians and gay men, especially in the church, is pressure to be silent and to remain hidden.  Don't be politically active.  Don't flaunt it.  Stay in the closet.  I hope this is not what the Primate intends when he asks us to "be like children."  Some of his stances, however, do raise the question.  At his last meeting with Integrity's Board of Directors, the Primate expressed his dismay that a prior such meeting had been reported in *The Voice of Integrity*.  He wanted it clearly understood that all of this meeting was, as he erroneously thought the former had been, off the record.  While nothing earth shattering or new was discussed, his total ban on reporting the discussion struck me then, and still does, as participation in the oppression of silence.  I'm still embarrassed the Board and I acquiesced without a murmur of protest.

      Browning has heard our stories - priests accused of being gay driven from parishes and dioceses, members excommunicated for showing up at mass as a couple, directed damnation from the pulpit - yet, while sympathetic, he expresses strong reservations on canonical protections against such discrimination even though such canons have come very close to passing at General Convention.  I can appreciate that part of his opposition which stems from leadership's abhorrence of the inevitable controversy stirred up by the inclusion of a sexual orientation clause in any resolution, and by his deeply held conviction, which I share, that the adversarial approach inherent in the parliamentary process is not always the most Christian way to "struggle together in love."  However, without such protections, there is no equitable way to openly address and justly redress grievances based on racist, sexist or heterosexist discrimination.  Relying on private understandings, off-the-record chats, under-the-table deals and the old boy network only reinforces the oppression of silence.

      The Presiding Bishop said of his youngest grandson, "He doesn't know about bigotry yet ... But this world I'm handing over to him has lots of bigotry in it, and I dread his coming to know about it."  How ironic it would be if this child is gay and not only learns about bigotry but becomes its victim in part because his grandfather listened but did not understand, had good intentions but did not act, had power and did not use it.

      I'm glad our PB came to Houston and addressed Integrity's Convention.  Browning is a loving and compassionate leader, but we must not be lulled by our yearnings for respect and acceptance, by our respect for his office, or by his personal graciousness and courage into an uncritical acceptance of his (or any bishop's) official words, actions and inactions when they are rooted in oppressive, male heterosexual privilege.  Nor do I think he would expect us to.

      After reading the Primate's sermon, I can better appreciate Marechal Villars prayer on taking leave of Louis XIV:  "Defend me from my friends; I can defend myself from my enemies."

-----

The Rev. Paul Woodrum is sometime Treasurer and Director of Development of Integrity, Inc. and has just become a Contributing Editor of this journal.

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*IT IS NOT JUST A MATTER OF WHAT WE FIND IN*

*THE BIBLE, BUT WHAT WE COME TO IT LOOKING FOR*

*Warner Traynham's Convention Address*

      I have always been intrigued by the fact the scripture begins in a garden and ends in a city.  There is a message there.  For me the garden symbolized innocence, dependence, simplicity, nature.  Eden is in a real sense a given.  It is the starting point.  What the city symbolizes is maturity, interdependence, complexity and art.  It is to be achieved.  That movement says to me that life is to become richer, more complex, more revealing; that both fidelity and discovery and the making of new things awaits us; that challenge awaits and that it is ordained for our growth as individuals and as the human community.

      The city in scripture is by no means an unambiguous image.  God made the first garden.  Cain made the first city.  But God made the last city -- the New Jerusalem into which all the glory of the nations is to be brought.

      Some time back, in *The Living Church*, I came across an article called "ECUSA Parable."  The author likened this church to a superbowl game in which "At a critical time a lineman is off sides but no penalty is called because there is no referee to call it.  Blowing the whistle has become a legalism to some, the referee outdated fundamentalism for others.  Meanwhile the people in the stands are outraged and leave the arena for a place where the longstanding tradition of rules, referees, and whistles -- which not only protect the game from ruin and folly but enhance its marvel and excitement -- are understood, respected and enforced."

      I asked myself, what's wrong with this image?  Because for me something was wrong.  I concluded the problem was that I saw neither the church nor the arena in which the church operates as a "game," the rules of play for which are finally set.

      Rather, I see life, Christian life as an adventure, the destination of which we know -- we shall be like Christ -- but the specifics of which we learn on the way.  Scripture, the given, is a guide not a law.  We adopt guidelines on the basis of the best advice and the best experience we can attain and adjust them as circumstance requires, consistent with our goal.

      It is said that the conflict the church is now experiencing over sexuality is rooted in two conflicting views of scripture.  I think, more basically, it is rooted in two differing ways of seeing the Christian enterprise itself.  It is not just a matter of what we find in the Bible, but what we come to it looking for.  For some it is the infallible rule book for the game.  Play the game by its rules and you will win.  That was the Pharisees' view.  Fail to and in one way or another you are sure to lose.

      The other perspective is messier, less precise, less easy to explain, yet to my mind more cogent by far.  It sees scripture as the record of Jacob wrestling with the angel, of Israel's struggle to understand and obey God.  That record recalls false starts, wrong paths, prejudices and retreats as well as advances, fidelity and discovery.  It is a very human record, which one would expect if the doctrine of the incarnation is true.  But it is essential because within its stories and laws and history the God that Israel and we are called to worship emerges.  Not all at once and not without distortion.  It is after all an historical record, a very human record, but a unique record and it culminates in the incarnation itself where, after receiving the mind of God through events and other people, God reveals herself uniquely in the mind of Christ.

      Everything in scripture and out is subject to the critique of the whole, to the drift of the biblical record and finally to the mind of Christ.  Now none of this is precise.  I have used terms like "drift" and "mind of Christ" because scripture does not yield up its treasure automatically.  We have to enter into it and allow ourselves to be formed by it, in order to interpret it, and it is always interpreted.  This all sounds messy.  The literalists have a much easier job, or they would have if scripture weren't itself messy and complex like any long record of human history -- even one interfacing consciously with the divine.

      Put it another way.  Why are you a Christian?  Why do you believe in the Bible in the sense that you do?  Some will doubtless answer that they are Christians because they were born in the church.  You will earn Dr. Billy Graham's retort, "If you were born in a stable would that make you a horse?"  For most of you here, if that answer were an option, the issue of the church's view of homosexuality alone would force you to go beyond it.  So I ask again, why do you believe?  Surely you believe the faith and the scriptures because somehow they make sense of your life, they illuminate your existence, make your journey more comprehensible, provide a guide for it.  If in broad outline scripture makes sense, we accept the whole as revelation, expecting that if the whole seems cogent we will come to understand the details.  As we begin to examine the tradition or the scriptures, questions arise.  Depending on whether they make sense or not, we accept or challenge parts.  In the latter case if they are not significant we suspend judgment.  If they are significant we become reconciled or reject them.  In our day this is the way we have dealt with divorce and remarriage, anti-semitism, racism, sexism.  In the past this is how, in part, we dealt with lending money at interest, etc.  Only if the Gospel disappoints us massively are we likely to jettison the whole.  Otherwise we struggle with the inconsistent parts ultimately reinterpreting or disavowing them.  Faith, too, is a messy process.

      Scripture after all reflects the culture of the people who wrote it.  To be Pauline, "We have this treasure in earthen vessels" and it is sometimes a job to distinguish the one from the other.

      Some of our co-religionists would have us believe that (1) the scriptures are infallible, and (2) that there is no difficulty in discerning the divine word.  If the former is true, a chain is no stronger than its weakest link.  While scripture may be infallible, for it to be effective, I must believe it is infallible, and since I know that I may err, there is no certainty there.

      Secondly, the fact that there are so many different and conflicting groups claiming to know the 'plain sense' of scripture does nothing to persuade me that things are as clear cut as they say.

      Even if you subscribe to the rule book theory, it does not follow that you will insist on asserting that the prohibition in Leviticus against a male lying with a male, for instance, is God's word on the subject for our day.  It especially does not follow if you don't likewise insist on the accompanying condemnations against sex with a menstruating woman.  David Greenburg in his book *The Construction of Homosexuality* disagrees with John Boswell's assertion that, since both are called an abomination and the latter is trivial, the former must be, too.  Greenburg insists just the reverse -- both being abominations were taken very seriously, though for some of us sex with a menstruating woman is trivial while homosexual acts are not.

      Faced with this kind of discrimination the literalist must explain why one is important and the other not.  My response is that in the end he or she simply shares one prejudice and not the other.  But surely that is no basis upon which to make such a decision.  In fact, most of us decide if a thing is true or not on the basis of whether it makes sense to us -- it corresponds to the truth we believe we know, it promotes some good or avoids some evil.  That is why we hear about homosexuality undermining the family.  Though how, forcing into an institution people ill suited for it can strengthen it, or how, acknowledging the relations of such people in faithful unions outside of it, can undermine it, I am still waiting to learn.  In fact, the literalist is ultimately forced to say "God wills it;" that this is a given in the sexual realm and you can't get behind it to why.  If you challenge him with the "sex with a menstruating woman" argument, he or she will say Leviticus is not the key passage, Genesis is where Adam is made and then Eve.  There is no Adam and Steve.

      Clearly there is no Adam and Steve because it is a creation narrative and procreation lies at the core of the concern; that and the fact that what is portrayed here is the origin of the genders of humanity and whatever their orientation, no one claims there are more than two genders.  Finally, what we have here set forth is the usual norm, not the exceptions.  As William Countryman elsewhere says, that would make homosexuality a minority position, universal vis-a-vis the norm.  It does not make it or require it to be seen as immoral or sinful as Christian tradition has described it.

      It is at least interesting to note the parallel between the Genesis myth and that of Aristophanes in Plato's *Symposium*.  The subject of the former is creation, that of the latter is love.  In Genesis, Adam is apparently generic humanity and then is differentiated male when God makes Eve from his rib.  She is a part of him -- a patriarchal image.  In the *Symposium* there are three types of original people, each with 2 heads, 4 arms and legs, etc.  Some are male and female, some are double females, others double males.  Zeus divides them in two and since then, as my parents would have said, love has been the quest for ones other half.  Aristophanes' myth, of course, is designed to account for both gay and straight attractions.  The points of similarity and difference between the two stories are suggestive.

      What we have in scripture all along is a struggle.  First and basically, it is a struggle to grasp the experience and the implications of encountering the transcendent God in the concrete realities of this world.  What is it like to know God?  What does it lead to?

      At the same time, there is a struggle between the last generation's provisional answers to these questions and this generation's answers, born of the same struggle, based on the same emerging norms.

      It is a struggle recorded and illustrated in scripture but which continues to the present.  After all, the Holy Spirit did not cease to function when the canon was closed.  Paul is an example of this struggle.  If anything is clear, it is that the Apostle got hold of a tiger by the tail in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  He became the Apostle to the Gentiles because he discovered that much of what he believed as a Jew was knocked into a cocked hat by the Gospel.  One significant discovery was the acceptance of the Gentiles.  The whole Jewish tradition stood against this yet Paul's reading of the mind of Christ was that the barrier between Jew and Gentile had to come down and when Peter, unfaithful to this insight at one point, drew back, disavowing the courage of his conviction, Paul rebuked the prince of the Apostles to his face.

      One might have done the same for Paul, who in one place says in Christ there is neither male nor female and then tells women to be silent in church and consult with their husbands at home.  What's going on here?  This struggle is what is going on between the old ways and the new way and Paul is stumbling.  That stumbling should tell us something.  It should tell us that the Gospel moves toward liberation and the pulling down of walls and that when we turn away from that and speak old prejudices we stumble like Peter and like Paul did.  They were faithful to the text when they stumbled.  It was to the mind of Christ and the drift of scripture that they were faithful when they stood.

      Take this passage: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you all are one in Christ Jesus." Do you think, now that the barriers specifically referred to have been challenged, that it has no more work to do?  Do you think it is exhaustive or indicative?  Has it run its course or does it point beyond itself to barriers not mentioned and as yet unchallenged?  Romans 1:26-27, where Paul derives homosexuality from idolatry, is one of those places where the liberating light of the Gospel had not yet illuminated Paul's mind.  He spoke from the old mind, not Christ's.

      One of the questions we must ask is what is wrong with homosexuality as a minority condition or behavior?  What harm does it do?  The Emperor Justinian popularized the idea that just as it had caused the total destruction of the Cities of the Plain, it was not only a sin that harmed the sinner but one which endangered the community in some large and catastrophic way.  Parenthetically, no reputable biblical scholar, regardless of his or her position on the issue of homosexuality, claims that the Sodom story can be construed to portray anything other than homosexual rape, an act in antiquity commonly performed by heterosexuals as a form of humiliation.

      Through Christian history part of the terror of gay sex has been a fear of its general consequences.  The idea that its acceptance will somehow undermine the life of the family is just the latest version of this fear.  It is typical of society-wide fears that dire society-wide consequences are anticipated if prejudices are relaxed.  Jews, women, blacks have all been constrained for fear of social disorder and upheaval if they were not.  That is not to say that society will not be altered when such prejudices are challenged.  It is to say that catastrophe does not lie in wait.  It has not proven to be so with the prejudices mentioned and there is little reason to believe it should be so this time.  Of course, every prejudice is different in source and impact so the argument can be made that you can't reason from the one to the other -- but the structure of prejudice is consistent enough to undermine that view.

      It is probably not politic to say it, but Jesus himself went a long way in his critique of the patriarchal family of his day.  He certainly did not have the adoring respect for it in his time that many of his followers believe is politically correct today.

      Jesus apparently saw it as competitive with the kingdom.  Its good should be recognized.  The fact that the family has had multiple forms through history and is expressed in varied forms today should be recognized, too.  With the breakdown of many other forms of community, including the church, a fall back on communities of blood is natural enough, but the followers of Jesus should be the last, not the first, to make an idol of a particular form of the family in our day.

      In the end, the passages in scripture which appear to refer specifically to homosexual behavior are so limited or ambiguous as to yield no helpful guidance in addressing the phenomenon today.  The opponents of homosexual acceptance must instead argue from absence.  Scripture says nothing good about it explicitly, and when it deals with sex it seems to assume a heterosexual context.  The conclusion drawn is that it is not allowed.  "It is contrary to some special religious prohibition, the point of which only God knows and which we must take on faith."

      Bishop John Howe of Central Florida has written that you can't argue, in a fallen world, from existence of desire for behavior to the legitimacy of that behavior.  For example, the genetic predisposition toward alcoholism doesn't justify alcoholic abuse.  It calls for abstinence.

      But in a world which God pronounced good, one would assume that a Christian would entertain the presumption that such desires were good until it was demonstrated that they were not.  The results of alcohol abuse are intrinsic and well known.  No one, including the alcoholic, thinks the behavior or its results is a good thing.  This is not true with homosexuality.  The question to be answered is not why should homosexual behavior be accepted, or specifically why should life-long unions be blessed, and practicing gays considered eligible for ordination.  The logical burden of proof has shifted.  The question is why should they not?

      What reason can be given for scriptural prohibition or for church tradition?  To quote William Countryman again, "If the Sabbath was made for humanity and not humanity for the Sabbath, then to say that we have violated a rule is not an adequate argument.  We must say what harm has been caused in order to determine the morality of the act."

      Before going to the last convention, the deputies in the Diocese of Los Angeles held a hearing to get input from fellow members.  This issue dominated the agenda.  On several occasions discussions ensued.  Finally, a fellow priest complained to me that I was insisting that this was a matter of justice, when he saw it as a matter of theology.  What would the prophets have made of that?  Is there an opposition?  I don't think so.  I think that is what the prophets have been telling us.  You want good theology -- do justice.  Justice is often easier to discern than the divine intention in some other sphere.  For one, those suffering injustice will identify it for you.

      We may be confused as a church on this issue with competing interpretations of scripture and varied reasons for the tradition, but the record of injustice perpetrated against gay people by the church in its life and by the secular authority, either with the church's blessing or without its criticism, is long and grim and humbling.  People have been castrated, dismembered, burned at the stake, hanged, imprisoned, put in concentration camps, hounded from pillar to post, denied equal treatment under the laws, gratuitously stigmatized, driven to suicide and mental instability, made the socially-accepted butt of humor and violence.  Social and psychological behavior cited as reasons for not accepting homosexuality, upon examination turn out to be behavior caused not by the condition, but society's irrational and punitive response to it; a phenomenon we have noted in other oppressed groups.

      If this were not sufficient, as the price of acceptance, the church asks these same people to deny themselves the comfort, support and companionship of sexual love and embrace a celibate life as a result of an affectional orientation they did not choose and that produces no evident harm to them or the general society.

      Compared to the harm society's rejection has done and continues to do, what harm do we imagine acceptance would do?  Or is the real concern that whatever the result of acceptance, the majority would have to deal with it, whereas now, however great the harm of rejection, only the minority suffers?

      Most of the church, and certainly this church, has espoused civil rights for gays but without accepting the validity of gay sex.  But the issue is behavior.  So long as heterosexual sex is acceptable and homosexual sex is not, heterosexual persons will be accepted and homosexual persons will not.

      As the Commission on Health and Human Affairs put it "if the church is to counteract the irrational fear and hatred of gay men and lesbians rampant in our society, we cannot effectively advocate civil rights for gay men and lesbians in society at large if we appear to deny such rights within our fellowship."

      Nobody will want to hear what we say.  It will sound like, 'do as I say, not as I do.'

      This church, of course, will not be able to stand by such a position.  It is too patently untenable to be sustained for long.  Either we will abandon the whole issue or we will go all the way.  The former is no option for gays who stay in the church and therefore it is no option for the church.  To achieve that end gay and straight people can work together.

      For those who are out, push the parishes you are in to acknowledge your presence.  Have your names listed on the parish list together if you are a couple as straight couples do.  Go to parish events openly together.  Go to parish dances and dance together.  Ask your priest, not "when is the church going to perform the blessing of same-sex unions, but when is this parish?"  It will at least make the issue immediate and pastoral, not abstract and theological.

      Straight people can support gays in their action and ask questions themselves.  That support will pull where gays push.

      In a myriad reasonable ways, we can force fellow Episcopalians to confront the reality and set it in context so that it seems less strange and foreign -- so people can see analogies with familiar situations and learn that they affect familiar people.  Keep the pressure on at the parish and diocesan level.

      None of this is easy, but neither is change on the part of the church or the accomplishment of liberation in any context.

      It is a troublesome business -- the process of generating life always is.  The one confidence we have is that it can only come out one way.  The doors once opened cannot be shut.

      It may prove a case of the unrighteous judge -- but remember, because of her persistence, the widow got justice in the end.

-----

The Rev. Warner R. Traynham is Rector of St. John's Church, Los Angeles, CA

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*EPISCOPALIAN PARENTS OF GAYS AND LESBIANS*

      Episcopal parents of Gays and Lesbians are building a network for mutual support and for the purpose of educating ourselves and others on the issues of homosexuality from the Christian perspective.  We believe the homosexual orientation is a normal, natural variant in a small portion of our species, neither sickness nor sin.  God loves variety!  We believe that acceptance of our sons and daughters *as they are* is fully consistent with the teaching and example of Jesus Christ and the gospel of God's love.

Parents who wish to join the network may write either

Mrs. Jane Hope        or      The Rev. Betty Noice

1895 Princeton Dr.            2505 S. Broadway

Louisville, KY 40205          Grand Junction, CO 81503

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*NOT TO SAVE THE RIGHTEOUS*

By Louie Crew

      The Presiding Bishop preached and celebrated Eucharist at the national convention of Integrity.  Why on earth?!

      Because earth is the place God loves.  Like my own beloved bishop, Jack Spong, Bishop Browning knows that God judges us by the company we keep.  In Houston, Bishop Browning kept the company Jesus kept, with similar risks and similar rewards.

      It will be much easier for the world to believe that God loves everybody when the world sees you and your parish love lesbians and gays.

      When I grew up in Alabama fifty years ago, people joined the Episcopal Church when they got a little money and wanted to take a drink -- "whiskeypalians" the Baptists teased.  It seemed Episcopalians did not really have to believe in God; we just had to say we did, in lovely liturgies that looked like rehearsals for a polite, comfortable heaven.

      In hanging out with lesbians and gays, Bishop Spong and The Presiding Bishop are doing a new thing.  They are daring to make the Episcopal Church safe for sinners.  If we don't watch out,

Episcopalians may lose our reputation, and nobody will be able to recognize an Episcopalian from anyone else except by our love.   These two are not the first to drink from Samaritan wells.  Our first primate gave several good reports about us when he returned to Jerusalem.

      Not everyone has heard that news yet.  The Bishop of Texas, Rt. Rev. Maurice Benitez, snubbed the Presiding Bishop.  On the afternoon before Bishop Browning spoke, Bishop Benitez dropped in on his new dean, Very Rev. Walter Taylor, to complain because the newsletter of Christ Church Cathedral had invited people to attend the Integrity Convention.  "It is not appropriate for the cathedral of this diocese to issue such an invitation," Bishop Benitez said.

      Dean Taylor explained to Bishop Benitez that he is the dean, not the editor or censor of the newsletter, which is put together by more than 20 groups in the cathedral.  "I respect you as a man of conviction," he told Bishop Benitez, "and I hope that you will understand that I too act out of conviction.  It is in that spirit, not to spite you, that I will go to the Integrity convention this evening and welcome our primate and all present on behalf of the cathedral and on behalf of the clergy of this diocese."

      Christians always take risks.  They don't wait until they have buried father and mother, or until their new job is secure.  General Convention directed "all congregations to enter into dialogue and deepen their understanding of these complex issues."

-----

Dr. Crew, Integrity's founder, wrote this article for "The Voice", the newsletter of the Diocese of Newark.

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*Episcopal Bishop Airs View on Integrity, Church*

By Steve Brunsman

Presiding Episcopal Bishop Edmond L. Browning spent three days in Houston last week.  He presided and preached at the opening Eucharist service for the gay and lesbian fellowship Integrity, which held its national convention at Palmer Memorial Church.

Browning's visit at the Integrity convention, July 9-12, marked the first visit by an Episcopal Church presiding bishop to a yearly meeting of lesbian and gay Episcopalians.  He attend an open forum at the meeting, too, saying members should not lose hope and remain involved in the church affairs.

The Episcopal Church, in a national meeting last year in Phoenix, affirmed that physical sex was appropriate only in the marriage of a man and woman but delegates also approved a new, three-year study on human sexuality.

Ordination of a few openly homosexual clergy and blessing of same-sex unions in some Episcopal parishes has upset church conservatives.  Episcopal Diocese of Texas Bishop Maurice Benitez did not meet with Browning or attend any Integrity functions, as he had announced earlier.

Liberal and conservative groups did meet with him during his visit.

The Houston Post talked with Browning at the Stouffer Presidente Hotel last week.  Here is what he said about Integrity and relations between the local and national church.  His comments were edited for space.

Post:  Your visit to Houston and meeting with Integrity is highly symbolic.  Why did you choose Houston and this year for a visit?

Browning:  I have, in my capacity as presiding bishop, tried to attend all meetings of the church.  I have been invited by Integrity on several different occasions during my six years.  It was the first time that I did not have a conflict with the date they had set for their convention.  This date was set in 1990, actually.  I am presiding bishop of the whole church.  They are part of the Episcopal Church.

Let me also say the Episcopal Church, growing out of our General Convention in 1991 in Phoenix, set forth a process by which issues of human sexuality, in particular homosexuality, could be discussed at the biblical, theological and deep level.  These are tremendously complex issues, subjects that people in the pew, the clergy, the bishops are struggling with, to know where God is calling us to be as a church related to these issues.  I sense my coming here is a model of wishing to carry out that dialogue.  If the presiding bishop can't be in dialogue with this community, or be present with this community, then that's not a very good model for the rest of the church.

I do think that the gay and lesbian community has suffered a good deal of oppression through the years.  There have been wounds, a lot of hurt among the membership.  This is a way to acknowledge that and to say that I hope over of the course of time those wounds can be healed.  This is a cathartic response.  This is what the community of Jesus Christ is all about.  It's what my vision of the church is all about.

-----

This article is from *The Houston Post*, Saturday, July 18, 1992.

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*REFLECTIONS ON THE CONVENTION*

by Shelly Brown

"I feel strangely tired, Rat," said the Mole, leaning wearily over his oars as the board drifted.  "It's being up all night, you'll say, perhaps; but that's nothing.  We do as much half the nights of the week, at this time of the year.  No; I feel as if I had been through something very exciting and rather terrible, and it was just over, and yet nothing particularly has happened."

      "Or something very surprising and splendid and beautiful," murmured the Rat, leaning back and closing his eyes...

                  from *The Wind in the Willows* by Kenneth Grahame

      So: "All God's Children" is over, and I feel with Mole and Rat as if I had just been through something very exciting, very surprising and splendid and beautiful (and even, at times, rather terrible) -- and yet nothing in particular has happened.  "Nothing in particular" -- a few days in the natural life of God's church -- and all the more splendid for that.  For me it was most like the banners carried in the Opening Eucharist, and the beautiful stole presented there to the Presiding Bishop.  We were the pieces -- celebrations and revelations of many colors and shapes, coming together in the design of the convention -- stitched fragmenting was the kind of "survival," how finally self-heating and death-dealing this kind of "life."  In our worship at the convention we celebrated our place in the family of "all God's children;" affirmed our responsibility as ministers and servants within it; and finally opened our hands in trust that the love of God would heal us, make us whole, and resurrect us from all of our individual forms of spiritual and physical death.

      As the Healing Service homilist Rand Frew, on behalf of all of us, implored "sister death" to let us learn to embrace her, I watched two men I love go to the rail for the laying on of hands.  They have been together for six years now.  I know their stories, and I know that neither expects to live more than a matter of months, a year, two at best, although they continue to hope for more.  I know that the disease that is likely to kill them entered their lives because of a self-abhorrence learned from church, family and community.  They have been healed of that for some years now, in important ways because of the ministry of Integrity -- but although I can say that the wholeness of spirit I see in them is more important than any brokenness of body and can never come too late, at that service I cried because it did come too late, for the life they might have had and for the people like me who will lose them.  They went to the rail in peace with each other, quietly, trustfully.  As each received the laying on of hands, the other rested a hand on his shoulder.  I cried at that too.  I don't know what kind of healing they went for, or if they even asked for anything specific.  I doubt they went expecting physical cure.  Many others whose stories I don't know went quietly to that rail and received the quiet prayer and unction -- friends standing by, hands on shoulders.  I think that many of them probably have stories like my two brothers.  Probably there were also many like me, for whom the service was a place to allow ourselves to really discover our grief, and who took that to the rail for healing.  The next day I went to Austin, and visited the drop-in center for gay and lesbian youth founded and directed by my friend (and fellow Integrity member) Lisa Rogers.  I heard from her and from them some of their stories; beaten or tormented in school, cut off instantly by parents, living on the street, attempting suicide -- all because of their sexuality -- and I thought that it was a terrible thing, but true, that my two friends were the *lucky* ones.  Only later did it come to me that it is also a wonderful thing.  They, and we, *are* the lucky ones.  We have an avenue to wholeness; we have each other; we have a sense of the larger community to which we belong -- "saints at all times and in all places" -- even when parts of that community would rather we went away.  And that is enormous blessing and strength, for each of us and for the work we are called to do together.

      At the end of the healing service we sang, "Lord, you give the great commission: 'Heal the sick and preach the word.'  Lest the Church neglect its mission, and the Gospel go unheard, help us witness to your purpose with renewed integrity; with the Spirit's gifts empower us for the work of ministry." 

The convention's workshops were largely concerned with Integrity's ministry, primarily as a worshipping and healing community for gay and lesbian people.  Workshops such as "Integrity:  A rainbow of Diversity Under an Umbrella of Sanctuary," "Feminist Spirituality," "Integrating Integrity," "Inclusive Language:  Toward a Fuller Feast of Images," and "Womanspace," mandated reflection on how we may change the sins of omission and commission by which we inadvertently cast out people of minority culture, ability, opinion or gender.  "AIDS and Evangelism," "AIDS Care Teams," and "What Will They Say When I Tell Them I'm Gay?," focused on ministry in the Integrity community, the larger church, and the lesbian/gay community, and "Chapter-Building" focused on strengthening and enabling local chapters for their various ministries.

      One of Integrity's larger ministries to the church is in offering our stories as lesbian and gay Christians.  We told our stories to representatives of the National Church Commission of Human Sexuality, testifying for three hours, and to the Presiding Bishop himself, who held a 1 1/2-hour plenary session with us.  One of the most moving moments in the latter came as a woman asked the Presiding Bishop, who had spoken of his eight-month-old grandson Joshua in his homily at the Opening Eucharist, what would he do if Joshua turned out to be gay.  Although Bishop Browning, by both his presence and his words to us, has always offered his support and compassion, many felt that this question moved him to the more personal arena in which most of us at the convention have had to contend.  In his overall response to the testimony he heard, he said that he thought that we "wanted to be treated as people, not as an issue," for which he received enthusiastic applause.

      There was more to the convention, of course.  We ate (very well), held national and regional business meetings, heard extraordinary homilies and addresses from Bishop Browning and the Revs. Carmen Guerrerro, Warner Traynham, and Rand Frew.  All of this made up, if you will, the "design" of the convention -- but it was of the fabric beneath that I was most aware.

      The convention was held at Palmer Memorial Church, and since I am a recent emigrant from that parish and from the Diocese of Texas I was very aware of the support and hospitality of people from that parish and other communities in the diocese.  At services I saw Palmer ushers handing our programs; Palmer Altar Guild members preparing the church for us; Palmer acolytes serving with Integrity members at the altar; clergy from Palmer and other parishes administering the Eucharist or laying on hands for healing, the Palmer organist and choir members performing music long rehearsed especially for this convention; banners made by non-Integrity friends; and lay and ordained members of many congregations in the diocese joining us for worship.  At other times I saw Palmer parishioners and other friends laboring to get materials printed for us or to make things like telephones, computers and other services available to us.

      For many of those people their part in the fabric of our convention involved hours and even days of loving labor; for others it involved risk -- of straining friendships in their parishes, of perhaps having their sexuality misconstrued, or even (especially in the case of clergy) of closing some of the doors to future careers.  They gave, in this, many gifts to convention participants; but the greatest to me was that it was "nothing in particular," in terms of their life in the church, that they offered us.  Like the "Righteous Gentiles" honored by the Jews for harboring Holocaust refugees during World War II, they simply offered hospitality.  The "Righteous Gentiles" offered simple food, water and shelter; the people from Palmer and elsewhere in the diocese offered us the life of the church.

      The heroism and grace and love that made both gifts so great was that they were not withheld although it might be difficult, or controversial, or dangerous to offer them -- or because the recipients were thought by others in the community to be unworthy of the gifts.  The "Righteous Gentiles" just went on being decent people; the "Righteous Texans" just went on being the church.  They didn't stop being the church because it was us.  I was very grateful for that gift; when I tried to tell the givers so, I heard often the response one *does* so often hear:  "It's hard to say who got the greatest gift."  And I believe that.  They received too, more than they gave -- and more than *we* gave them.  I think all of us, when we open the doors in hospitality, get back more than we ever put in -- because when we open those doors we make a space for God to move in, giving to all hosts and guests until the distinction disappears.  And maybe that is what we in Integrity are really asking the Church to do (and must, as the Church, do in our turn for them); simply to go on being the Church -- not to stop listening, not to pull away in fear, not to close doors and minds because it's us (or them) at the door.  Who knows how God may move in that space we make together?

-----

Shelly Brown was Co-Dean of the Convention.  She lives in Denver and is a member of Integrity/Colorado.  This article first appeared in "Marginal Notes," Integrity/Houston Newsletter, August-September 1992.

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*CONVENTION AWARDS*

      Kim Byham, National President from 1987-1990, a National Board member since 1984, and now Director of Communications was honored with the second Louie Crew Award for Outstanding Contributions to Integrity.

      The 1991 Award for Best Large Chapter Newsletter went to "Outlook", Integrity/New York (Nick Dowen and Brooke Bushong, editors), and the Award for Best Small Chapter Newsletter went to "Integrity/Austin News" (Dorothy Ruhl, editor).  These were the same winners as at the 1989 convention, the last time awards were given.

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*1993 INTEGRITY NATIONAL CONVENTION*

San Diego, California

July 15 - 18, 1993

Save the Date!     Mark your Calendar!

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*Bishop Benitez's Snub of Leader Not Acceptable Behavior to God*

By Charles P. Thobae

Special to "The Houston Post"

The word sodomy comes from the Bible story in Genesis where messengers of the Lord visit Lot and his family in the city of Sodom.  According to the ancient law of nomadic people, a guest in the home was afforded protection from harm and given sustenance.

Thus, when the men of Sodom and their sons descended on Lot's house intending to physically abuse and demean the visitors, Lot offered his daughters as surrogates.  The Sodomites refused, intent on raping Lot's male guests.  The messengers then "smote" the Sodomites with blindness and God destroyed the city of Sodom for its wickedness.

Most biblical scholars agree that the author of this story was intent on illustrating, in the most dramatic way, behavior that was unacceptable to God.

Modern liberal scriptural exegesis interprets this story as having to do with the "sin" of inhospitality manifested by the Sodomites' refusal to welcome Lot's guests civilly.  The story therefore would not necessarily focus on homosexual rape.

Contrary to popular interpretation, the men of Sodom were not homosexual, but rather they were like the hillbillies in the movie Deliverance, who humiliated their victims, raping males as they would rape females.

Ironically, by his noticeable absence from Houston last week during the visit of the Episcopal denomination's presiding bishop, the Diocese of Texas bishop, Maurice M. Benitez, could be guilty of the "sin" of inhospitality, or by modern exegetical definition, "sodomy" -- the very thing, in the commonly accepted sense of the word, Benitez so much deplores.

To protest homosexual activity within the church, Benitez snubbed the Most Rev. Edmond L. Browning, a fellow Texan.  Without stretching the imagination, one could liken Benitez's behavior to a Roman Catholic bishop going into seclusion to avoid the pope.

Benitez's diocese counts approximately 73,000 baptized members in 57 counties covering East Texas and the area west of Houston to a point just beyond Austin.

Plans to be somewhere other than Houston during Browning's visit had been announced long in advance by Benitez with a flurry of correspondence to clergy and to Louie Crew, the founder of Integrity, an organization of Episcopal homosexuals styling itself as the "lesgay justice ministry of the Episcopal Church."  Benitez, incidentally, took his vacation in June and didn't say where he would be during Browning's visit.

Asked to participate in the Integrity National Convention, which took place at Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church July 9-11, Benitez refused the invitation in two separate letters to Crew and reportedly required his diocesan staff clergy to stay away from the convention.

Taking a tolerant position, Bishop Browning says the gay and lesbian community has to do with people rather than issues, and is committed to a church that is "open, compassionate and inclusive."  He visited Houston to fulfill a promise to Crew that he made over a year ago to celebrate the Eucharist and to preach at the opening service of the Integrity convention.  Browning has steadfastly remained pastoral and nonpolemical on the subject of homosexuality.

In the recent past, Benitez has engaged in rhetorical battle with Episcopal Bishop John Spong of Newark for Spong's support of homosexual priests in his diocese and his stand on homosexual ordination.  In the House of Bishops, Benitez has spoken out for conservative scriptural interpretation and exclusively heterosexual and monogamous sex within Christian marriage.  Benitez has also waged a quiet and relentless war on gay clergy in his own diocese who have admitted their sexual preference.

Integrity members don't necessarily practice celibacy and, in fact, call for the church to bless same-sex unions.  Thus the Texas bishop finds himself at great odds with this organization, which has been represented at the denomination's general convention since 1976.  It rubs salt in the wounds of Episcopalians who believe homosexual practices are sinful when Integrity counts among its 2,500 members a number of gay and lesbian priests.

The Integrity opening service was attended by more than 400 including many clergy, eight of which concelebrated the Eucharist with Bishop Browning.  Among these were the Very Rev. Walter Taylor, dean of Christ Church Cathedral, the Rev. Jeffrey Walker, Palmer's rector, and the Rev. Helen Havens, rector of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church.  These three interrupted summer vacations to participate.

It is almost unprecedented in the protocol-oriented Episcopal Church to conduct a service involving the presiding bishop that is unattended by the local bishop or his representative.  In this case such a person could have been Suffragan Bishop William Sterling or Canon Randolph Cooper, Benitez's chief of staff.  Benitez's action can only be construed as a snub -- an act of inhospitality or, in the modern exegetical sense, the sin of Sodom.

-----

Thobae was editor of the "Texas Churchman" (now the "Texas Episcopalian") from 1955-1980.  This article first appeared in "The Houston Post", Saturday, July 18, 1992.

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*PRESIDENT'S PAGE*

*REFLECTIONS ON HOUSTON*

      All God's Children gathered in Houston and what a gathering it was!  What a weekend!  What a fearful thing it is to fall into the hands of the Living God.  And fall we did.  But it didn't seem fearful, it felt comforting to be resting in the palm of God's hand. 

      The music, the liturgy, the choir (competing with the congregation to see who could out-praise God), that pipe organ, the sermons, the speeches, the workshops, the testimony before the Standing Commission on Human Affairs, the stories shared with the Presiding Bishop, the stories shared with each other, the opening eucharist, the majestic procession of banners (including the magnificent art of Challwood Studios), the renewal of baptismal vows, the closing evensong, the laying on of hands, that final hymn:  what a magnificent tapestry, woven just for us.

      My profound thanks to Rob Rynearson as Dean of the Convention and to all of Integrity/Houston for weaving that tapestry of love, and sharing it with the rest of us.

      We saw a young man break down at the altar rail.  We saw Helen Havens embrace him with love and compassion.  We then saw Edmond Browning lay hands on him and pray as he signed him with the sign of the cross.  We heard a Latino woman tell of the ostracism, bigotry, racism and homophobia she experienced and then tearfully bless the gay and lesbian community for being there for her and her husband.  We saw the Holy Spirit at work in many ways.

      We also saw history made in Houston.  It was the first time in history that the head of any adjudicatory had journeyed to appear before the gay and lesbian caucus of any denomination.  The first denomination was the Episcopal Church and the first person was the Presiding Bishop.

      Ed Browning preached a good sermon, a sermon from the heart.  There were those who wanted it to be stronger, those who wanted it to carry clear definitive political statements, those who wanted it to contain a declaration that he was "on our side."  That was not the intent.  That is neither the nature of the man nor the purpose of the office.

      To those who listened to the words from the pulpit, they could not help but be convinced of the man's genuine and honest concern and caring when he compared us as gay and lesbian people to his own beloved grandson Joshua.  What more compassion could be demonstrated than that he gets the same lump in his throat thinking about the lives and trials we must face that he gets when he thinks about the world in which Joshua must grow up.  I was touched and honored that he would have such emotional feelings for us.

      The Presiding Bishop was honest with us:  he reminded us that we have the responsibility to keep pushing, pleading, cajoling, and trying in our quest for our rightful and just place in this church.  He also reminded us that the House of Bishops is *not* the whole church.  I would remind all of *us* that we, Integrity, we gays and lesbians, are not the whole church either.  God's rainbow of creation is wonderful in its diversity.  And *all* of that diversity, *all* of those who make up that diversity are God's children.  It matters not to God whether those children are gay or non-gay, black or white, female or male, Hispanic, Asian, Native American or whatever.  We will have moved closer to the heart of God when all of us realize that too.

      I believe that our cries of pain have been heard.  Ed Browning heard them and I believe he *felt* them.  I believe in him.  I believe in his innate and ultimate sense of justice and fairness.  But just as we and the House of Bishops are not the whole church, neither is he.  He cannot issue a decree and settle an issue.  Nor do I think any of us would want him to have such power.

      His power on our behalf comes from his willingness to *be*  with us, to share with us, to hear our stories of joy *and* pain, to see us simply as we are - Children of God.  And we had a profound effect.  What can one say in response, when the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church speaks of looking up while administering communion at the altar rail and catching a glimpse of *the* church?  It is indeed a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God.

      I heard a very significant statement come from the Presiding Bishop's lips.  It is something we all hear - something we all know to be true - but something we all resist:  Justice will *not* come to us as lesbian and gay people of God by way of resolutions or legislation.  Justice will come to us through loving hearts open to the power of the Holy Spirit.  Justice will come when we act in a Christ-like manner.

      What is the underlying message of our "success" stories?  We gained acceptance when other people began to see us as we are:  children of God, just like them.  We put a human face on a dyke and she ceased to be a dyke.  We gave a faggot a human face and he was no longer a faggot.  The love of God and the power of the Holy Spirit turn us from issues and subjects of legislative debate into living, breathing creatures created by God in God's image and living the lives we were created to live.

      Despite the omnipotent power of God, this will not happen unless we are vessels and conduits of the Holy Spirit.  The work of Integrity, the Standing Commission on Human Affairs, the A-104sa Task Force, and even the House of Bishops, is *not* just to deal with legislation that will ultimately achieve justice for lesbians and gays.  The work of these bodies is also to provide a mechanism for us to put human faces on all the faggots and dykes in our church. 

      I am firmly convinced that even those most adamantly opposed to our very existence cannot long withstand the power of God working from behind a human face.  Deep in our being, we all know this.  Do we have the faith we need to walk into the arena and face the lions?  Can we remain strong long enough for God to remind the lions that they must ultimately lie down with the lambs?  We *know* our place is with God, fully and completely.  But we have a few others to convince that God's table and God's bosom are ample for the entire rainbow of God's creation.

      So where are All God's Children now?  I hope they are knocking on the doors of bishops offering their services in fostering the dialogue that we as a church have decreed will take place.  I hope they are rising to speak at councils, commissions, and meetings to share the Good News of Jesus Christ from the unique perspective of lesbian and gay Christians.  I hope they are sharing their talents *and* their needs with their rectors as all make their journey with God.  Most importantly, I hope All God's Children are standing at microphones and sitting at conference tables sharing the pain *and* the joy of being a part of this church.  I hope they are putting human faces on faggots and dykes and transforming them from issues into the children of God.

      Indianapolis and the 1994 General Convention are now less than two years away.  When that convention is over, will we walk out of the hall as issues or as simply a part of All God's Children?  The answer to that question depends on me and it depends on you.

      Peace, my sisters and brothers.

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