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 Winter, 1993 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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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Letters To The Editor

The Archbishop of Canterbury And The Laity:  Two Views

The Tragedy Of Wally Frey

Blessing Blow-up In Baltimore

Integrity/Brooklyn Makes Sure Murderer Of A Member

  Gets Maximum Sentence

Dialogue In Tennessee

Bishop Haines Of Washington Faces Dissent At Home

Dialogue In The Lion's Den

Nun's Letters Have Pierced Prison Walls

A Non-Blessing Disrupts Michigan

Episcopal AIDS Coalition Focuses On Second Decade

  Of The Epidemic

Claudia's Column

Not Everything Is Getting Better:  "The Living Church"

  in 1975 and 1992

Book Review:  "Embracing The Chaos"

Are We Too Radical Or Too Conservative?4

MCC Rejected By National Council:  Episcopal Repercussions

Statement Of The President and Board of Integrity, Inc.

The Presiding Bishop Responds

PB Writes To NCCCUSA

Resolution For A Diocesan Convention

Lesbian/Gay Religious Leaders Meet In Midst Of

  National Council of Churches

A Prayer

The Presbyterians Do It Again

CD Review

List Of Integrity Chapters and Chapters-In-Formation

EURRR Needs Money Again

  Round Up The Usual Targets:  Integrity and The PB

Proposed Amendments To The Bylaws Of Integrity, Inc.

  & BALLOT

President's Page

Integrity Of The Desert Lights A Candle

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Winter 1993

*The Voice of Integrity*

Volume 3, Number 1

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

Paul Woodrum

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 1993

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WANTED:  EDUCATION RESOURCE COORDINATOR

Integrity is looking for an individual to serve as Education Resource Coordinator for the National Board and for the chapters.  This person would inventory, store and ship as needed the various educational resources which Integrity has available.  This would not be a Board level position, but might involve attending certain Board meetings.  It is anticipated that the role would evolve into developing additional educational materials and programs.  For further information or to express interest in this position, please write to Bruce Garner, President - Integrity, Inc., P.O. Box 1151, Atlanta, GA 30301 (no phone calls, please).

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

*Bishop Benitez Writes*

                                      October 13, 1992

The Editor

"The Voice"

Dear Editor,

     The [Fall] edition of your publication contained an article by Dr. Louie Crew, attributing to me in a conversation with Dean Walter H. Taylor of Christ Church Cathedral in Houston, statements that I never made.  I purportedly suggested to Dean Taylor that it was inappropriate for him to attend the Integrity meeting which took place in Houston during July.  I can assure you that I never made any such statement, nor would I make any statement to Dean Taylor or to any of the clergy of the Diocese of Texas in such a way.  I have far too much respect for each of them, and I expect each of them to decide such matters according to his or her conscience.

     On the contrary, when Dean Taylor informed me that he felt inclined to attend the conference, I said "Fine; that's fine by me," and we passed on to other matters.  You may if you wish verify what I said with Dean Taylor.  He knows that I fully respect his decision, as well as those of the several other clergy of the Diocese of Texas who chose to attend the meeting.

     Last spring I made the only statement I have made about the Integrity meeting, in a clear and open letter to the Diocese of Texas, which stated that I, as a matter of conscience, had decided not to participate, as I did not wish to support in any way the political goals of Integrity, with which I do not agree.  I informed the Diocese that the Presiding Bishop had decided to attend and would be doing so and that I respected the decision that he made in conscience, even as I presume that he respected my decision not to attend.  The media contacted me several times, trying to get me to say more on the subject, in a perverse way desiring me in some way to be critical of the Presiding Bishop.  I declined to make any comment, other than referring them to the same statement that I made last spring.  Once again, I will say that I never suggested to anyone else, clergy or lay, what they should do regarding their attendance or participation.

     Dr. Crew is an honorable man, and I cannot imagine that he would knowingly make a false statement or fabricate a conversation in which anyone was involved, so I can only presume that someone misled him, for whatever reason I cannot imagine.  I would ask in the future, if he desires to put quotes around some statement which I supposedly made, that he please verify the truth of that statement with me or with someone who was present in the conversation.  We have enough controversy in the Church today, indeed all we need, over the things that we actually are saying and doing, without someone fanning the flames of further controversy by reporting things that we have not said or done.

                             Faithfully,

                             Maurice M. Benitez, D.D.

                             Bishop of Texas

*Louie Crew Responds*

     Bishop Benitez has misread what I wrote.  Of course he did not tell Dean Taylor to stay away from Integrity's national convention.  He had no need to say so:  his example spoke for him.

     I reported instead how Bishop Benitez complained when the Cathedral newsletter invited people to attend the Integrity convention:

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..."

     I am glad that Bishop Benitez respects Dean Taylor.  I do too.  At our convention, he greeted us not only as the dean but also "on behalf of the people and the clergy of this diocese."  With Bishop Benitez conspicuous by his absence, everyone present understood the importance of this salutation.  Charles Thobae, editor of the "Texas Episcopalian" from 1955-1980, concluded:  "Benitez's action can only be construed as a snub -- an act of inhospitality, or in the modern exegetical sense, the sin of Sodom" ("The Houston Post," July 18).

     Dean Taylor's courage brings much too much good news to remain suppressed.  I heard about it all over the patio after the Presiding Bishop's sermon.  I doubt that Jesus called up the priest and the Levite before he told the story of the Good Samaritan.

*LESGAYS or GAYLES*

Dear Scott:

     I have noted with interest -- perhaps even a bit of amusement, the appearance within the Integrity dialect of English the word "lesgay."  I presume it means "lesbian and gay" (or, perhaps, gay and lesbian?)

     I am intrigued by the use of "lesgay" rather than "gayles."  The former is preferred if one adopts the principle, "Ladies before Gentlemen: -- except that many lesbians do not appear to view themselves as "Ladies."

     It appears to me that, otherwise, the latter has some advantages.  It is more easily pronounced.  The "sg" combination of the former is sort of difficult.  It is even possible to pronounce "gayles" as a single syllable!  And, it offers the possibility of an ultimate mutation to "gala," should the term develop wider usage than the Integrity dialect -- perhaps, even, in "The New York Times"!

                   Faithfully,

                   John L. Prather, PhD

                   Yonkers, NY

*Are Some Things Best Left In The Closet?

Dear Scott,

     I'm not sure who makes the decision to publish the arrest stories of Episcopal clergy in The Voice, but I find the practice repugnant and certainly lacking in taste.  Is there some prurient interest in this?  Why do we need to note outings, be they voluntary or involuntary, by arrest or accusation or court decisions or suspension?  Is the point to hold these persons up for censure or prayer or ridicule or what?

     Almost the whole inside cover of the last edition was the reporting of Kim Byham parading the sins of the clergy before us.  To what end?  Will we also begin to note the arrests of any member of the Episcopal Church?  Then Kim's task will surely be overwhelming and ubiquitous.

     I am so sad for these clerics, that they must act out in such furtive and clandestine ways.  And I am sad for our Church and society that they force men and women into heterosexual relationships for which they are ill-suited and which are unfulfilling and untruthful and perfidious.

Yours truly,

[the Rev.] Walter Sherman

Cincinnati, OH

*The Editor Replies*

     Wally is right, it has been tough lately for clergymen.  After reporting only three incidents of involuntary clergy outings due to arrest or diagnosis in 1990 and 1991 combined, we reported a total of seven in 1992 (though in one instance we reported the event but not the priest's name.)  Another appears in this issue.  Of the seven we reported in 1992, four were Episcopal clergymen, one an Australian Anglican and the others a Lutheran and a Roman Catholic.

     We also pray for these men, both those who have used their closets as snipers' nests and those who have not.  Although the Lutheran and Roman Catholic we reported on were stridently anti-gay, the Anglican clergy reported were not.  That made the decision all the harder.  We hope readers will pray for these clergymen.  It is not our intention to hold them up for censure or ridicule.  I doubt that many if any Integrity members would do so; we understand the pain too clearly.

     In no case have we nor would we be the first to report such a story.  All the cases we report have appeared elsewhere in the media.  We have either reprinted articles exactly as they have appeared elsewhere or have expanded the stories with pertinent information.  We, for example, were the only publication anywhere which reported that the "affair" which led to the suspension of the Rev. Graham Pulkingham occurred before and not during the marriage of his lover, an important factor in weighing the claim of the lover's former wife that Pulkingham ruined her marriage.

     If stories of involuntary outings of Episcopal lay people or clergywomen are as prominently reported in the media as these stories of clergymen have been, we will report them as well.

     We printed these stories because they are news, news of interest to our readers.  Our goal is to be the journal of record with respect to lesgay issues in the Episcopal Church, which means having the integrity to print the bad news as well as the good.

     Thanks for writing, Wally.  We welcome the opportunity to explain our editorial policy.

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Cost is $11.00 and includes shipping and handling.  Visa/Mastercard is accepted.

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*THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY AND THE LAITY: TWO VIEWS*

*View I by James Solheim*

     Archbishop of Canterbury George L. Carey brought a powerful word of encouragement to laity of the Episcopal Church in his first public speech during a 12-day visit to the United States.

     Speaking to about 300 lay leaders at a consultation in Washington, D.C., sponsored by Trinity Parish of Wall Street, Carey said that "it is the lay members who are unquestionably those with the keenest perception of the needs of our world -- and they have insights which the clergy would do well to heed.  They have countless opportunities to make Christ known in the world."

     Through the marvel of telecommunications, Carey's message was beamed by satellite to almost 6,000 Episcopalians gathered at 55 locations in 30 dioceses across the country.  After his address, many participants asked questions to clarify the archbishop's position on the theme of the conference, "Values in Vocation:  A Challenge for the Laity."

     Carey argued in his opening address that the church does not affirm the role of laity in the world and said that, once they cross the threshold of the parish, "lay people are given jobs or responsibilities that bear little resemblance to their undoubted gifts."  That is tragic, Carey contended, because the church "loses out on the very resources God has provided for the church's well-being and growth."

     Yet Carey said the good news is that "lay people have been discovered," that "the church is waking up to the fact that its task is too big and too important to be left in the hands of the few -- especially the few whose training and experience is mismatched when set against many of the needs of today's world."

     Carey went on "to challenge a theology and a history which automatically assumes that the center of Christianity is the church rather than the world."  He reminded his nationwide audience that "Christ came to bring us a kingdom, not a church," and that the church "has been and must always be a vehicle of mission to the world so that many may be initiated and come into the kingdom."

     Calling for a Copernican revolution that could include the "suspension of all normal church activities to enable a start from a wholly new perspective," Carey said that such a move would

stimulate the church to look beyond survival as an institution to a role as "the church of Jesus Christ in his world."  Such a radical rearrangement of the church's agenda means that the church would be concerned with helping its lay members in their "frontline" ministries in the world, he said.

     "If at the end of this radical rethinking, it is a more streamlined church that emerges, then I can promise you that such a church -- which has turned itself inside out -- will be a truly prophetic church," Carey added.

     The Archbishop called on lay leaders to "exercise a royal priesthood as Christians in the world," one that "takes our Christian humanity seriously," that takes the gifts of lay people seriously, but also takes prophetic witness seriously.

     "My conviction is that the church which is engaged with the world and its demands upon individuals and institutions will be able to support, encourage and equip not only those at the front line but also those who from time to time require first aid," Carey said.

     Empowering lay people for their ministry in the world will require a radical change in attitude, Carey continued, and an acceptance that "the local church and its structures must come second to the needs of those serving Christ in the world and the real needs of the communities in which we live."

     Responding to questions from Oregon, Texas, Illinois, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and Tennessee, Carey urged laity to "begin where you are."  He told of reading in a parish bulletin that "the church is not bothered by change -- as long as it doesn't make any difference."  Carey expressed his hopes that American laity would change the church and, through their unique ministry, also change the world.

     At a breakfast closing the conference, Carey stressed the

partnership role of clergy and laity.  Carey was joined by Presiding Bishop Edmond Browning, who said that the key to lay ministry is "recovery of the power in the baptismal covenant."  Browning said that the church makes a mistake "when it takes gifted laity and makes them clergy" because it denies the power of lay ministry in the world.

     In response to a question from Dr. Louie Crew, founder of the church's ministry with gay and lesbian Episcopalians, Carey admitted that he was still personally struggling with the church's attitude toward homosexuals.  He said that he found some guidance in "the pattern of our Lord when he dealt with people on the fringe," noticing Christ's "ability to cross frontiers."  Carey concluded that "the church of Jesus Christ is a church of blurred edges" and he looked forward to the day when "we can live with our differences."

-----

James Solheim is the News Director for the "Episcopal News"  Service, which provided this article.

*View II by Louie Crew*

     The weekend after Labor Day, Bruce Garner, Kim Byham (Integrity's President and Director of Communication, respectively), and I attended as invited guests a Lay Leadership Conference in Washington, DC, featuring sessions with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Presiding Bishop; plus sessions led by lay persons Verna Dozier and Keith Miller.

     Trinity, Wall Street sponsored this conference and brought together some of the most famous lay Episcopalians, as they demonstrated in the Friday night telecast to 33 sites.  When the ABC spoke, the cameras picked up people in the audience to illustrate many of his points.

     The ABC's main theme was the 'empowerment of the laity'; but unfortunately the only contact he had with the laity assembled was largely through canned questions.  He won the biggest sigh of audible relief when he stressed that the Church must move beyond our divisions and 'issues.'  That made me feel uncomfortable all the next day.

     I was pleased to have a private half hour as Ed and Louie in the PB's suite on Saturday afternoon, and in the early wrap-up with the ABC and the PB on Sunday morning, I did get to ask one question to the ABC in front of all assembled.  I asked how I might help him as a lay priest college professor (his face lit up like a lamp) to ending the divisiveness that we both deplore (up the wattage again).  "I speak as a one whose chief ministry is as a gay person in the lesbian and gay community," I said.  His smile looked more like a cracked tile.  "I am a Samaritan who wants not to be divisive as I tell about the amazing water given to me and my people by the first primate to visit.  Please help me be a 'good' Samaritan."

     I pointed out that the PB himself [sitting right next to Dr. Carey] well understands the risks of people being turned into issues.  He risked being called divisive when he visited Samaria this summer, to come deep into the heart of his native Texas to speak to us....  I pointed out that "Integrity has brought into or back into the Episcopal Church at least 20,000 persons, but that most people hear that as 'divisive,' not as good news.  Even welcoming parishes often worry about whether they are getting 'too many.'  I speak as a sinner saved by God's wondrous grace,"  I concluded.

     At least 15 people whom I did not know rushed to see me in the short time left afterwards to thank me for asking "the only good question of the entire weekend."  Not surprisingly, most of these were women.  Dr. and Mrs. Menninger were at my table and said not a mumbling word, nor did Dr. George Gallup at the next table.

     The ABC stumbled through his response and seemed aware that it wasn't playing well with anyone, and said that our church must be big enough for both of us while he takes time to study the issues....  I sat in pained silence.  How can he learn if he fails to do his homework?  His palace is flooded with sissies, yet they do not feel safe to come out to him.  For four decades theologians have prepared the texts.....

     Holy Spirit, honey, can't you plow this ground a bit more.   I'm even running out of seeds.

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*THE TRAGEDY OF WALLY FREY*

*SEXUAL MISCONDUCT LEADS TO RESIGNATION*

*OF VICE PRESIDENT OF HOUSE OF DEPUTIES*

by James Solheim

     Bishop David B. Joslin of the Diocese of Central New York announced on October 5 the resignation from the ordained ministry of the Rev. Wallace A. Frey, a rector in the diocese who was elected vice president of the House of Deputies at the 1991 General Convention in Phoenix.

     In a letter to members of St. David's in DeWitt, which Frey served for 28 years, the bishop said that the action "was taken after it came to light that he has broken his ordination vows by being involved with sexual misconduct over a lengthy period of time with some male young adults and a teenager under his pastoral care."

     "I think the key issue is the violation of ordination vows and the breaking of pastoral trust," Joslin told reporters in Syracuse.  "The critical thing was that we took action immediately."  The diocesan standing committee officially "deposed" Frey following his resignation.  At this point there are no formal charges pending in the case.

     In his letter to the parish, Joslin called attention to Frey's "extraordinary gifts" and his ministry at the local, diocesan and national levels of the church.  "One of the spiritual challenges before us now is to help our minds and hearts learn how to acknowledge the present news in the context of his greatness," the bishop added.

     A deputy to the General Convention since 1970, Frey chaired the House of Deputies Committee on Ministry in Phoenix.  He has chaired the Board for Theological Education and served as a member of the Executive Council, as vice-chair of the Standing Commission on World Mission and as trustee of the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

*DIALOGUE ON SEXUALITY*

     Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning and Mrs. Pamela P.

Chinnis, president of the House of Deputies, issued a statement expressing their distress.  "Sexual abuse and the betrayal of pastoral trust cannot be tolerated within the clergy or among the lay leaders of the church," they said.  Browning and Chinnis added that they "fully support" efforts by the diocese and the national church to "assist with the healing process for individual victims, for the congregation in which Mr. Frey served, and for him and his family."  Frey, 55, is married and has two grown children.

     Chinnis said that it would be "an even deeper tragedy if this situation diverted our attention from the dialogue on sexuality at the local level mandated by General Convention."  She said that "the church must press ahead with the process so that we can report to the 1994 General Convention in Indianapolis."

     Chinnis said that she did not expect that the news about Frey's resignation would have any significant impact on the process in the long run.  "I know many of us were shaken by this news, but I don't believe it diminishes our need to confront all the complex issues surrounding sexuality."  She said that she was confident that the church could "keep the larger picture in view" as it moved ahead with the dialogue.

     There are no canonical provisions for replacing a vice president of the House of Deputies.  A successor to Frey will be elected at the 1994 General Convention in Indianapolis.

-----

Anita Monsees, communications officer for the Diocese of Central New York, contributed to this article.

*EXECUTIVE COUNCIL DEALS WITH `TRAGEDY IN THE FAMILY'*

By James Solheim

     At its fall meeting in Melville, Long Island, the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church took the entire opening plenary, November 10, to deal with what Presiding Bishop Edmond Browning called "a terrible tragedy in our community," the resignation of the Rev. Wallace Frey from the ministry because of sexual misconduct.  *[Excerpts from the Presiding Bishops remarks to Council are reprinted elsewhere in this issue.]*

     Pamela Chinnis, president of the House of Deputies, said that she had been in touch with Frey and urged the council to "recognize and never forget all the marvelous gifts Wally Frey has given to this church of ours." Yet the church must make it clear that it cannot tolerate those who "misuse positions of trust and authority to engage in inappropriate sexual activities.

     Bishop Harold Hopkins of the Office of Pastoral Development said that while the problem is not new, "we now have ways of talking about these issues and how they can be dealt with."  The issue, according to Hopkins, is not about clergy bashing or a new moralism but about "providing safe communities where people can come to be themselves, open and vulnerable -- especially with their clergy."

     The council broke into small groups, where they were able to deal with unresolved anger, feelings of betrayal and hopes for reconciliation.  At the closing plenary, the council passed a resolution commending Bishop David Joslin of the Diocese of Central New York for his "sensitive pastoral leadership as he provided support for all involved in the tragedy" and for "creating a model for the church to follow where there have been allegations of clergy sexual misconduct and violations of the pastoral relationship."  The resolution also recognized Frey's "contributions to our common life and commending him for his ongoing efforts to work toward recovery, rehabilitation and reconciliation."

*MISCONDUCT CLAIMS ON THE RISE*

     The afternoon session brought more sobering news from Alan Blanchard of the Church Pension Group.  A "precipitous" increase in claims for sexual misconduct has meant that insurance is paying out two dollars for every dollar collected in the last two years.  Before 1983 there were no claims and there are already 31 this year.

     The escalation in claims is fueled by tremendous national interest and has meant that "cases are coming out of the woodwork," according to Blanchard.  As a result, the Pension Group's board may not be able to provide unrestricted casualty coverage in the future.  According to Blanchard, the board could decide that, beginning next July, it won't cover liabilities incurred through sexual misconduct without special riders, which coverage will be offered only for only those clergy who meet special conditions.

*THE PRESIDING BISHOP REFLECTS ON THE TRAGEDY*

*EXCERPTS FROM THE PRESIDING BISHOP'S ADDRESS TO EXECUTIVE COUNCIL, NOVEMBER 10, 1992*

     There has been a terrible tragedy in our community.  I believe we would not be faithful to what it means to live in community were we simply to ignore this and go on as usual.  Therefore, in consultation with Pam Chinnis, Don Nickerson and others I have decided that we will take some time at the beginning of this week together to do some sharing about Wally Frey.  I want to do this not simply because of this individual, but because the particularities of this situation have in them some broader truths for us all.

     I want to place my remarks in the context of a quote from Donal Dorr in a marvelous book called "Spirituality and Justice."  "The need for redemption is not confined to the world outside the church.  The church's own institutional and community life is itself seriously marred by aberrations and distortions of the Kingdom values to which it is called to give witness.  This is a source of embarrassment and shame -- but not of despair.  For as Christians we believe that, though we are called to promote the Kingdom and witness to it, nevertheless the work is ultimately not ours but God's.  Even our weakness and failure can be used by God:  `For we know that in all things God works for good with those who love him.' (Romans 8:28)."

     "In all things God works for good with those who love him."  My dear friends, I know that.  You know that.  We believe that.  However...sometimes it is very difficult indeed to see just how God might work for good.  The germ of good that will present itself is in deep disguise.  I confess to you that the turns in the journey of Wally Frey present to me one of those times.

*TIMES OF TESTING*

     The very sad story we are addressing this morning about Wally began to unfold for me during the meeting of the House of Bishops in Baltimore in mid-September when David Joslin, the bishop of Central New York, said that he needed some private time with me for a matter of some urgency.  As we now know, David wanted to share with me the very tragic circumstances surrounding Wally Frey and his admission of sexual misconduct.

     As soon as David and I spoke, I knew we were in for some very heavy times.  I also felt then, as I feel now, that these are testing times.  I saw before us the potential for being called into our deepest sense of who we are as God's people.  I also saw the risk of responding out of fear, or shame, and being less than who God would have us be.  Pam and I have acted over these last months around this issue in an awareness that God is trying to work for good, and we are trying to be patient and faithful in that working out.

     You have heard the facts of the case, which can be stated rather simply.  I repeat them now so we are all working from the same information.  Wally Frey was involved in sexual misconduct with male young adults and also a teenager.  The number known to Bishop Joslin is said to be fewer than 10 persons.  These offenses took place over a lengthy period of time, and the persons involved were under Wally's pastoral care.  He acknowledged this to Bishop Joslin.  He subsequently resigned from his parish and was deposed from the priesthood.

     Bishop Joslin has handled this with fairness and the best good grace I can imagine with Wally and his family, with the victims, with the people of Wally's former parish and with the diocese.

*A TIME OF HEALING*

     We are in a time of healing.  It is the kind of healing that can only take place when a wound is completely uncovered and lanced -- rather than being allowed to fester.  It is a time of healing, but we cannot gloss over the pain that has been, and the pain that will continue.

     I would share with you that Wally has recently completed three weeks of rehabilitation therapy at the McLean Institute in Massachusetts.  Ahead lie the tasks of finding suitable employment, and his continued rehabilitation and recovery.

     In the parish where he served for 28 years, there is an ongoing struggle to come to grips with the situation.  Sincere love and concern for Wally and Ginny are mixed with intense anger and feelings of trust betrayed.  Parish leadership is working with Bishop Joslin and the diocesan staff to make plans for the future.  The lay leaders running the annual stewardship drive are working hard against the odds.  The victims and their families are engaged in a special spiritual challenge as they deal with their own injuries, their justifiable rage and the need to move to forgiveness without denying the reality of what has been done.  Wally and his family, the parishioners and the victims and their families all need our prayers.  May the redemption of which Donal Dorr spoke be experienced by all of them.

     These are not easy things to share, to talk about, for any of us.  The first reason I think it is difficult is because we are talking about a human tragedy, a horrible tragedy in the life of someone who has sat at this table with us.  Beyond that, it is difficult to talk about this because it is difficult to talk about anything having to do with sexual misconduct, and perhaps even more difficult for those who love our church to talk about clergy sexual misconduct, the abuse of power and a terrible misuse of the pastoral relationship.  The fact that there was homosexuality involved in this case further complicates the matter.  The issue of homosexuality is before our church right now, and I think it is fair to say that there is a great deal of energy all around it.

     I want to make a very strong point about this now.  This particular case does involve homosexual behavior.  But that is not what we are talking about here.  We are talking about clergy sexual misconduct.  That is what this case is all about.  Sadly, priests of our church have also been deposed for sexual misconduct that was heterosexual in nature.  We may be confident that had the victims in this case been female instead of male the offense would have been just as great and the church's disciplinary action would have been exactly the same.

     The reason I am making such a point is that members of the gay and lesbian community -- who are tired of being treated as issues anyway -- don't want their sexuality to be discussed in the same conversation with sexual misconduct and the abuse of the pastoral relationship.

*THE SIGNS OF CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY*

     My dear friends, though it is true that the issue of sexual misconduct and an abuse of the pastoral relationship is something that we don't want to talk about, the particular tragedy of Wally Frey puts the issue squarely before us.  First, because -- as I said -- he was one of our number.  It is, of course, true that Wally's position as vice president of the House of Deputies gives the story a notoriety it would not otherwise have.  I want to move now beyond the particulars to what seems to me to be the point for us to look at and struggle with together.

     It is my deep sense that how we live with issues of clergy sexual misconduct says a great deal about how we see ourselves as a Christian community.  In dealing with a difficult issue, we have an opportunity to show forth the signs of Christian community.  Perhaps, at best, we have an opportunity to give some glimpses of the Kingdom.  The signs and glimpses are desperately needed by a society that seems without the guiding principles necessary for responsible decision making about sexual norms and behaviors, or for that matter, for responsible decision making about how we are to treat our fellow citizens.

     The moral discourse needed around the issues of sexuality is made difficult in a society that seems not to be possessed by love, but rather obsessed by sex.  I believe that we, as a Christian community, have an opportunity and a responsibility to show the way.

*WHOLENESS IN CHRIST*

     So, what then are the signs of Christian community?  How do we see glimpses of the Kingdom?  I believe we are living the values of the Kingdom when we truthfully look at what sin is all about, but don't forget what repentance means, or that it can be followed by redemption, and -- with God's grace -- forgiveness.   Living in Christian community means that we understand the suffering that comes with unwellness, with a lack of wholeness.  Living in Christian community means that we search, supporting one another, for wholeness in Christ.  We do so acknowledging that the search is a lifelong task.

     My dear friends, with the work of those most closely involved and the prayers of many, I do believe we are working through this as God's people.  We are viewing what has happened as a tragedy in the Body, not as a public relations crisis.  We are also looking at it as a time to show forth, as a church, that "in all things God works for good with those who love him."  All of the experience of my own life and ministry shows me that even our weakness, our failure, can be used by God.  I call each of us and all of us to let this tragedy be used by God so that, even in this, God will work for good with us -- because we love him.

*DR. CREW REFLECTS ON THE TRAGEDY*

by Louie Crew

     This should never happen.  Were a child of mine thus used, I would also want to ensure that the professional's peers took action to prevent this from happening again; and as a member of Diocesan Council in Newark, I have voted for stronger standards than some others prefer.

     I raise instead a different issue, one that cannot be resolved evenhandedly until several other factors are even.

     A female adolescent who sought out or consented to sex with a male adult would be treated as "normal" but "abused":  society

would consider that she had reached the age to consent by 16 and would hold her responsible unless force occurred after that age. Society feels males so vulnerable that their age to consent is 21 in many places, and even if they consent, in many places they are

"consenting" to illegal behavior.  That's what is referred to in Christopher Isherwood's phrase as "heterosexual dictatorship."

     We would lose some of our most respected priests and professors if we removed all those who at this moment post pictures in their offices of spouses whom they first met and fell in love with while those spouses were their students, ... and I for one don't want to drive out of my profession or my church those who have moved from infatuation with their students into life-long nurturing commitments with them.

     Given the dynamic by which most homosexual contact is driven to be clandestine, especially for the young, should we be surprised when many persons do not make fine distinctions about good and bad homosexual contact? Our church rarely makes such distinctions.

     Wally Frey and I are the same age, 55.  He knew at ordination and before that society and the church would affirm his spiritual gifts only if he hid his homosexual identity.  He married and begot two children.  He obviously had pastoral talents or he would never have moved to the position of being elected vice-president of the House of Deputies.  I tremble when I see many young gay people today move fiercely into the closet as they approach the awesome journey of answering clear vocations to ministry.

     I did not make the same choices, but I have not ever had a vocation to ministry with a collar.  From that vantage, I tremble when I try to imagine the torment Wally must surely have faced in living with approval that never acknowledged who he is.  I have taken abuse for three decades, fierce abuse.  My male spouse of the last 19 years and I have had our house stoned, a cross burned in front of it; we have been driven from our home, denied jobs, mocked by clergy, denied the Peace, summoned for ecclesiastical discipline -- all for saying, "Jesus loves us, each a sinner, but a sinner redeemed by the grace of God."  But I would rather take that abuse for 20, 30, 40 more years if need be, than to face the loneliness of never having been myself except in moments of quiet desperation with other immature adolescents.

     Right now our choices seem to have been much more blessed than poor Wally's.  But only by God's grace to us in bringing us together and loving us through all the hate God's people have heaped on us -- not because of any merit we have that Wally lacks.  If Wally could have "succeeded" as much as he did passing for straight, imagine what kind of whole and healthy gay male person he could be if he had ever been allowed to think of that option!

-----

James Solheim is the News Director for "Episcopal News Service."  The Most Rev. Edmond L. Browning will, God willing, be our Presiding Bishop through the end of 1997.  Dr. Louie Crew is the founder of Integrity and an Associate Professor at Rutgers University.

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BLESSING BLOW-UP IN BALTIMORE

by Kim Byham

Controversy has been so intense surrounding the Episcopal blessing of a lesbian couple last summer in Baltimore that on October 28, the Rt. Rev. A. Theodore Eastman, Bishop of Maryland, wrote to every priest and Senior Warden under his jurisdiction, saying:  "Because the Episcopal Church has made no official provision for the blessing of same-gender covenants, and because there is clearly no consensus locally or on the wider scene about the significance of these rites, I have directed the clergy of the Diocese of Maryland to refrain from such blessings."

The ceremony that touched off months of heated theological debate about whether the Church should support same-sex couples was conducted on July 4 in Baltimore's Memorial Episcopal Church by the Rev. William W. Rich, who is a chaplain at Goucher College.

Emphasizing that the ceremony he devised at the request of the women involved was not a wedding, Fr. Rich called it "the blessing of two people committed to each other."  However, a local *ad hoc* lay group, Concerned Episcopalians, said, "In all respects, to any reasonable person, it looked and sounded like a wedding."

Fr. Rich acknowledged sharp criticism by some clergy who believed the ceremony "mimicked" or "mocked" the marriage service.  It included a procession up the aisle to organ music, was preceded the evening before by a rehearsal dinner and was followed by a reception in a Baltimore hotel.

Issuing its own statement on October 29, the anti-gay group said Bishop Eastman's letter of the previous day was "a completely inadequate response to the scandal which occurred" and accused him of "evasiveness."  Concerned Episcopalians said that his letter "makes it abundantly clear that [Bishop Eastman's] conception [of his] pastoral role as bishop ... is woefully flawed" and it called for Father Rich's removal "from the exercise of any priestly duties in this diocese."

Fr. Rich told the "Baltimore Sun" that it was never his intention to stir up controversy.  Although he still believes his pastoral concern for the women required him to perform such a ceremony and the church was the proper setting, he said he now realizes that a more private religious service in a home would have avoided needless wrangling.

"Foment on the issue of same-gender marriages was part of the atmosphere within our church" when Fr. Rich first approached Bishop Eastman for advice, Concerned Episcopalians said in its statement, and the bishop "failed to take basic precautions to protect the use of consecrated space for unauthorized purposes and, in failing to do so, precipitated a scandal."

Bishop Eastman recalled that Father Rich had asked him "about the possible blessing of a same-gender relationship" a full year before the July 4 ceremony.  Both the bishop and the priest told the "Sun" that the ceremony that took place was at least partly the result of a misunderstanding.  "I reminded him (in the summer of 1991)," Bishop Eastman said, "that the church makes no provision for such a rite, and said that the only authorized alternative would be the blessing of a home and those who dwell in it in "The Book of Occasional Services."  Father Rich understood this to be a suggestion rather than a directive and, in consultation with the couple, eventually designed a special service to be held in the church as was their preference."

The Rev. F. Lyman Farnham, Rector of the Memorial Church who was away at the time of the July service, authorized the use of the church for it and so informed his Vestry.  The two women are active members of the parish.  Father Rich described one as a friend of long standing.  Neither is an Integrity member.

Bishop Eastman told the "Sun" he was assured by the priest "that the liturgy in question was not in any sense intended to be a marriage as Christians understand that sacrament.  It was meant to be a private event addressing personal, pastoral needs," the bishop added.  "Neither the two women involved nor Fr. Rich desired to advance a cause or make a public statement of any kind."

Although the controversy was widespread and of long-standing, it took considerable time to reach the media and the bulk of the diocese.  For example, Brailsford Nixon, convener of Integrity/Baltimore, a large and vibrant chapter, was unaware that the event had occurred until she read about it in the newspapers several months later.

The controversy among some elements in the diocese was so intense, however, that Bishop Eastman held two special clergy meetings on September 27 and October 20.  Father Rich told the "Sun" that these closed meetings elicited "a wide variety of responses:  the conservative, the liberal and those in the middle."  The priest added, "All the letters and phone calls I have received have been supportive."

Despite the ensuing specific and general discussions of same-gender covenants, Bishop Eastman conceded, "We have just scratched the surface."  He said his letter to the parishes is "the completion of the consultative process."  It was approved unanimously by the Diocesan Council.

"It is evident that there are strong convictions on all sides, a good deal of confusion about the meaning of non-sacramental blessings, and a desire among many to discuss the matter further," Bishop Eastman said in his letter.  "What is happening here, of course, is being repeated in other dioceses of this church and in other denominations as well."

Noting that several recent General Conventions of the Episcopal Church called upon all Episcopalians "to give life to the claim of homosexual persons upon the love, acceptance and pastoral care and concern of the church," the bishop promised that he would "continue to work with gays and lesbians and other members of the church to discern the mind of Christ as we seek for ways to strengthen the moral resolve and undergird the faithful commitments of all our people."

-----

This article relied heavily on accounts by Frank P. L. Somerville in the "Baltimore Morning Sun."

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

INTEGRITY/BROOKLYN MAKES SURE MURDERER

OF A MEMBER GETS MAXIMUM SENTENCE

by Kim Byham

     In what must be a first for an Integrity chapter, Integrity/Brooklyn played a pivotal role in the prosecution, conviction, and sentencing of the murderer of one its members.  Integrity's contribution to the justice process was widely noted in the New York media.

     Philip Cooper, a graphic artist and poet, lived in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn, a short ride from the Church of St. Ann and the Holy Trinity in Brooklyn Heights where Integrity meets.  On November 5, 1991, Cooper was beaten and strangled to death in his apartment by Kevin Murray of Manhattan.  Murray had previously been arrested 47 times and convicted 25 times on various charges.

     Initially the police were slow to react, and even after an arrest was made they declined to declare it a bias crime because both the victim and the assailant were believed to be gay.  That was where Integrity/Brooklyn first became involved, working with Elizabeth Garro, the Brooklyn district attorney's liaison to the lesbian and gay community.

     "Integrity had pledged to monitor the progress of the Cooper case, and at least six people showed up in criminal court over the course of the three day trial," Garro told the local Brooklyn newspapers.

     After deliberating for over two hours on August 13, the jury found Murray guilty of second degree manslaughter with depraved indifference to life.

     The press reported: "Garro said there was relief and 'lots of tears' shared by friends and members of a local chapter of Integrity, a nation-wide gay rights group, when they learned the jury had found Kevin Murray guilty of killing Philip Cooper."

     "Every single person's life is valuable regardless of what society might say," said Seana Anderson, a founding member of Integrity/Brooklyn and close friend of Cooper.  "The fact that it was not only manslaughter, but that it was with depraved indifference to human life, says you cannot do this."

     Garro told the press she thought a turning point came on the second day of the trial when a coroner testified Cooper was hit repeatedly before he died, not just three times as the defendant said earlier.  Prosecutors and the medical examiner described a vicious, lengthy beating in which Cooper suffered bone and skull fractures, a broken nose and jaw, several broken ribs and a fractured neck.  Prosecutors said Murray continued to beat Cooper relentlessly after he had crumpled to the ground.

     Although she was unsuccessful in getting the case reclassified as a bias incident, Garro said the crime had elements of bias.  "The severity and violence of what he did to someone he only just met suggests there may have been bias.  I don't think Mr. Murray was gay."

     Although he was expected to get the minimum sentence of 15 to 25 years, Murray was instead given the maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison.  Once again, Integrity was credited by the media with making the difference.

     "If this court ever in its life saw depravity, it was in this case," State Supreme Court Justice Gloria Goldstein said before sentencing on September 1, 1992.  "In all its years, this court has never seen the extent of brutality that was demonstrated by the defendant."

     "New York Newsday" reported:  "Members of the Brooklyn Heights chapter of Integrity filled the courtroom during the trial and sobbed as Goldstein handed down the stiff sentence."

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

DIALOGUE IN TENNESSEE

     Integrity/Middle Tennessee was involved during the fall of 1992 in discussions of human sexuality throughout the Diocese of Tennessee, which covers the middle third of the state.  At least three parishes in the diocese held dialogue programs:  Christ Church, Nashville; Otey Parish, Sewanee; and Trinity Church, Clarksville.

     Christ Church held an eight-week series on Sunday mornings, addressing various aspects of human sexuality.  This was followed by three Wednesday nights, which allowed for more in-depth discussion.  Fred Ellis, Co-Convener of Integrity/Middle Tennessee, was on the planning group that worked with the Rector, the Rev. Tom Ward.  The final Wednesday evening was devoted to the topic of homosexuality.  Fred and four other Integrity members led a panel discussion, followed by a question and answer period.

     Otey Parish did a series of four Sunday mornings dealing with human sexuality, one of which dealt with homosexuality.  Three of the chapters' board members led the adult Sunday School class in a discussion of this topic.  In a follow-up letter, a member of the parish shared that the presentation had forced him to rethink opinions he had held on homosexuality for fifty years.

     It is encouraging to the chapter that parishes in the diocese are proceeding with the dialogue process while the diocese is simultaneously engaged in an exhaustive search process for a new bishop.

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1993 Integrity Directory

Available FREE to Members!

In this issue of "The Voice" we include the names and addresses of all the Integrity chapters and chapters-in-formation.  The 1993 Integrity Directory contains much additional information about the chapters:  officers' names and phone numbers, meeting place and time, and date of certification.  Also included is a complete list of Integrity, Inc. officers and committee members, their addresses and phone numbers.  If you would like a copy, please send the form below (or a copy) to:  Integrity Directory, P.O. Box 5202, New York, NY 10185-0043. Be sure to include your name and full address.

Deadline for Requests: April 1, 1993

Sorry, absolutely no requests will be honored after this date!

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

BISHOP HAINES OF WASHINGTON FACES DISSENT AT HOME

by Laura Sessions Stepp, "Washington Post" Staff Writer

     When word leaked out that Washington's Episcopal bishop, Ronald H. Haines, was going to ordain a lesbian minister, one of Haines's key constituents worked the phone in the hope that others might change his mind.  That constituent was his wife of 35 years, Mary Haines.

     As Episcopalians here prepare to elect Haines's assistant bishop tomorrow, another of his key constituents is campaigning for a candidate who opposes ordaining gay people.  That constituent is his 24-year-old son, Josh.

     "All our family opposed the ordination" of Elizabeth Carl last year, Josh Haines said last week, "except maybe one."  One of the six Haines children, another son, is gay.  "We really gave Dad heat," Josh Haines said.  "He listened to what we said, and we listened to what he said."

     Like the Haineses, the Episcopal Church is a family divided on the issue of homosexuality.  Unlike most other Christian denominations -- which have rejected the ordination of gays or tabled the question -- Episcopalians are exercising their differences diocese by diocese, parish by parish.

     The resulting divisions tear at the lives of priests such as Carl, who is finishing her first year at the Church of the Epiphany near Metro Center, and congregations such as St. Patrick's, a Northwest Washington parish whose pastor has declared his sexual orientation after 13 years.

     "The Episcopal Church ordains more publicly than other churches, but we're paying a price for that kind of honesty," said James Solheim, news director for the Episcopal Church's national office.  "Homosexuality is the most divisive issue since slavery, and I don't see any way out of it in the near future."

     Officially, the 2.4-million-member Episcopal Church discourages ordination of practicing homosexuals.  But its canons are ambiguous enough that bishops have been performing such ordinations for years.  Integrity, an Episcopalian gay-rights group, estimates that at least 50 priests known by their bishops to be gay have been ordained since 1977, more than in any other mainstream religious tradition.

     Meanwhile, parishioners who believe homosexual behavior defies scripture and destroys traditional family values are finding their own voice, and disagreements have erupted in a church that prizes decorum and compromise.

     The debate came to the Washington diocese -- 41,000 members in the District and Maryland -- last June.  Carl, now 45, had graduated from Union Theological Seminary in New York in 1990, "chomping at the bit to get into a parish and preach," she said in an interview last week.  She knew that her sexual orientation might prevent her ordination but, encouraged by priests in the diocese, did not hide it from the church committees that ultimately recommended her to Haines.

     Haines, then 55, wasn't sure what to do.  When he left engineering and entered the priesthood in 1967, he did not believe homosexuals belonged in the priesthood.  "It was a different world, and I was in a different place," he said.

     But in the years that followed, Haines raised a gay son and served on committees that considered candidates for the priesthood.  "I saw ... the pain and the anguish that comes with secret-keeping," he said this week.  Moreover, he had just been elected bishop of Washington, a racially and economically diverse jurisdiction where differences needed to be reconciled, in his opinion, rather than covered up.

     Haines said he prayed, reread church law and the Bible and concluded that a candidate's moral conduct was the important thing.  "What I'm trying to look at is what is a wholesome example for the people of God," he said.  "We've never fully defined it."  He has said the fact that Carl had the same partner for many years weighed in her favor.

     The night before the ordination, Haines told his wife Mary what he was about to do.  Mary Haines said she and Josh Haines then began talking to people on the telephone, urging them to pray for her husband.

     Homosexual behavior is "wrong, biblically speaking," Josh Haines said.  The Bible says sex is appropriate only in marriage, and "if you have a society, you've got to have some rules," he said, particularly for clergy because they are role models.

     "I love my gay son just as much as I love my other kids," Mary Haines said.  "We all belong in the church, but not necessarily in the ordained ministry."  Bishop Haines said his gay son, who does not live in Washington, is aware that his sexuality has played a part in the controversy but prefers not to talk about it publicly.

     The church's presiding bishop, Edmond L. Browning, encouraged Haines to postpone the ordination until after the national church's convention last August.  "But [Dad] said he had told [Carl] he would do it," Josh Haines said, adding that he respected his father for keeping his word and bringing the issue into the open.

     At the convention, several of Haines's colleagues recommended censuring him, a move that Mary Haines privately supported, according to her friends.  The effort died when other bishops admitted that they had ordained gay clergy, "but the whole explosion hurt him," Josh Haines said.  "There were hotheads on both sides."

     Diocesan leaders fielded complaints from parishioners.  The Rev. Tracy Wilder, rector of Christ Church in Rockville, said several families left his church.  St. Francis Church, a large parish in Potomac, withheld its annual contribution to the diocese, about $42,000.

     This spring, conservative Episcopalians placed the Rev. Ruth D. Urban of Troy, Pa., on the ballot for suffragan, or assistant bishop.  At a candidates' forum last week, Urban said that homosexuals should be treated kindly, but that their behavior does not conform with the Genesis story of creation.  God created "Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve," she said.

     The audience applauded politely, except for a clergywoman sitting quietly in the back:  Elizabeth Carl.  She said afterward that she has had a "wonderful year" as associate rector at Epiphany but faces an uncertain future.  Her sponsor at Epiphany, rector Edgar Romig, recently retired, and it is unclear whether a new rector will keep her on.

     Pam Chinnis, Epiphany's senior warden, the highest parish officer, said Carl has been accepted into the congregation with little fuss.  Carl has a gentle pastoral style, Chinnis said, and preaches regularly.  "She is not an advocate for any particular lifestyle," Chinnis said.

     Carl has shunned publicity.  The Rev. Jim Steen, who told his congregation at St. Patrick's last fall that he is gay, has not.

     St. Patrick's, a 900-member parish in Northwest Washington's Foxhall neighborhood, was active in the '60s civil rights movement, championed the ordination of women, and in 1982 hired as an associate rector one of the diocese's first openly gay priests, the Rev. Jerry Anderson.

     But in February, several current and former parish officers told Steen that after 13 years as rector, it was time for him to leave.  The parish was into its third year of deficit spending, they said, attendance was flat, and his domineering leadership was bothering members.  Steen "had done all he could do," former warden Jane Battle said.  "You can only tolerate going in the same direction for so long."

     A former St. Patrick's rector wrote to Steen, however, saying, "It is clear from the timing, the real problem is your sexual orientation."  Steen agreed.

     Steen, a divorced father, had hidden his homosexuality for several years.  Now he and his partner wanted to buy a house, and he was encouraged to be forthcoming by several parish officers, including David Beers, the senior warden and a lawyer who is counsel to Bishop Browning.  Steen said it was good advice that backfired.

     Meanwhile, the parish has elected a new vestry that is largely supportive of Steen, but his critics have already taken their case to Haines.  Haines said this week that he does not have the authority to move Steen summarily, and he has appointed a team of mediators in the hopes that Steen and St. Patrick's can be reconciled.

     Like Elizabeth Carl, Jim Steen faces an uncertain future if he leaves St. Patrick's.  "Ironically, being in a committed relationship makes it more difficult," he said.

     Family fights often concern something unspoken, and at St. Patrick's, according to the new senior warden, Robert A. Andersen, Steen's critics are really concerned that newer members are assuming leadership roles.  "It's really a question of power. The most dissident are old-timers indeed," he said.  Andersen believes that if Steen stays, about 25 members may leave. ...

     Such disunity saddens Haines, who has held his own family together in their disagreement.  "We've got to build community back and not exclude anyone," he said.  "People talk about traditional values -- but whose values?  I think the only values we can look at are the values of Jesus of Nazareth.  You find Jesus going to folks on the fringe, who did not have a voice or any kind of power structure. I don't see Jesus drawing any kind of line in the sand and saying you must come in and you must stay out."

-----

Copyright 1992 *The Washington Post*.  This article appeared in the May 29, 1992 issue and is reprinted with permission.

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DIALOGUE IN THE LIONS' DEN

by Fred Ellis

     On October 24, I served as Integrity's representative at a forum honoring the 75th Anniversary of "The Witness," the oldest and most eminent "left-wing, social-activist" publication in the Episcopal Church.  What made the event remarkable was that it was held at Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, Pennsylvania in the Diocese of Pittsburgh, the epicenter of the Episcopal Church's "right-wing, evangelical" movement.

     The theme was the role of the Gospel and the authority of Scripture in Christian life.  Following Morning Prayer, which included an inspiring homily by the Episcopal Church's leading lay theologian, Verna Dozier, there were five workshops.

     The two I attended were "The Authority of Scripture," led by Dozier, and "Sexuality, Feminism, and Faith," led by Mary Meader, a therapist completing her degree at Episcopal Divinity School (Trinity's polar opposite).  The first was a moving experience with 80 of us sharing what the notion of "authority of Scripture" meant.  Some said they had been hurt by the way this "authority" has been used, while others expressed belief in a literal reliance on Scripture.  The second workshop focussed on feminism due to the interest of the group and time constraints.

     The day's highlight was an afternoon panel with an open question-and-answer session.  Representing Trinity were its dean and president, Bishop William Frey, and the Rev. Mary Hays, assistant professor of pastoral theology and dean of students.  "The Witness" was represented by Prof. Virginia Mollenkott, a prominent lesbian theologian, and the Rt. Rev. Chester Talton, Suffragan Bishop of Los Angeles.  The panel was moderated by Jeanie Wylie-Kellermann, editor and publisher of "The Witness."

     The panelists spoke with great passion and devastating honesty about how their theological positions had been formed.  Major parts of the discussion centered on issues of sexuality and sexual orientation.

     Mollenkott decried the "us versus them" thinking and encouraged forum participants to "fight this duality, which is too often encouraged by churches."  She asked the audience to understand her pain as someone who had been told by members of her church that the deepest, most meaningful and most sacred emotions in her life were evil.

     Hays described how the Holy Spirit had worked in her life, bringing her to Trinity as the only woman on the faculty, and her struggle with how she had been received.  Bishop Talton related how his own spiritual journey, which has included many experiences of racial discrimination, led him to the conclusion that "God is engaged on the side of those who are locked out, those who are oppressed."

     Bishop Frey, who authored the unsuccessful anti-gay resolution at the 1991 General Convention, revealed that the Holy Spirit came into his life at a time when he had been expelled from Guatemala by the Guatemalan government while he was serving as bishop of that diocese, wrestling with a chemical addiction and attempting to hold together his marriage.  After a friend helped him find a position as a college chaplain, the Holy Spirit intervened to heal him of his addictions and help him reach out to his family.

     I thank Dr. Mollenkott and Bishop Talton for the very positive comments and persuasive arguments they made on behalf of lesbian and gay people.

     Throughout the day there was dialogue between "*Witness* people" and "Trinity people."  I had the opportunity to talk, one on one, with several Trinity students, and while we disagreed on a number of issues, we were able to talk and listen to each other.

     At the conclusion of the day, Wylie-Kellermann said that she was "delighted by the vitality of the day," and despite some tension and "excruciating moments when the divisions between us were raw," that she was "impressed by the commitment of the Trinity students and the seriousness with which they try to live out the Gospel."  She added, however, that what struck her "most deeply was the need the students had for what I would call black-and-white answers."

     "It became clear to me, if not to some students, that members of both constituencies have deep and life-changing commitments to Scripture and to God," Wylie-Kellermann observed.  "The actual divergence is not in the commitment but in the way each understands God's expectations."  She concluded, "We met face to face, we spoke from our hearts, and we saw each other, if just for that moment, as children of God."

     That, to me, is what this period of dialogue is about.  I truly believe that we must begin and end this journey at the point that we are all baptized into the one Lord, Jesus Christ, and through him brought to God.  Each of us is joined together to make the whole work.  Unless all of us, as children of God, work together, we shall surely all fail.

-----

This article is derived in part from the report for the Episcopal News Service by David Willis, Editor of "The Chronicle," newspaper of the Diocese of Rochester. 

HOW OTHERS REACTED:

The Rev. William R. Coats

Writing in "The Voice" (Diocese of Newark), December, 1992:

I expected fireworks; none occurred.  The organizers were so nervous (the dean of Trinity had fasted), not knowing what to expect, they resorted to an old ploy:  in the fear of the unknown exercise control.  The conference was smothered by process.  The conferees were to "listen to each other without judging."  Whenever disagreement or argument threatened to break out, avoidance and diversion were employed.  People stated their views but rarely exchanged comments.  No one really grappled with the profound differences.  Is it possible that what we share as Episcopalians is nothing more than terminal politeness? ... Perhaps for the organizers just getting through the day was victory enough.  At any rate it was an ecclesiastical draw with neither side working up much of a sweat.

Nan Cobbey

Features Editor, writing in "Episcopal Life," December 1992:

Each side listened and spoke from its heart but their fundamentally different views on everything from homosexuality to biblical interpretation caused, at times, a raw and awkward confrontation.  Tensions built throughout the day and, at Trinity, continued afterward.

"Reactions exploded Monday morning," according to graduate Julia Duin.  "A student preached that the seminary's chapel has been made so spiritually toxic by the "Witness" conference that it should be reconsecrated."  Frey, aware some students opposed his invitation to The Witness, responded that it had been, according to Duin.

"That's blown way out of proportion," said Frey later.  "We didn't have to reconsecrate anything.   ...After the event several of us went and prayed through the buildings that the Spirit would continue to reign in the place."

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*INTEGRITY INSPIRES PRISON MINISTRY*

NUN'S LETTERS HAVE PIERCED PRISON WALLS

by Camilla Warrick

There was too much to do that Christmas.

First came the job of editing a religious journal.  Next was all the international writing that had to be done.  Then there was the matter of health.

For years, Sister Evelyn Ancilla had been living in a kind of twilight zone, confined to a wheelchair by a rare vascular disease.  Nobody had uttered a death sentence exactly, but physicians weren't promising her much time.

When she sat down to her holiday correspondence, the list of 200 friends and relatives seemed plenty long.  Almost formidable.  She looked at a sheet of paper that had come in the mail from some organization [Integrity!] and shook her head.  It contained the names of three inmates, strangers all of them, serving time in out-of-state jails.  They were hungry for mail.

Well, she would pray for them.  She had no time to write.

Then something happened.  "It was as if I was hit over the head," she recalls.  A voice, or something, admonished her with a single question:  What good would she accomplish if she only wrote to those who wrote to her?

Ancilla answered by digging out a 17th-century poem by Richard Lovelace, "Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage. ..."  She copied it three times, signed it and sent it to those men in Georgia, Washington and Illinois.

*What a Difference*

That's how she learned what a difference one Christmas card can make.  In a few weeks the list of inmates begging for correspondence had grown to six.  The holiday rush was over, but now she had a broken right arm.  "I can't type or write," she grumbled to herself in the infirmary.

This time the voice came from the next bed.  "You can if you make the effort," said another nun, in her final, agonizing bout with cancer.  She confided that she'd long hoped their Episcopal community, the Society of the Transfiguration in Glendale, would do something for people in jail.

Ancilla took a pen in her right hand and moved the paper with her left.  With each clumsy word she launched the society's prison ministry.  That was in 1975.

Now Ancilla's newsletter goes to nearly 1,800 inmates all over the country.  Her personal letters and care packages have sustained dozens.  She has visited all kinds of penitentiaries.  She has even called the head of the federal bureau of prisons on someone's behalf.

The Rev. Maurice McCrackin, whose social justice activism has landed him in jail numerous times, says Ancilla has a remarkable effect on inmates.  "I know of no one whose prison ministry is more wise, caring and courageous," he said.

When Ancilla started the program she was in her mid-60s.  For 25 years she'd been an educator and administrator in Hawaii.  But illness forced retirement upon her in 1968.  She was sent back to Cincinnati for constant medical attention.

*Illness Doesn't Stop Her*

Now she is 80.  She's had innumerable surgeries and been close to death many times.  But still she writes, oversees the newsletter and sends small checks to inmates to help them buy such things as shaving cream, soap and paper.  She knows the details of many peoples' misdeeds.  But she also knows about their spouses and children, their hopes, skills and hobbies.

She believes she's been deceived twice.  But a former con artist told her that's a great record.  She doesn't worry about it.  She does worry, however, about our nation's prison system.

She says it is "corrupt, profitable and employs incompetent people."  Those words sound bold.  But so is she.  Her newsletter deals with difficult subjects, such as the number of juveniles on death row who were abused by their parents, or the quality of legal services for inmates.

Those familiar with her work speak first of her compassion.  She is also a person of high standards trying to get inmates to live up to their best potential.

"I don't believe in being pious," she said.  "I don't try to convert.  I don't say anything until someone asks for help.  But you'd be surprised how many do."

-----

This article first appeared in "THE CINCINNATI ENQUIRER on" December 25, 1989.  Camilla Warrick is an "Enquirer" columnist.

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A NON-BLESSING DISRUPTS MICHIGAN

by Kim Byham

A Detroit priest touched off a storm of angry reaction across the Diocese of Michigan last fall when he announced that he would help two women pledge their love to each.

The service, at Christ Episcopal Church in downtown Detroit, took place in late October.  The date was not made public because prior disclosure of the event had led to controversy.

A month earlier, the Rector, the Rev. Ervin Brown, described what had happened to that point in a sermon:

"On May 8, two women came to see me, expressing a desire for their church to celebrate and affirm the relationship they have shared the last 10 years.  They had been to Bishop Wood, who knew I believed that the church should encourage and support monogamous, committed, life-long relationships for all people.

"The Bishop was clear that what these two women were asking could be neither a marriage nor a blessing.  But the Bishop did say that it would be appropriate if congregations, acknowledging the church's inability to bless same-sex unions, would pray for and promise support to same-sex couples who have committed themselves in fidelity to one another.

"I agreed to officiate at such a liturgical affirmation for these two women.  I have counseled with them on a number of occasions where I became even more convinced of their sincerity and fidelity to each other.

"On August 24, the two women and I met with about 30 parishioners to carry out the Bishop's guideline that such liturgical action arise out of the corporate life of a parish.  Many opinions were expressed that evening, largely in a spirit of love and concern.

"Since then, someone invited to the meeting has felt called upon to share it with those in our diocese who have reason to strongly oppose such pastoral and liturgical action.  Because it became so widely known beyond our parish, the date of the service was changed to avoid disruption.  Also, the original service paraphrased from the Wedding Service was redone so it has more integrity for what it is meant to be:  a pastoral and liturgical affirmation of the covenant of fidelity between two people.

"I personally would like to be able to pronounce the church's blessing on such relationships, and I will continue to work within the proper channels to one day make it possible.  I wouldn't be involved in this if I felt it was unbiblical or immoral.  I believe that affirming such faithful relationships is both the most moral and truest biblical stance I can take.

"That's how I see it and that's why I'm supportive of this liturgical affirmation.  I don't ask that you agree with me, only that you listen to me and respect me for convictions honestly and faithfully arrived at.  And I promise the same to you."

The story actually began in 1990 when the Bishop of Michigan, the Rt. Rev. R. Stewart Wood, Jr., told his priests not to bless any lesgay couples while the diocese studied human sexuality.  That study is not yet completed. 

The ceremony at Christ Church, however, did not violate Wood's order because it was not an Episcopal blessing.  That meant Brown helped the two women make pledges of love and fidelity to one  another, but he did not speak formal words of blessing.  And he made it clear during the service that it was not a marriage.  However, there was a blessing of the couple, given by the Rev. Jon Lacey, a Disciples of Christ minister.

Bishop Wood said that he supported Brown's plan.  "A congregation seeking to respond pastorally to its own people certainly need some freedom to do so," Wood said.  "And there will be no confusion between this and a so-called marriage or a blessing.  We are not trying to create some regular pattern or new service," Wood said.  "This was an individual response to individuals."

The service was designed by the couple with help from Brown.  They pledged "life-long fidelity, forgiveness, compassion," and exchanged gold bands.  Their brothers "stood up" for them.  A reception followed and the couple left for a long-awaited "honeymoon."

However, not everyone took the bishop's statements at face value.  "To call this anything other than a blessing ... is playing a semantic game that underrates the intelligence of the average Episcopalian," said the Rev. Eugene Geromel of Swartz Creek.

Geromel mailed hundreds of letters complaining about the service.  Geromel also led a protest on October 17 at his and one other parish, inviting heterosexual married couples to renew their vows.  October 17 was the date originally planned for the service at Christ Church.

Others, however, applaud Brown's decision.  "His action is theologically sound and deeply courageous," said the Rev. Rodney Reinhart, associate pastor of Emanual Episcopal Church in Detroit and chaplain of Integrity/Detroit.  Reinhart was openly gay and living in a committed relationship when he was ordained a priest in 1986.

Two dozen Episcopal priests from across the diocese declared their support for Brown and Wood in an October 8 letter.

"They are making a courageous and compassionate contribution to our understanding of this church's ministry with homosexual persons," said the 350-word letter authored by the Rev. John Laycock, Rector of St. Columba's, Detroit.  Other signers included the Rev. Canon Dexter Cheney, diocesan administrator; the Rev. Joseph Harmon of St. Matthew and St. Joseph, Detroit; the Rev. Harvey Guthrie of St. Andrew's, Ann Arbor; the Rev. Robert Neily of St. Michael's, Grosse Pointe Woods; the Rev. David Brower of Grace, Southgate, and the Rev. Harry Cook of St. Andrew's, Clawson.

"I think it's time we said loudly and clearly that there are no second-class citizens in the church," said the Rev. Almus Thorp, Rector of Christ Church, Cranbrook, who also signed the letter.  Thorp said he hopes someday Episcopal priests will feel free to bless such unions without fear of backlash.

On October 4, parishioner Fred Motney, began a petition drive at Christ Church.  During the Sunday service, Motney took his protest to the pulpit.  "What he is proposing to do is hurting the church.  He is taking advantage of the love we feel for him.  I don't have anything against homosexuals.  I'm just saying, don't do it in Christ Church."  Motney complained that Brown had told the parishioners what he was going to do, rather than ask permission.  In fact, Brown had consulted with the vestry about the ceremony and only one of fifteen members had objected.

Brown said if he thought a majority of parishioners opposed him, he'd resign, "not out of anger" but out of integrity.  That's not likely.  Motney said that only 30 of more than 800 members had signed his petition.  He thought many more would sign except they didn't was to cross the popular Brown.  "No matter what he says, he's sanctifying a homosexual marriage, period," Motney said.

Also on October 4, two protesters outside, neither of them parishioners, carried signs denouncing homosexuality.  "Homosexuals are not welcome in heaven," said Michael Quinkert, a member of Redford Lutheran Church.  "Read it in the scriptures."

The Rev. Matthew Jones, a retired priest, said the ceremony "goes against all the churches in the city.  God didn't make us like that," he said.  I've got a wife and we've been together for almost 50 years.  Now that's how it's supposed to be."

*Interview with the Couple*

"The service is my opportunity to thank God for her because she's an incredible blessing in my life," one of the women said in an interview with "The Detroit News" prior to the ceremony.  "I'll go to any length to thank Him."

The couple, ages 31 and 29, asked for anonymity to protect family and friends from being brought into the debate over same-sex unions.

"We never intended for this to become such a public issue," the 31-year-said.  "There's a need for society to debate the issue and resolve it.  But it's hard to be the sounding board for everyone when you're talking about what, for us, is so sacred."

They met ten years earlier as college students.  One grew up a Baptist and the other a Catholic, but they had stopped any religious practice, because of the churches' homophobia.

"But I missed going to church because it had been a big part of my life," the 31-year-old said.

They eventually joined an Episcopalian parish because of a welcoming atmosphere.  Then, in April, 1992, they visited the Bishop who suggested they visit Christ Church.  "Erv Brown told us he was interested in what we wanted to do but that we were not to come in here just for the service and never darken the doorstep of the church again," the 29-year-old said.  "He has a policy that if a couple is going to get married, they have to be active in the church.  So we attended services all summer.  And he made us go through his counseling sessions for engaged couples.  He helped us think a lot of things through."

"I thought, here's a person who is willing to take a lot of grief for us," the 31-year-old said.  "We just don't see that a lot, especially in a church.  That's one of the last bastions of legitimized discrimination against gays.  It took guts to say what he did."

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EPISCOPAL AIDS COALITION FOCUSES ON

SECOND DECADE OF THE EPIDEMIC

by James Solheim

        In a four-day meeting marked by blunt language, deep anger and a persistent flow of tears and touch, nearly 500 Episcopalians "living, working and ministering" in the midst of the AIDS crisis gathered at a conference center near Washington, D.C., to assess the response to the first decade of the deadly disease.

         In a speech to the third annual meeting of the National Episcopal AIDS Coalition (NEAC) on "The Second Decade of AIDS," Dr. June Osborn, who chairs the National Commission on AIDS, warned, "If our nation's people don't respond soon, we will have lost a brief and unprecedented moment in human history when we not only could have saved lives and talent, but also could have validated our commitment to learning and to science."

        Osborn argued that since the causes were first isolated in the early 1980s, the scientific community has learned a great deal about the "frightening, deadly" disease.  Unfortunately, the public has insisted on "the right to panic," creating an atmosphere in which scientific research is more difficult.  Osborn said that "the collective response to AIDS was to stigmatize, to marginalize and to cordon off people ill with the new disease."

        "Throughout the epidemic we have had to struggle against a ferocious tendency to categorize, to lump people into groups, and to dismiss the individual tragedies by a kind of class-action denial," Osborn told a sober but sympathetic audience.

        Quoting from a section of the commission's report written by a young woman who later died from AIDS-related complications, Osborn said that "compassion will begin in the small towns in the quiet country throughout America when people understand that people living with AIDS and HIV are just like us -- because they are us."

        Many in the audience at the National 4-H Center in Chevy Chase, Maryland, found abundant opportunities during the October 8-11 meeting to offer personal examples of the hostility they face daily as persons living with AIDS.  In small groups, workshops and frequent worship services, they shared moving stories of pain and isolation but also stubborn determination.   At a special awards luncheon NEAC honored those whos