Walking With Integrity

From Washington State to General Convention

2012-02-09T18:54:00.000-05:00

By
Louise Brooks
Director of Communications
Integrity USA

The Washington state marriage equality bill introduced by Democratic Governor Christine Gregoire and passed recently by a wide margin in the Washington senate, sailed through the Washington house as expected yesterday. This makes Washington state the 7th in the nation to allow same-sex couples to wed. This action came one day after a federal appeals court declared California's ban on gay marriage unconstitutional, calling it was a violation of the civil rights of gay and lesbian couples.

Gov.Gregoire issued a statement after the Washington state vote, saying it was "a major step toward completing a long and important journey to end discrimination based on sexual orientation."

"Thanks be to God!, " said Rev. Harry Knox, Interim Executive Director of Intergity USA. "While some are trying to limit freedom, Gov. Gregoire and the Washington State legislature are expanding freedom and equality. They recognize that same sex couples simply want the liberty to commit to care for each other in sickness and in health. They have made the American dream a reality for thousands of families in Washington."

Gov. Gregorie is expected to sign this bill into law next week. And the Diocese of Olympia is poised and ready to deal with this victory. Here's what they posted on their website about Marriage Equality on February 1, 2012.

Our Policy on Marriage Equality

Per the recommendation of the Episcopal Church’s General Convention, the Diocese of Olympia does not formally authorize any rite of blessing for same-sex unions; however, Bishop Rickel leaves it to the discretion of individual clergy as to whether they will bless same-sex unions.

When marriage equality legislation in Washington State passes and is signed into law, the Episcopal Church in Western Washington will accommodate that law within its structure, much as other Episcopal dioceses have in states where similar legislation has passed.

On the same date, Bishop Greg Rickel’s posted his own personal opinion on his blog at http://www.bishoprickel.com/.

Marriage Equality: A Conservative Proposal

It is expected that our Washington state legislators will very soon, perhaps even tomorrow begin floor deliberations on HB2516 & SB6239 with the Senate to begin. Passage of these bills or a version of them would make same sex marriage law in our state. Our Episcopal Church, after a long discussion about this over the years is poised to do roughly the same this summer at our General Convention.

While I am careful about wading into our legislator’s business, I would say this is the church’s business too. I have been asked by many about my feelings on it, and I have decided to share them. The ideas are not new, I have shared them openly in the walk-abouts before becoming your bishop and in many venues before and since.

Christianity has held, when considering relationships of all sorts, but especially in relation to two people in marriage, fidelity to be our value. Fidelity is the value in most all our sacraments and also in our life as Christians.

It seems to me we have held our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters in a “catch-22″. We say they cannot live up to our value because they cannot be married, or even blessed in their union. While many of them have begged for this, it is still not possible. What they ask of us, the church and the government, is to put boundaries around their relationship, to hold them in the same regard and with the same respect, which would also mean that we expect the same from them. They are not asking for special treatment. They are asking for equal treatment. They are asking to be accountable, as a couple, in community. To me, this is a conservative proposal. I am for it, and I hope we will finally make way for this to happen, not only in our society, but also in our church.

Faithfully,

The Rt. Rev. Gregory H. Rickel

Episcopalians have much to rejoice about. The polls show that the majority of Americans support the right for all persons to marry. The tide is turning. It's only a matter of time. It is just a few months til our own General Convention where, as Bishop Rickel said, we will be "asking for equal treatment" and we will work so it "will finally happen, not only in our society, but in our church."

Amen.

Integrity USA's Press Release on Today's Prop 8 Decision

2012-02-07T14:27:00.000-05:00

INTEGRITY CALLS ON SIX CALIFORNIA BISHOPS TO EXTEND GENEROUS PASTORAL RESPONSE IN RESPONSE TO PROP 8 DECISION

Today, Integrity USA celebrates a giant step toward justice with the decision of the Ninth Circuit Court that California’s Proposition 8, which denied marriage to same-gender couples, is unconstitutional.

"What wonderful news!", said The Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall, President of Integrity. "Since 1888 the Supreme Court has ruled 14 times that marriage is a basic civil right, but again and again it has been denied to loving, faithful gay or lesbian couples. We can rejoice that in California, our right to equal treatment under the law has been upheld and our marriages are once again recognized. This will be an encouragement to all those fighting this battle in their own states."

Rev. Harry Knox, Interim Executive Director of Integrity added, "The Ninth Circuit’s decision affirms same-sex couples’ freedom to commit to care for each other for a lifetime. Thank God the court recognized government should never limit our freedom nor deny our love. Today’s ruling is an important one. We wait to see whether this is the last word or whether our opponents will take their case on to Supreme Court."

Both Hall and Knox issued a call to action to the Episcopal Church in the state of California: "Integrity calls upon the bishops of the six California dioceses to extend a generous pastoral response to lesbian and gay couples so that our legal rights can be celebrated in our churches and our marriages blessed by the church in the same manner afforded to our straight friends and family. This is an enormously important symbol of the Episcopal Church’s true willingness to welcome all people even those of us who are LGBT and to extend all the sacraments to all the baptized.We hope that California citizens will soon be able to marry the person they love.

"While this is a huge victory in the battle for marriage equality, this fight is far from over. Same-sex married couples still face federal discrimination against their marriages because of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Integrity vows to continue to fight for marriage equality both within and outside of the church. We will not stop until we can claim the promise that all really means ALL."

For more information:
Louise Brooks
Director of Communications
Integrity USA
626-993-4605

A Congregation Gently Pushes It's Rector: Celebrates 20 Years of Blessings

2012-01-30T20:13:00.000-05:00

Integrity co-sponsored a two-day celebration at All Saints Church in Pasadena, CA this past weekend which told the story of how two men who wanted to commit their lives to one another, gently pushed their Rector until he agreed to bless their union, and how the Vestry and a Task Force on "God, Sex and Justice" studied and prepared the parish to move forward with the unprecedented blessing. Integrity President The Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall represented the organization at the event and here is her account of what took place.

It was like a family reunion at All Saints, Pasadena last Saturday. Over one hundred and fifty people gathered to remember and celebrate the twenty years that have passed since All Saints celebrated its first same-gender union in January 1992. They certainly weren’t the first church to bless a same-gender couple, but All Saints is high-profile and their decision to go ahead made news the Los Angeles Times and was reported nationally by the Episcopal News Service.

I was fascinated that Rector Emeritus George Regas shared that it was a difficult decision for him. Not the decision to bless same-gender unions but the decision to buck church teaching. He said, “It was hard for me… there was something about violating the churches rules on marriage that had a different feel about it.” What made him do it? The gentle persistence of his congregation.

In the early 1980s gay and lesbian people started making themselves known at All Saints, and they formed a group – GALAS. Regas, then the rector, joined them in a potluck and Q &;A session twice a year, “It was,” he recalled, “my first experience of going significantly into a gay or lesbian person’s life…. Every time I would go [to GALAS] they would push me to bless their unions but I questioned how to put it into practice and still keep my job”.

The Rev. Dr. George Regas & Mark Benson

Mark Benson and Phil Straw were among those who pushed Regas further. In November 1986 they first asked for a blessing on their union. When Regas offered to do something quiet and small in his office they politely declined. They had something else in mind – a service just like straight folk.

And that’s what they got, eventually. In 1990, George announced his intention of blessing same-sex unions. After a congregational Task Force on "God, Sex and Justice" had spent a year introducing the idea to the wider congregation and developing plans and protocols, the blessing went ahead. It wasn’t a small wedding. Yesterday we saw footage of the day itself with procession, banners, choir, the whole nine yards.

It didn’t stop there. All Saints has continued to support LGBT inclusion every step of the way. They supported Bishop Walter Righter during his heresy trial for ordaining a gay man; they organized the conference “Beyond Inclusion” to provide momentum for the LGBT agenda at the 1997 Philadelphia General Convention; after the Denver 2000 they supported the development of the Claiming the Blessing collective which went on to organize support for Bishop Gene Robinson’s confirmation in 2003.

Bishop Gene Robinson & All Saints' Rector Ed Bacon

Did I mention that Bishop Gene was there yesterday? And Bishop Mary? Together. It was history making... because the two Bishops have never spent time together getting to know on another.

The Rev. Dr.Caroline Hall, Louise Brooks & Cindy Smith

I got to hang out with Louise Brooks, Integrity Board Member and Director of Communications; Jim White, the LA Diocesan Organizer, longtime Integrity volunteer Randy Kimmler; as well as Cindy Smith, Provincial Coordinator for Province 8. I also got to meet for the first time Jamie Hebert who is a Producer for the forthcoming dvd, Voices of Witness: Out of the Box, who was there with his husband, actor and comedian Alec Mapa, sharing about their experience finding All Saints and why they are choosing to bring their son up in this inclusive congregation. It was certainly a gay day.
Producer Jamie Hebert & Actor Alec Mapa

My thanks go to the good people of All Saints for all they have done to make the Episcopal Church truly welcoming, and for the beacon of hope they are for so many, that there can be a home for us here. Special thanks go to Canon Susan Russell for her work in putting this celebratory festival together to remind us how far we have come in just two decades.

To see video of the event go to the All Saints website.

Integrity USA Goes to Washington

2012-01-30T15:05:00.000-05:00

Reflection

Rev. Harry Knox

I’ve lost count of the times I have trekked to Capitol Hill in Washington to lobby right wing Republican senators on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and now the Safe Schools Improvement Act. The polite, non-committal responses we always receive might discourage me if I didn’t have the benefit of clarity around my mission as an advocate for justice.

Rev Harry Knox of Integrity, Ja' Briel Walthour, Trey Ramsey, Minister Joshua Holiday of the Fellowship visit Sen Saxby Chambliss' (R-GA) office.

Why do I keep lobbying enemies of justice, as I did last week as part of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force’s Lobby Day? Three reasons come to mind:

1. The Bible says I should not only pray for my enemies, but should seek to bless them. (Matthew 5:44) It was my privilege to introduce staff members of Sens. Johnny Isaakson and Saxby Chambliss of Georgia to two beautiful representatives of Georgia’s transgender and queer communities – Ja’Briel Walthour of Hinesville and Trey Ramsey of Atlanta. Ja’Briel and Trey blessed everyone in the room as they courageously shared their stories of being denied promised promotion because of gender transition and of having been harassed in Georgia schools because of perceived sexual orientation.

2. The young staff members, who hear our stories (so their bosses won’t have to) are the next generation of leaders in their party – and they are different from those in power today. Polls show we are making significant inroads into the hearts and minds of young Republicans. So I am never discouraged at seeing “just a staff member”. I was once one of those young Republican staffers, and I know the future can be different for them if they are exposed, as I was, to new ideas.

3. Ja’Briel and Trey and I are empowered and encouraged for having told our own stories. It feels good to have taken action for justice, even if we don’t know what the direct outcomes might be. As we sought to bless our enemies, we found ourselves blessed. Thanks be to God.

When I was executive director of Georgia Equality, the local LGBT newspaper often asked me a question: “Since the Georgia legislature is stacked against you, and Georgia Equality has so little money, and people are hesitant to take risks for your cause, do you really think you have the resources you need to be successful?” My answer was always the same. “No; so we better get started.”

For some reason, the press never printed my response. I don’t think they understood what we in Integrity understand. We don’t have to know the outcome before we respond to God’s call to action. It’s a matter of faith; and it’s what makes us different from those who leave the world largely as they found it. Heaven save us from that fate.

The Rev. Harry Knox is Executive Director of Integrity USA
harry@integrityusa.org

Harry From Sundance: Gracefully Engage & Reach Out With Love

2012-01-25T15:50:00.000-05:00

Postcard

from

Harry Knox

Executive Director

Integrity USA

In the movie Love Free or Die, which premiered at The Sundance Film Festival on Monday, Bp. Gene Robinson asks the question: Who are we to question 2000 years of Church teaching? He then answers his own question: if we don't, who will?

One if the many things I love about this film is that it shows the tremendous possibility for church growth inherent in our willingness to courageously confront dogma that kills while offering life-giving Good News. Is it hard? Sure. But the joy on the faces of those finding their way home to parishes that embrace them as they are, with all their human complexities makes all our struggle worthwhile.

Love Free or Die tells the story of +Gene and how he, and we, have changed the Church. But it is really a story about making the Gospel real for those Christ said we should always have in the front of our minds: the marginalized. It documents the ways all of us are enriched when people of Godly courage reach out on love to seek to move their neighbors toward greater compassion.

Tied to this powerful film is a campaign of "graceful engagement" - the loving and caring way to reach across our divides to those who are not yet with us. Integrity has 35 years of graceful engagement under our belts and we wholeheartedly support the LFOD Friends and Family project. This project invites everyone in this General Convention and general election year, to think of one person we love who loves us back, but votes against our well-being. It equips us to engage that person in respectful conversation to help them see why we need them to have us in mind when they vote at General Convention or for President of the United States.

Sharon Groves of HRC, Jeff Krehely of Center for American Progress, Rebecca Voelkel of NGLTF, film maker Macky Alston with his daughter Penelope, and Harry Knox of Integrity.

Screenings of the film in local parish halls and at Integrity chapter meetings around the country will be sure to prompt the healing conversations the Church, and the world, sorely need. Contact us at info@integrityusa.org about how to make those screenings happen. You will be blessed and God's beloved world will be changed!

A Postcard from the Sundance Film Festival

2012-01-23T15:37:00.000-05:00

From

Harry Knox

Executive Director

Integrity, USA

The beautiful people! The paparazzi! And that was at church!

I’m having a wonderful time representing Integrity at events tied to the premiere of Macky Alston’s new film, Love Free or Die, at the Sundance Film Festival. LFOD tells the story of Bp. Gene Robinson’s election to the episcopacy and highlights his courageous struggle to help the Episcopal Church and the whole Anglican Communion to make real Christ’s universal welcome. The film will debut tonight, but yesterday was a gorgeous sunny, snow-capped Sunday at St. Luke’s, Park City, UT, where The Rev. Charles Robinson is rector.

Bp. Otis Charles filled in for +Gene, who was in Kentucky celebrating the life of his dear mother, Imogene. +Gene will join us this evening. +Otis shared a winsome sermon on his own experience coming out as a gay man. He focused his sermon on the value of integrity; on truth-telling as a discipline that leads to freedom and joy. I was gratified to hear him describe how Integrity USA helped him find his own voice and companions on the journey out of the closet in the 1990s.

The congregation stayed for our panel discussion on graceful engagement of our neighbors around the need for full inclusion of LGBT people in the life of the Church and the gift that blessings of same-sex unions in our congregations will be.

Love Free or Die will be a vehicle for expanding that conversation in local parishes and Integrity chapters nationwide in 2012. Keep an eye out for more on that in coming days. In the meantime, check out : http://www.sundance.org/video/meet-the-artists-12-macky-alston/.

Six Answers About Same Sex Marriage From a Minnesota Priest

2012-01-20T21:02:00.000-05:00

Integrity Province 6 Coordinator the Reverend Scott Monson [pictured left] serves in Minnesota and so is bracing for a long and potentially polarizing campaign upcoming after state lawmakers there agreed to allow voters to decide whether to limit civil marriage to heterosexual couples – a prohibition that already exists in state law.

Much discussion is going on about the issue. A commentator in the The Minneapolis Star Tribune recently published an article titled "Six questions for supporters of same-sex marriage to answer -- forthrightly" and asked for responses.

A friend and clergy colleague of Scott's who is a straight ally and supporter of same sex marriage, the Rev. Lisa Cressman, sent in a response which the Star Tribune liked and published. (See below.) Scott wants to share her answers with our readers to file away and use when necessary. He says, "Her responses are loving, compassionate and wise—in a word, Christ-like. I think that is why they ring so true."

Here is that article:

Marriage Questions, Asked and Answered

• Article by: The Rev. LISA CRESSMAN
• Published January 17, 2012 - 11:21 PM

Editor's note: The Jan. 14 commentary "Six questions for supporters of same-sex marriage to answer -- forthrightly" inspired an unusual outpouring of response, with scores of readers submitting answers to commentator Dan Nye's questions. Although each counterpoint writer brought a unique voice and perspective, their answers were similar in substance. We have selected this rebuttal as representative:

1. Were our ancestors all dumb and bigoted?

Our ancestors knew many truths, but not all. A common example of what our ancestors held to be self-evident, biblically sanctioned truth, which we now hold in abhorrence, is slavery. It's appropriate to ask ourselves whether a particular societal tradition is the best way for us to continue.

2. Don't our sexual organs exist for reproduction?

Reproduction is one of their purposes, but so is intimacy. If our sexual organs existed solely for reproduction, couples would have sex only at the times necessary for procreation. Moreover, if this were the case, physical fulfillment in marriage wouldn't be enjoyed by couples who cannot have children (for medical reasons or by virtue of advanced age) or who choose not to do so.

3. Do we just give in to our sexual desires?

Our sexual desires have been channeled through the worthy tradition that people choose one mate and make a promise of fidelity through marriage. A mutual, joyful and public commitment, permanently held, one to another, is the healthiest way to build stable families and a stable society. This would argue for encouraging members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community likewise to make a commitment of marriage as the appropriate avenue for their sexuality.

4. Adultery, pedophilia and bestiality are wrong. So homosexuality?

Adultery is a problem because of the trust shattered when marriage vows are broken. Pedophilia and bestiality are anathema because there cannot be mutual consent -- an adult always holds power over a child or an animal. Homosexual commitment is mutual between consenting adults.

5. Changes in norms require universal acceptance. Prevalent homosexuality will not work.

Many changes in our country have taken place without universal acceptance. Indeed, many laws in our country were designed to protect the very people who do not receive universal acceptance.

As to prevalent homosexuality, the long-held estimate is that roughly 10 percent of the population is homosexual. No law has the ability to increase or decrease those numbers.

6. The religious question: Shouldn't we be trying to encourage others to repent of a wrong?

The assumption is that homosexuality is wrong. Assumptions are fair to question, even religious ones. We understand now, in a way our biblical ancestors could not, that medically and psychologically, homosexuals are born, not made. Would a loving God deliberately create someone who is fundamentally a mistake?

If it's a question about "love the sinner but hate the sin," the way we discern whether something is, in fact, sinful, is to look at its consequences. The consequences that result from committed homosexual relationships are as positive as they are for committed heterosexual relationships: stable, tax-paying, caring-for-one-another-through-thick-and-thin families. These are the kinds of consequences that benefit all of society.

Marriage matters to the GLBT among us as much as it does to the rest of us. Surrounded by family and friends, to make a promise to cherish that one other person until parted by death, matters.

This is a big change, surely. I am persuaded, however, that change based on a commitment, a lifelong commitment of mutual joy, will benefit us all.

* * *

Lisa Cressman, of Lake Elmo, is assistant priest at St. Mary's Episcopal Church-Basswood Grove.

© 2011 Star Tribune

The Rev. Scott Monson
Province VI Coordinator
Integrity USA
1015 Sibley Memorial Hwy. #310
Saint Paul, MN 55118-3684
651.785.5103
scott@integrityusa.org
www.integrityusa.org

Celebrating Victory, Pursuing Truth: Transgender Equality Bill Becomes Law in Massachusetts

2012-01-20T01:18:00.000-05:00

Speeches in the Senate Reading Room

By the Rev. Dr. Cameron Partridge
cross-posted at TransEpiscopal

On this bright January morning, as the hour of 11am neared,I emerged from Boston’s Park Street T stop, turned left and began walking upthe hill toward the State House. Today(or rather, at this late hour, yesterday) marked the ceremonial signing of the Transgender Equality bill here in Massachusetts. This legislation, first filed in 2007, passed on November 15^th,and officially signed on November 23^rd, adds gender identity andexpression to the state’s existing hate crimes law and the nondiscriminationstatutes in the areas of housing, employment, education and credit. In afitting twist, the week of its official passage was also Transgender AwarenessWeek, a time of educational and community events leading up to the eleventhannual observance of Trans Day of Remembrance on November 20th.

The Senate Reading Room, where today’s signing took place,was packed with observers, a joyful crowd savoring the celebration. Lawmakers were clearly also buoyed, astheir inspiring comments demonstrated. “You have no idea how beautiful you are as you stand here beaming,” saidstate Auditor Suzanne Bump. “Remember that you are powerful,” offered Senator Brian Downing,followed by fellow Senator Sonia Chang Diaz: “it's days like this that remindus why we ran for office... Thank you for reminding us [legislators] of our ownpower, in addition to showing us your power.” Representative Byron Rushing, who joined Representative CarlSciortino in co-sponsoring the bill from its very first days, declared, “thishasn't just been a discussion of gender identity but of the identity ofMassachusetts, and hopefully it will become a discussion of our nationalidentity.”

Representative Rushing, photo from masstpc.org

In his Episcopal Church context, as a longtime member of theDiocese of Massachusetts’ deputation to General Convention– Deputy Rushing inspires us to pose thatquestion of church identity. Faithcommunities can ask, and indeed are asking, what do we stand for as people ofour respective traditions? In theEpiscopal Church we might well ask—and have asked at the 2009 GeneralConvention and various diocesan conventions before it– what does it mean todeclare in our baptismal covenant that we strive for justice and respect thedignity of every human being? In 2009 the Convention passed resolutions puttingThe Episcopal Church on record in support of transgender equality in the civicsphere (D012 and C048), and pledging within our ecclesial life to makeadministrative forms accessible to gender identities beyond male and female andto protect transgender lay employees from discrimination (D090 and D032,respectively). As our collectiveconversation continues, we might allow the varied lives of transgender as wellas intersex people – communities and individuals whose lives are textured notsimply by complex embodiments of gender but also by race, class, sexuality andability-- to deepen our understanding of the human person. How do we interpret and live out themystery of being created in the image and likeness of God?

At the signing this morning, I was reminded of a startlingmoment in the November 15 debate that I watched on my laptop. RepresentativeSciortino was speaking movingly in support of the legislation when he began todescribe the Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) held at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul the year before. He made apoint of detailing the apology that my bishop, the Right Rev. M.Thomas Shaw, had offered on behalf of Christians who had condemned trans peopleand in the process had “misrepresented God to” us. The apology had been stunning enough in its own right, but tohear it reported, in some sense repeated, on the floor of the House ofRepresentatives, was positively astounding. As I sat there dumbfounded—actually, calling out to mypartner to come see this!-- receiving these words afresh in anunimagined context, I was reminded of a strangely parallel moment at GeneralConvention three years earlier. The Convention had managed to pass D012, the Trans Civil RightsResolution, on the same day that the Massachusetts Judiciary Committee washolding a hearing on its own Trans Equality legislation—an earlier version ofwhat has now finally passed. As a team of trans people and allies worked toward the resolution’s passage in Anaheim, a fellow Episcopalian in Massachusettslearned about it (on his laptop, while waiting to testify in the stultifyingheat) and shared it in the course of his testimonythree thousand miles away. TheEpiscopal Church supports this bill, he was proud to be able to say. It all came full circle.

Also on my mind today were the words (viewable here as blurry video),offered by Bishop Shaw at this year’s TDOR. Speaking at theend of the program, he welcomed us to the Cathedral and then offered a word ofgratitude that felt almost like a meditation: “because of your honesty, becauseof your integrity, because of the way you so pursue the truth of your identity,you tell me about the nature of God, because that is how I think God is. And so I thank all of you not only forthe way that you enlighten my understanding of God but how much you preach tothe rest of the world about courage, and about bravery, and about truth andabout perseverance of identity. Weowe all of you a huge debt of gratitude. Thank you.”

I got the sense people were both honored and stunned by hiswords, working to digest and contemplate them— I know I was. His comments about perseverancein pursuit of the truth of identity—language I had not heard him use before—reminded me of words from the Gospel of John that I first really took in at amiddle school summer Bible camp: “you shall know the truth and the truth shallmake you free” (Jn 8:32).

From this chair, at the end of this day, looking out at the striking vista of falling snow, it strikes me how the process of knowing the truth and beingfreed by it is both lifelong and communal—by turns grueling and wondrous, andinextricably relational, even as it is distinctive to each person.

Governor Deval Patrick signs the bill, photo from masstpc.org

An important truth about the MA trans equality law is thatit is far from perfect: it does not include protections in publicaccommodations—access to public gender segregated spaces. Everyone was resolved to come back and getthat done. And as I think abouthow far we have come, how much more free we are than we were just a few shortmonths ago, I know that what we need more than anything else is the will, the support, the conviction to keep pursuing the truth.

Cameron Partridge is the Episcopal Chaplain at Boston University and a Lecturer at Harvard University

Forming Relationships to Change Hearts and Minds

2012-01-17T16:26:00.000-05:00

A Relection
by
The Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall
President, Integrity USA

One of the wonderful things about being Episcopalian is the freedom we have to believe something slightly different from the person next to us in the pew. Our liturgy provides such a strong connection that we do not need a confessional statement to keep us together. Of course that’s not comfortable for everyone, and it certainly isn’t convenient. It would be much more convenient for us if General Convention were to decide that every diocese and every parish had to be fully inclusive of LGBT people. That isn’t going to happen, because we respect each other, we respect diversity, and we respect the Holy Spirit leading us through the councils of the church. Where there is disagreement over a controversial innovation, we allow local flexibility.

As a result the LGBT advances we make at the national level are not always reflected locally. One example of this is the November election of the conservative Gregory Brewer as Bishop of Central Florida. He still has to be confirmed by a majority of diocesan bishops and standing committees but unless there is a big surprise, by mid-March Central Florida will have a new bishop whose theology is very similar to his predecessor’s.

In his responses during the process of Bishop selection, Brewer stated,

“Simply put, there is no Biblical precedent that allows us to redefine marriage or to open ordination to practicing gay people. I agree with that portion of the Windsor Report that states that to move forward with either gay marriage or the ordination of practicing gay people breaches the bonds of affection within the Anglican Communion, and I am committed to staying within the boundaries the Windsor Report requests.”

Bishop-elect Brewer is not likely to approve blessings for same-gender relationships in his diocese anytime soon, regardless of what General Convention decides. This is a big disappointment for those of us who had hoped for a new perspective, especially those who are members of, and minister to, the large number of gay people living in Central Florida.

But Bishop-elect Brewer also talks the talk of relationship, “The task is to find a way to be both Biblically clear about our ethics but also equally clear about demonstrating (not merely professing) the call to walk in love, as Christ loves us.  Knowing that relationships can be trampled by politics, we have to work together to both form policies that reflect both Biblical clarity as well as compassion, and form relationships that do the same.”

If you’re like me, the implication that having a relationship with LGBT people somehow requires “compassion” in a way that relating to straight people does not, grates on the nerves. But if we read the Bishop-elect’s words with compassion ourselves, we can see that there is an opening here.

Bishop Jack Spong who became a champion of LGBT inclusion in the Church was once on the other side of the aisle. What changed him? Relationships with the LGBT clergy and lay people in his diocese. People, even Bishops, rarely make the move from opponent to ally unless they come to know, trust and respect gay people.

That is why the work of local Integrity networks, chapters and partners is so important. How will Bishop-elect Brewer ever come to see things differently unless the people of Central Florida who have themselves experienced God’s call to be gay and Christian, work without ceasing to form relationships with him and to tell him our stories? This is hard work, sometimes discouraging, but it is the work that changes hearts and minds. It may mean refusing to be silenced, refusing to be forced to meet in secret, insisting that Brewer put into action his language of relationship.

Looking back over the early issues of the Integrity newsletter, we see Louie Crew and others doing just this - constantly knocking on the doors of bishops, writing to them, asking questions and going back again and again. I am grateful to them for their work. I am grateful to all those who have seen the oppression of LGBT people and chosen to take action. I am grateful to the LGBT people in Central Florida and all our straight allies there who will take heart from the parable of the widow and the unjust judge. Her persistence eventually paid off, and so will theirs.

And let us all support their work and that of Bishop-elect Brewer in prayer, asking that he may come to a new understanding of the Biblical imperative of justice and equity.

Integrity Applauds Episcopal Diocese of New York

2012-01-16T17:08:00.003-05:00

Integrity USA applauds the Convention of the Diocese of New York which adopted by a vast majority the following resolutions regarding marriage equality this past weekend. Thanks in part to the Bishop"s Committeee on LGBT Concerns on which Integrity's Board Member Elisabeth Jacobs sits and Integrity Lifetime Member Michael Cudney is Chair. These resolutions move forward to General Convention 2012.

Here is the resolution:

[ 7 ] RESOLVED, That, the 235th Convention of the Diocese of New York urges the 77th General Convention to revise the current Canons of The Episcopal Church with regard to marriage, to provide for the marriage of same-gender couples in those jurisdictions that have or will have civil
marriage for same-gender couples; and be it further

[ 8 ] RESOLVED, That the Diocese of New York urge General Convention diligently to continue the work called for in its Resolution C056, to "collect and develop theological and liturgical resources" for the blessing for same-gender couples;, and be it further

[ 9 ] RESOLVED, That the Diocese of New York, in light of its continued support of faithful and committed same-gender couples, including the support for civil marriage equality by the 232nd Convention of the Diocese and our Diocesan Bishop and other leaders, encourages the Bishop to interpret Resolution C056 of the 76th General Convention ("bishops, particularly those in dioceses within civil jurisdictions where same-gender marriage, civil unions, or domestic partnerships are legal, may provide generous pastoral response to meet the needs of members of
this Church") to mean that clergy throughout the Diocese are permitted (but not required) to sign marriage licenses and officiate at marriages for couples legally eligible for marriage in the State of New York.

Bishop Gene Robinson & Bishop Mary Glasspool to Lead Pasadena Celebration of 20 Years of Blessing

2012-01-11T23:09:00.004-05:00

Integrity joins with All Saints Church in Pasadena in:

January 2012 marks the 20th anniversary of the first blessing of a same-sex couple — Mark Benson & Phil Straw — at All Saints Church in Pasadena. The milestone will be celebrated with a series of events and programs the weekend of January 28/29 both celebrating the past and mobilizing for the future!

Saturday, January 28
9am—5pm
Confirmed participants include:

All Saints Rector Ed Bacon - Bishop Mary Glasspool - Rector Emeritus George Regas - Bishop Gene Robinson

Morning program in the Forum will include a multi-media look at the last twenty years; reflections from our “God, Sex & Justice” history makers; remembering Beyond Inclusion's beginnings and the Claiming the Blessing years. There will be opportunities for Q&A and conversation with Bishops Glasspool and Robinson. Come be informed and inspired!

[The morning program will be live-streamed on the All Saints website.]

Afternoon workshops will include Faith-based advocacy; Civic Engagement on LGBT issues; Keeping Kids Safe from Bullying (with Bill Brummel’s brilliant documentary “Bullied”); A la familia — a bi-lingual guide to LGBT inclusion from our HRC colleagues; Strategic Storytelling for changing hearts and minds, offered by IntegrityUSA; Reclaiming Scripture as a tool for inclusion with Soulforce founder Mel White ... among others. Come be equipped and empowered!

The afternoon will conclude with a Festive Holy Eucharist: Mary Glasspool, preacher and Gene Robinson, celebrant.

Then Saturday is “Movie Night!”

All Saints is thrilled to be hosting the West Coast “sneak preview” of “Love Free or Die” — the just released documentary on the work and witness of Bishop Gene Robinson ... premiering at the Sundance Film Festival on January 23.

"Love Free or Die" begins with the story of a man whose two defining passions are in conflict: his love for God and his love for his partner, Mark.

Gene Robinson is the first openly gay bishop in the high church traditions of Christendom. His consecration in 2003, to which he wore a bullet-proof vest, caused an international stir, and he has lived with death threats nearly every day since. Bishop Robinson refuses to leave the church that has taught for centuries it has no place for people like him. And he refuses to leave the man he loves, even though he has been taught it is God's will for him to do so. And of course he is not alone. Bishop Robinson lives in a nation and a world in which many are caught in this ultimate double bind.

Love Free or Die documents the lives of Bishop Robinson and a host of others in the church/state struggle for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) equality in America. Shot over three years, Love Free or Die reveals from the intimate inside how our culture and our laws change due to the convictions, courage and commitments of specific individuals and communities. Bishop Robinson as he changes hearts and minds on the LGBT equality issue, from working class towns in the northern mountains of New Hampshire to the Lincoln Memorial at Barack Obama's inauguration. In the All Saints Forum at 7pm.

Sunday, January 29

The celebration will continue on Sunday morning at All Saints Church where both Bishop Glasspool and Bishop Robinson will be with us for the 9:00 & 11:15 services. Gene Robinson will preach and Mary Glasspool will celebrate on a morning as we conclude our celebration with a very special Rector’s Forum.

For more information on email All Saints staffer Linn Vaughan or call 626.583.2744.
To register online [beginning January 15] visit the All Saints website.

An All Saints Church Celebration,
with thanks for generous support from HRC (Human Rights Campaign) and Integrity USA

"The Gifts of God for the People of God"

2012-01-10T15:34:00.002-05:00

guest blog by the Reverend Canon Susan Russell

One of the gifts of God for the people of God we celebrated on Sunday here at All Saints Church in Pasadena was the gift of sharing with the Reverend Jeff Martinhauk in the celebration of his first Eucharist as a priest in the Church of God.

Ordained on Saturday at St. John's downtown with this great crop of newly minted priests (pictured here with Bishops Bruno, Bruce and Glasspool) ...

... Jeff will return to Austin in the Diocese of Texas where he is currently serving as chaplain at a Children's Hospital. He was sponsored for ordination by All Saints, Pasadena and was for a time a member of the Integrity Nat'l Board, serving as our Treasurer before heading off to seminary.

So won't you join us here in Pasadena in rejoicing in this new chapter of ministry for Jeff ... and join with us in praying for the time when the fullness of that ministry will be as celebrated throughout the whole church as joyfully as it was celebrated in the Diocese of Los Angeles last weekend. Because there's still work to be done to make that 1976 resolution about "full and equal claim" a reality ... but the Holy Spirit has a stubborn streak that we're counting on as we keep on working for the full inclusion of all the baptized in all the sacraments.

Let those with ears to hear, listen!

[And if you'd like to send a "mazel tov" to the new priest ... you can email him here.]

Thirty Five Years Ago Today

2012-01-09T23:31:00.004-05:00

Integrity Celebrates Thirty Five Years of Ministry

of the Reverend Dr. Ellen “Sr. Bernadette” Barrett

Integrity marks the 35th anniversary of the January 10, 1977 ordination of Ellen M. Barrett to the priesthood with reflections by two prophetic women leaders: the Reverend Dr. Caro Hall (President, Integrity USA) and the Reverend Dr. Elizabeth Kaeton (President, Episcopal Women's Caucus) Rejoice with us -- and with them -- as they share the story of one of the great trailbazers in Episcopal Church history.
.

Standing on the Shoulders of the Saints

by the Reverend Dr. Caro Hall
President, Integrity USA

Where were you thirty-five years ago today? I had just moved to Lexington, Virginia and was trying to find my feet in the US. I wish I had been at Holy Apostles in New York where on a cold and snowy day Ellen Marie Barrett (who coincidentally was confirmed in Lexington, Virginia) was ordained priest by Bishop Paul Moore of New York. On January 10, 1977 Barrett was one of the first women to be ordained. She was also the very first openly gay Episcopal priest.

In 1975 Barrett had become the first women to have a leadership role in Integrity, as an assistant editor of Integrity Forum. She was described to the readers as a “former teacher, A Gay activist and a writer who has served as a co-chairwoman of DOB/NY[Daughters of Bilitis, New York], a moderator of Gay Students Liberation at NYU and as a member of Gay Liberation Front, Radicalesbians, et al. She lectures frequently on Gay liberation, on sexuality in general, and on women’s history – as she puts it, enough so as ‘to make a circuit-rider queasy’.”

It wasn’t easy for Barrett to become a priest. Although in 1972 she was turned down for ordination by both Bishop Moore and Bishop DeWitt of Philadelphia (women were ordained as deacons starting in 1970), she went to General Theological Seminary and got her MDiv anyway. This paid off, as Moore saw her commitment and deep sense of vocation and agreed to ordain her. Her diaconal ordination was a quiet affair but in January 1977 the media were all over her priesting. The story went all over the country – it even made the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle!

For many women in those early days, finding a job was harder than getting ordained. For the first-openly-gay-woman-priest-in-the-Episcopal-Church it was even harder. Even in Berkeley where she was pursuing graduate study, Barrett had difficulty finding a church that would fully accept her ministry. She received hate mail and threatening phone calls from people across the country outraged by her audacity.

But it was her audacity that opened the door which I walked through with ease and grace twenty-seven years later. For the Commission on Ministry in my diocese of El Camino Real it seemed that my gender didn’t turn a hair and my sexuality didn’t make an eyelid bat. How much had changed in the years since Barrett’s courageous actions!! Of course, we still have a ways to go before all LGBT aspirants experience true non-discrimination in the process.

Truly my ministry, both as a lesbian priest and as a leader in Integrity is on the shoulders of saints like Ellen Marie Barrett. Today I give thanks for her and her powerful legacy.

You can read more about Ellen Marie Barrett at the Religious Archives Network. Today she is a sister in the Order of St Benedict and a priest in the Diocese of Newark. You can congratulate her through her Facebook page or by email

Shout the Gospel With Your Life:
Celebrating 35 years of the Rev’d Dr Ellen (Sr. Bernadette) Barrett by the Reverend Dr. Elizabeth Kaeton President, Episcopal Women’s Caucus

Charles de Foucauld was Trappist monk who had a “ministry of presence” among “the furthest removed, the most abandoned” in the Sahara Desert. He saw the purpose of his work not to proselytize or to believe as he did, or convert people whose faith and culture differed from his, but to “shout the gospel” with his life. He strove to live so that those around him who witnessed his life would contemplate, “If such is the servant, what must the master be like?”

Agnes de Mille once wrote: "No trumpets sound when the important decisions of our life are made. Destiny is made known silently."

Trumpets may not have sounded on the morning of January 10, 1977 when Ellen M. Barrett was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Paul Moore in the Episcopal Diocese of New York, but the front page of the New York Times that morning blared, “Lesbian Woman to be Ordained Priest.”

That headline was, at the time, more of a scandal than V. Gene Robinson’s election and consecration as the first openly gay male bishop. That may be news to some who read this, so a little historical context may be in order.

The 1976 General Convention had passed a resolution to “regularize” the ordinations of eleven women, which had taken place at the Church of the Advocate in Philadelphia on July 29, 1974. The following year, the month of January held no less than forty-one ordinations of women to the priesthood in many Episcopal churches and cathedrals around the country with twenty-eight more ordinations by June of 1977.

A new day was dawning in The Episcopal Church and for many of “God’s frozen chosen,” it was a rude awakening. Some churches flew the Episcopal flag at half-staff or upside-down. Some rectors and their congregations left – or threatened to leave – The Episcopal Church. The “Chicken Little School of Theology” was on high alert, certain that the sky was falling and this would be THE END of The Episcopal Church many had known all their lives and loved with all their hearts.

While The Episcopal Church has certainly – thanks be to God - changed over the last thirty-five years, I believe history will reveal that what happened on January 10, 1977 to be one of the more significant and transformative events in the life of our church. I think it reveals the truth of Ms. de Mille’s statement, “Destiny is made known silently.”

One of the silent fears at the time was that opening ordination to women – besides making unification with Rome that much more difficult (strike that) impossible – was that the only women who would seek ordination to the priesthood were women who really wanted to be men. Read: lesbians.

The New York Times hardly “scooped” the story about Ellen being a lesbian. She was, from 1974-75, the co-president (with Jim Wickliff) of the then fledgling organization known as Integrity, which had been founded by Louie Crew. Her diaconal ordination in 1975 at St. Peter’s, Chelsea, had even drawn a small protest demonstration. The headline only served to feed into the worst fears of sexism and homophobia, each of which has deep roots in the other.

Nick Dowen, long time convener of Integrity/NYC, remembers it clearly. “I had come home from work and turned on the six o’clock news. There was a film clip of Bishop Moore, ducking his mitre under heavy television cables on his way into Church of the Holy Apostles (where the ordination took place). It was clear that he was not pleased with all the attention.” “I was thunderstruck,” Dowen said. “This signaled a new openness for gay men and lesbian women in the church – my church – and I couldn’t have been more proud.”

That was to be short-lived. At the next vestry meeting of the Church of the Ascension, which had been the meeting place of Integrity/NYC, the Vestry voted to ask the group to leave the church premises. Dowen was a member of the vestry at the time and only he and one other vestry member voted against the move.

“It was an unexpected and decisive vote and it really shook me,” said Dowen. “I have been part of what I like to call ‘liberal American Protestantism’ all my life, which had a long tradition of extending a warm welcome to everyone.” “This was one of the most formative and transformative experiences of my life. I had never even heard of Integrity before Ellen’s ordination, but you can bet I got involved.”

Anyone who knows Ellen – now a monastic known as Sr. Bernadette – can tell you that she is the least likely person to cause such a tempest in the baptismal waters of the teapot known as The Episcopal Church. According to the Religious Archives Network,

Barrett was born on February 10, 1946 in Lawrence, Kansas where she was baptized at Trinity Episcopal Church in September of that year.

The family later moved to Lexington, Virginia, where her father was a professor at Washington and Lee University, chairing the Department of Roman Languages, until his death in March of 1972. Her mother, Marie Hamilton McDavid Barrett, was for many years secretary of the English Department at Virginia Military Institute. Barrett was confirmed in the R.E. Lee Memorial Episcopal Church in Lexington, Virginia. She began school at the Colegio Americano de Quito at age 5, while her father was attaché to the U.S. embassy in Ecuador from 1951 to 1953.

Shortly after enrollment there, she was withdrawn from the school due to illness; she was then tutored under the Calvert System by her mother. Her secondary schooling began in Stuart Hall, an Episcopal school for girls in Staunton, Virginia. She later graduated from Lexington High School in Virginia. Her undergraduate career had two stages: she first attended Southern Seminary Jr. College in Buena Vista, Virginia, graduating in 1967; from there she went to Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, Connecticut, graduating in 1970 with a BA in English literature.

In 1975, Barrett was awarded a M.Div. with honors from the General Theological Seminary, a member of its second class to admit women. She went on to earn a Ph.D. in medieval history from New York University in 1982, writing her dissertation on the only indigenous religious order in medieval England, the Gibertines, covering the order from its foundation in 1131 to the canonization of St. Gilbert of Sempringham in 1202. Barrett’s ministry has found her serving a variety of city and suburban parishes, beginning her career in Berkeley, California and eventually settling in dioceses in the New York and New Jersey areas.

She held clerical positions ranging from non-stipendiary Assisting Priest to paid Curé. She eventually specialized in interim ministry in parishes where a long-term rector had retired or the incumbent had been removed for misconduct. In addition to the usual pastoral and liturgical responsibilities of an Episcopal priest,

Barrett ran a number of educational programs for parishioners, aimed at both adults and children. She also led numerous spiritual retreats and quiet days, and served on various diocesan councils and committees. In addition to her work within the church, Barrett taught medieval and church history at a variety of academic institutions in the Greater New York area, including Fordham University, New York University, Manhattan College, Union Theological College, New York Theological Seminary, and the Theological School of Drew University. Her scholarly work on Church history includes an essay entitled "Validity and Regularity, an Historical Perspective," published in the Anglican Theological Review in July of 1976. She also presented papers at a number of academic conferences.

Real radical stuff, eh? Such a pity she has contributed to the downfall of the church in particular and Western Civilization in general, not to mention the destruction of family life and the corruption of the morals of our youth – and, no doubt, is the real cause of Global Warming, tsunamis, earthquakes and hurricanes.

Today, Sr. Bernadette lives the solitary life of a monastic, occasionally augmenting her below-the-poverty-line pension with short-term interim and supply duties. “She has paid a huge price in deployment because of her pioneering,” says Louie Crew, a long-time friend and fellow pioneer.

The thing about decisions and destiny is that many may happen quietly and even silently, but the ones that change lives rarely come without high cost. I am deeply grateful for those who came before me who stepped out in faith, never counting the cost. I believe with all my heart that I would not have been ordained almost 26 years ago without the courageous witness of Ellen Barrett.

The Rev’d Dr. Ellen “Sr. Bernadette” Barrett has gone about these past 35 years quietly doing the work God has called her to do, being an unsuspecting prophet in a not-for-prophet church. Like Foucauld, she has shouted the gospel with her life, as the destiny of the church has quietly been made known – despite the occasional blaring of headlines. “If such is the servant, what must the master be like?”

Parish Fractured by Schism To Host Integrity Eucharist

2012-01-05T18:43:00.000-05:00

By Andy McQuery

Integrity, Oregon

“Where charity and love are, God is there.”

The 12th century Cistercian abbot Aelred of Rievaulx was self-evidently a remarkable person of deep faith, humility and wisdom. That he might have been gay should almost be irrelevant. However, the possibility does matter, precisely because so many of us, at large in the universal church and especially in our political leadership, insist that same-sex attraction is the product of a disturbed and warped mind, an “intrinsic disorder,” as the Vatican terms it, a rejection of God’s word and God’s intention for humanity. Homosexuality is often described as an addictive behavior, grouped with alcoholism and drug abuse, but is also thought of as if it were contagious, the mere mention of it in the presence of impressionable young ears enough to open the floodgates of unnatural imaginings and start children down the path to hell. Tennessee recently banned teachers from talking about it. The governor of Texas said Christians don’t have to go to church every Sunday to know that something is wrong with this country when gays can serve openly in the military.

As the apostle Nathanael might have put it, “Can anything good come from a homosexual?”

“It is no small consolation in this life to have someone to whom you can be united in the intimate embrace of the most sacred love; in whom your spirit can rest; to whom you can pour out your soul; in whose delightful company, as in a sweet consoling song, you can take comfort in the midst of sadness; in whose most welcome, friendly bosom you can find peace in so many worldly setbacks; to whose loving heart you can open, as freely as you would to yourself, your innermost thoughts; through whose spiritual kisses – as by some medicine – you are cured of the sickness of care and worry; who weeps with you in sorrow, rejoices with you in joy, and wonders with you in doubt; whom you draw by the fetters of love into that inner room of your soul, so that though the body is absent, the spirit is there, and you can confer all alone, the two of you, in the sleep of peace away from the noise of the world, in the embrace of love, in the kiss of unity, with the Holy Spirit flowing over you; to whom you so join and unite yourself that you mix soul with soul, and two become one.”

Few of us would bat an eye at the idea that there is something holy in the physical, sexual expression of intimate love, but the fact that these are the words of Aelred, a monk living in a community of other men, written in On Spiritual Friendship, his last and most famous work, means for some that if he is speaking of physical intimacy, it must be theoretically, and of course within the context of a mixed-gender union sanctified by the church. The suggestion that Aelred might have been describing an intimate relationship with another man, whether from his own experience or his unmet desires, is rejected. He is speaking of friendship, we are told. Spiritual friendship.

Upon the death of his “friend” Simon, Aelred is recorded to have said, “He was the refuge of my spirit, the sweet solace of my griefs, whose heart of love received me when fatigued by labors, whose counsel refreshed me when plunged in sadness and grief... What more is there, then, that I can say? Was it not a foretaste of blessedness thus to love and thus to be loved?"

We can’t really know, of course, whether Aelred was gay, or how he understood his feelings for Simon, or whether there was any physical relationship beyond “the sleep of peace away from the noise of the world, in the embrace of love, in the kiss of unity,” but it’s not hard to see how gay men and lesbians can and would want to recognize themselves in these words. It’s harder to understand why so many would prefer that we didn’t.

The great, sweet irony of this year’s Integrity Eucharist in Portland in honor of Aelred is that it is hosted by the parish of St Matthew’s, which less than two years ago was devastated by the departure of the priest and the bulk of the congregation. Though the reasons were complex, one of the sorest of the sticking points was the increasing acceptance and visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender folk in the life and sacraments of the church. It is hard in this context to ignore the sting of chastisement in Paul’s words appointed for this feast day, “be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind….in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.” I think that clearly cuts both ways in this sad situation, but ultimately the truth is that one group took their toys and went home. They saw some people in the church they didn’t think belonged there, and they wanted to go someplace where they could lock the door.

What were they afraid of? Did they think maybe a bunch of gay folk and their friends and families might try to coordinate a community service day and paint their narthex? Did they worry we might try to weed their memorial garden and power wash the parking lot in a gesture of friendship? Did they think we would try to organize a Eucharist and donate a dinner to feed 100 people?

If so, their fears were well founded, because that’s exactly what we did.

One version of the Eucharist in this church draws our attention to the fact that “we have denied our goodness in each other, in ourselves and in the world.” It is, rather, that fear of the potential for goodness in “the other” that drove them away. It’s why the hero of the parable is a Samaritan; Jesus wanted to challenge our assumptions, to get us to stop making generalizations about traditional outsiders, to get us to view each other as individuals and not as faceless groups; as people, not as issues.

Two years ago, Dennis, Catherine and Simon would likely have been warmly greeted by the people of St Matthew’s. But not Dennis and Michael; not Catherine and Heather; not Simon and Aelred. The possibility of goodness in those people and those relationships was rejected, and the idea that such relationships might be greater than the sum of their individual parts and, indeed, even holy, was denied. The suggestion that their inclusion was anything other than a mortal threat to the church and an affront to God meant schism.

“Where charity and love are, God is there.”

It is with a nod to Aelred’s first published work, The Mirror of Charity, that “Ubi caritas” was chosen to be the offertory anthem for this year’s celebration. Duruflé’s justly famous setting, based on the original Gregorian melody, unfortunately does not contain the full text of the ancient hymn. It goes on to say, “As we are gathered into one body, beware, lest we be divided in mind. Let evil impulses stop, let controversy cease, and may Christ our God be in our midst.”

As we celebrate the truly good work that Integrity has done, both here in Oregon and around the country, and the wonderful life that continues and grows at St Matthew’s, let us also pause to lament our failures along the way that brought us to this moment. Let us pray, truly, for all people everywhere who seek to know God and, in discerning and following their conscience, make difficult and painful decisions with which we may not agree. Let us confess that we don’t have all the answers, and acknowledge that now we see through a glass, darkly. Let us pray that God fills the holy universal church with all truth, in all truth with all peace. Where God finds corruption, may there be purification. Where God sees error, may we heed direction. Where God sees anything amiss, may there be reform. Where the church is right, may it be strengthened; where it has needs, may they be met; and, for the sake of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, where it is divided, may it be reunited.

The Mass for the Feast of St Aelred will be celebrated beginning at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 12, at St Matthew’s Episcopal Church at 11229 NE Prescott in Portland. A catered supper and party follow in the parish hall.

All are welcome.

A Christmas Letter from Integrity USA's President, the Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall

2011-12-22T16:55:00.001-05:00

Dear Friends:

It's Christmas! The season when we celebrate with astonishment the gift of God; the ultimate generosity of the God who became human and experienced the worst and the best of humanity and inhumanity. Why? So that we might have the chance to discover what it means to be part of the household, the family of God.

And so this weekend most of us will be gathering in families and households to celebrate God's gift by giving gifts and to resonate with God's love as we express our love for one another. Many of us will be gathering for worship in churches where we feel loved and accepted, communities where our gifts are celebrated and our loves are cherished.

But not ALL of us.

There are those who are not welcome to come home. Those who are alone, abandoned by loved ones. Those who do not know a loving, nurturing faith community. Those for whom there is no room at the inn.

Our hearts go out to them.

Let us make a commitment this Christmas not to stop until the Episcopal Church truly welcomes everyone who comes seeking God, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender expression. Even one person who experiences TEC as unwelcoming is one too many.

May the God of welcome warm your heart and your hearth this Christmas. If you find yourself outside the inn, may you meet the One who was also unwelcome, and may your heart be strangely warmed. If you find yourself in a family or household may God bless you with eyes to see those who long to be invited in.

Merry Christmas!

The. Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall
St Benedict's, Los Osos
President, Integrity USA

Blue Christmas

2011-12-21T19:13:00.000-05:00

A Reflection By The Rev. Canon Ed Sniecienski

Have you ever wondered how many shades of blue exist? The best explanation I've discovered is that there are an infinite number of possible shades of blue, each changed slightly by adding a new color.

Recently, I heard the question asked “what was your favorite Christmas.” It’s an interesting question.. I know from experience how easy it is for many of us to remember our worst Christmas. For some among us, pain was the only gift under the tree.

Last evening, I attended a service titled: “Blue Christmas: A Service of Comfort & Light.” As the church pews slowly filled, I wondered what shade of blue each participant was carrying like the father and his very young son sitting across from me. Where was the Mom? Or, the man with his head in his hands crying softly? I recognized a transgendered woman in her holiday best.....looking sad and lonely. The gentleman in the pew in front of me clutched a photo of him and his partner. What color blue is mourning? A few rows back, two beautiful women exchanging tissues, holding hands just wanting to live their lives out loud. So many shades of blue.

As candles were lit we prayed –

We lit the first candle for those persons who have been loved and lost. We paused to remember their names, their faces, their voices. We give thanks for the memory that binds them to us this season.

We lit the second candle to redeem the pain of loss: the loss of relationship, the loss of jobs, the loss of health, the loss of dreams. As we gather up the pain of the past, we offer it to You, O God, asking that into our open hands in exchange for the gift of peace.

We light the third candle for ourselves this Christmas time. We paused and remember the past weeks, months and, for some, years of difficult times. We remembered the poignancy of memories, the grief, the sadness, the hurt, the pain of reflecting on our own mortality.

We lit the fourth candle to remember our faith and the gift of hope which God offers to us in the Christmas story. We remembered that God, who shares our lives, promises us a time and place of no more pain and suffering. The time is now and the place is now.

So many shads of blue......and so many shade of hope.

Come, let us join hands and carry the light of the fourth candle into our hearts, lives and the world. One is brighter than two and so forth. Let's exchange our tears for smiles wrapped in light and radiant with hope. The gift of love is freely given and waiting under the tree.

This was a wonderful service! At the end, I felt that the best Christmas was only days away because we can bring our pain and loss to the manger and exchange them for joy, light, and the knowledge that we are beloved by God. And, here's the thing...... God’s love is anything but blue!

A personal note of thanks to the Rev. Carri Patterson Grindon, friend and colleague for offering Blue Christmas: A Service of Comfort & Light at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Altadena. CA.

Ed Sniecienski’s professional career encompasses forty years of diverse experience in the fields of Education, Business and Non-profits. In 2001, he joined the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles as special assistant and senior advisor to the Bishop. In January, 2005, Ed was ordained a Deacon in the Episcopal Church and named Canon in 2007. Recently, he launched Discern with Me an interactive web site where we can share with each other our journeys through the “in-between” places of our lives. Ed is a proud member of Integrity and the LGBT community.

Diary Of An Arrested Priest

2011-12-20T20:31:00.002-05:00

"My friend Michael Sniffen - a strong straight ally - was arrested on Saturday night with Bishop George Packard as a part of the Occupy Wall Street Movement. This is Michael's reflection on the experience, and in the context of Advent (shared with permission). It is a powerful reflection and I want to share it with the readers of this blog." -- The Rev. Jon M. Richardson, Vice President of National Affairs

Diary of an Arrested Priest

The Rev. Michael Sniffen

“Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?”

-Matthew 25:37-40

"The church is the church only when it exists for others." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

On Saturday, December 17th 2011, in the third week of Advent, I was arrested in a vacant lot owned by Trinity Church, New York.

Earlier that day, I had visited the flagship Apple Store to purchase a Macbook Air as a Christmas gift for my brother. My wife and I strolled down 5th Avenue looking at the Christmas decorations, soaking in the holiday spirit and window shopping. It was a refreshingly crisp winter day and New York was glittering and beautiful. After some lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant in SOHO, I went to join clergy colleagues at an Occupy Wall Street celebration and rally at 6th Avenue and Canal street.

I became involved in the OWS movement when a visit to Zuccotti Park in September motivated by simple curiosity turned out to be a convicting religious experience. The encampment in Zuccotti seemed to me a post-modern incarnation of the community depicted in the book of Acts. Sharing things in common, working for the common good, wrestling with the fundamental inequities in society. Since that visit, I have spent as much time as I could listening to the prophetic voices coming out of the movement. I have helped coordinate housing and food for occupiers. I have been part of ongoing discussions among faith leaders throughout the city, the country and the world regarding the urgent need for a dramatic shift in the economic and social realities which are crippling God’s people. I have preached about the movement, with the movement and to the movement. Over the past three months, I have come to view OWS as both a catalyst and a first fruit of the change I wish to see in the world as a person of faith. Not only do I support what the movement stands for and hopes to accomplish, I also support and love the human beings who make up this movement. They are sacraments of God’s love, God’s justice and God’s peace among us.

On the 17th, occupiers and various community leaders from New York (and beyond) gathered to celebrate the movement’s three month mark. Several civil rights heroes of mine were expected to speak and I wanted to meet them. I planned to visit the celebration and then return home and rest before Sunday. I thought, “Is it really only one week till Christmas? Where has the time gone? Has OWS only been a reality for three months? Wow...it seems a lot has happened in that time. What a gift to the world!”

The mood at the rally was celebratory. There was a general sense of enthusiasm, happiness and passionate commitment. The Church needs more of all three. As I came around the corner where folks were gathering, I spoke with some other clergy who passed on the word that folks were planning to go forward with an act of civil disobedience. They would be entering the vacant lot which had been proposed as a Winter encampment site for OWS. This made me a little uncomfortable. I had considered participating in civil disobedience on other occasions, but had evaluated each situation and decided that it was not right for me personally to participate. I felt the same way today. I did not think that entering the lot would move the good people of Trinity to change their minds regarding use of the space. I was also not sure how helpful the action would be to the movement and, truth be told, I had not planned to stick around for more than an hour. So, I decided not to participate if any act of civil disobedience did take place. I would be there as a non-violent witness, an OWS supporter and a representative of the Church. Good enough.

As the rally unfolded, I was standing near Bishop Packard (retired bishop to the Armed Services), his wife, other clergy and faith leaders. Suddenly, a large staircase emerged from the crowd and was placed against the fence on the north side of the lot. Was it Jacob’s ladder? People began to cheer. Banners were raised. I watched as Bishop Packard went up the stairs and over the fence in a purple cassock and cincture given to him by the Archbishop of Canterbury. His cassock ripped and he fell to the ground on his back. I lunged forward in fear and concern. At that same moment, the police began to push in hard on the crowd. I could feel the physical pressure through dozens of people whose bodies were pressing on mine. More people began to climb the staircase. Up and over they went into an empty gravel lot. And there was jubilation! Could standing in an empty lot really cause so much excitement, so much joy? They felt completely liberated. I could see it on their faces.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see a large gathering of police wearing riot gear and carrying weapons. My stomach drops. When I was 16 years old, a police officer hit me hard on the arm with a Maglite on the beach my hometown. It left a painful bruise for weeks. That act of violence was minor compared to what I have seen happen to participants in the OWS movement for simply sitting still.

I look at the people inside the fence and have a feeling which I can only describe as overwhelming love and concern. I must decide, in an instant, where to place my body as a priest. It is no time for sitting on the fence. I climb the stairs and enter the lot. People are cheering and chanting, some are crying, some are silent. I see a sign which read, “Trinity Church - Hero of 9/11. Be a hero again!” I turn and flashed a peace sign to the crowd and to the cops. The same thing I do with parishioners whose hands I can’t reach from the aisle on Sunday. Where are the Trinity clergy? The work of non-violent peacemaking is not best left to the quasi-military NYPD. My iphone vibrates in my hand as I dash toward someone who has fallen over the fence. On the phone is a reporter from the Episcopal News Service. “Michael,” she says. “Are you there? What’s happening?” I tell her that occupiers have entered the lot and I have entered with them. My attention is with the fallen women. “Are you ok?” I ask. She nods and brushes herself off. I say into the phone, “As a priest, I have to be with my people and these are my people. I am here in solidarity with them.” Full stop. I have a deep and overwhelming sense of responsibility that cannot be overcome by reason or logic. It this what it feels like to be a parent? Is this what the incarnation really means? Damn it. What have I climbed into?

This may sound like overstatement, but the option of not going over that fence felt roughly equivalent to abandoning Christ on the cross. I kid you not. I felt the pain and the courage of the occupiers viscerally. I could not let them go alone. Not with the risk of violence which I saw mounting. Not after I had stood with them and they with me in so many other places. My conscience as a priest and as a human being took over and I knew which side of the fence I had to be on. It was obvious. As someone whose spirituality is deeply rooted in the liturgy, I heard the words spoken by my Bishop on the day of my ordination, “You are to love and serve the people among whom you work, caring alike for young and old, strong and weak, rich and poor...My brother, do you believe that you are truly called by God and his Church to this priesthood. Answer: I believe I am so called.”

Some clergy and I begin to sing, “Lo How a Rose E’er Blooming” as the police enter the lot in force. We’re attempting to calm the tension and embody a non-violent, peaceful presence. I realize that I still have the Episcopal News Service on the phone in my hand. “I have to go,” I say, and put the phone in my pocket. The police come in fast and hard. I raise my hands. Was I blessing them? Was I trying to slow them down? Was I showing them that I had nothing in my hands? I can’t say for sure. Maybe all three. An older male officer in a white shirt throws a young woman next to me to the ground and jams his knee into her back with his full weight. I lunge forward and shout, “This is not necessary! She’s not resisting you! Just calm down!” He looks up and I see him glance at my collar. “You calm down!” he shouts at me as he gets up, moves toward me and brings his pointer finger within an inch of my face. Then he turns to another officer and shouts angrily, “Start collaring people!” Are we having an ordination?

A younger male officer, as gently and kindly as a mother touches her child, takes hold of my arms and puts plastic cuffs on me. He does so, dare I say, lovingly.

The officer in the white shirt moves on to another young woman wearing a pink Tutu. He flings her around roughly and onto a makeshift bench face down. Her bag goes flying. He twists her arm dramatically behind her and shoves it upward toward her shoulder as he pushes her off the bench and onto the ground. Her stockings rip and her knees begin to bleed. I can see the pain on her face. Not just physical, but spiritual. “Stop it! You’re hurting her!” I shout. Is my voice audible? The officer man-handling her turns and looks at me again. His face is red with rage.

The gentle officer holding me appears to be upset. “Are you ok?” he asks me. “I’m fine,” I say. “But I am concerned about these other people. Can you stop him from being so rough?” The officer shrugs and raises his eyebrows dispassionately. I see sadness in his face. He sees the concern in my eyes.

I look around as action in the lot comes to a stop. Who is here? A humble bishop in ripped vestments, a group of ecumenical clergy, a Roman Catholic nun, students, hunger strikers, parents, grandparents, and others. What crime have they committed? Stepping onto church property as a statement of solidarity with the poor, the least and the lost. This motley crew has hurt no one and is hardly threatening. No personal property has been destroyed. In Advent, we celebrate the in-breaking of God and they call this trespassing. We better be careful with our theology.

I cannot make sense of this situation. I cannot get past the fact that I am an Episcopal priest standing in a vacant lot owned by an Episcopal parish, performing a priestly duty and I am under arrest. Wow. I think about my wife and how she is expecting me home right about now. I’m sorry. I did not plan to climb any fences, but here I am.

In John’s gospel it says, “The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.’ Nicodemus [asked], ‘How can these things be?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?” (John 3:8-10) There are so many things that I do not understand, and I am supposed to be a teacher of the faith. Lord, help me to understand.

As we are loaded onto the police bus, people sing, “We shall Occupy” to the tune of, “We shall Overcome.” I sit silently on the bus and stare out the window as people stop their cars in the middle of traffic, get out and cheer. People on the sidewalks down Canal street pump their fists in the air. Some on the bus feel encouraged. I am overcome with sadness as the brokenness of the world floods my soul. Where is the greatness of God in this season of Advent? Be still and know that I am God.

As I am having my mugshot taken, the flash of light reminds me of the Angel Gabriel appearing to Mary in the gospel I am not yet ready to preach tomorrow morning. “For nothing will be impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37) God grant me courage and wisdom in these troubled times. Grant me strength of heart and mind and soul and body to say alongside Mary, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; Let it be with me according to your word."

One by one we are processed, separated male and female and locked into large holding cells. Inside, we talk about the movement and how desperately we want peace, justice and equality for all God’s people. Clergy speak one on one with occupiers. The bishop convenes a General Assembly. We talk about the experience of being arrested. We get to know one another and share our stories. Several occupiers remark about how much better they have been treated during this arrest. They reckon it is because clergy were present. I find that small bit of good news gratifying. A supervising officer brings us bread, cheese and milk. It reminds me of being in kindergarten and having snack delivered to the classroom. Someone asks, “Can I have two milks?” Response: “don’t push it.” Fair enough.

A hunger-striker who had not eaten for 15 days as part of “the ask” for Trinity to grant use of this empty lot to the movement rises to his feet. He does so slowly and unsteadily from a bench in the corner of our cell. A tear runs down his face. "It is an honor and a privilege to break bread with you today, my friends." The hair on my arms stands up. I cry. Others do too. This is one of the clearest experiences of “church” in my life. Christ is palpably present in this cell as sure as you’re born. I could have reached out and touched the wounds if I wanted to. My middle name is Thomas, after all. We embrace the breaker of bread and each other. Afterwards, I sit on the floor of the cell at the Bishop’s feet.

As I recount this Eucharistic moment to my congregation on Sunday morning after my release, I weep in the pulpit. Sweet sacrament divine. As I end my sermon and walk to my stall, people stand and applaud. They are not applauding me. They are applauding the presence of Christ in the midst of brokenness. I can feel it. I cry all the way through the Nicene Creed. That’s got to be a new one. I look around through my tears and members of my choir are crying. As I distribute the Body of Christ to my parishioners as I do every week in almost exactly the same way, something is different. People grab my hands and hold them. Not one person, but many. One man who always keeps his eyes down looks me straight in the eyes. “The Body of Christ,” I say. “In the name of justice,” he says. I lose it and begin sobbing. I almost drop the patten. Another parishioner approaches with tears in her eyes. “The Body of Christ,” I say. “Thank you,” she manages while holding my shoulder and squeezing. Tears hit the Host. “The Body of Christ,” I say to one of my wardens. He says to me, “I want to shake your hand.”

At the end of the service, I raise my hands which were cuffed behind my back the night before. “Life is short, and there is not much time to gladden the hearts of those around us. So, be swift to love and make haste to be kind. And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit be with you and remain with you always.”

Forgive us, Lord. We know not what we do. I did not mean to trespass on your holy vacant lot. But I did, and now you’ve broken into me. How can I keep from singing?

Lo, how a Rose e'er blooming from tender stem hath sprung!
Of Jesse's lineage coming, as men of old have sung.
It came, a floweret bright, amid the cold of winter,
When half spent was the night.

Isaiah 'twas foretold it, the Rose I have in mind;
Mary we behold it, the Virgin Mother kind.
To show God's love aright, she bore to us a Savior,
When half spent was the night.

The shepherds heard the story proclaimed by angels bright,
How Christ, the Lord of glory was born on earth this night.
To Bethlehem they sped and in the manger they found Him,
As angel heralds said.

This Flower, whose fragrance tender with sweetness fills the air,
Dispels with glorious splendor the darkness everywhere;
True man, yet very God, from sin and death He saves us,
And lightens every load.

The Kingdom of God is inside us and all around us. The world is a mess and yet the beauty of community is springing up in the most unexpected places. In an empty lot. In a prison cell. God is building staircases into our hearts this Advent. Sacrificial love is rushing up those stairs. It is the most powerful force on earth and it cannot be stopped. “We are unstoppable,” says God. “Another world is possible.”

What happened on the 17th of December will be forgotten pretty soon. The media cycle will move on. People and institutions will move on. I’m out of jail now, but I am still arrested. God’s Holy Spirit has placed me under arrest. It’s troubling and comforting and overwhelming. I feel completely alive and scared and hopeful. I believe, Lord. Help my unbelief. Help me climb your staircase one step at a time and meet me on the other side. For you promised, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” Be with us all in this season of brokenness and mending.

A “collaring” prayer:

O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look favorably on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquility the plan of salvation; let the whole world see and know things which were cast down are being raised up; and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, pg. 528)

The Rev. Michael Sniffen
Priest-in-Charge
The Church of St. Luke and St. Matthew
520 Clinton Ave, Brooklyn NY 11238

http://www.stlukeandstmatthew.org/

Bishop Robinson on MSNBC

2011-12-15T16:27:00.002-05:00

Bravo, Bishop Robinson!! Great job on MSNBC this morning!

It is breathtaking (and not in a good way) when someone who aspires to be the Commander in Chief denigrates the soldiers he means to command. Just like all the other soldiers in our military, our gay and lesbian soldiers are dodging bullets and IED’s to preserve our rights as Americans. The right of all Americans to represent their country in our military is now the law of the land, a law that Gov. Perry apparently disagrees with and presumably would work to change if elected president.

The blood of gay and lesbian soldiers flows as readily and as redly as that of other young Americans fighting in Afghanistan, yet Gov. Perry feels free to use them as political cannon fodder for his campaign. In an attempt to garner conservative Christian votes, he would stigmatize these brave young men and women who are, as we speak, risking their lives on our behalf. If this is patriotism, count me out!

White House Memorandum on LGBT Rights

2011-12-06T15:21:00.000-05:00

Presidential Memorandum -- International Initiatives to Advance the Human Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Persons

MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES

SUBJECT: International Initiatives to Advance the Human Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Persons

The struggle to end discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons is a global challenge, and one that is central to the United States commitment to promoting human rights. I am deeply concerned by the violence and discrimination targeting LGBT persons around the world whether it is passing laws that criminalize LGBT status, beating citizens simply for joining peaceful LGBT pride celebrations, or killing men, women, and children for their perceived sexual orientation.

That is why I declared before heads of state gathered at the United Nations, "no country should deny people their rights because of who they love, which is why we must stand up for the rights of gays and lesbians everywhere." Under my Administration, agencies engaged abroad have already begun taking action to promote the fundamental human rights of LGBT persons everywhere. Our deep commitment to advancing the human rights of all people is strengthened when we as the United States bring our tools to bear to vigorously advance this goal.

By this memorandum I am directing all agencies engaged abroad to ensure that U.S. diplomacy and foreign assistance promote and protect the human rights of LGBT persons. Specifically, I direct the following actions, consistent with applicable law:

Read the specifics here. ...

... and please, please, PLEASE do take a minute to say "thank you" for this powerful and prophetic step. We know the White House will be hearing from the "religious right" on this one ... let's make sure they hear from us, too. Here's the Contact the White House link to make it easy for you.

Q & A on the Deputy Online Forum

2011-11-25T09:00:00.004-05:00

As noted earlier on this blog, the Online Deputy Forum topic from 11/14 - 11/27 is C-056 ... the General Convention resolution calling for the collection and development of theological and liturgical resources for the blessing of same-gender relationships. Here's a question posed by Ruth Meyers -- Chair of the Standing Commission on Liturgy & Music -- and answered by Integrity's past-president Susan Russell:

"How might this work, that is, the provision of theological and liturgical resources for blessing same-gender relationships, advance the mission of the Episcopal Church?"

The church – our Episcopal Church – has been at this work of discerning the Holy Spirit at work in the lives, vocations and relationships of its gay and lesbian baptized for a very long time. In my parish we are about to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the first same-gender blessing of Mark & Phil in January 1992. Since then there have been more calls for us to “do the theology” than I can count – and it was a great privilege to be part of the task force collecting and developing the resources being presented by the SCLM to GC-2012. That said, I would like to offer a three-fold answer to Deputy Meyer’s question, framed by the definition of that mission from our Catechism:

Q. What is the mission of the Church?
A. The mission of the Church is to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ.

(1) As we continue to live into that high calling to restore all people to unity with God and with each other in Christ, these theological and liturgical resources will equip and empower the Episcopal Church to more fully include all the baptized in the sacramental life of the Church as we to strive to make the “full and equal claim” promised to gay and lesbian members of this church in 1976 not just a resolution but a reality.

(2) In those jurisdictions where the bishop authorizes their use, these resources will not only inform and bless the congregations and couples participating in the theological work and liturgical blessings, they will be an outward and visible sign to those who are still standing as strangers at the gate that “The Episcopal Church Welcomes You” sign really means it. They will, in short, be a means of proclaiming the Good News of God’s inclusive love –a means of evangelism.

(3) Finally, the provision of these resources for trial use will allow the Church to move beyond what I have come to call “the inclusion wars” and into a new era of mission and ministry focused on what binds us together as those who believe the Good News of God’s love, justice and compassion rather than on what divides us as those who disagree about theology, sexuality and natural law.

We carry within us the DNA of Anglicans who managed – against all odds -- to be a church both catholic and protestant in the 16th century. These resources will equip us to continue that good work into the 21st as a church committed to the mission of restoring all people – gay and straight – to unity with God and each other in Christ.

The Reverend Canon Susan Russell,
Deputy: Diocese of Los Angeles

If you're a Deputy to General Convention it's not too late to weigh in. And it is also not too late to encourage your diocesan deputies to step up and speak out.

Diocese of New York Elects Dietsche on 3rd Ballot

2011-11-19T16:18:00.003-05:00

Integrity responds to the election of the Reverend Canon Andrew Dietsche as Bishop Coadjutor in the Diocese of New York

Today, the people of the Episcopal Diocese of New York have concluded months of discernment by electing the Reverend Canon Andrew Dietsche as their Bishop Coadjutor. Integrity joins the Diocese of New York in celebrating the election of an able pastor and with the whole Church in praying for continued joy in mission and ministry for this trailblazing diocese.

“What we have seen in the Diocese of New York during these weeks and months of discernment is our church at its best,” said the Reverend Dr. Caroline Hall, President of Integrity. “This diocese opened itself up to the power of the Holy Spirit to guide and direct it through a transparent discernment process that resulted in an exemplary and diverse slate of candidates.”

“They have led the Episcopal Church another step toward the full inclusion of all the baptized in all the sacraments becoming a reality in the Episcopal Church – not just a resolution of General Convention. We owe them our thanks and gratitude for their visionary leadership.”

Integrity looks forward to the day when the inclusion of qualified LGBT candidates for the episcopate will be the norm whenever slates for the election of a new bishop are presented to diocesan conventions. We are grateful for the legislative progress made at our last General Convention that opens the way for each and every diocese to choose from all the qualified candidates the best bishop for as the chief pastor for their diocese – regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race, national origin or gender identity.

We look forward to working with bishop-elect Dietsche as we continue to work together toward the full inclusion of all the baptized in all the sacraments in living out our baptismal covenant commitment to respect the dignity of every human being.

For more information or further comment contact:
Louise Brooks, Director of Communications, 714.356.5718
email: tvprod@earthlink.net

Attention Integrity Members: Time for Action on Behalf of Blessings!

2011-11-15T20:22:00.000-05:00

Call to Action: Urge your deputies to take part in the C056 Forum

The Deputy Online Forum on C-056 - has begun. It would be a shame if deputies only hear from the person whose comments thus far are all about “natural law”. We need to create a buzz that blessings are the next great thing for the Church. Please contact your deputies and ask them to read the white paper from the Standing Commission on Music and Liturgy and to comment favorably on the forum.

These are the suggested discussion questions for the forum. Here are a few:

In what ways do the theological principles summarized in the white paper (first bullet on
page1) describe your experience of lifelong monogamous relationship (your own or
someone else’s)? How do or might they help the Church consider the monogamous,
lifelong, covenantal relationships of same-gender couples?

How well do the report and resolutions as outlined in the white paper respond to the
current pastoral realities and needs of your diocese?

How might the General Convention continue to honor the historic and dynamic Anglican
tradition of the Episcopal Church as it receives and acts on the resources for blessing
same-gender relationships that the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music has
developed?

How might this work advance the mission of the Episcopal Church?

How might the Episcopal Church continue to be in dialogue with other provinces of the

Anglican Communion as we make decisions about blessing same-gender relationships?

Again, ask your deputies to speak out for blessings! Those of you who are not deputies or first alternates can view the conversation, but not post, at http://houseofdeputies.org/deputy-online-forum/.

Please let us know you have contacted your deputies and what their responses are. Email Brent Cox at brent@integrityusa.org.

Harry+

Rev. Harry Knox

Interim Executive Director

Integrity USA

In Massachusetts, An Unfolding Dream

2011-11-15T19:43:00.001-05:00

It's been a tense, exciting day in the Boston area as the legislation known as the "Transgender Equal Rights Bill" makes its way out of the Judiciary Committee for the first time in six years. The bill is heading to the legislature with a vote expected tonight or tomorrow as the winter recess approaches.

Yesterday the Boston Globe and Boston Herald reported on the impending vote, and this morning both papers reported on dueling press conferences in which the bill's opponents called the vote a "distraction" from economic issues. When one such representative argued, "The goals of the advocates is to have this litigated in the courts,” he was confronted by Ken and Marcia Garber. The Garbers' transgender son was, as the Globe explained,"bullied and discriminated against before he lost his life to a drug overdoes at the age of 20." When the representative "said he did not have time to answer their question because he was late to a meeting," the Garbers, faithful members of Dignity Boston, "challenged Lombardo’s contention that the transgender bill is a distraction from bills that would protect the state’s economic future, [saying] 'Some of these people will never have a future if they don’t do something' to pass the legislation."

The trans community had strong victories late last Spring with Connecticut and Nevada added to the ranks of the now fifteen states and 132 counties and cities with nondiscrimination and hate crimes protections.

This drama happens to be unfolding during Massachusetts' "Transgender Awareness Week," in which a number of colleges, universities and other community spaces are holding trans-themed events. The culmination of the week is the twelfth annual observance of the Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR). Though international in scope, the TDOR movement was sparked by a death here in Allston, about a mile away from where I write. Rocker Rita Hester was murdered on November 28, 1998 almost three years to the day after the loss of Chanelle Pickett on November 20, 1995. A growing number of Episcopal (and other) congregations have been hosting TDOR events in solidarity with trans communities, even as the observances themselves usually avoid the languages, music or imagery of specific (or at least any one) religious traditions. Indeed, in his TDOR welcome at a packed Cathedral Church of St. Paul last November, Bishop M. Thomas Shaw offered an apology to the gathered community for the ways in which Christian communities in particular have failed to welcome trans people and have, as he put it, "misrepresented God" to us. I posted a piece about that TDOR here. This Sunday the Boston TDOR will take place once again at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul.

Today Bishop Shaw reiterated his support, that of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts (as of its 2008 Convention), and that of The Episcopal Church (as of the 2009 General Convention) for the legislation. His statement reads,

"Hopeful that after six years the transgender equal rights bill will come to the Massachusetts Legislature for a vote this week, I continue to urge lawmakers to support it. Now is the time to carry civil liberty for all people another step forward by safeguarding the equality and honoring the human dignity of transgender people. Passing the bill this week will serve as a powerful sign of hope, particularly as Transgender Day of Remembrance is being observed at our Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Boston this Sunday. I pray that Massachusetts will open this new door this week so that we might step through it together toward social justice for all."

The full text of the statement is available on the Diomass website, here.

As it so happens, Sunday is also one of the major examples of what I call "hinge days" in the liturgical year, those days in the Christian calendar that form us with peculiar intensity as we move from one liturgical season to the next. November 20th marks the last Sunday after Pentecost, otherwise known as the Feast of Christ the King or the Reign (or perhaps, as Verna Dozier might put it, the Dream) of Christ. Sunday's gospel text from Matthew 25 issues the ultimate challenge of justice from the Son of Humanity, enthroned in eschatalogical splendor: will we feed the hungry, clothe the naked, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, visit the imprisoned? As we "do it unto the least of these," we "do it unto" Christ, we are reminded with unsettling specificity.

As the battle over this legislation heats up, I find myself seeking to be present to it as a holy time and space, as an invitation to be, as Bishop Shaw often puts it, opened. It strikes me that this openness is not simply a static state of welcome and inclusion, but an ongoing process of being opened, transformed by God, ushered into new ways of being in the world, into a new time and space that Christians name as the reign or dream of God. That notion of openness is unsettling and challenging indeed, but hopeful and promising beyond our wildest imaginings. May it be—may it become – so.

Rev. Dr. Cameron Partridge is the Episcopal Chaplain at Boston University and a Lecturer at Harvard University.

Mobilizing Integrity Membership:Contact your GC-Deputies today!

2011-11-11T13:09:00.001-05:00

A MESSAGE FROM SUSAN RUSSELL
November 11, 2011

Dear Integrity members,

Next week the Episcopal Church will take another important step toward achieving one of Integrity’s long-time goals: the approval of liturgies for the blessing of same-gender unions. On November 9th House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson announced that the next topic on the Deputy Online Forum will be launched on Monday, November 14th – and the topic of discussion is the Status of Resolution C-056: Rites for Blessings.

Deputies and First Alternates will be invited to reflect on the work of the Standing Commission on Liturgy & Musis (SCLM) Blessings Task Force as represented in the white paper posted on the PHOD website from November 14th -27th.

As a member of the Blessings Task Force it has been a tremendous privilege to be part of the work of creating the resources that the SCLM will present to the Church in Indianapolis. And it was a high honor to be part of the Integrity leadership team that worked so hard to move the Episcopal Church forward on blessings through the years. Today I am writing to call all Integrity members to encourage the Deputies from their diocese to [a] read the C-056 white paper and [b] participate in the Deputy Online Forum discussion.

We can use our grassroots networks to reach out to our Deputies and let them know we expect them to lead the Episcopal Church in taking another important step forward toward the full inclusion of all the baptized in all the sacraments. Together we can prepare our Deputies to head to Indianapolis and General Convention 2012 equipped to make history by authorizing liturgies for the blessing of our relationships. Call or email your Deputies today. Together we can make this happen.

All best blessings,

Integrity past-President
SCLM Blessings Task Force co-chair

Harry Knox: Celebrating Incremental Victories

2011-11-10T18:33:00.000-05:00

Integrity USA Applauds the Senate Judiciary Committee Vote to Repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)

The Senate Judiciary Committee took the historic step today of voting in favor of the Respect for Marriage Act, which repeals the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).. "Equality is never a special interest," said Senator Chris Coons in support of the bill. The vote was 10-8 in favor of repealing DOMA

"For the first time in history, the Senate Judiciary Committee recognized gay and lesbian couples who want to marry as people who share the same values about love and commitment as they themselves do," said Rev. Harry Knox, Interim Executive Director of Integrity USA. "Thanks to the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee, we now can move forward to the Senate floor another chance for historic vote to end federal discrimination ."

On whether this bill has a chance to pass in the Senate, Knox continued, "A Gallup poll earlier this year found that 53 percent of Americans support marriage equality, and another poll found 51% of Americans support repealing DOMA. But as long as DOMA stands there are 1138 rights and privileges denied gay and lesbian couples. Today was an incremental victory in the audacious goal to repeal DOMA. I call on every Integrity member to call his or her Senators and ask them to support the Respect for Marriage Act. That way, this audacious goal will become a long overdue reality."

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For more information conatct:

Louise Brooks

Director of Communications

Integrity USA

communications@integrityusa.org

626-993-4605

Move the middle on marriage with "Committment" not "Rights" language

2011-11-09T15:57:00.002-05:00

A message from Harry Knox
Interim Executive Director
Integrity USA

"The most important lesson is that for the middle, marriage is about commitment—not rights." - Thrid Way

It’s always nice to get validation for our work. It is especially so when that validation is backed by solid data. When I saw the report (http://www.thirdway.org/) this week on messages that work to help the moveable middle support marriage equality, I am more convinced than ever that Integrity’s approach to advocacy for blessings of marriages for all committed couples is effective both inside and beyond the Church.

The report came from Third Way a Washington think tank that helps moderate politicians find their way to support for progressive causes. A few years ago, I worked with Third Way on efforts which lead to the passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. I am proud of work I did with them and look forward to using their new research moving ahead.

One of the major findings of focus groups and polls utilized in the study was that voters who are moving toward support for marriage equality become more comfortably settled in that support when they learn that most lesbian and gay couples want to be married for the same reason their straight neighbors do – because they are committed to each other and want the world to know it. Messages that center on commitment work better with these voters than those that focus on the civil right to marry or financial benefits that derive from marriage.

For many people, it all comes down to something spiritual. Isn’t that what Integrity has been saying all along? Our work for the blessing of the church in our local parishes is driven by a desire to celebrate with our church families the love God has given us and to ask for the prayers of the people as we commit to support and care for each other come what may. Our desire for legal rights and financial protections derives from our commitments to care for our spouses -- not to make a political point.

The more we engage our neighbors in the pew to tell that story – and the more our engagement is overheard by those outside the Church – the easier our neighbors find it to give us the blessing of their support. Let’s keep at it!

Call to Action: Call your Legislator to challenge DOMA

2011-11-03T18:04:00.000-04:00

Legislation which would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act was to be debated by a US Senate Judiciary Committee but is delayed until November 10th. But, here's some good news.......

132 House Democrats have signed onto an amicus brief challenging the discriminatory DOMA (the so-called Defense of Marriage Act)

Here's a PDF of the brief

If your representative IS a signer CALL AND THANK THEM. RIGHT NOW. JUST DO IT. [Here's a link to find the number if you need it. ]

If your representative is NOT a signer then use the same link to call and tell them how disappointed you are NOT to see their name and remind them there's an election coming up.

READY.

SET.

GO!

Important New Survey on Transgender Issues

2011-11-03T14:53:00.000-04:00

New Survey: Strong Majorities Favor Rights and Legal Protections for Transgender People

Americans have Solid Understanding of Transgender Identity

Washington, D.C. – Overwhelming majorities of Americans, across the political and religious spectrum, believe that transgender people should have the same general rights and legal protections as other people, a new survey finds.

The August and September Religion and Politics Tracking Surveys were conducted by Public Religion Research Institute and released amid the increased attention towards transgender issues following Chaz Bono’s appearance on ABC’s Dancing with the Stars. The combined surveys constitute one of the first independent studies of attitudes on transgender issues and Americans’ knowledge of transgender identity.

"Three out of four Americans say Congress should pass employment nondiscrimination laws that protect transgender people," said Dr. Robert P. Jones, CEO of Public Religion Research Institute. "This strong support is also broad, persisting across party lines and the religious spectrum."

Approximately three-quarters (74%) of Americans also favor Congress’ recent expansion of hate crimes legislation to protect transgender people. Additionally, the survey found that roughly two-thirds of Americans both report being well informed about transgender people and issues, and generally understand what the term "transgender" means.

"To explore whether Americans know what the term ‘transgender’ means, we allowed them to define ‘transgender’ in their own words," said Daniel Cox, PRRI Research Director. "More than two-thirds of Americans were able to give an essentially accurate definition of the term ‘transgender’ without any assistance."

Among the Findings:

Overwhelming majorities of Americans agree that transgender people should have the same general rights and legal protections as others.

Approximately 9-in-10 (89%) Americans—including strong majorities of all religious and partisan groups—agree that transgender people deserve the same rights and protections as other Americans.

Approximately three-quarters of Americans both say Congress should pass employment nondiscrimination laws to protect transgender people, and favor Congress’s recent expansion of hate crimes legislation to protect transgender people.

Three-quarters (75%) of Americans agree that Congress should pass laws to protect transgender people from job discrimination. This support persists across the political and religious spectrum.

Approximately three-quarters (74%) of Americans also favor Congress’ recent expansion of federal hate crime laws to include crimes committed on the basis of the victim’s gender, sexual orientation or gender identity, compared to only 22% who oppose.

Approximately two-thirds of Americans both report being well informed about transgender people and issues, and generally understand what the term "transgender" means.

Two-thirds of Americans agree that they feel well informed about transgender persons and issues, while 3-in-10 disagree.

In order to determine whether Americans understood the term "transgender," PRRI conducted a follow-up survey in September 2011 that asked respondents to report what the term "transgender" meant to them in their own words. Among the 91% of Americans who report that they have heard of the term transgender, 76% give an essentially accurate definition. Thus, overall, more than two-thirds (69%) of Americans are able to identify what the term "transgender" means without any assistance.

To read the topline questionnaire and survey methodology, click here:

Both the August and the September Religion and Politics Tracking Surveys were designed and conducted by Public Religion Research Institute. Results of the August survey were based on random digit dial telephone survey of 1,006 adults conducted between August 11, 2011 and August 14, 2011. Results of the September survey were based on random digit dial telephone survey of 1,013 adults (301 were reached by cell phone) conducted between September 14, 2011 and September 18, 2011. The margin of error for both surveys is +/- 3.0 percentage points.

Public Religion Research Institute is a non-profit, nonpartisan research and education organization dedicated to work at the intersection of religion, values and public life.

Susan Russell writes Kim Kardashian

2011-11-02T14:28:00.001-04:00

Dear Kim,

My mother brought me up to write my thank you notes on Crane's Informal Notes with good penmanship -- but in this case I'm hoping a blog post will suffice to extend to you my deep appreciation, profound thanks and tremendous gratitude.

I am not sure you can appreciate just what a gift it is to have the extraordinarily well publicized news of the end of your hysterically hyped marriage come the very week our congressional leaders are set to begin debating the Respect for Marriage Act on Capitol Hill.

Seriously. As a marriage equality activist I cannot thank you enough for your gift of the stunning example of how the gender of the couple saying "I do" clearly has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with respect for the institution of marriage. It is a gift -- I promise you -- that will keep on giving.

As we continue to work for Family Values that value all families and a Protect Marriage Movement that protects all marriages we will have your example to add to Britney Spears' 55 hour marriage, Larry King's eight marriages and Newt Gingrich's three (just to name a few) as proof positive that marriage needs protection all right -- but not from gay and lesbian couples who want to pledge to live together until death do they part.

We will have another great example to contrast to those couples building lives, families and a future without the 1138 federally protected rights that you and Kris Humphries enjoyed for the 72 days you were married to each other. Rights like social security, inheritance, taxation, hospital visitation and immigration status. Just to name a few.

We will have another opportunity to talk about the values that make up a marriage -- values that transcend the gender and sexual orientation of the couple. Values like fidelity, monogamy, mutual affection and respect, careful, honest communication, and love -- the values that we in the Episcopal Church have held up as the standards we hold for relationships blessed by our church.

And it will give me the chance to talk about the marriages I know about that actually embody all those traditional values which were so utterly lacking in your $10 million dollar nuptial debacle. Like Alec and Jamie. Gay men who have been together for 10 years. Married since 2008. New parents to a 5-year old son adopted out of the foster care system. A son they are raising in a stable, loving home, bringing him to Sunday School every Sunday ... and teaching him to write thank you notes. On Crane's Informal Notes. With good penmanship.

So thank you again, Kim. As we work without ceasing to secure for Alec and Jamie and their family the rights you and Kris threw away after 72 days of marriage, I hope you will know how deeply grateful we are for the "on a silver platter" gift you gave us this week as we head into Senate Judiciary Hearings on the Respect for Marriage Act and look ahead to the repeal of DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act). Honestly, we just can't thank you enough.

Sincerely,

The Reverend Canon Susan Russell

All Saints Church, Pasadena

The Rev. Canon Susan Russell is an Associate Rector at All Saints Church in Pasadena, CA. She is also a past president of Integrity USA. You can follow her very popular blog, An Inch at a Time here.

Kudos to Integrity Connecticut!

2011-10-26T15:11:00.000-04:00

This past weekend Integrity Connecticut celebrated the passage of Resolution # 6 at their diocesan convention: RESOLVED: That the 227th Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut urges the Bishop of Connecticut to acknowledge that there are people living in same-gender relationships of mutuality and fidelity who want to be married by their clergy; and be it further RESOLVED: That the Bishop of this Diocese may permit the clergy of the Diocese to determine the appropriate generous pastoral response to meet the needs of the members of his or her own local Eucharistic community, including officiating at weddings of same-sex couples and acting as legal agents of the State in signing marriage licenses.

Resolution #6 was developed by Integrity Connecticut and sponsored by supportive clergy and lay delegates and was passed by a broad majority of the delegates present.

It is work like this done in the Diocese of Connecticut by Integrity Connecticut and their allies that will bring us one step further to achieving our goals for marriage equality at General Convention 2012.

Here is a letter from Larry Besel, Jr summing up their success:

Dear Integrity USA Friends,

I am delighted to report that our Diocesan Resolution calling upon our Bishop to permit our clergy to voluntarily marry same sex couples passed the 227th Convention of the Diocese of Connecticut! Approximately 75 to 80 percent of the convention delegates voted in support the resolution. The resolution brought about a generous amount of diverse dialogue including a discussion on whether the church should even be involved in the performing a function which might be better handled by local justice of the peace. There was a minor change made to our original wording, but nothing that would change the original intent. I will forward the final wording as it is posted from our Diocesan web site.

Copies of our videos were given to delegates during the two day convention/ We also distributed copies of the 8 page same sex marriage rite as authorized for use clergy of the Diocese of Washington (DC).

I've compiled some statistics which can be measures of interest in our initiative and present them below for folks who are interested in that sort of thing:

To date, our principle video "A Call for Marriage Equality in the Diocese of Connecticut" has been viewed 125 times on YouTube.

Statistics for our other videos as presented on YouTube are as follows::

Integrity Connecticut - Father Frank Kirkpatrick - History of Marriage in the Church had 51 views:

Integrity Connecticut - Father Don Hamer - A clergy's perspective had 64 views

Integrity Connecticut - Christene and Linda - Lesbian couple 70 views

Integrity Connecticut - Alex and Ryan - Gay couple 48 views

Integrity Connecticut - Tom and Enid Straight couple 30 views

Integrity Connecticut - Linda and Mark Straight couple 30 views

(You can view all these videos at the Integrity Connecticut website.)

Now that the convention is over we will refine the tags we use to bring people to these video - just haven't had the time up until now to focus on that as we were directing folks to it through the diocese blog of our resolution which had our website in the resolution.

Thirteen separate resolutions were up for consideration by our Convention. The Convention blog site statistics indicates 280 individuals viewed our resolution prior to the convention (there were approximately 600 delegates at the convention. The next highest number of individuals visiting a convention blog was 159 individuals who visited the blog related to a resolution calling for a 'Year-long Dialogue on Open Communion".

Finally, over the past 16 days, our Integrity Connecticut web site recorded 2330 hits with the vast majority of the hits being directed toward our Marriage Equality page our Alternative Rites for Same Sex Couples page and our Where Clergy May Officiate at Same Sex Marriages page.

Please accept my heart felt thanks for what each of you did to support our Chapter in this journey!

Sincerely

Larry Besel, Jr. - Convener
Integrity Connecticut
www.IntegrityConnecticut.org
860-306-8089

Richardson attends South African Consultation on Justice & Sexuality

2011-10-25T13:34:00.001-04:00

Integrity USA Vice President of National Affairs, the Rev. Jon M. Richardson, recently represented us at a consultation on justice and human sexuality in Durban, South Africa organized by our Chicago Consultation colleagues "working with the Ujaama Center in Kwazulu-Natal University—gathered 30 Anglican African Church leaders and 15 North Americans to discuss issues of justice and sexuality. For the first time on the continent of Africa in the Anglican Communion people came together to talk about both mission and inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people. "

Integrity USA applauds and celebrates the great work of our collaborative partners.

The Rev. Bonnie Perry, co-founder of the Chicago Consultation, preached a sermon about the recently concluded consultation to her congregation at All Saints Church in Chicago last Sunday. Here is a part of what she had to say:
"Every morning in small groups

we did Bible-study for an hour and half.
We poked and rolled around,
immersing ourselves
in our common scriptural heritage.
We listened to each other—
we talked about where we do ministry
and what our many challenges are.
Then we had tea.
Then people told their stories.
African and North American.
We listened deeply and intently.

Most of the Africans in attendance
were Biblical scholars—
far more educated than most of the Americans.
Surprise number one of many for me.
That said, this was for many of the Africans
the first time they’d met Americans.
Certainly the first time they’d ever related
to someone who happened
to be openly gay or lesbian.

We told our stories.
And our African sisters and brothers listened:
deeply—warmly.

We dispelled half-truths and myths.
One man was under the impression that Bishop Gene Robinson—
the first out, gay partnered bishop of New Hampshire
was elected by gay people.
It was their belief that New Hampshire,
all of New Hampshire is gay.
For how else could this have happened?

A priest from Nigeria asked,
“But don’t you have all gay churches?”
He asked this with profound curiosity
and confusion after listening to my presentation
on our ministry here at All Saints.
He watched one of our annual meeting slide shows—
and your pictures—
did not fit his previous beliefs.

We can laugh—
we can shake our heads in disbelief.
But let me ask you this—
how much do you seriously know about villages in Kenya?
How many of us can even find Tanzania, Rwanda or Unganda on a map?
When we answered their open, honest, candid questions—
they listened and they believed us. "

You can read Perry's entire sermon on Episcopal Cafe here.

$35 in gratitude for 35 years

2011-10-20T18:59:00.000-04:00

$35.00 for 35 years…

35 years ago at its 65th General Convention the Episcopal Church adopted a ground-breaking resolution affirming that “homosexual persons are children of God who have a full and equal claim with all other persons upon love, acceptance and pastoral concern and care of the Church."

This resolution provided the foundation for 35 years of progress for LGBT Episcopalians including:

• inclusion of sexual orientation in the non-discrimination canons in 1994

• movement forward on the blessing of same-sex relationships in 2000 & 2003

• consent to the elections of Bishop Robinson in 2003 and Bishop Glasspool in 2010

Just two years after its 1974 founding Integrity helped the Church wake up to the need to open its doors and its sacraments to all of God’s beloved – and 35 years later we are still at it! Your gift of $35 in gratitude for 35 years of commitment to change can help us finally make that 1976 resolution a reality. Donate now.

That was then…This is now!

In 1976 Integrity challenged the 65th General Convention to address the full and equal claim of homosexual persons – and in 2012 Integrity will partner with TransEpiscopal to challenge the 77th General Convention to address the full and equal claim of transgender persons.

"Out of the Box: The Gender Continuum" – another in the award winning Voices of Witness DVD series -- will put the “T” in LGBT by celebrating the work and witness of the transgender community. We will meet the challenge of educating deputies and bishops on what it means to be transgender and why it is important for our canons to specifically include gender identity and gender expression. The DVD will be distributed – along with a study guide -- to all Bishops and Deputies prior to GC-2012.

And your $35 gift in thanksgiving for 35 years of activism will help make it happen. Donate now.

As God has blessed us, we are turning our gratitude into passion for even more justice. Together we can finish the work of claiming the church’s blessing for same-sex unions as we stand in new and powerful ways with our transgender sisters and brothers. Help Integrity continue to make history. Make your $35 donation now.

Thank you for your support,

Caro Hall
President of Integrity

PS Your $35 gift for 35 years today will be matched by our generous colleagues at the Arcus Foundation. Please give all you can and our partners will see to it that your gift is multiplied!

Integrity's Harry Knox reports on his recent road trip

2011-10-13T21:41:00.002-04:00

On the road for Integrity this week, I had a unique opportunity to celebrate our past and to help shape our future. I was privileged to pray with two iconic leaders: Louie Crew, the courageous founder of Integrity - and Val Kalende, the young lesbian who has stepped into the leadership vacuum left when our martyr David Kato was murdered in Uganda.

I had a few minutes to reminisce with Louie and his partner Ernest Clay in Savannah as we helped Integrity Georgia celebrate it's 10th anniversary. History was made. For the first time since the chapter's founding, the resident bishop, The Rt. Rev. Scott Anson Benhase, celebrated the Eucharist with Integrity members. But it was Louie's stories of the early days of Integrity that moved me most in those moments. He and Ernest laugh now about the frustration of being turned down by three printers as they sought to get out the first Integrity newsletter. They smile as they mention that the printer who finally agreed to produce a publication with the word gay in it, was a Muslim.

I remember rural Fort Valley, Georgia in 1974. It was a dangerous place to tell the truth about sexuality. And in that post-Watergate period, the country was in no mood for a new movement. Thanks be to God Louie and Ernest didn't wait until models were developed for LGBT advocacy, or for perfect conditions in which to begin. Their leap of faith in those uncertain days began a march with all of us that has brought us closer than ever to our goal of availability of all the sacraments to all the baptized in the Episcopal Church.

I left Savannah for New York and a meeting of a United Nations consultation on the decriminalization of homosexuality and gender variance, which was inspired by the work of Bp. Christopher Senjonyo in Uganda. As always, I was inspired by being with Bp. Christopher again. But the rare treat was the opportunity to meet in person the young woman who has accepted the mantle of public leadership of her queer peers in Uganda since the assassination of Davis Kato. Val Kalende thanked us for our support of Sexual Minorities in Uganda (SMUG), asked for our continued support, and reminded us of the importance of encouraging indigenous, culturally appropriate movements among LGBT people in other lands. Like Integrity in 1974, they are finding out what works for them in their setting. They need our prayers, our practical help for the vital basics of every organization, like computers, office space and gasoline - the worldly implements through which Holy Spirit reaps a harvest of reconciliation. For more information contact the Rev. Albert Ogle at: aogle@cox.net.

What a privilege to gaze at icons of our past and future as I prayed this week for Integrity. Please be sure you are praying for Integrity, too!

Harry Knox+
Executive Director
Integirty USA

Archbishop Tutu challenges Presbyterian Church to do the right thing.

2011-10-13T17:59:00.001-04:00

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a longtime champion of peace and justice, celebrated his 80th birthday last week. That does not mean retirement for Tutu. He continues to be a worldwide opinion leader calling for inlcusion in the Anglican Communion and elsewhere. Here is a copy of the Open Lettter he sent this week to the Presbyterian Church (USA)..

To Rev. Grayde Parsons, Stated Clerk, Presbyterian Church (USA)

Dear Brother in Christ,

I am writing you with the request that you share these thoughts with my brothers and sisters in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.):

It is incumbent upon all of God’s children to speak out against injustice. It is sometimes equally important to speak in solidarity when justice has been done. For that reason I am writing to affirm my belief that in making room in your constitution for gay and lesbian Christians to be ordained as church leaders, you have accomplished an act of justice.

I realize that among your ecumenical partners, some voices are claiming that you have done the wrong thing, and I know that you rightly value your relationship with Christians in other parts of the world. Sadly, it is not always popular to do justice, but it is always right. People will say that the ones you are now willing to ordain are sinners. I have come to believe, through the reality shared with me by my scientist and medical friends, and confirmed to me by many who are gay, that being gay is not a choice. Like skin color or left-handedness, sexual orientation is just another feature of our diversity as a human family. How wonderful that God has made us with so much diversity, yet all in God’s image! Salvation means being called out of our narrow bonds into a broad place of welcome to all.

You are undoubtedly aware that in some countries the church has been complicit in the legal persecution of lesbians and gays. Individuals are being arrested and jailed simply because they are different in one respect from the majority. By making it possible for those in same-gender relationships to be ordained as pastors, preachers, elders, and deacons, you are being a witness to your ecumenical partners that you believe in the wideness of God’s merciful love.

For freedom Christ has set us free. In Christ we are not bound by old, narrow prejudice, but free to embrace the full humanity of our brothers and sisters in all our glorious differences. May God bless you as you live into this reality, and may you know that there are many Christians in the world who continue to stand by your side.

God bless you.

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu (Cape Town, South Africa)

In honor of National Coming Out Day...................

2011-10-11T20:40:00.000-04:00

Integrity celebrates National Coming Out Day by publishing two fabulous blogs from two fabulous Episcopal priests. The first is from Integrity President, the Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall. The second comes from one of our most valiant straight allies, the Rev. Ed Bacon of All Saints Church, Pasadena, CA. Enjoy and share.

“Lazarus, come out!”

The. Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall

St Benedict's, Los Osos

President, Integrity USA

Today we celebrate National Coming Out Day and I find myself wondering to whom I can come out. I am fortunate to live in a relatively liberal part of California, in a diocese which has been welcoming and affirmative for longer than I’ve been an Episcopalian. The people I know (and a lot who I don’t know) know I’m lesbian. I’ve been on TV and I’ve been on radio etc. etc. – what else is there to do?

There’s actually a lot still to do. There are still many LGBTQ people in this community who think all churches are judgmental and unsafe. It’s harder to come out as Christian than to come out as gay. Even though my congregation is clearly welcoming (we have two openly partnered gay clergy) LGBTQ people are not flocking to the door. Many of my congregation are parents, friends and allies of ours, but there are few LGBTQ people who visit more than once.

Why?

I’m not sure. I can make some guesses, but I don’t want to take up your time with navel gazing. What’s important is for me to realize that coming out goes two ways.

For some of us coming out means taking another step in sharing our identity with friends and co-workers. For others it means sharing our faith with those same people. For some parishes it means having important conversations within the church, for others like mine, it means finding a way to come out and be more visible and more present in the LGBTQ community.

This evening I will be challenging a small group of parishioners who gather on Tuesdays for a non-traditional service of Vespers to think about Coming Out and what it means. Fo Lazarus it meant life, light and hope.

What does it means for you and your parish?

The. Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall
St Benedict's, Los Osos
President, Integrity USA

"Being Gay Is A Gift From God!"

The Rev. J. Edwin Bacon

Rector, All Saints Church

Pasadena, CA

As a guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show in January 2009, I said, "Being gay is a gift from God." Those seven words -- spoken to a call-in viewer from Atlanta -- set off a ripple of response that lit up Oprah's switchboard, almost crashed our parish email server and continues to bring people toward us here at All Saints Church in Pasadena. And that moment continues to be for me an iconic example of how important it is for people of faith to confront discrimination against our LGBT brothers and sisters by standing up and by speaking out.

It is why on this National Coming Out Day 2011, I believe it is no longer enough for LGBT people to come out and let the world know who they were created to be, although that continues to be a courageous and transformational act. It is time for Christians to come out and let the world see the Church as it was created to be: a vehicle of love and justice, not a bastion of bigotry and homophobia.

It is time for people of faith to speak out against the religion-based bigotry that has for too long fueled the fires of homophobia that perpetuate violence against LGBT people and plant the seeds of self-loathing in LGBT youth.

And it is time to take to heart the words of Rabbi Abraham Heschel, who famously said, "Few are guilty, but all are responsible." I may not be guilty of the religion-based bigotry that has wounded countless members of God's beloved LGBT children, but I am responsible for offering a counter-narrative to the lies that have been told about the God I serve -- the God of love, justice and compassion.

My faith tradition teaches that the truth will set you free -- and the truth is: God loves.

The truth is: love trumps.

And the truth is: Being gay is a gift from God.

The Rev. J. Edwin Bacon
Rector, All Saints Church

Pasadena, CA

No Tears For Queers

2011-10-10T19:12:00.000-04:00

No Tears for Queers: Remembering Matthew Shepard

The Rev. Canon Ed Sniecienski

History teaches us that eventually things get turned upside down. Saints, during their lives, are often misunderstood. When will we learn to be thoughtful about who we label saint or sinner? Pay attention, because saints come in ways that we’re all too often not prepared for.

Speaking of someone many label a saint, Matthew Shepherd died 14 years ago on October 12. There are many things that could be said on the anniversary of Matthew’s death and undoubtedly there will be no shortage of reflections about a life that could have been. I started to wonder what Matthew would have to say. I started to wonder about how Matthew feels now. In prayer it came to me............

“LGBT brothers and sisters, its ok – God made it so. Parents, brothers, sisters, neighbors, strangers, friends, foes, saints and sinners, like it or not, God made it so.

I’m no saint and don’t make me out to be one. At my funeral, I saw a sign that read 'no tears for queers' and I agree. Tears are for the children of God, not for the labels by which we’re defined. I knew my truth because I listened to God speak through my heart. My truth is His truth and it empowers me to be who I am.

The funny thing about truth is that we don’t really understand the freedom it brings. Being a truth teller is hard and telling ourselves the truth, even harder. Most people don’t get it. But when they do tell themselves the truth about who they are and when they live steadfastly into their truth they begin to live their lives out loud. Here's the truth I want to share with you: Living my life out loud inspired others to start living their lives out loud. They began to wonder what their truth was and perhaps find the courage to tell themselves and others that truth and begin to live their lives out loud. What if we lived in a world where everyone lived their lives out loud…it might look a lot like “God’s Kingdom.”

Live out loud, find fresh vision; love so deeply that you’re free to face the future with a steady eye forgiven and strong in hope.

On a cold dark Wyoming night, naked, beaten and tied to a fence, I realized I was living my life out loud. I was naked before God, strong in hope, full of forgiveness, very much at peace, and free.

Love,

Matthew

Ed Sniecienski’s professional career encompasses forty years of diverse experience in the fields of Education, Business and Non-profits. In 2001, he joined the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles as special assistant and senior advisor to the Bishop. In January, 2005, Ed was ordained a Deacon in the Episcopal Church and named Canon in 2007. Recently, he launched Discern with Me an interactive web site where we can share with each other our journeys through the “in-between” places of our lives. Ed is a proud member of Integrity and the LGBT community.

Bishop of Minnesota Speaks Out for Marriage Equality

2011-10-08T17:26:00.003-04:00

From its very origins, the Episcopal Church in Minnesota has always stood with the marginalized. Race, ethnicity, gender, gender orientation or immigrant we have embraced both the Gospel mandate of love of neighbor and the Baptismal Covenant imperative to respect the dignity of every human being. Any actions, whether sacred or secular — such as the proposed constitutional amendment to prohibit our LGBT brothers and sisters from the rights and privileges that the rest of Minnesotans enjoy - are considered to be marginalizing and contrary to the Gospel, the Baptismal Covenant and our history.
The Rt. Rev. Brian N. Prior
IX Bishop, Episcopal Church of Minnesota

.

Church of Ireland Commits To Listening Process

2011-10-06T20:49:00.000-04:00

The Archbishops and Bishops of the Church of Ireland released this statement on a listening process to begin soon. Integrity USA applauds the Archbishops and Bishops for their committment to a process of sharing views and stories. It is only by listening to the witness of the LGBT community that hearts and minds will change.

We met over three days in an atmosphere of prayer and worship to reflect on current disquiet in the Church caused by disagreements on the matter of human sexuality. We acknowledge that this tension is a cause of distress to many.

Our discussions were frank and careful and, at times, painful. We committed ourselves to listen carefully to one another and speak openly about our differences within the context of a variety of reactions within the Church. Strengthened by our honest interchange of views, we corporately agreed a way forward.

A pastoral letter to the Church will be issued through the Clergy in the next few days. It will highlight key themes and outline a process by which the Church may move forward. This will involve a major conference in Spring 2012 to which members of the General Synod and others will be invited. The conference will provide an important opportunity to learn from and listen to one another as the Church strives to discern the mind of Christ.

As Bishops we commit ourselves to work together on these issues. In addition, we envisage that further study and research on biblical, theological and legal issues will be required.

The Archbishops and Bishops of the Church of Ireland
The Most Revd Alan Harper, Archbishop of Armagh
The Most Revd Michael Jackson, Archbishop of Dublin & Glendalough
The Most Revd Richard Clarke, Bishop of Meath & Kildare
The Rt Revd Harold Miller, Bishop of Down & Dromore
The Rt Revd Paul Colton, Bishop of Cork, Cloyne & Ross
The Rt Revd Ken Clarke, Bishop of Kilmore, Elphin & Ardagh
The Rt Revd Ken Good, Bishop of Derry & Raphoe
The Rt Revd Michael Burrows, Bishop of Cashel & Ossory
The Rt Revd Alan Abernethy, Bishop of Connor
The Rt Revd Trevor Williams, Bishop of Limerick & Killaloe
The Rt Revd Patrick Rooke, Bishop of Tuam, Killala & Achonry
The Rt Revd John McDowell, Bishop of Clogher

Changing Attitude Ireland is a Church of Ireland group with ecumenical friends, gay and heterosexual, lay and ordained, working for the full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons within our churches. It is dedicated to celebrating and maintaining the traditional inclusivity and diversity of the Anglican Communion.

Here is their statement in response.

The Secretary of Changing Attitude Ireland, Canon Charles Kenny, welcomed the Church of Ireland Archbishops' and Bishops' Statement on human sexuality. According to Canon Kenny “Changing Attitude Ireland are happy to hear that the Bishops are committing themselves to listening and speaking openly about these complicated issues. It is our hope and prayer that churchmen and women will respond to this call for serious and thoughtful seeking out of the mind of Christ for our day” He added that “We hope that the atmosphere at the proposed Conference will make it possible for gay and lesbian church people, lay and clerical, to participate honestly in the discussion about human sexuality”.

Susan Russell takes on the American Family Association

2011-10-04T17:00:00.002-04:00

From An Inch At A Time.............................

They’re at it again.

"They" are the so-called "American Family Association" -- and they've launched yet-another attack on LGBT Americans -- this time taking on the Pentagon's decision to allow military chaplains to perform same-sex marriages. Check it out (from an email received this morning:)

The Pentagon has decided that military chaplains will be allowed to perform same-sex unions on military installations. This is despite the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act which defines marriage for federal purposes as the union of one man and one woman.

This decision clearly violates the spirit of DOMA, since the result will be that federal employees and facilities funded by American taxpayers will be used to perform ceremonies that are prohibited from any kind legal recognition under federal law.

This is just more example of our military leaders caving in to the homosexual agenda. While conservative chaplains aren't being forced to perform same-sex marriages yet, it will only be a matter of time before they are tagged as "intolerant" for refusing to do so and forced to choose between their values and a career in the military.

According to the Constitution, Congress has authority to "make rules" for the military. TAKE ACTION. Urge your congressional delegation today to enact legislation prohibiting chaplains from performing same-sex weddings on military installations.

Seriously. That's what the "American Family Association" thinks Congress should be focused on. Enacting legislation to keep military chaplains from presiding at same-sex weddings. Because the biggest threat to the American Family are CLEARLY the hordes of same-sex military couples who will be beating down the doors of chaplains now that DADT is history.

Never mind our kids don't have healthcare, our schools are falling apart, unemployment is rampant, corporate greed continues to bleed our economy dry and we're about to mark the 10th anniversary of the War in Afghanistan -- yep ... small potatoes for the American Family Association. They're worried about making sure the soldiers who are putting their lives on the line to defend liberty and justice for all don't have the liberty to marry the love of their life or the justice of equal protection for their families.

Attempting to cast chaplains as victims for declining to celebrate same-sex weddings is the same red-herring B***S*** they drag out at every opportunity -- and completely ignores the fact that no Catholic chaplain has ever been compelled to marry a divorced couple against his conscience, no Orthodox rabbi has ever been compelled to preside at an interfaith wedding contrary to their faith and No. Clergy. Person. Ever. Has. To. Marry. Anybody.
So here's what we do with whatever the American Family Association tells us to do.

The. Opposite.

Call your Senator. Write your Representative. Tell them you support the Pentagon's decision allowing chaplains to preside at same-sex marriages. And while you have them tell them to help President Obama put DOMA where he said it belongs ... in the history books with DADT.

Go. Do it. Now.

The Rev. Canon Susan Russell is a Sr. Associate Rector at All Saints Church, Pasadena, CA., a past President and frequent spokesperson for Integrity USA.

Integrity USA Launches Strategic Storytelling Workshops

2011-10-04T14:09:00.000-04:00

Integrity New Orleans hosted a day of both conversation and celebration when members met on Saturday, September 24th at Trinity Church. The Right Reverend Morris Thompson, Bishop of Louisiana, celebrated and preached at the morning Eucharist which was followed by a luncheon and afternoon workshop entitled “Telling Our Stories.”

The day was designed to empower participants to become equality opinion leaders in their churches and communities and to teach the power of strategic story-telling. “Our goal today is to equip Integrity members to change hearts and minds through the power of their stories,” said Communication Director Louise Brooks, who was the featured speaker at the afternoon workshop. “We know that the Holy Spirit is working through individuals to move the Church closer to the full inclusion of all the baptized in all the sacraments and it’s a privilege to be partners in that process.”

Bishop Thompson, who engaged in informal conversation about issues of LGBT equality with the group over lunch, affirmed the impact of personal witness. “It changed everything for me when I was able to put a face on the issue,” he said. “Learning to tell your stories today is a really good thing.”

“Integrity is calling on individuals and congregations to “believe out loud,” continued Brooks. “And gatherings like this one in New Orleans provide the “how to” by equipping participants to use strategic story-telling to be agents of change for equality and inclusion.”

For more information about the “Telling Your Story” workshop – or to arrange to host one in your congregation or community contact Louise at communication@integrityusa.org

Connecting the dots ...

2011-09-17T17:26:00.000-04:00

Yesterday we posted a story celebrating the 35th anniversary of the General Convention vote to approve the ordination of women in the Episcopal Church ... prompting the Integrity Communication Elves to dig a little further into our historical archives.

One result was this early "History of Integrity" penned by founder Louie Crew in 1978.

The other was this video shot for the "Road to Anaheim" series leading up to General Convention 2009 and connecting the dots between women's ordination and LGBT equality. Enjoy!

35 Years Ago Today ...

2011-09-16T14:22:00.000-04:00

Thirty-five years ago today General Convention paved the way to make this picture possible.

For many it's hard to imagine an Episcopal Church that doesn't include women in all orders of ministry -- and for others the struggle for women's ordination is part of their lived history in the Church! Let's give thanks to Louie Crew for reminding us on Facebook this morning that today ... this very day ... is the 35th anniversary of the day that the General Convention of the Episcopal Church voted to end discrimination against the ordination of women with a resolution that read:

Resolved, the House of Deputies concurring, That a new Section 1 of Title III, Canon 9 be adopted, with renumbering of the present Section 1 and following, the said Section 1 to read as follows: Section 1. Theprovisions of these canons for the admission of Candidates, and for the Ordination to the three Orders: Bishops, Priests and Deacons shall be equally applicable to men and women.

And thanks to George Werner for this -- also reminding us of some of those who were in the forefront of that important fight for equality:

"I just found D-1 from '76 Convention: Signees: George Regas, Lueta Bailey, Lois Barnum, Dupuy Bateman, James Birney, Leona Bryant, Gordon Charleton, Charles Crump, Mark Dyer, Joe Green, Sally Head, Hugh Jones, Charles Lawrence, Clay Myers, Dillard Robinson, Lucile Roca, Ed Romig, Bob Royster, Bart Sherman, Gordon Stenning, Ross Sidney, Charity Weymouth, Stew Wood & me. Special moment!"

So Happy Anniversary, Church!!

(And thanks to all who worked so long and hard to make it happen. May we be given grace to serve the Church in our generation as faithfully as you served it in yours!)

The Passing Baton: Will You Take It?

2011-09-14T22:39:00.000-04:00

The Passing Baton

The Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall

I was deeply saddened to learn of Bishop Walter Righter's passing, so soon after Pamela Chinnis. Both of these leaders were straight allies at a time when to be an ally was as costly as to be openly LGBT. They both saw that the Body of Christ could not continue to turn its back on its LGBT members, and took risks to champion our cause.

Bishop Righter experienced a deep betrayal when he was accused by ten of his fellow Bishops of heresy for ordaining an openly gay man. Righter was not the only bishop who had taken this risk, but he was chosen by conservatives as the first in what was intended to be a series of ecclesiastical trials to show that the ordination of LGBT people was against church doctrine, even if General Convention would not outlaw it. Many of the best legal minds (straight and gay) combined to create a defense which showed that there is no central doctrinal reason to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.

This was the final straw for conservatives who turned to overseas colleagues to try to enforce their ideas on the rest of The Episcopal Church. The Lambeth resolution which declared homosexual activity to be contrary to Scripture and all that has followed from that, grew from conservatives' frustration and theological concern when Righter was exonerated. They continued to believe that LGBT inclusion is against the gospel.

Bishop Righter was one of those, originally anti-gay, who was brave enough to hear the movement of the Spirit and see the need for justice until he became a supporter of full inclusion. Pamela Chinnis was another who encouraged lay and ordained LGBT Episcopalians to step into positions of church leadership. She encouraged us to take our places in the councils of the church and to bring our gifts to the service of the wider Church. In so doing, she too experienced the wrath of those who opposed our inclusion.

And now they are gone.

They opened doors for us, and we will be eternally grateful. But there is still much to be done. The early generations of LGBT people who walked through the doors they opened are also aging and some have already passed into their eternal rest. We cannot rest until every church opens wide its doors to those who are different. We need new leaders, people who will step into leadership in their dioceses and use that experience to inform the leadership of the national Church. We need people who will be leaders in Integrity, who will volunteer as chapter leaders, as diocesan organizers, people who will challenge their parishes to Believe out Loud(er). And, we need valiant straight allies who will step up to the plate to support their LGBT sisters and brothers.

Will you follow in the footsteps of +Walter Righter and Pamela Chinnis?

Will you take the baton?

The Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall serves as President of the Board of Directors of Inetgrity USA. Caro has a long and distinguished history with Integrity. She was a member of the Integrity Board from 2006-2009, serving as the Director of Anglican Issues. She began her association with Integrity as a Chapter Convenor in the Diocese of El Camino Real. She served as part of Integrity’s General Convention Communication team in both Columbus (2006) and Anaheim (2009) as well as being part of the press teams sent to the Primates Meeting in Dar-Es Salaam and the Lambeth Conference of Bishops in 2008. . She has been a champion for Marriage Equality in California and is the founder and Chair of the Central Coast Coalition of Welcoming Congregations. She is also Priest-in-Charge at St. Benedicts Episcopal Church in Los Osos, CA.

Remembering Bishop Walter Righter

2011-09-13T14:48:00.000-04:00

Bishop Walter Righter / His 'pastoral heart' moved Episcopal Church beyond old prejudices

Oct. 23, 1923 - Sept. 11, 2011

By Ann Rodgers, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Bishop Walter Righter, whose 1990 ordination of a gay deacon opened the Episcopal Church to partnered gay clergy after a church court dismissed heresy charges against him, died Sunday at his home in Export. The retired bishop of Iowa, who was first ordained in Pittsburgh, was 87.

"Bishop Righter is one of the giants on whose shoulders gay and lesbian Christians stand," said Bishop V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, who in 2003 became the first openly gay Episcopal bishop. "Long before it became popular, Walter became a straight ally of the gay Christian community, putting his life and ecclesiastical career on the line for us."

"The Episcopal Church can give thanks for the life of a faithful and prophetic servant," said Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori. "His ministry will be remembered for his pastoral heart and his steadfast willingness to help the church move beyond old prejudices into new possibilities."

The heresy charge stemmed from his early retirement, when he became an assisting bishop to the firebrand liberal Bishop John Spong of Newark, N.J. Until then, Bishop Righter had been known as an unassuming centrist. But the conservative attempt to declare him a heretic ricocheted, and many conservatives ultimately left the Episcopal Church.

"Walter just happened to be the person in history who was there at an event when suddenly a lot of things came together and the lines were drawn," said the Rev. George Werner of Sewickley, dean emeritus of Trinity Cathedral, Downtown, and a friend for more than 40 years. "In some senses, he was a martyr. He was still scarred."

He moved from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh in his youth, graduating from Sewickley High School in 1941. His wartime experience in the Battle of the Bulge led him to pursue ministry. He returned to the University of Pittsburgh to prepare for seminary.

While he was at Pitt, Bishop Austin Pardue assigned him to run a Sunday School at St. Stephen's, Sewickley, and to plant a congregation in Ligonier that eventually became St. Michael of the Valley. On bishop's orders, he spent breaks from Yale's Berkeley Divinity School working in a Homestead steel mill so he could understand the lives of ordinary Pittsburghers.

Ordained in 1951, he was sent to All Saints in Aliquippa, where he led the racial integration of the parish. The congregation doubled. In 1954, he was called to be rector of Church of the Good Shepherd in Nashua, N.H., where he was active in interfaith and ecumenical work. He became a mentor to young Rev. Werner, then serving in Manchester, N.H.

"He was the quintessential parish priest," Rev. Werner said. "He wasn't high church or low church or evangelical or activist. He was the old-fashioned pastor who takes care of his parish but was also an active player in the community."

When he was elected bishop of the Diocese of Iowa in 1972, he refused the offer of a chauffeur and drove his vast territory, Rev. Werner said. He was active at the national level of the church, where he was best known for promoting evangelism.

"I felt that we were comrades in arms," said retired Episcopal Bishop William Frey, a former rector of Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge and a leading theological conservative. "The sexuality debate found us on opposite sides. But he is a gracious man, not one of the people who engaged in name-calling. He had respect for people on all sides of the issues."

He once held traditional views on sexual orientation. As a new bishop he wrote of homosexuality as an illness that could be cured. In 1979, he voted for the national church resolution against gay ordination. But he began to rethink the issue. After he retired in 1988, he went to Newark to assist Bishop Spong. In 1990, at Bishop Spong's behest, he ordained a partnered gay man. Five years later 10 of his fellow bishops filed heresy charges.

Bishop Frey was not among them. Although he believed Bishop Righter was wrong and would eventually vote to allow a trial, "they brought the wrong charges and it blew up in their faces," he said.

The ruling, Bishop Frey said, created more serious theological problems for conservatives than those related to sexuality. When it said that gay ordination didn't violate core doctrine, the definition of core doctrine was based on modern theology rather than ancient creeds, he said. All of that created an opening that grew into a denominational split.

But for the Rev. Susan Russell of Pasadena, Calif., a past president of the Episcopal gay advocacy group Integrity, Bishop Righter was like the biblical patriarch Joseph, who was sold into slavery by his brothers but was consequently able to save them from starvation.

"There is a verse where Joseph says, 'You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good,' " she said. "What Bishop Righter did absolutely opened the way not just for gay and lesbian people to exercise more fully their ministry in the Episcopal Church, but for the Episcopal Church to become an opinion leader among mainline denominations."

There was a literal price to be paid for his canonical defense. "Walter never fully recovered financially," Rev. Werner said.

About eight years ago he settled in Export with his wife. The Pittsburgh diocese had become one of the most conservative in the country and would split in 2008. He joined Calvary Episcopal Church in Shadyside. When the Rev. Harold Lewis, rector of Calvary, invited him to celebrate weekday Eucharist and listed him among the parish clergy, Bishop Robert Duncan objected.

"That was a grievous blow to Walter," Rev. Lewis said.

Shortly after the diocesan split, Bishop Righter wrote to the Rev. James Simons of St. Michael of the Valley, then the ecclesiastical authority in charge of reorganizing the Episcopal dioceses.

"He asked for canonical residency and we granted it immediately. I sent him an email saying, 'Welcome home.' He was very appreciative," Rev. Simons said.

Failing health kept him from priestly duties. But he kept up a lively email correspondence with friends near and far. In July he began hospice care.

"He said the doctors told him to expect to live until October at the latest. He was very up front and straightforward about it, not at all fearful," Rev. Lewis said. "In dying, he taught us how to live. He was accepting of it. He was rejoicing in what he managed to do. He fought the good fight, as St. Paul said, and he was ready to go on to the next stage."

He is survived by his wife, Nancy; a brother, Richard of Murrysville; a son Richard of Keene, N.H.; a daughter, Becky Richardson of Des Moines, Iowa; a stepson, David DeGroot of Milford, Mass.; a stepdaughter, Kathy Gallogly of Oceanside, N.Y.; and four grandchildren.

The funeral will be Thursday at 11 a.m. in Calvary Episcopal Church, Shadyside, with interment in the parish columbarium.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11256/1174247-122-0.stm#ixzz1XrJRbTax

Integrity USA Opposes Gay Marriage Ban in North Carolina

2011-09-13T14:20:00.000-04:00

A proposed anti-LGBT constitutional amendment passed in the North Carolina House of Representatives today. Integrity USA joins Equality North Carolina and many legislators in that state in calling SB514, the proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage in the state, discrimination in its highest form. The amendment says that “(m)arriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this state,” meaning it would ban domestic partnerships and civil unions as well. The amendment passed the NC House of representatives and now goes to the NC Senate.

Integrity USA calls on clergy, faith leaders and all those who believe in equality and equal justice for all to work to defeat this amendment. We ask those who will vote on this ban to remember that this law affects gay and lesbian people who are your friends, relatives, coworkers, church and temple members, sons and daughters, nieces, nephews, granddaughters and grandsons. We must aways protest the use of the constitution to take away the basic human rights from any group of citizens.

If you are a resident of North Carolina, call your State Senator today and urge a NO vote on SB514.

Refelctions on 9/11: Forgiveness Seventy Times Seven

2011-09-13T07:00:00.001-04:00

This is a sermon preached by Integrity Vice President of national Affairs, the reverend Jon M. Richardson on the tenth anniversary of 9/11.

The Rev. Jon M. Richardson

St. Paul’s, Jersey City

11 September 2011

Pentecost 13A, Proper 19

Matthew 18:21-35

In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

It feels strange to be talking about forgiveness today - on this the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 2001.

But really, that’s one of the gifts in the lectionary cycle of readings for worship. Other churches or church leaders might sometimes be tempted to look past some of the more difficult readings, or the way certain readings interact with world events, but in our tradition that’s not possible. We read and reflect on the text appointed for the day.

And today we’ve been given this - forgiveness.

“How many times should I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Seven times?”

“No. Seventy-seven times!” Or some sources say, “Seventy TIMES seven times.” (If you’re curious enough to think it through, that one comes out to 490 times for forgiveness.)

But the point isn’t the number of “times” we offer forgiveness. Even if you take the larger number, it’s not like saying to your neighbor, “Okay, that’s one. 489 more times and we’re done!”

That’s not the point.

The point is that forgiveness is an ongoing process. Forgiveness can’t end. A truly forgiving heart draws from a well of love and grace that never runs dry. When you can’t forgive anymore, that’s when it’s time to dig deeper and find a way.

Just as is so much of the Christian message, this, too, is a difficult message to hear.

In the church we know - at least intellectually - that we are charged to replicate the kind of forgiveness that has been extended to- and modeled for us. But the problem with that is, too often we try to rush forgiveness without doing the work that true forgiveness requires.

Because we think it’s what we ought to do, we often proclaim forgiveness before it’s real.

In his book Don’t Forgive Too Soon, Dennis Linn compares the process of forgiving with the process of overcoming grief. Just as recovery from grief can’t be rushed, we, also, can’t be rushed into forgiveness if it’s to actually mean anything.

You’ve all probably heard about the five stages of grief - denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance - but Linn writes about those as five stages of forgiveness. Recognizing the close relationship between forgiveness and grief, he uses that same framework to examine how we can move beyond pro forma expressions of expected forgiveness, into genuine forgiveness that springs from a place of deeper truth.

And the truth is, if forgiveness does not come from a place of truth, it will breed resentment.

A common (though unattributed) quote in twelve-step, recovery groups says that resentment is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. Without forgiveness, we are destined to breed resentment in our hearts. And it will kill us spiritually.

Even if our brother or sister might only cause offense once - even then(!) we have to forgive “seventy times seven” times. Only then can it begin to come from a place of truth.

The fact is we do hurt one another. We do offend the heart of God. We exploit each other. We are unfaithful to each other. We fail to recognize the humanity in each other.

We are all victims, and we are all guilty.

But we must learn to forgive.

So on this, the tenth anniversary of September 11th, 2001, we hear a call to forgiveness.

It doesn’t make sense.

It can seem all but impossible.

But we have to do it. We have to find a way to forgive because it’s the call of Christ; and, because it’s necessary for our own spiritual health and wellness. We have to keep finding ways to forgive, even in the face of our deepest pain; because even these ten years later the work is not yet done.

In these past ten years there has been a lot of talk about justice. As a country, we’ve been seeking justice against the perpetrators and supporters of the horrors of that day. We’ve taken a lot of steps - for good and for ill - at doling out justice around the world. Too often we’ve mistaken revenge for justice. But in the end, I believe that true justice will only come through deep forgiveness. It’s only in a world where forgiveness is a way of life that we can ever hope to find that justice is a reality.

And forgiveness will only become a way of life when we keep practicing it. Seventy-seven times. Seventy times seven times. Whenever the hurt and the anger and the fear are renewed, try to forgive again. Not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because doing it will make things right.

How many times are we to forgive our brothers and sisters when they sin against us?

As many times as it takes.

This is part of the hard work of following Christ. May we all gain the strength to do this that we are called to do.

Amen.

Integrity Announces Staff Transition

2011-09-12T13:51:00.001-04:00

Integrity Announces Staff Transition

In 1976 Integrity began its advocacy in the Episcopal Church by advancing a resolution calling for “full and equal claim with all other persons upon the love, acceptance and pastoral concern and care of the Church” for its LGBT baptized. For the last thirty-five years Integrity has worked to turn that resolution into a reality. We are closer than ever to achieving that goal thanks to the tireless efforts of countless Integrity leaders through the years – and today we give thanks for one of those leaders as we welcome another into the Integrity fold.

In August, the Board of Directors of Integrity USA accepted with regret the resignation of Max Niedzwiecki as Executive Director. Niedzwiecki, who has served Integrity USA since August, 2010, recently expressed his intentions to return to his private consulting practice where he will focus on organizational development and justice issues for nonprofit and faith-based organizations.

"As Executive Director , Max oversaw Integrity USA's launch of the “Believe Out Loud” (BOL) initiative in the Episcopal Church, a project mobilizing clergy and lay leaders, LGBT activists, and straight allies to work together to become more welcoming and inclusive,’ said Integrity USA President Caroline Hall. “In addition, Max pursued and secured grants for local Integrity chapters to support their advocacy work, continued to direct our longtime support of Integrity Uganda and the work Bishop Christopher Senyonjo while positioning Integrity USA as an opinion leader on immigration reform. We shall miss his leadership and easy going style and wish him all the best as he moves on. Our chapters and membership have grown during Max's tenure and we are grateful for all he has done."

"Working with Integrity USA has been both an honor and a privilege," said Niedzwiecki "I could not be more proud of our leadership and of the work we've done together calling for full inclusion throughout the Episcopal Church and the world. I plan to stay involved with Integrity in the future as the organization continues to mobilize toward General Convention 2012."

"As we bid Max farewell we are delighted to welcome a giant of justice on board," continued Hall, announcing that effective September 15, 2011, the Board has appointed Harry Knox to serve as Integrity’s Interim Executive Director.

Harry Knox brings years of experience in shepherding organizations at the local, state and national levels through times of significant change. Knox has pastored congregations in Georgia and Texas and his experience with the Episcopal Church dates back to when he was a member of the New Jersey Cathedral Church for Bishop Jack Spong. He also brings a long history of LGBT advocacy, working with Equality Florida, Georgia Equality and Freedom to Marry. As founder of the Religion and Faith program for the Human Rights Campaign, he amplified the voices of faith leaders on behalf of LGBT equality and empowered LGBT people of faith and their allies to use faith language in advocacy.

"It is a true privilege to join the ranks of trendsetting colleagues I have admired for decades," said Knox. "General Convention 2012 offers another opportunity for Integrity to lead The Episcopal Church closer to full inclusion. I look forward to the joys and challenges before us."

President Caro Hall concluded, “We invite all members of Integrity and members of our wider justice community to join us in celebrating the leadership of Max Niedzwiecki and in welcoming the leadership of Harry Knox. And then we invite them to roll up their sleeves and continue to work with us to make that thirty-five year old resolution a reality!”

Media Contact:
Louise Brooks
Director of Communications
Integrity USA
626-993-4605
tvprod@earthlink.net

Reflections on 9/11: Failing to recognize our commonality

2011-09-11T19:56:00.000-04:00

Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Our post-9/11 failures

For a moment, 10 years ago, the Sept.11 terrorist attacks threatened to unite the human family. So ghastly was the carnage that the whole world, even the most distant of relatives, rightfully clamored to condemn the perpetrators.

For a moment, the world stood still, stunned by the realization of what we all have in common, our humanity, and therefore our vulnerability and dependence on each other.

Of course, as we began to dry our eyes, the Trillion Dollar question was: What should we do? There were two fundamentally different contexts for the question. The one asked: What should we do, as a family, to heal our fractures, to reconcile with one another across borders and faiths, to ensure that such an outrage never happens again? The other asked: What should we, the most powerful nation on earth, do--militarily -- to ensure such an outrage does not happen again?

Depending on your approach to the question the answer either begged self-examination (What have we done wrong in terms of our relationships, and what should we do to bridge the divides that exist between us?), or an outward expression of force (I am the strongest child in the playground; whose butt should I kick?).

You could either say that the criminals must be brought to justice (the necessary jurisprudence exists) while the human family undergoes collective psychotherapy, or you could teach the bad guys a lesson.

For a moment it seemed that the Unites States was taking the introspective option. We prayed it would be so. Then it invaded Iraq and Afghanistan. I don’t want to dwell on these wars. The people of the U.S., Iraq and Afghanistan have paid a very heavy price. It suffices to say that the U.S. owes the world an apology -- at the very least -- for lying about the existence of so-called weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

But that is not the worst of it. If it were possible for anything to be more devastating than the unnecessary deaths that have accrued over the past 10 years, I would argue that the damage that has been done to global relations between the so-called Judeo-Christian and Muslim worlds must be a candidate.

The 9/11 attackers were labelled “Muslim terrorists” and evil personified was given a Muslim face. We were told that these Muslim terrorists were aided and abetted by Muslim countries. Clearly, this logic went, Muslims were not to be trusted. The West developed special security procedures and sophisticated software to identify and track Muslims. Adherents of the Muslim faith were harassed and humiliated across the world. It was the computer-age equivalent of the Nazis daubing yellow Stars of David on the doors of Jewish homes.

If these were “Muslim terrorists,” why did we not label the Oklahoma bomber a Christian Terrorist? Why did we not label members of the Irish Republican Army Christian Terrorists? The people responsible for the genocide of Bosnian Muslims were not labelled Christian fundamentalists, and nor are members of the Ku Klux Klan.

The simple truth that we all know is that there are many good Jews out there and some bad ones, many good Christians and some bad ones, good Hindus and bad Hindus, good Buddhists and bad Buddhists, good Muslims and bad Muslims. That’s the human condition. All of us have our fair share of frailties and imperfections.

There is no religion I am aware of that propagates violence, yet many are they who commit violent acts in the name of religion - and who falsely justify cruelty as something that is sanctioned by God. As Kofi Annan so eloquently put it, the problem is not with the faith but with the faithful.

We may be differently pigmented, have different facial features, speak different languages and worship in different temples. But we know that we can successfully transplant the heart of a member of the Christian faith into the body of a Hindu patient, or a Jewish accident victim’s kidney into a Muslim.

We failed the biggest test posed by the 9/11 outrage: In our anger and dismay we failed to recognize our common humanity, that we are made for love and that acts such as those committed on that day are an aberration.

When we looked at the terrorists we did not see ourselves, we did not consider how our actions and posturing in the world may have contributed to the crime. No. We saw “others,” and we demonized them.

Reflections on 9/11: How will you share in the world’s healing?

2011-09-11T19:49:00.000-04:00

The following is the text of the Presiding Bishop’s sermon at the 11 am service held at the Cathedral Church of St John The Divine in NYC today.

What’s it like to be attacked? And what governs our response? How do we heal and find our way forward?

I wasn’t here ten years ago, but I do have a sense of how confusing and crazy-making a sudden physical attack can be. I was out for my morning run once when a guy who had been sitting on a bench a couple of seconds earlier ran across my path and grabbed me. I was startled and upset, but I couldn’t figure out what he was after. Was he trying to throw me over the rail into the river, or throw me down on the ground? He never said a word. I did – I yelled and I kept on yelling, all of a sudden I discovered that I had him in a headlock, and then I remembered that applying my foot in a sensitive place might encourage him to let go. I applied my foot once, pretty gently, without any result. We kept struggling and I tried again. Then he did let go, and we both ran off.

It was pretty clear to me that he was mentally ill. Maybe I had intruded on his space, or perhaps he thought I was somebody else. Clearly I was a significant threat. But after I got a few feet farther, my biggest worry was about him and his evident illness. What must it be like to live with such terror?

How do we get beyond the small and large threats in life? In recent days much of our conversation in this city and much of the media reporting have been filled with stories of how people have responded to the violence here ten years ago. Many of those stories have been filled with hope, as people have made some sense out of their experience of September 11th, and found the strength to reinvest in life.

Those planes literally came out of the blue – the blue of a beautiful morning sky. They brought death to thousands, terror to many more, loss and devastation to a city and a nation. That violence was the result of rage at the society around us, and it was calculated to inflict enormous damage. The results have been both tragic and hopeful. It’s not entirely clear just what the perpetrators wanted – they got immediate death and destruction, yet this nation and the world responded with an enormous outpouring of care and concern. It was quickly followed by many calls for retribution and vengeance. Yet even in the midst of that knee-jerk urge toward retaliation and violence, others sought understanding, reached out to the people who would be most vulnerable, and urged a peaceful and healing response.

What has our decade of grieving wrought? Have we found a new meaning in life? Have we found some reasonable measure of healing? Have we made sense of that violence? Have we found a way to forgive those who instigated the death and terror?

That last one is the hardest question, and there is more than a little irony that the readings we’ve heard this morning weren’t chosen specifically for today – they’re scheduled every three years on the Sunday closest to this one. We will continue to hear their calls to forgiveness.

Joseph says to his brothers, who tried to kill him and then sold him into slavery, “well, you meant to do evil, but God turned it to good. I forgave you a long time ago, and I will help you in your hour of need.”

The psalmist responds, “God is full of compassion and mercy, slow to anger and of great kindness.”

Paul’s words to the people in Rome are haunting in our context, “who are you to pass judgment on the servants of another? God will judge them. God will hold them accountable.”

And Peter asks Jesus how many times he’s supposed to forgive people who offend him. Jesus responds by saying, if you’re counting you haven’t gone far enough. And then he tells of a man’s refusal to forgive a tiny debt, even though he has himself experienced enormous forgiveness, and how that only leads to his own destruction.

What do we do with all of that? I don’t believe that any of us would be here this morning if we didn’t ultimately believe that forgiveness is possible, and that we are all in search of healing. How do we let go of the desire for vengeance and let God deal with the work of judgment? How might we, like Joseph, even if we’ve been terrorized, come to the aid of brothers and sisters in time of need?

Maybe the most important part is where we locate ourselves in the story. As long as this act of violence is all about me and the hurt and damage I’ve suffered, it’s really hard to let go of a desire for payback. As I reflected on my morning wrestling match, I realized that in the heat of the moment I had no desire to hurt the guy. I didn’t want to kick him too hard, I just wanted him to let go. We can decide how to respond.

Where and how do we locate the attacker in the story? Were the hijackers personally after each human being who died? Did they intend to hurt and destroy this person’s family or that first responder? If we see that violence as an attack on western society, was it really only about the United States? Or was this lashing out, premeditated though it was, a response to changes in the world that have extinguished hopes or privilege in other communities? Those intrusive airport searches we live with are the same kind of unsought social change. Our current economic situation shares some of the same roots and character.

Forgiveness begins in discovering some element of common humanity with your attacker, even if it is simply a search for understanding – whether it’s rational or irrational. But forgiveness doesn’t end there. The very act of violence that first connects perpetrator and victim binds them together. Joseph was his father’s favorite, and his brothers took it out on him by trying to destroy him. That didn’t break the bonds between them, it actually bound them more closely together – the brothers’ secret vengeance produced a kind of chain gang. At the same time, their act destroyed a good part of the healthy bond they had with their father. Joseph’s forgiveness set them free in a way that they could not accomplish themselves.

What do we choose? What kind of bonds have we taken on in the last ten years in this city, or as Americans responding to attempts to terrorize us? Are we choosing prison chains or bonds of understanding? Healing emerges from seeking to repair some of the damage from the violence and the quest for retribution. Health is growing in interfaith dialogue, in spite of the vitriol poured on Abdel Rauf and Daisy Khan. Some may have meant it for evil, but God is working good nevertheless.

We have to tell the stories, including the ugly ones. Real change began in the civil rights movement when the gratuitous violence perpetrated on non-violent marchers began to appear on television. America began to be appalled and embarrassed. This nation began to recognize that human beings were treating other human beings in inhuman ways. We began to see how we are bound together.

We can choose how we are bound – by chains of hate, fear, and terror, or through the life-giving possibilities of love, forgiveness, and solidarity. We are a nation built on tenets of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. There’s nothing in that declaration about hate and fear, except its end and absence. Like Joseph and his brothers, the central figures in this story are descendants of Abraham. We all proclaim a god of love, forgiveness, and peace. Jews, Christians, and Muslims share God’s vision for a healed world where all live together in peace, shalom, salaam. That is the meaning of life and the goal of existence. Our own lives and decisions change as that dream begins to center and shape our lives.

What will you choose in your next experience of affront or attack? How will you share in the world’s healing this year, and ten years from today? What kind of bond do you choose?

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori

Presiding Bishop and Primate

The Episcopal Church

_______________________________________

Reflections on 9/11: “I have called you by name and you are mine.”

2011-09-10T15:12:00.000-04:00

The Rev. Canon Susan Russell

All Saints Church, Pasadena CA

As we prepare for tomorrow's events marking the 10th anniversary of 9/11 I'm remembering the service we held at All Saints Church in Pasadena marking the first anniversary on 9/11/2002.

The candles massed in front of the altar burn in tribute to the names being read from the lectern – Naomi Leah Solomon, Daniel W. Song, Michael C. Soresse, Fabian Soto – as other names scroll above the altar projected on a video screen – John Bentley Works, William Wren, Sandra Wright, Myrna Yashkulka.

The church is silent save for the reading of the names and the careful footsteps of those who come forward to light a candle -- the gentle thud of a kneeler lowered for prayer --the quiet rustle of pages turned in a prayer book.

“American Airline Flight 11”– Anna Allison, David Lawrence Angell, Lynn Edwards Angell, Seima Aoyamma. The names began at 5:46 – the west coast moment when the first plane struck – and will continue through the morning until we gather for Eucharist at noon. The table is already set. The red frontal – blood of martyrs – covers the altar. The chalice is vested, the missal marked. The credence table is ready, too: flagons of wine, silver chalices and ciborium lined up – ready to hold the holy food and drink of new and unending life we will share here at All Saints Church.

“All Saints.” Charles’ deep voice breaks the silence as he begins reading the next segment of the list of names: “World Trade Center, continued” – Paul Riza, John Frank Rizzo, Stephen Luis Roch, Leo Roberts. I remember the ancient words of comfort from the prophet Isaiah, “I have called you by name and you are mine.” As Charles tolls the names of the dead that assurance echoes again and again in my head. These names I do not know – some I cannot even pronounce – each and every one known to God. Beloved of God.

“United Airlines Flight 93”: Christine Adams, Lorraine Berg, Todd Beamer, Alan Beaven. Gone from our sight yet gathered into God’s embrace -- seated at the heavenly banquet we can but glimpse through the sacrament we are preparing to share -- the offering of praise and thanksgiving we will present at this altar.

I look again at the ciborium massed on the credence table – the candles flickering in the polished silver – the light of lives lost reflected in the vessels holding the bread of life. It staggers the mind to consider what they represent – the magnitude of the collective loss of love, joy, hope and possibilities taken on that day a year ago with such sudden unexpectedness.

Takashi Ogawa. Albert Ogletree. Gerald Michael Olcott. The pain of death and loss mingles mysteriously in the promise of life and hope. Body and Blood. Bread and Wine. Strength for the journey and hope for the future. Hope for a world where differences enrich rather than divide. Hope for the end of wars waged in the name of the God who created us not to destroy but to love each other.

Dipti Patel. James Matthew Patrick. Sharon Christina Millan Paz. “Whoever you are and wherever you find yourself on your journey of faith there is a place for you here.” Thanks be to God. Alleluia. Amen.

Reflections on 9/11: Bringing hope and life in times of trial

2011-09-10T14:18:00.000-04:00

The Rev. Dr. Caro Hall

President, Integrity USA

I was late for my first day of chaplaincy training, lost in Pasadena. Huntington Hospital was a maze of corridors and elevators, all as strangely quiet as the streets had been. I rushed into the chaplain’s room full of apologies to find myself almost totally ignored. Everyone was silently glued to a television showing a plane flying into a building.

It took several minutes to understand that this was reality, not fiction.

It took much longer for the full impact to hit me. But that day as a newbie chaplain, my job was to be there for anyone who needed a listening ear as the hospital went into lock-down mode, preparing to respond to an attack on Los Angeles. An attack which, thank, God, did not happen.

Last week I had an email from the diocese, asking parishes to prepare to be able to respond to local disaster. I admit that I groaned - another project, when just doing the work immediately at hand seems to take all our energy and more. Yet two miles over the hill is a nuclear power plant, two miles down the road is the ocean, and wildfire is an ever-present hazard. There are disasters waiting to happen. What better way to show the incredible love of God than to be prepared to act, and to pray that we are kept from the time of trial so our preparation is never needed.

Who knows when we may be called upon not just for support in personal disaster, but for a community in need. Parishes on the East Coast know at great cost what it is to have disaster hit suddenly and destroy homes and lives overnight.

One of the images which has stayed with me for the last ten years and resonates in my soul was articulated by Garrison Keillor. As the people were rushing down the stairs to get out of the towers, the firefighters were going up. They did not know what they were going to find, they did not know what would happen, but they were going into danger to find, protect and shelter others.

That is courage.

As people of faith we have the knowledge that God’s unconditional love supports us every moment and that nothing can separate us from that life-giving love. Whether we live or die, we are in Christ. This gives us the courage to walk into the not-knowingness of the future, the possibility of disaster, the certainty of pain and loss, without fear. It enables us to be there for others who do not have the rock of ages on which to stand.

May ours be the feet which are going up, bringing hope and life, when others are running down.

Reflections on 9/11: An Experience of Pain & Grace

2011-09-09T15:12:00.003-04:00

Rev. Dr. Jennifer Phillips

Rector, St. Francis Church,

Rio Rancho, NM

As soon as I got the news in the rectory of my parish in Rhode Island, I thought of the 15 thousand students arriving for classes at the university next door- a big portion of them from New York and New Jersey - hearing about the cataclysm on the car radio or seeing the images on the TVs in the lobby as they arrived. It was hard to leave my church and trust members to care for one another as some came to pray or check in, but the greatest need seemed to be with young people, many unable to reach their families. That evening I and some staff from the Multi Cultural Center gathered students for a candlelight march across campus - we thought we might gather a few dozen, but as we began passing out candles and walking, hundred of students and others came to join us. We finished up at St. Augustine's Episcopal Church - over 200 students crammed into our post-and-beam sanctuary for a non-denominational prayer service, some literally climbing into the rafters to find space - and we prayed and lots stood up to offer their hopes and fear, prayers and wishes for those in harm's way and for the peace of the whole world as well.

A couple of weeks later I took a bus down to NYC to take part in the wonderful St. Paul's/Trinity Wall Street/ St. John the Divine volunteer ministry effort at Ground Zero. I remember the great gentleness of those who gathered at St. Paul's to offer ministry through the many days and nights as workers recovered remains and cleared debris bit by bit. As one of many clergy who came to minister and pray there, I was touched by the children's drawings for safety workers, hung in the pews to comfort those who stopped in to pray or get food or a change of socks, or even sleep for a little while. I remember the tired grimy faces and the boots melted into holes, and the crowd of faces on flyers and photos hung on the wrought iron fence by desperate people missing loved ones. I remember an exhausted bulldozer driver catching a nap in the pew with the plaque that said George Washington used to sit there. I remember the spectral and sad paper and scraps hanging from the trees in the graveyard from which the leaves had mostly been blasted away. It was an experience of pain and grace, and I was humbled by those colleagues who were laboring day after day not just to care for workers and stunned residents of the neighborhood, but also to the endless shifts of volunteers who came to offer their briefer labor each of whom carried away a fragment of the grief of the place and time. I remain grateful for and to them.

Integriity USA welcomes your reflections on 9/11. Send them to Louise Brooks, Director of Communications; tvprod@earthlink.net

Reflections on 9/11: Heal and Unite the Human Family

2011-09-09T07:00:00.001-04:00

The Rev. Dr. George Regas

Rector Emeritus

All Saints Church

Pasadena, California

The Urgency of 9/11

Mary Regas and I were at LAX on Sept. 11, 2001 for a 7 a.m. flight to New York for a national meeting of progressive religious leaders. We were checking our bags around 5:45 a.m. when great confusion erupted.

“We can’t check your bag,” the person at the counter said softly. “All flights have been canceled.”

I challenged her.

“Get us a flight anywhere on the East Coast,” I said. “It is important that I find a flight.”

In a few minutes she said, “All flights in the country are canceled.”

Soon word spread: “New York has been attacked.”

In confusion and grief, we left and drove to the nearest hotel to watch the horrendous television news of the planes flying into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.

When we got home, I immediately called my close friend, Rabbi Leonard Beerman, to discuss these tragic events and how we might respond creatively to the disaster. We both called people who had been colleagues in peacemaking activities over the years.

The next day, 15 people gathered with us at All Saints Church. Jews, Christians, Muslims, Unitarians, Buddhists and other traditions — we were all seeking a way to respond that was compatible with our religious commitments.

Three-thousand people from 90 countries at the World Trade Center, Shanksville, Pa., and the Pentagon died on that heartbreaking day. The enormity of hatred unleashed against America weighed heavily on all of us. The tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001 will be on my mind as long as God gives me a memory.

Yet we were all troubled by the cries for retaliation that would later take us into war. Unquestionably, the US should bring to justice Osama bin Laden and the other terrorists responsible for the horror of 9/11; bring them before an international court. This does not require the devastation of war; it demands the work of justice.

Within a week, we came together bringing other peacemakers; after two hours 85 of us had a name: Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace (ICUJP). For the past 10 years we’ve met every Friday at 7 a.m. at Immanuel Presbyterian Church.

From the day ICUJP was founded in September 2001, in coalition with a growing chorus of voices, we pleaded with President Bush and other elected officials to reject fear and embrace the rule of law, to avoid overreaction and pursue reconciliation and, above all else, say that religious communities must stop blessing war and violence.

Our voices fell on deaf ears, as blind patriotism captured America and the Bush administration lied to the American public to gain support for the US attack on Afghanistan and then Iraq.

Over these 10 years, the US has established a permanent state of undeclared war, violence and occupation. Our government has suspended civil liberties, violated human rights and engaged in torture. During these tragic years of war, the US has demonized Muslims, Arabs and South Asians.

We have plundered our communities at home, given tax breaks to our wealthiest citizens and removed essential support from the sick and the poor of our nation.

The brilliant, highly respected economist Joseph Stiglitz says the Iraq and Afghanistan wars will cost the US $6 trillion. And for most of the 10 years, the cost of the wars was put on the nation’s credit card.

As I live with the enormous human needs of our nation and the diminishing budgets throughout the country, and then look at the human and financial costs of these wars of Bush and Obama, I believe we are at a point where people are ready to say: I will give my life and energies to creating a peaceful world. I must stop these wars!

War takes the financial resources that could save lives, feed the hungry, heal the world’s suffering, and uses these resources to destroy — I hate war for that.

If we are to have any hope, there must be a massive act of conscience that says: Stop the wars; use our resources to heal and unite the human family.

Dr. George Regas is a dominant voice for peace and justice in the United States. For three decades, Dr. Regas served as Rector of All-Saints Church. Under the leadership of Dr. Regas, All Saints Church opposed the Vietnam War, the escalating nuclear arms race, the covert Central America wars, and both the Gulf Wars I and II. During his 28 years of service with the church, Dr. Regas established the largest AIDS service center in the San Gabriel Valley; supervised the creation of the Young & Healthy Program, which serves uninsured and under-insured children; and established the homeless shelter, Union Station.

In 1998, Dr. Regas founded The Regas Institute. The Institute is dedicated to the study and examination of Progressive Religion that seeks to counter the dominance of the Religious Right. The Regas Institute seeks to organize and advocate locally and nationally for a Progressive Religion that speaks and acts on both economic and racial justice, as well as gender equality, gay justice and reproductive choice.

He was the first priest in the Episcopal Church to bless same sex unions.

ICUJP has played a significant role in Southern California advocating for peace and seeking to be an alternative voice to the war on terrorism.

Integrity USA welcomes your reflections on 9/11. Send them to Louise Brooks, Director of Communications: tvprod@earthlink.net

Reflections on 9/11: God make me an instrument of your peace.

2011-09-08T06:00:00.003-04:00

By
Max Niedzwiecki
Executive Director
Integrity USA

On September 11th I was in Washington, DC, where I lived until moving to New Orleans in 2009. When the first plan struck the World Trade Center, I was in a meeting on 16th Street, less than a mile north of the White House. I rushed off to my own office, where we huddled around a tiny TV with bad reception and saw the second strike, and then began to get news of the disasters in Pennsylvania and Washington, DC. The first hour or so after that is a blur ... calls to loved ones saying we were OK, figuring out where everyone would go to feel safe, trying to parse the true news from the rumors that began to spread right away... There were stories about car bombs throughout the city, and at least one reporter said the Department of State had been attacked.

My partner Albert and I made our way to our apartment, in Dupont Circle, with his Palestinian-American colleague. Already there was talk of "Muslim terrorists" on CNN, and along with that came fear that people who were Muslim (or appeared to be) would become targets in the panic. We stayed there, glued to the TV for a few hours, until a sense of calm set in and she decided to drive home across the Potomac.

By late afternoon, Washington had the strangest sense of calm. All morning and through lunchtime commuters had clogged the streets, frantic to get back home. Once everyone was out and many streets had been closed, Albert and I ventured out. We rode our bikes past the White House, down to the Capitol Building, and along the National Mall, then across the river and to the Pentagon. It almost seemed that a neutron bomb had exploded, removing the people but leaving the environment intact. No planes flew overhead. Birds chirped, and squirrels scampered about collecting acorns in the cool, dry, sunny late-afternoon. We rode on the closed freeways until we got about 100 feet away from the Pentagon, and saw the the big, nasty, sooty, smoking gash that kept smouldering for so long afterwards.

On the one hand, there was the brutality of the attacks, the horrific loss of life, and the surreal spectacle of the day. There was also fear that people who "looked like" they were Muslim or foreign would become skapegoats. That point was especially salient for me, since I was working at the time with refugees and immigrants, including many Muslims and their community leaders. On the other hand, beauty made its appearance in those first few days: The racial tension that I usually felt on the street between blacks and whites seemed to have been put aside. When black and white people smiled at one another on the street, and held doors open for one another, we were using those gestures to say "We are together in this and we care for one another." Our President and many others were saying that we needed to figure out how we could have arrived at this point, and to find ways to create a healthier world. For a while, I let myself dream that as people, as a society, and as a global community we could use this tragedy as a wake up call. September 11th seemed like a dividing line between one epoch from another. I dreamed that the world after September 11th would be marked by the quest for a more real, lasting, and deeper peace than we had known on September 10th. And I prayed that God would use me to help build that peace, although I didn't have a clear idea of what that might mean for my life.

All of that optimism turned out to be naive, of course. Fear, greed for power, delusional thinking, and ignorance led our President and the people who supported him to squander the incredible opportunities for unity and reconciliation that September 11th presented. Instead, they decided that "an eye for an eye" should be the order of the day, and they made sure the world saw America as the biggest bully. It makes me sick to think of the lives that have been lost since then, and the ways our reactions to the attacks have made the world sicker, more divided, and farther away from anything we might be able to call "peace."

For me personally, September 11th still serves as a spiritual touchstone. Thinking about that day helps me to remember that I asked God to use me as an instrument of peace in ways I would probably not understand.
And more clearly as the years go by, I hear God's answer to my prayer.

Integrity USA welcomes your reflections on September 11th, 2001. Send them to Louise Brooks, Director of Communications: tvprod@earthlink.net

Presiding Bishop calls for reflection on tenth anniversary of September 11 attacks

2011-09-07T16:01:00.000-04:00

The Presiding Bishop issued these remarks on August 18, 2011

As we mark the tenth anniversary of the events of September 11, The Episcopal Church continues to work for healing and reconciliation.

Americans experienced the first large non-domestic terrorist attack on our own soil that day, a reality that is far too much a present and continuing reality in other parts of the world. We joined that reality in 2001. Many people died senselessly that day, and many still grieve their loss. All Americans live with the aftermath – less trust of strangers, security procedures for travelers that are intrusive and often offensive, and a sense that the world is a far more dangerous place than it was before that day. Our own nation has gone to war in two distant places as a result of those events. The dying continues, and the world does not seem to have become a significantly safer place.

Yet we believe there is hope. People of faith gave sacrificially in the immediate aftermath of the plane crashes, trying to rescue those in the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, trying to subdue the aggressors on the plane over Pennsylvania, and reaching out to neighbors and strangers alike on that apocalyptic day. Clergy and laity responded to the crisis in New York, Washington, DC, and Pennsylvania, and prayer services erupted in churches and communities across the nation. St. Paul’s Chapel, near the site of the Towers, opened its doors to the emergency responders, and volunteers appeared with food and socks, massaging hands and praying hearts. Volunteers continued to staff the Chapel for months afterward, and prayers were offered as human remains were sought and retrieved in the ruins of the Towers.

Church communities in many places began to reach out to their neighbors of other faiths, offering reassurance in the face of mindless violence. That desire for greater understanding of other traditions has continued, and there are growing numbers of congregations engaged in interfaith dialogue, discovering that all the great religions of the world are fundamentally focused on peace. The violence unleashed on September 11th and in its aftermath was the work of zealots, disconnected from the heart of their religions’ foundations.

This tenth anniversary is above all an opportunity for reflection. Have we become more effective reconcilers as a result? Are we more committed to peace-making? The greatest memorial to those who died ten years ago will be a world more inclined toward peace. What are you doing to build a living memorial like that?

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop and Primate
The Episcopal Church

Integrity USA welcomes your reflections on September 11th, 2001. Send them to Louise Brooks, Director of Communications : tvprod@earthlink.net

Good News from New Zealand

2011-09-05T17:13:00.000-04:00

A Prayer for Labor Day:

Almighty God, you have so linked our lives one with another that all we do affects, for good or ill, all other lives: So guide us in the work we do, that we may do it not for self alone, but for the common good; and, as we seek a proper return for our own labor, make us mindful of the rightful aspirations of other workers, and arouse our concern for those who are out of work; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

On this Labor Day Integrity celebrates all those who labor for the full inclusion of all the baptized in all the sacraments -- especially for those whose lives are linked with ours in the Anglican Church in New Zealand and for the good news of the fruits of their labor.

From a report received via email this morning: This weekend both Auckland and Waiapu (East Coast Noth island) diocesan synods passed similar motions:

declining to support Clause 4 of the Covenant
declaring that they saw no impediment to the ordination of someone in a commited same-sex relationship.

The two motions were passed by two thirds majorities in Auckland, and by 90% plus in Waiapu.

Here's the text of the Auckland resolution:

"That this Synod

[1] Holds that sexual orientation should not be an impediment to the discernment, ordination, and licensing of gay and lesbian members to any lay and ordained offices of the Church; and further

[2] persons in committed same-sex relationships likewise should not be excluded from being considered for discernment, ordination, and licensing to any lay and ordained offices of the Church.

[3] commits to an intentional process of listening to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people, organized by the Archdeacons in consultation with the gay and lesbian community.

[4] commits to an ongoing discussion with the ministry units, asks the Archdeacons to facilitate this, and invites responses to those discussions to be submitted to Diocesan Council by 31st March 2012; and

[5] commits to support the process and work of the Commission to be appointed by General Synod Standing Committee, as resolved at its meeting in July 2011."

Thanks to the Rev. Glynn Cardy for the text of the motion and for this note: "This motion was put in parts, and members voted via a paper ballot. The most contentious clause, [2], passed by nearly a two-thirds majority."

As we pause today from our labors and celebrate this Labor Day holiday let us ask the One who inspires us to work for justice to also equip us to continue in that work -- to be steadfast in that struggle -- until the full inclusion of LGBT people in the work and witness of the worldwide Communion is not just a resolution we pass but a reality we celebrate.

Knowing Our History: A Trailblazer in Pumps and Pearls

2011-08-30T14:38:00.000-04:00

From Susan Russell's blog, An Inch At A Time
http://inchatatime.blogspot.com/2011/08/remembering-pamela-chinnis.html

It was Dr. Fredrica Harris Thompsett who taught me that we learn our history in order to back up and get a running start on our future. And you can’t know the recent history of the Episcopal Church in general -- or the history LGBT inclusion in the Episcopal Church in particular -- without knowing about Pam Chinnis.

The first notice of Pam’s passing on August 24th came in an email that evening from House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson:

Dr. Pamela Chinnis, 30th President of the House of Deputies, died this evening at 6:31 p.m. Dr. Chinnis, a lay person, was the first woman to serve as President of the HOD. She is remembered for her many achievements, writings and service to this Church she loved so much. Please keep her family in your thoughts and prayers. May she rest in eternal peace.

And literally within minutes the tributes started pouring in. Elizabeth Kaeton called her “a trailblazer in pumps and pearls.” “No one in a position of leadership in the Episcopal Church was more committed to full inclusion of LGBT people or did more to bring it about than did Pamela Chinnis,” said Kim Byham (Integrity President from 1987-1990) "What a blessing she has been to us all," said Integrity founder Louie Crew.

Integrity President Caro Hall, in the tribute Integrity issued on August 25th wrote:

“Dr. Chinnis’ proactive advocacy for LGBT inclusion literally changed the face of The Episcopal Church. In 1993, as the church looked toward its 1994 General Convention in Indianapolis, Dr. Chinnis became the first President of the House of Deputies to address an Integrity gathering. At that historic meeting she promised to appoint “out” gay and lesbian deputies to legislative committees at the upcoming convention and pledged personal vigilance for "the whole issue of gay and lesbian rights," speaking, she said, "as the mother of a gay son."

And then there was this from Michael Hopkins:

To say Pam was a faithful Christian and Episcopalian is to make a vast understatement. She was gracious beyond the telling, but she also had a backbone of steel. She was supportive of lesbian and gay people in the church long before that was popular, and her commitment to our full inclusion never wavered. She was extraordinarily well thought of among African-American Episcopalians and was one of the primary encouragers of the House of Bishops to do its work on racism that resulted in the Pastoral Letter of 1994, "The Sin of Racism."

And those are just the tip of the iceberg of those offering tributes to and memories of the work and witness of a woman whose commitment to the gospel agenda of justice, compassion and inclusion was such an extraordinary and inspirational example. So let me add mine.

My memories of Pam Chinnis are ones of a strong, graceful, confident presence leading the House of Deputies in Indianapolis (1994), Philadelphia (1997) and Denver (2000). They are of an early and fervent supporter of the ordination of women with deep roots in the ECW (Episcopal Church Women) – who modeled for my generation the power of the laity and the call to challenge the interlocking oppressions of racism, sexism and heterosexism in the Church.

They are memories of her great friendship with then Presiding Bishop Ed Browning and their shared commitment to the ideal of a church where “there will be no outcasts.” They are memories of her support of our Claiming the Blessing collaborative – launched after her tenure as President of the House of Deputies – and of her sharing pitchers of margaritas with our steering committee at a National Cathedral adjacent restaurant in 2002 after our inaugural meeting.

They are memories of a woman of privilege who used her platform of privilege to live out the baptismal promise to strive for peace and justice and to respect the dignity of every human being – even when it earned her the animosity of those determined to maintain the status quo. In stepping out of her comfort zone, as a straight ally she became the target of some of the same slings and arrows aimed at LGBT Episcopalians.

To illustrate, here’s some more history. It is an ENS (Episcopal News Service) report from Pam’s last hurrah as President of the House of Deputies -- the 73rd General Convention held in Denver in 2000.

Nelson Koscheski Jr. of Dallas, a clerical member of the House of Deputies, had scattered salt beneath the tables of deputies from Newark (N.J.), Dallas, Ft. Worth, South Carolina, and other dioceses. He also scattered salt beneath the seat of Pamela Chinnis, president of the House of Deputies and an outspoken supporter of homosexual rights within the Episcopal Church. Deputy Louie Crew, the best-known homosexual activist in the Episcopal Church, protested Koscheski's action.

"The deputation of Newark is sitting in salt," Crew said. He asked that the House of Deputies stand in recess while the salt was removed, and that the deputies use the time to "meditate on what it means to respect the dignity of every human being, including the deputy who spread the salt."Many deputies gathered near the Newark deputation. Holding hands or locking arms, and swaying in unison, they sang "We Shall Overcome," "Jesus Loves Me," "Jesus Loves the Little Children," and "Balm in Gilead."

Koscheski later protested that he meant the salt as a gesture of healing, pointing out that he spread it among both liberal and conservative deputations. The Dallas deputation apologized to the House of Deputies twice. Koscheski resigned the deputation and returned to Dallas.

For the record, salt has historically been a symbol of exorcism – not healing. It is used to expel or protect from evil spirits. Not even the Dallas deputation bought Koscheski’s efforts to “revision” his actions on the floor that dayAnd as part of Integrity’s communication team in Denver that summer I remember the bemused secular media folks in the press room trying to wrap their heads around what came to be known as “the salting incident.” Trying to grasp that a Clergy Deputy to General Convention resorted to an ancient exorcism practice -- scattering salt – to “protect” the Church from “homosexual activists” … including President of the House of Deputies Pam Chinnis.

I also remember – like it was last week, if not yesterday – the legislative progress we made in Denver … passing a groundbreaking resolution (GC2000-D039) which included these two “resolves:”

That we acknowledge that while the issues of human sexuality are not yet resolved, there are currently couples in the Body of Christ and in this Church who are living in marriage and couples in the Body of Christ and in this Church who are living in other life-long committed relationships; and

That we expect such relationships will be characterized by fidelity, monogamy, mutual affection and respect, careful, honest communication, and the holy love which enables those in such relationships to see in each other the image of God.

There were originally eight “resolves” – the eighth and final instructing the SCLM (Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music) to create rites for the blessing of same-sex relationships.

The resolution was crafted knowing that the “8th Resolve” was going to be a bridge-too-far for this convention. And so when it came to pass in the legislative process that it was separated off and failed by a narrow margin, our strategists inwardly celebrated the victory of writing into the record both a de facto recognition that same sex relationships fell within the bounds of our common life and the characterization of those relationships that continues to inform the work of the Episcopal Church over a decade later.

It was -- as I described it in a Denver 2000 press statement --“Not the whole enchilada but it has enough guacamole for me.” Setting the goalpost further than we expected to go and then stepping back to “compromise” for what we wanted to achieve in the first place was a carefully orchestrated strategy which paved the way for further movement forward in 2003. And at GC-2006. And GC-2009.

And like Fredrica told us, re-learning our history helps us get a head start on our future as we work toward GC-2012 in Indianapolis – where compromises will again be made. And progress will again be achieved. And like the Persistent Widow in Luke’s gospel, we’ll keep coming back – again and again – until justice is done, equality is achieved and we don’t have just the whole enchilada but the combo plate … with guacamole.

In a 1992 speech to the Episcopal Women’s Caucus, Pam Chinnis said: "One day we will overcome barriers -- but not in my lifetime or in yours. However small the gains are, or seem to be, we were and are not willing to make peace with oppression." The gains we make from General Convention to General Convention may seem to some to be small ones but cumulatively they have and will continue to move the Episcopal Church forward to more fully becoming the Church God is calling it -- and Pam Chinnis helped lead it -- to be.

“The greatest tribute we could make to the life and leadership of Pamela Chinnis is to complete the work of fully including all the baptized in all the sacraments,” said Caro Hall in Integrity’s statement on Dr. Chinnis’ passing. “As we prepare to gather again in Indianapolis for General Convention 2012, let us not only give thanks for her work and witness -- let us also pray for the power and perseverance to move the church forward in our generation as she did in hers.”

And let us always remember that we stand on the shoulders of Pam Chinnis and other of Giants of Justice as we move forward into God’s future.

Rest eternal grant to her, O Lord;
And let light perpetual shine upon her.
May her soul, and the souls of all the departed,
through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

Michael Hopkins Remembers Pam Chinnis

2011-08-26T14:04:00.002-04:00

With thanks to Michael Hopkins for sharing with Integrity this reflection -- written for his parish blog -- on the work and witness of Pam Chinnis.

On Wednesday evening Dr. Pamela Chinnis died. I fear that many Episcopalians do not know who she is, which is a tragedy. She was one of the great shapers of the Episcopal Church in the late 20th century.

Pam was the first woman elected as President of the House of Deputies of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church. She served the Conventions of 1991, 1994 and 1997. This may seem like not a very big accomplishment in the 1990's, but remember that women were not seated as deputies to General Convention until 1967. That means six Conventions later, one of them is elected President (she was elected at the end of the Convention in 1988). She had served as Vice-president of the House in 1985 and 1988.

In the late 1960's, Pam and others emerged as strong voices promoting the ordination of women. Several of these came out of the Diocese of Washington, where Pam was a member of the Church of the Epiphany (To prove it's a small church, her rector of many years was Edgar Romig, who was best-buddy to our own John Harmon in World War II. Edgar's brother, David, was pastor of Downtown Presbyterian down the street from Two Saints for many years). I was fortunate to know many of these women: besides Pam, Verna Dozier, and Sally Buckley (there were others--my apologies for not remembering names well this morning). Pam was President of the Episcopal Church Women in 1976 when the ordination vote occurred and insured that organization's strong support.

To say Pam was a faithful Christian and Episcopalian is to make a vast understatement. She was gracious beyond the telling, but she also had a backbone of steel. She was supportive of lesbian and gay people in the church long before that was popular, and her commitment to our full inclusion never wavered. She was extraordinarily well thought of among African-American Episcopalians and was one of the primary encouragers of the House of Bishops to do its work on racism that resulted in the Pastoral Letter of 1994, "The Sin of Racism."

I submit that when the history is properly told on the late 20th century Episcopal Church, which may take yet another twenty years or so, Pam Chinnis will be found to have been one of the guiding lights, equal to any bishop or other ordained person who might be named, including her beloved friend and colleague, Presiding Bishop Edmond Browning (with whom she is pictured above). I pray that the remembrance of her life and deeds will not fade away, so that she may be for generations to come one of whom it is said and sung, "They were all of them saints of God--and I mean, God helping, to be one to."

Pamela Chinnis: Giant of LGBT Justice

2011-08-26T12:15:00.001-04:00

Integrity joins those throughout the Episcopal Church mourning the death of Pamela Chinnis – a prophetic leader who both challenged and shaped The Episcopal Church on issues of justice and inclusion. As the first woman President of the House of Deputies Dr. Chinnis worked tirelessly to combat both sexism and homophobia in the church and presided over many landmark decisions on the road to full inclusion.

“Dr. Chinnis’ proactive advocacy for LGBT inclusion literally changed the face of The Episcopal Church,” said Integrity President the Reverend Dr. Caro Hall.

“In 1993, as the church looked toward its 1994 General Convention in Indianapolis, Dr. Chinnis became the first President of the House of Deputies to address an Integrity gathering. At that historic meeting she promised to appoint “out” gay and lesbian deputies to legislative committees at the upcoming convention and pledged personal vigilance for "the whole issue of gay and lesbian rights," speaking, she said, "as the mother of a gay son."

Other Integrity leaders remembered Pam Chinnis and celebrated her support for justice and inclusion. “I knew Pam not only as President of the House of Deputies, but also as a fellow member of the Diocese of Washington,” said Michael Hopkins (1997-2003). “Pam was an amazing combination of graciousness and conviction. Her commitment to LGBT people was unsurpassed. What a gift she was to the church!”

“No one in a position of leadership in the Episcopal Church was more committed to full inclusion of LGBT people or did more to bring it about than did Pamela Chinnis,” said Kim Byham (1987-1990) "What a blessing she has been to us all," said Integrity founder Louie Crew.

“The greatest tribute we could make to the life and leadership of Pamela Chinnis is to complete the work of fully including all the baptized in all the sacraments,” Hall continued. “As we prepare to gather again in Indianapolis for General Convention 2012, let us not only give thanks for her work and witness -- let us also pray for the power and perseverance to move the church forward in our generation as she did in hers.”

Requiescant in pace: Cynthia Gilliatt

2011-08-19T14:19:00.002-04:00

Dr. Gilliatt was a fervent golfer, a lover of 17th century English poetry and a passionate priest whose ministry was marked by a lived commitment to give voice to the voiceless and to respect the dignity of every human being.
We just received word that long-time Integrity leader Cynthia Gilliatt died on Tuesday, August 16th. Pictured below (back row, far right) with the 2000-2003 Integrity Board on a visit to retired Presiding Bishop Ed Browning, Cynthia was an valiant witness to God's inclusive love and a true Giant of Justice.

From the obituary in The Newsleader. com:

HARRISONBURG — The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Ann Gilliatt, 67, of Harrisonburg, passed away on Tuesday Aug. 16, 2011, at Rockingham Memorial Hospital. Dr. Gilliatt was born Dec. 2, 1943, in St. Louis, and was the daughter of the late Sidney George and Aline Day Gilliatt.

The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Ann Gilliatt helped to found and was a major supporter of Integrity/Virginia during its 1998-2004 existence, often driving to Northern Virginia to attend worship services and programs and to provide spiritual leadership and to share her wise counsel. Integrity/Virginia was a worship-based organization that provided safe spiritual space for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender [LGBT] people in the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia.

Cynthia also served as secretary on the Board of Directors of the national integrity organization in 2000-03 and in 2007-09. Integrity/USA continues to work for the equal access to all the rites of the church for all people.

Dr. Gilliatt also was an active member of Safe Zones at James Madison University. Safe Zones is a voluntary network of faculty, staff and students who promote an atmosphere of acceptance and assistance for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. Safe Zones was established in 1997 and Dr. Gilliatt was instrumental in its founding and served as a co-coordinator of the program for many years. She was a strong advocate for equal rights and addressed many issues related to sexual orientation through seminars, information sessions and programs.

Dr. Gilliatt was an associate professor of English for James Madison University, Priest Associate at Emmanuel Episcopal Church and Priest-in-Charge of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Blue Grass.

Dr. Gilliatt was a fervent golfer, a lover of 17th century English poetry and a passionate priest whose ministry was marked by a lived commitment to give voice to the voiceless and to respect the dignity of every human being. She was ordained deacon in 1988 and priest in 1989 in the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia. During her tenure as english professor, she also served as chaplain to the Canterbury Club at Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Harrisonburg.

A Requiem Eucharist will be celebrated at 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 20, 2011, at Emmanuel Episcopal Church, 660 S. Main St., Harrisonburg, with the Bishop of Virginia, The Right Reverend Shannon Sherwood Johnston, presiding. Visiting clergy are invited to vest for the service (white stole). Interment will be private.

Memorial contributions in lieu of flowers may be made to Emmanuel Episcopal Church or to First Tee of Harrisonburg, c/o Heritage Oaks Golf Course.

Almighty God, with whom still live the spirits of those who die in the Lord, and with whom the souls of the faithful are in joy and felicity: We give you heartfelt thanks for the good examples of all your servants, who, having finished their course in faith, now find rest and refreshment. May we, with all who have died in the true faith of your holy Name, have perfect fulfillment and bliss in your eternal and everlasting glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Stories from the Pews: Integrity Proud Parish Wins Pride Float Award

2011-08-16T18:08:00.000-04:00

A letter From William Weightman
Member
St. Stephen's Episcopal Church

Frago, ND

Hi Integrity! Just wanted to update you on one of your parishes!

St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Fargo, ND, took home the Judges Choice Award for Best Float in the 2011 Fargo Moorhead Pride Parade on Sunday, August 14! The prize included a trophy that will be displayed in the church.

St. Stephen's is an Integrity Proud Parish. The float had the theme of "Love: It's Natural" and was Noah's Ark, complete with animals that science has show to exhibit Homosexual Behavior.

Thanks again for being a great resource and we at St. Stephen's are proud to be an IntegrityUSA Parish!

William Weightman

Congrats to St. Stephen's for their great work!

If youy have a story from your parish that you would like to share, please send an email to tvprod@earthlink.net and we will post your story.

Stories From the Pews: Integrity Georgia's Powerful Witness

2011-08-09T17:47:00.000-04:00

Michael Wood

Convener, Integrity Georgia

I recently went on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic which completely changed me and my life, I hope, forever.

This past June fellow Integrity member Fred Richter and I were part of a mission trip organized by the Rev. Tar Drazdowski of Christ Church Valdosta, which included 30 people from 5 different dioceses of the Episcopal church and 1 diocese of the Roman Catholic church. This trip marked the 10th year that the Diocese of Georgia has come to Campamento Monte De La Transfiguracion in El Pedregal. The team flew nonstop from Orlando to Santo Domingo on June 18th and rode in a chartered bus to our destination in the mountains in West Central Dominican Republic.

Reverend Tar instructed that we were to be “Christ for them, not to them". While Fred and I went primarily as missionaries of our diocese, we did not leave behind that we are active members of Integrity Georgia. Our Georgia chapter is committed to showing Christ's spirit in us, through our presence as neighbors, friends, co-workers, and fellow parishioners at the communion rail. We pray that our witness will reveal the love and light of Christ that we wish to share. Many gay people here and in the Dominican Republic have been turned away by religion. However, Christ has not turned us away. We exist to fill-in that hole in the hearts of gay and straight people that was created by being left at the closed door of religion.

Fred and I were merely present as Episcopalians. We worked together with men and women to build new roofs on small homes, (these homes house 8-15 people and are no larger than most peoples' living room). We also hung new ceilings in a dormitory bathroom; removed an old fence to make room for a newer one. Most importantly we were present and Out. One missioner approached me and Fred to ask us about being Out. Shortly afterward he came out and is our newest member of Integrity! (In Georgia one can still be fired for being gay, so he has to be careful).

I was moved by the joy and caring of the Dominican people. This trip has taught me to appreciate the blessings that God has seen fit to give me. The Dominicans have helped me far more than I could have ever hoped to help them. They are poor in material things but as individuals they are the richest people I have ever met.

In addition to our mission outside of the US, Integrity Georgia, of The Diocese of Georgia, has donated a new sign to the Episcopal Campus Ministry house, as part of our outreach to Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Georgia.

Integrity Georgia has begun work with Episcopal Campus Ministries in Savannah, Statesboro, Augusta, and Valdosta, Georgia to further the ministry of Integrity Georgia.

The Georgia chapter is committed to showing Christ's spirit through its' presence as neighbors, friends, co-workers, and fellow parishioners at the communion rail. Their prayer is that their example will reveal the love and light of Christ that they wish to share.

"Stories From The Pews" is a continuing series about the experiences of Integrity members throughout the church. If you have a "Story From The Pews" that you would like to share, please contact Integrity USA Director of Communications Louise Brooks at tvprod@earthlink.net. We would love to post your story.

Integrity Says "Thank You" to the Church Pension Group

2011-08-08T11:29:00.010-04:00

Over the past month, there has been so much good news on the marriage equality front that some of it has received less notice than it should have.

One item that hasn't been celebrated enough is that the Church Pension Group - which handles benefits for Episcopal clergy, lay employees and their families - announced that it will offer "parity of benefits for legally-married same-gender spouses."

Integrity celebrates this milestone towards full inclusion in the Episcopal Church, and looks forward to the day when LGBT people and their families will have full parity in the Church and the wider society.

To learn more about this important policy change, read Integrity's open letter to the Church Pension Group below, visit the Church Pension Group website and read "New York's same-gender marriage law prompts diocesan, pension fund changes" on the Episcopal News Service website.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

August 8, 2011

T. Dennis Sullivan
President and CEO
Church Pension Group
445 Fifth Ave
New York, NY 10016

Dear Mr. Sullivan:

I am writing on behalf of Integrity USA to thank the Church Pension Group for deciding to provide “parity of benefits for legally married same-gender spouses.”

Integrity USA is a community of approximately 2,000 dues-paying members, 60 chapters, and 500 affiliated parishes. Our mission is to be a witness of God’s inclusive love to The Episcopal Church and to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities.

When Integrity was founded thirty-six years ago by Dr. Louie Crew, equality for LGBT people within The Episcopal Church seemed to be a far-off dream. In 1976, General Convention proclaimed that “Homosexual persons are children of God who have a full and equal claim with all other persons upon the love, acceptance, and pastoral concern and care of the Church.” However, those who govern the Church have been rather slow to specify how that proclamation should be implemented within our institutional structures and practices.

Your actions provide a concrete witness of God’s inclusive love within The Episcopal Church. You have taken the initiative to specify just what “a full and equal claim” means in a very specific and meaningful way. For that we give you our heartfelt thanks.

Sincerely,

The Rev. Caroline Hall

President
Integrity USA

cc. Mary Kate Wold, President and CEO (incoming), Church Pension Group
The Rt. Rev. Peter James Lee, DD, Chair of the Board of Trustees, Church Pension Group
Integrity USA Membership

Integrity and NGLTF: Our Faith Demands Marriage Equality

2011-08-04T15:57:00.007-04:00

Do you think it's about time this country had full marriage equality?

We all know that many of our opponents - the folks who are against marriage for all – use religious language when they argue against us. Now it's time for more of us to tell the world that the Holy Bible and our loving God require nothing less than full equality for all people.

Integrity USA is joining with our partners at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Institute for Welcoming Resources, and colleague groups in other denominations to say that we need to support and defend marriage - for everyone. Over the coming months we'll be reaching out to many of you to see if your parish or chapter would like to become a part of this effort, or if you personally would consider taking leadership in it.

But don't wait for us to come to you! Contact us at info@integrityusa.org, or our colleagues below, and let us know you're interested.

Max Niedzwiecki, Ph.D.
Executive Director, Integrity USA

---------------------------

Greetings Integrity members! We are so excited to share the Faith Partners Organizing Project with you. This project will join with people to close the gap between how political justice organizers or campaigners do justice work and how people of faith do justice work and how both resonate with their outcomes whether in campaigns for LGBT liberation or outside of campaigns. Looking at core differences has the power to make us whole and work as one.

We are looking for more partners from welcoming and affirming congregations across the country, and especially in Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Michigan, North Carolina and Oregon. Together, we will be experimenting with new ways that political justice campaigns and faith communities can grow together through faithful social and political engagement. With your participation, we can build networks of faith justice partners from inclusive churches who are working with political justice campaigns to better the lives of LGBT people in their congregations and beyond walls of the church.

Along with Integrity leaders, we’ll be contacting you to talk to you more about our project, and to ask you to participate with us. Please reach out to us with your interests as well. We look forward to learning from and creating with you.

Orelia Busch: 202-639-6306; orelia@welcomingresources.org
Kathleen Campisano: 202-639-6327; kcampisano@thetaskforce.org

Orelia Busch and Kathleen Campisano work with the Institute for Welcoming Resources at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force . Currently, they are working closely with Integrity and other programs that support LGBT-inclusive congregations as part of the Faith Partners Organizing Project.

Last Sunday, ME in NY...this Sunday, Gay Ordinations in Presbyterian Church

2011-07-26T18:29:00.000-04:00

Integrity USA applauds our brothers and sisters in the Presbyterian Church as they enter "a new era of equality"

From HuffPost

An historic change will take place in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) on Sunday when a measure takes effect allowing openly gay men and women in same-sex relationships to be ordained as clergy.

The change, which was approved by a majority of the church's regional bodies in May after contentious debate in the 2.8-million member denomination, is being marked by a day of prayer at dozens of churches.

"We are entering a new era of equality," said Michael Adee, the executive director of More Light Presbyterians, a Minnesota-based church group that has pushed to allow openly gay clergy. "Across this country members of welcoming and affirming congregations and ministries are telling the stories of faithful candidates who can now be considered for ordination."

The new rules, which also apply to elders and deacons, do not require churches to ordain gay candidates, but they remove barriers to their ordination that were written into the church's constitution. The old text of the church's Book of Order banned non-celibate clergy who did not live "within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman." That prohibition was added in 1997.

The new Book of Order does not mention gay clergy, but it removes a requirement of chastity for non-married clergy. It places more emphasis on character traits such as a "candidate's calling, gifts, preparation, and suitability" and presbyteries' powers in picking ministers.

Pro-gay clergy advocates said that they don't expect any ordinations to happen Sunday, as the change is a technical one and Presbyterian seminarians are traditionally ordained once they find employment. But Adee said he knew of several closeted gay clergy who are planning on coming out because of the new rules.

"Presbyterians are buzzing everywhere around the country," said Paul Mowry, a 49-year-old gay seminarian from New York City who will likely be one of the first gay clergy ordained after the measure's passage. Mowry, who comes from a long line of Presbyterian ministers, said he had wanted to be a minister since childhood but put those aspirations on hold after coming out of the closet in high school. He left the banking industry in 2005 to become a seminarian and is currently applying for ministry positions.

Read the rest of the story here.

Say "Thank You" to bishops leading the way on marriage equality!

2011-07-23T18:54:00.005-04:00

Tomorrow when civil marriage equality comes to the State of New York four New York Bishops are leading the way on marriage equality by authorizing the clergy in their dioceses to both bless and solemnize same-sex marriages.

Pictured left, those bishops are:

Adams (Central New York)
Franklin (Western New York) Provenzano (Long Island)
Singh (Rochester)

If you're a "Facebook person" go to the "THANK YOU" page set up here to say thank you to these prophetic leaders.

If not -- or in addition -- please do consider an email or snail mail thank you note to give thanks for their witness for equality and pray that others might go and do likewise! Click on the links above for email addresses or visit the diocese websites for snail mail. Either way, make your voice heard and make your mother proud by sending a thank you note today!

Let’s Give Thanks for All We Have Achieved – and for What Will Be!

2011-07-22T15:05:00.000-04:00

By
Max Niedzwiecki, Ph.D.

Executive Director

Integrity USA

Integrity USA publishes its 2010 Annual Report

July is a month of “firsts” for Integrity and all of us who think the Episcopal Church and society need to be better at welcoming all of God’s children:

In July of 2009, General Convention opened the door wider for Episcopalians in loving same-gender unions, and directed the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music to gather resources for use throughout the Church. General Convention 2009 also finally removed the ban on openly LGBT bishops, paving the way for the Rev. Mary Glasspool’s consecration as Bishop Suffragan in the Diocese of Los Angeles in May of 2010.

This July we mark more “firsts”: We’re seeing the arrival of civil marriage equality in New York State, and the blessing of those marriages in most of the state’s dioceses.

On a humbler note – but still significantly – July 2011 brings the publication of Integrity’s first Annual Report, covering the year 2010. Download the report today to learn about what we achieved last year to make “all the sacraments for all the baptized” a reality in dioceses and parishes throughout the country, advocate for justice in the wider society, and prepare for a strong showing at General Convention 2012.

At the next General Convention – in July 2012 – with God’s help, we will achieve the ratification of the Standing Commission’s resources for blessing relationships, so that they will be approved for use nationally. We will also push for Episcopal Church to extend a fuller welcome to Christians who happen to be transgender. And we will advocate for many other dimensions of equality, as we have done since 1974.

Integrity needs your support to continue to make July a month of “firsts” for inclusion and justice. As we luanch our campaign to General Convention 2012 in Indianapolis, as we continue to advocate for human rights, and as we resource every diocese and parish to become more welcoming to all of God’s children – we hope you will join our team.

You can do that in two ways: Become an Integrity Volunteer. Most of Integrity’s work is one by volunteers. Write to us at info@integrityusa.org, to see how you can help.

Second, make a special, tax-deductible donation to Integrity in honor of all that we have achieved and – more importantly – in solidarity for all that we still need to achieve. You will receive an appeal from Integrity in the mail over the next week. Please give generously.. Or make your donation online today
Thank you!

Getting Ducks in a Row for Marriage Equality in New York!

2011-07-22T01:14:00.003-04:00

(A little Integrity Levity ... courtesy All Saints Church in Pasadena!)

Bishop Singh Opens Doors for Couples in the Diocese of Rochester

2011-07-21T19:07:00.006-04:00

Episcopal Diocese of Rochester

July 21, 2011

Statement from The Rt. Rev. Prince G. Singh, Bishop of Rochester,

and the Task Force on Marriage Equality

As we approach the implementation of the Marriage Equality Act, we rejoice in the extension of civil rights to same-sex couples in New York. We believe this extension to be fully consonant with the Good News of God in Jesus Christ proclaimed by the church.

This extension of marriage equality follows quite naturally with the history of the Episcopal Diocese of Rochester, which has tirelessly promoted the full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons in the life of the church, including blessing their relationships as a pastoral response in many parish contexts, for almost forty years. While we recognize that there are differing opinions, even within our own church, we want to clear that these differences do not break the fellowship by which we are bound together. Let us constantly seek reconciliation and act in ways that uphold both our convictions and one another's dignity.

After careful discernment and consultation, we recommend to our parish clergy that they proceed with fully welcoming all couples who seek to enter the marriage covenant of fidelity, mutuality and service. We encourage the celebration and blessing of all marriages in accordance with congregational guidelines. In doing so, we uphold the Episcopal Church's 2009 General Convention resolution (C056) that allows bishops to provide a "generous pastoral response" in those jurisdictions which allow for equal marriage, civil unions, or domestic partnerships. However, as with current canon law, presiding at any marriage is at the discretion of clergy.

It will take some time for the language of both and the Canons of the Episcopal Church to catch up to this new reality. In the meantime, the Bishop's office will be a resource for those seeking to celebrate and bless marriage with appropriate rites and careful preparation. We encourage clergy to do whatever work of formation and discernment necessary, in order to create consensus, as much as possible, before moving forward. Further guidelines for the clergy will be forthcoming; this matter will be a topic of a clergy gathering on September 25.

May God bless us as we move forward in the spread of the freedom for which Christ sets us free (Galatians 5:1), and may God bless all couples who are seeking to celebrate their commitment and ask the blessing of God on it.

Episcopalians March in Rochester, NY Pride Parade

2011-07-20T08:00:00.002-04:00

John Clinton Bradley

ROCHESTER NY—Two dozen Episcopalians shared God’s inclusive love with the LGBT community during this city’s pride parade on Saturday, July 16th. Oasis Rochester, which is the LGBT ministry of the Diocese of Rochester, invited parishioners from seven counties to march in the parade.

The Rev. Kit Tobin, Integrity’s coordinator in the Diocese of Rochester, was one of the key organizers of the Episcopal witness. Several members of Dignity/Integrity-Rochester participated.

Holy Eucharist was celebrated on the street just before the parade started. The Rev. Deborah Duguid-May, priest-in-charge of Trinity Episcopal Church in Greece NY, presided and preached. A number of non-Episcopalians took part in the service.

Bishop Prince Singh, who was an outspoken advocate for the civil marriage equality bill that recently passed in the State of New York, marched in the parade along with his wife and youngest son.