From the Episcopalian.com NEWS Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2002 05:08:45 -0600 From: "Douglas L. LeBlanc" <dlleblanc@...> Subject: Coverage of Claiming the Blessing Gay Episcopalians revive blessings rite By Douglas LeBlanc ST. LOUIS -- Gay Episcopalians will ask the 2003 General Convention for the same thing they sought in 2000: to develop a Book of Occasional Services rite for blessing monogamous gay couples. This year, however, they describe the renewed request as a principled compromise and an act of humility. Nearly 200 gay Episcopalians gathered at a conference, "Claiming the Blessing," at Christ Cathedral on Nov. 8 and 9. "We are quite deliberately advocating for a rite whose use would be optional, for the sake of the unity of the Church we love," said the Rev. Michael Hopkins, president of Integrity, in his opening remarks at the conference. "We are compromising, moderating our position, for the sake of the Church." Hopkins cited a phrase from Resolution 9 of the 1920 Lambeth Conference (on "Christian Reunion"): "We believe that for all, the truly equitable approach to union is by way of mutual deference to one another's consciences." "Liberals and conservatives, progressives and traditionalists, must learn to live together in this Church or there will be no church in which for us to live," Hopkins said. "But learning to live together must mean 'mutual deference,' not moratoriums or some insistence that we all convert to being 'moderates.'" Hopkins sought to assure conservatives that "we do not desire for you to go away" and "we do not desire to force same-sex blessings on you or anyone." And he challenged conservatives to "stop scapegoating lesbian and gay Christians for every contemporary ill in the Church." "You know as well as we do that the issues are far deeper than human sexuality," Hopkins said. "They are issues of scriptural interpretation and authority, including the very different polities that exist in different provinces of the Communion and whether or not local autonomy is a defining characteristic of Anglicanism. Issues of human sexuality are just one tip of that very large iceberg, and if sexuality went completely away tomorrow, the iceberg would still be there." A united effort As a movement, Claiming the Blessing unites the efforts of Integrity (at 28, the oldest gay-rights organization in the Episcopal Church), Beyond Inclusion (which held its first conference in 1997), and Oasis (which began in the Diocese of Newark and assists gay-friendly dioceses and parishes). The Witness magazine also supported the conference with extensive materials in its November issue. The Rev. Elizabeth Kaeton, former director of Oasis in the Diocese of Newark, described how this united effort had it roots in the Lambeth Conference of 1998, when gay activists from around the world found themselves divided and turning on each other. "They were well-funded, well-organized, and focused -- and we were not," Kaeton said of conservative bishops and activists at Lambeth. "We came away from Lambeth wounded and limping, but still walking." Despite Hopkins' emphasis on compromise and unity, his bishop spoke more confrontational words. Gay Episcopalians deserve the blessings of their churches, and "we are not going to sell that birthright down the Jordan River because we fear disunity in the Episcopal Church or the larger Anglican Communion," said Bishop John Chane of the Diocese of Washington. "Pastoral considerations should take precedence over canonical form as we move toward General Convention in 2003." "We are getting there very soon," Chane said about winning blessings involving gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Episcopalians (conference participants spoke of all four categories usually, though often using the abbreviation GLBT). "We will get there in Minneapolis." During earlier remarks about Convention, Chane promised that "we will get it on" -- i.e., engage in a vigorous debate about sexuality -- in Minneapolis. Former Presiding Bishop Edmond Browning observed during a workshop about General Convention strategy that the 2003 Convention may be asked to confirm an openly gay bishop, and "that issue could take over Convention." The Rev. Gene Robinson, canon to the ordinary for Bishop Douglas Theuner of the Diocese of New Hampshire, is an openly gay priest and has placed well during bishops' elections in Newark, N.J., and Rochester, N.Y. Robinson has declined comment on whether he will be a candidate in his own diocese. New Hampshire will elect its new bishop on June 7. General Convention, which meets on July 30 to August 8, will vote on any bishops elected within 120 days of the Convention. Bishops and standing committees confirm bishops who are elected between General Conventions. During the workshop on General Convention strategy, Peggy Adams recommended meeting with deputies three times and bringing along family pictures. "I talk about how important it is that my children be brought up in a church that accepts all people," she said. "It's not an issue of sex. It's an issue of accepting people." At an evening banquet, the Rev. Carter Heyward bemoaned that "gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Christians can be ordained or blessed if, and only if, they agree not to rock the boat of marriage." "We have to struggle for greater sexual diversity among ourselves," she said, adding that she has more bisexual students than ever before at Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass. (Heyward also mentioned that some of her lesbian friends have fallen in love with men and become married, which Heyward said proves that human sexuality is a shifting and widely varied phenomenon.) Heyward encouraged participants to acknowledge that some GLBT Episcopalians are ambivalent about marriage -- which she called a patriarchal institution -- and that some would not avail themselves of blessing rites even if they were available. "More important than winning at General Convention is our integrity. . . .Let us not ask for too little -- and I don't know what too little or too much is at this point." A financial altar call In a final session, the Rev. Ed Bacon of All Saints Episcopal Church, Pasadena, spoke of two people who visited him recently from New York and bore a message from an unspecified Episcopal leader that Bacon should forsake his involvement with Claiming the Blessing. Bacon added that the few bishops who attended Claiming the Blessing were warned not to participate. "I'm here to tell you that life is going to become very shaky for us -- both before General Convention and during it," Bacon said. Bacon quoted pilot Chuck Yeager, best known for breaking the sound barrier, as saying that his jet's cockpit became shakiest just before his breakthrough. "The good news is that Jesus is alive, and that Jesus is about breakthroughs, and that Jesus' power is not finite," Bacon said. Bacon asked participants to join him in clicking their fingers in united rhythm, then clapping, then singing "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands." (In deference to God not being male or female, Bacon encouraged people to change personal pronouns throughout the song, which led to such lines as "He's got the whole world in her hands / She's got the whole wide world in his hands.") Bacon encouraged everyone at the meeting to make a financial pledge to Claiming the Blessing -- whether the equivalent of a cup of Starbucks coffee each week or $10,000. Bacon drew on his roots as a Southern Baptist when he asked participants to join him in singing "Just As I Am." They sang as they walked the center aisle of Christ Cathedral, laying their pledge cards atop the altar. The last person to make his way down the aisle was William Richardson Jr. Integrity founder Louie Crew had introduced Richardson at the conference banquet as an openly gay priest from the Diocese of Louisiana and one of Crew's heroes. Richardson is 92. From the Episcopalian.org News ------------------------------ _________________________________________________________________ MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection service: 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus