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ISSUES for 2003, beginning with
the last edition!
8/8/03
FRIDAY #9
Healing Ourselves
Reparative Therapy. The
term raises the temperature in a room of conservatives as well as LGBTQ people. "Outrageous!" LGBTQ people cry, "to think
that anyone can change anyone else's God given sexuality." "Outrageous!" the conservatives cry, "that anyone consider that
they can stand in the way of God's transformative love."
I would submit that both sides are guilty of the same offense. Both ignore the profound
complexity of the gifts of sexuality and sexual orientation, and the influences of gender, intimacy, trust, culture, family,
and the ongoing understanding of the development and growth of the individual person.
Some examples: If a gay man or lesbian woman has been previously married
to a person of the opposite gender and then "comes out" that neither means that the person is bisexual or "healed" of their
heterosexuality.
Similarly, if a bisexual person falls in love and marries someone of the opposite gender that may not extinguish his
or her attraction to those of the same gender - any differently than the vows of marriage keep anyone else from finding others
attractive.
Our transgender sisters and brothers have been patiently teaching us about the difference between gender identity and
sexuality. For example, if a man identifies as a woman and feels an attraction to men, that does not make the transgender
person a homosexual.
Because of the profound complexity of human sexuality and sexual orientation, many can and do, from time to time, become
confused about or unhappy with their understanding of their sexuality and seek help. In my own pastoral counseling, I recall
instances of abuse on both sides of this issue. The point of coercion and manipulation addressed in the C005 on Reparative
Therapy is exactly the point both sides need to hear. So is the theology of our baptismal covenant to respect the dignity
of every human being.
The real challenge ahead is twofold. First, we must work with organizations which offer psychiatric, psychological,
pastoral and spiritual therapy - most especially organizations like the Association of Pastoral Counselors or the College
of Chaplains - to make a very strong statement about any therapeutic intervention which is based on the premise that homosexuality
is inherently wrong or disordered. We can then bring these statements to General Convention 2006 for consideration and affirmation.
Even more importantly, we
need to be able to document all statements made about reparative therapy by professional organizations, which include the
date of the statement, and we must insist that our adversaries be able to do the same. Indeed, we must take those claims made
during the hearing, research them, and be able to prove them false. At one point in the Hearings on Reparative Therapy, besides
the intensely emotional testimony on either side of those who claim to have been healed, came dueling professional statements
in which the same organization seemed to make conflicting statements. Members of the Legislative Committee - especially my
subcommittee on Sexuality - were painfully confused.
The only way to deal effectively with issues of such emotional volatility is to insist
on facts. Like the abortion debate in our church, more light and less heat will eventually win the day. The temptation is
to fight fire with fire - coercion with coercion - but Jesus teaches us another way.
"There are many paths but one way to God," says Eli Weisel. Ultimately,
liberation in Christ means that we each must find our own pathway to healing and wholeness.
Elizabeth Kaeton
Many thanks ….
To all the nominees for
election by General Convention who responded to The Consultation’s questionnaire. Thanks for offering yourselves
for service at the national level.
And to all who wrote for ISSUES here in Minneapolis, those who were
here and those who were watching our work, and commenting on it, from homes far away. Your names on your writing identify
you to the whole Church. Share the thanks of all of us!
The Consultation
I WRITE AS CONSULTANT TO THE ANTI-RACISM ADVISORY COMMITTEE OF THE EXECUTIVE
COUNCIL
In an earlier edition of ISSUES there was a review of the Anti-Racism video shown last Sunday at the Hilton Hotel.
I assure everyone reading this, and all others in attendance, that we, too, as members of the committee, were extremely
shocked and disappointed with the video that was shown on Sunday evening.
Having made this statement, may I now make the following two assurances:
(1) the video shown was significantly different from the "rough cut" video that I, as consultant; representatives of the committee;
the staff officer, Jayne Oasin; and the committee chairperson, Sheryl Kujawa-Holbrook, were shown; (2) the final product
that will be sent to dioceses and provinces will be significantly different from the video that was shown Sunday evening.
Our goal for this video
was that it would be liberating, include testimony about how racism and exclusion operate in the Church and society,
AND indicate how we as the Church of Jesus Christ must respond to this continuing sin. The video that was shown achieved none of our
goals and for this we are deeply sorry and embarrassed.
Since neither the Anti-racism Advisory Committee nor the Social Justice staff officer,
Jayne Oasin, had direct supervision of this project from its inception to its completion, we could only trust that the final
product would be in accordance with the goals established by the Anti-racism Hearings Task Force to which I was consultant.
We expected that the video
would be a faithful record of the hearings in which people courageously shared their stories of the impact of racism on their
lives. Obviously, this did not happen. We are now committed to making all necessary modification to change and improve
the video.
Edward
Rodman
P. S. to Edward Rodman
Get the 3rd edition of the Anti-Racism manual, and us it along side the Blue Book report of the
Anti-?Racism committee of Executive Council and Ed Rodman’s ‘Unmasking the Face of Racism’ paper written
for The Witness magazine. As Rodman urges in the latter publication, the challenges that have been raised here in Minneapolis can better be understood in a broader context of the ‘unconscious captivity of the church and nation to the
funda-mental notion of white supremacy… This, in turn, exacerbates tensions between and among people of color and between
them and other targeted persons.’ Use all these materials as you prepare to continue your diocesan and congregational
work to address racism in the coming triennium.
Ethan Flad
Unrequited love
I'm so frustrated with the Episcopal church. My past "in-loveness" with
our
denomination
had led me to a deep-seated suspicion that God Godself was an Episcopalian. How could God not be? We do everything so well,
with such panache, so Perfectly. Our buildings are lovely! Our music is gorgeous! We're so intelligent, so bright. We
have a three-legged stool! "Frozen" Chosen, they say? Ha! Darlings, we call that "well bred."
Of course in rational moments I've always
known that my hubris regarding our oh-so-classy Church could and maybe would cause St. Peter to roll his eyes and bar the
gates. But my fantasies persisted.
The scales fell from my eyes and I fell right out of love with our little denom-ination last year after
the issuance of the A045 report on women's ordination in dioceses where women still - STILL - cannot be ordained.
I have the dubious pleasure
of living in the Diocese of Fort Worth.
The A045 report was a joke. Funny, the report was issued with very little fan-fare and then
it just "went away." You can't find links for it on the ECUSA site anymore. It's over. Done. We don't need to talk about it
any more.
Thanks,
guys.
When
the A045 members came through on their last jaunt, I was invited - I did not "ask" to come - to speak to the committee and
share my views on what was going on in the diocese.
The meeting was supposed to be a safe, private place for those of us in
opposition to Bishop Iker to
share our views, experiences, and feelings.
Instead, the Bishop's henchpeople had to be allowed in, the meeting was not-so-surreptitiously
recorded, and the result was a report that mischaract-erized and devalued what those of us in the "opposition" meeting had
to say.
The
report was all about appeasement. Heaven Forbid we should hurt Bishop
Iker's feelings! Well boo hoo.
The Episcopal Church has left us hanging here in Fort Worth
for too long.
Women's
Ordination was voted in over 20 years ago, and now we Episco-palians have spent the last couple of weeks championing our latest
and greatest cause when we haven't yet brought closure to an issue that supposedly was decided many, many years ago. It's
not over, folks.
To the 99% of the dioceses out there for whom women's ordination is a
non-issue I say, "Lucky You!" To you, what happens here in North Texas are
inconsequential skirmishes.
But some of us have to live here, and we don't
appreciate being stranded.
The upshot for me personally? God isn't Episcopalian! God doesn't care
where I go to church! What a relief! I just wish this Disciples church I'm
thinking about visiting had a prettier liturgy. But it does have some
nice
stained-glass.
Amy Spence
Brokenhearted in Fort Worth
Impressions of a 1st time GC observer...
Upon my arrival in Minneapolis I felt blessed and alive as I exited my taxi at the door of Gethsemane Church and was greeted with the joy and energy of the EPF/Witness reception. It was a long flight from Florida
and though I was tired, I was excited and looking forward to the days ahead. Little did I know what a "mind-blower" they would
be!
As
part of EPF's press crew, I quickly learned who met where and what was to happen when. I found the EPF booth in the Exhibition
Hall and settled down to sort out the next few days' activities. Sunday's Eucharist service was a magnificent spectacle and
very uplifting.
Knowing that the days to come would be filled with much controversy, this day seemed to portend unity in the face of
question and uncertainty. Little did I know what was about to take place.
Our Church has moved through a very difficult decision in accepting
Canon V. Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire. However, there is still so much work to do, so much pastoral care to give.
I have to believe that our Lord's hand will rest gently on the heart of every child of our Christian faith. I return to Southwest Florida
with concern for the many who will not understand what has happened. I have pledged obedience to my Bishop and will uphold
that pledge, but I also feel mixed relief and sadness for those in my diocese who feel marginalized.
The most important lesson I learned from
General Convention 2003 is that no one can attend such a powerful gathering and walk away unaffected. It is an experience
that has changed my life and added to an even deeper level of love for my Church.
Bonnie Rosendale
I Ask Your Prayers
After the vote on Gene Robinson, a friend of mine from this city joked,
"They will never let General Convention come to Minneapolis again."
After all, incredible things happen here. We voted to ordain women here, and now we
have welcomed Gene Robinson into our House of Bishops.
The point my friend was making is that those frightened by these changes will do their
utmost to shut things back down to a level at which they feel safe.
But safety is not the state to which we are called.
We are called to be risk
takers for Christ, to lean on the cross as we screw up our courage to embrace the stranger, the Other, for there is no Other
in Christ.
As
always, I leave yet another General Convention with the knowledge that not only will things not get better in Fort Worth,
they will get worse, I carry with me the knowledge that what I have experienced here is "the church."
This church struggled with a calm grace these
last ten days to deal with hard issues being faced by every denomination. Those struggles were intense, passionate and emotional,
yet deputies and bishops treated one another with courtesy and respect. After the vote was taken on Gene Robinson, the leadership
of both the Houses of Deputies and of Bishops leaned over backward to give those hurting from the vote chances to speak.
It gladdened my heart and
it broke my heart.
It gladdened my heart because it gave me a vision of what church discourse should be.
It broke my heart because this vision
will not be realized where I live.
Please. As you return home, remember those of us in dioceses where anger reigns and "the national church"
is routinely demonized.
Pray for us as we daily pray for you.
Katie Sherrod
8/7/03 THUR
#8
A Light in the Wilderness
History crept into the room
on little cat's feet after waiting patiently for last minute allegations against New Hampshire Bishop-elect Gene Robinson
to be proven false.
Tuesday's vote in the House of Bishops and the subsequent demonstration of dissent took place with classic Episcopalian
decorum.
But
the explosions of joy in my heart and the hearts of countless others around this church of ours will reverberate in this church
long after any who choose to leave over this are gone. This will be true even, perhaps especially, in places such as Fort Worth.
Bishop Geralyn Wolf of Rhode Island told the House of Bishops, "I need Gene Robinson in the wilderness here to enter the conversation so that together
we can find a way to the land that God has promised."
I live in part of the wilderness. The gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people
in the church in Fort Worth - and yes, they are in Fort Worth just as they are in every other
place in our church -- strive to exist under the church's radar screen, and with good reason. The rhetoric alone is toxic
enough to poison one's soul. So they worship, tithe, and live and have their being while trying to be visible to those with
whom they feel safe, but invisible to the power structure.
"Don't ask, don't tell" has been elevated to a fine art in Fort Worth
by clergy who know their gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered parishioners are there. They believe the kindest thing they
can do is pretend they don't know. But most clergy are oblivious to them even as they worship with them Sunday after Sunday.
It takes a lot of faith
to stay in a church when you have to live like that.
When you live like that, you learn to live on mere morsels of hope, to feed your soul
on even the tiniest crumbs of decency that fall from the table.
For months now, Gene Robinson has been an icon of hope and joy for my
gay, lesbian bisexual and transgen-dered brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ in Fort Worth, and for
those straight women and men who stand with them.
In all of the church, they were among the least surprised when last-minute allegations
threatened to derail the consent process. They have witnessed too much casual brutality on the part of the "guardians of the
truth" to be surprised by such venal tactics. Many were in near despair, for they have seen too many abuses of power by church
authorities to trust the church's leaders or the process in issues dealing with human sexuality.
So imagine their amazed joy when the process
was carried out as trans-parently as possible, when church leaders acted with integrity and honor.
But even that paled by comparison to the
joy they felt when the vote to consent passed.
For one shining moment, hope and joy triumphed over fear.
The hard truth is that the harshness of
the reality of their wilderness won't be changed by what happened Tuesday. But that shining moment of Gene Robinson's consent
is a light the distance toward which their eyes can turn in hope.
Thanks be to God.
Katie Sherrod
The Consultation endorses…
For Trustees of General Seminary, the
Consultation asks you to vote for:
Bishops
Michael Curry
Laypersons
Marge Christie
Priest
Paula Lawrence Wehmiller
And…
For the Board of Examining Chaplains
Bishops
Katharine Jefferts Schori
Laypersons
Cynthia McFarland
Priest/Deacon
Stephen Moore
Faculty
Elizabeth Kaeton
Nayan V. McNeill
And for the Joint Committee
to nominate a Presiding Bishop:
Laity; Ruth Redfield ME, Diane Pollard NY, Jane Cosby PA, Michael Allen KY, Connie Ott MIL,
Don Betts NB, Sara Knoll, Bettye Jo Harris HI
Clergy: Thomas Brown VT, Jeannette DeFriest Nwk, Mark Harris DE, Claiborne
Jones ATL, Richard Tolliver CHI, Ann Fontaine WY, Jim Heaney,
Nedi Rivera CA,
Bishops: Gayle Harris MA, Skip Adams C NY, John Rabb MD, Don Johnson
W TN, Ken Prise SO OH, Creighton Robertson SD, Jim Adams W KS, Jerry Lamb N CA
Thank you for your support of these candidates!!
Did You Know…
I think everyone knows by
now that the AAC is meeting at Central Lutheran Church. I must say that, being a Lutheran, I was shocked that an ELCA congregation would
host such a divisive group. I avoided going over there since I have been here, because I thought that it an unwelcoming congregation.
To my delighted surprise I discovered that Central Lutheran Church is a very welcoming congregation. They even state that on their worship bulletins
and fly the rainbow flag often.
I learned from one of the staff members at Central Lutheran Church that the Church Council did not know that the AAC was scheduled to meet there until May of this year (2003). It seems
that fours years back, a secretary working at Central Lutheran talked to a representative from Aac who booked the space with
the promise of phone and internet connection in every room. My understanding is that the secretary no longer works at CLC
and the AAC did come through on their promise of phone and internet connections.
Let’s not hold Central Lutheran Church responsible for this dubious deception. Let’s celebrate their commitments to the full inclusion of all God’s
people, including Gays and Lesbians.
John Sabine, Organist/Choirmaster, St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church, Alpharetta GA
Vigilance necessary
for Church Center Hires
Significant attention has been given in recent months and at this General Convention to the lengthy, drawn-out
process of filling the national racial/ethnic desk offices and the women's desk position.
On the latter topic, after an unprecedented
two-year break, an excellent hire was finally made earlier this year when the Rev. Margaret Rose was appointed. The process
of filling at least two of the vacant racial/ethnic positions, on the other hand, has not yet been brought to a close -- and
several resolutions that were brought to Convention indicated the displeasure around the church regarding this unfinished
business.
But
these jobs are simply the most noticeable ones. It's essential to also recognize that a host of other jobs are either open
now or will be coming open soon on the national staff. Most importantly, in the past couple months two of the most powerful
positions at "815" have come open. With the retirement of Sonia Francis, a long-time and beloved ECC staff member, the Deputy
for Mission job -- responsible for overseeing most of the program work of the church -- has been posted. And the
unexpected resignation of Ralph O'Hara as treasurer has turned that critical financial position into an interim one for the
time being.
To this pair of Aces should be added the impending departure of Jim Solheim, director of the Episcopal News Service
for more than 15 years. The search process to fill this position is expected to be done around the end of the year. Other
lower profile jobs may also be in the offing -- as one good example, during our time in Minneapolis the Young Adult Service Corps received lots of deserved attention. But just a couple days into the Convention, Willis
Jenkins, a cofounder of the Corps and key trainer of all its young missionaries, tendered his resignation citing differences
with the current direction of the program. With brand new appointments already made in several offices in 2003 -- such as
the new director of the Washington office of government relations and the new coordinator of the prioritized Interfaith Relations,
to name just a couple -- this year could be much more in flux than might be expected.
The END of a PB's time in office is often the time when staff begin
to leave their jobs, expecting that a new incoming Presiding Bishop will seek to craft his or her "own staff." Since Bishop
Griswold has three years remaining in office, there is a distinct possibility that transition will be ongoing for the entire
coming triennium. It will be essential for church progressives to maintain watch over all those changes, and to get qualified
progressive candidates, particularly people of color, into the running for all offices -- not just the racial/ethnic desks.
Ethan Flad
No Turning Back,
No Turning Back
We all have our little personal selves we keep hidden from J. Q. Public. Perhaps, if we are fortunate, we have at least
one person in our lives with whom we are able to share all those deep dark corners. What we so seldom recognize is that no
matter how private we are; no matter how much we keep of ourselves to our selves, God knows us – every private thought,
every shadowy quarter, every DNA strand.
So many people think that being a homosexual is a choice that one selects. Maybe they think
it is an addiction like drugs, alcohol or nicotine. But that does not really make sense – if you think it does then
you need to actually speak to someone who is homosexual. There is knowledge, often from a young age, of ‘otherness’;
of being outside what is "normal." Rather than one day deciding, ‘oh gee today I think I will try homosexuality for
a lark’ it is more of a slow awakening to a reality. It is a deeply personal, difficult and too often guilt-ridden realization.
The personal part is much like anyone else’s awakening to their sexuality. The difficult part comes from the realization
that you might possibly be something that will cause you to be a victim of discrimination, or worse yet, shunned, assaulted
or murdered. The guilt-ridden part assails you because you cannot help yourself from being something that society tells you
is not only dreadful but sinful. Therefore you are bad and going to HELL. Then they pound the Bible to prove it.
God created me in that miracle
we call procreation. God knew me as I lay in my mother’s womb. God knew me before I knew me. God created me to have
brown eyes and brown hair. God created me to be right-handed, with medium stature and small feet. Just as God created 90%
of the world’s population to be heterosexual, God created me as a part of that 10% who are not. Sexuality is a vital
part of our being, a gift from God. The only choice I had in the matter was whether I chose to accept or deny the gift that
God gave to me. I finally chose to accept it. I finally chose not to hide it. I chose to be the full human that God meant
for me to be.
Thank God that we are a divine reflection created in that Imageo Deo – thank God that God is not a reflection
of us.
Barbi
Click, a lesbian in a committed relationship and a faithful Episcopalian, reflecting in Fort Worth as she awaited the outcome
of Gene Robinson’s ordeal
Hiroshima Remembered
At 7:30 a.m., Wednesday morning, two hundred people gathered for the Hiroshima Remembrance
at the Peace Garden at Lyndale Park. R.T. Rybak, the mayor of Minneapolis, extended his good wishes
to the group and read a letter from the mayor of Hiroshima, Tadatoshi Akiba. In his remarks, Lutheran Bishop Emeritus Lowell Erdahl linked
the patriotic climate abounding in the U.S. after the dropping of the atomic bomb to the current patriotic fervor gripping the
citizens of the US since 9/11/01. Only after years of reflection
has he come to realize that war is never the answer.
After a simple reading of the story about Sadako and the Thousand Cranes by Masayuki
Kato, participants sang "Cranes over Hiroshima" and hung paper cranes on surrounding trees and bushes. This annual even is
sponsored by the Hiroshima Friendship Cities, Inc. and was this year joined by the Episcopal Peace Fellowship which provided
a bus for convention goers and added cranes which they had solicited from all over the world.
These are the words we sang as we hung
the paper cranes:
"Cranes over Hiroshima, white and red and gold,
Flicker in the sunlight like a million vanished souls.
I will fold these cranes of
paper to a thousand, one by one,
And I’ll fly away when I am done."
Edna Shirley and Bobbi Armstrong
Time is short
Only a few more hours of this General Convention, a few more hours to
do the work we have been elected to do, a few more hours to complete the plans for the next three years of our life together
in the Episcopal Church.
Therefore, let us sleep deep and pray hard and work together carefully… listen, listen, and talk.
Mike Shirley
8/6/03 WED
#7
Gains vs. Losses?
With the 20/20 evangelism
initiative looming on the horizon, an increasing debate is whether the church will gain or lose members as a result of affirming
Gene Robinson's election and/or rites for same-sex blessings. At this morning's press conference, two bishops offered different
personal testimonies of potential reactions in the church. Bishop Ed Little (Northern Indiana) reported on an email
he received two days ago from a person he confirmed this February. The 50-year old confirmed man's note indicated that he
would now leave the Episcopal Church if Gene Robinson is elected. Little warned that this person is just the tip of the iceberg.
Countering
Little's testimony at the press briefing were words from the three other speakers. Sandye Wilson, rector of Gethsemane Church
here in Minneapolis, and Ian Douglas, professor at Episcopal Divinity School, both spoke of people they've recently met who
have expressed to them there new interest in the church due to its growing commitment to the inclusion of LGBT people. Bishop
Wendell Gibbs (Michigan) spoke about his own family. Late last night Gibbs was "Instant Messaging" by email
with his youngest daughter Amber, 24. The bishop reported that she has felt marginalized and disassociated from the church
for many years. Last night, however, she felt different. "I am so proud to be an Episcopalian," said Amber. "I've been waiting
a long time to hear her say that," said Gibbs. "My daughter is a very spiritual person, and believes that God is calling all
of us to be in service to one another. I characterize her as someone who would want the church to do more. I believe she feels
we have let her generation down."
The Claiming the Blessing collaborative strongly believes that these decisions will lead to church growth.
"Yes, I believe that some fundamentalists will leave the church," said Susan Russell, the executive director of the Claiming
the Blessing collaborative, "but I think lapsed church and unchurched folks all around the country are looking for a place
to live out their faith." Russell expresses optimism that Robinson's election and the proposed rite for same-sex blessings
will, in fact, live out the 20/20 call. It's a very hopeful sign.
Ethan Flad
USAPIN
The Consultation endorses…
For Executive Council, The Consultation asks you to vote for:
Bishops
Wilfredo Ramos-Orench
Laypersons
RPM Bowden Sr.
Dorothy J. Fuller
Sandra Ferguson McPhee
Priests
Edward W. Rodman
Do you feel surrounded
by violence?
Threatened
by evil? Are you spiritually drained from battling for peace? Join the Episcopal Peace Fellowship
for an explorative introduction to
‘From Violence to Wholeness"
… a spiritual formation and renewal process for personal and social transformation,
based on the power of love, a desire for the well-being of all, and a longing to end the cycle of personal, interpersonal,
and systemic violence.
Wednesday, August 6,
at Gethsemane Church,
905 4th Avenue South.
$10 - Pre-register at EPF Booth #231
The Two Coolest Items at Convention!
Pre-orders for the beautiful Desmond Tutu
doll, made at an Anglican craft market in the Khayelitsha township outside of Cape Town, are being
taken by The Witness magazine at Booth #206. Come see the sample; proceeds go to support micro-enterprise development in this
South African township and also The Witness. Also available from The Witness is "Music of Resistance, Vol. 1," a 20-song CD
of social justice-inspired soul, Latin, Middle Eastern and African music and poetry. Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Suheir Hammad,
Gil-Scott Heron, and many more socially conscious artists are featured.
Ethan Flad
Peace Cranes Celebration
Join the Episcopal Peace Fellowship at 7 a.m. Wednesday,
August 6, at the Convention Center to board the buses for Minneapolis’ beautiful Lyndale Peace Garden, as we gather to commemorate Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
We will offer you hand-folded peace cranes that have been flown in from all over the country…
the peace cranes that say, "This is our cry, this is our prayer, peace in the world."
Bonnie Rosendale
Peace IS Church Business
Earlier this week, in testimony at an open meeting of the National and
International Concerns Committee, a deputy spoke against one of the peace and nonviolence resolutions before General Convention
this year. He appealed to the separation-of-church-and-state doctrine, claiming that it's not the Church's business to consider
resolutions that touch on US foreign policy or the military. The Church should be about God, not politics. Render
unto God, and render unto Caesar.
We've all heard this argument before. But as Dorothy Day was fond of pointing out, everything is God's,
and nothing, properly speaking, is Caesar's. The Church's first allegiance is to Christ. The Sermon on the Mount trumps party
platforms. Commitment to the works of mercy listed in Matthew 25 supercedes commitment to the shibboleth of national interests.
If it isn't the Church's business to labor for the end of the unspeakable (and unnecessary!) violence that daily destroys
humans and crucifies Christ, whose business is it? How many times must the horrible facts about war be repeated before they
sink into our hearts?
There are currently some 30 wars going on in the world. These wars have displaced upwards of 40 million people. - Over
2 million children died in wars during the 1990s. Six million were maimed. Twenty million lost their homes in 2001 alone.
Another 300,000 kids, many of them no older than 10 years, were forcibly recruited as "child soldiers."
War is always--always--more
devastating to civilians than soldiers. Between 1900 and 1990, 43 million soldiers were killed in wars. During that same time,
62 million civilians were killed. In the wars of the 1990s alone, civilian casualties accounted for 75 to 90 percent of all
war deaths.
Most of the 30-odd wars currently raging are in developing countries. The US, the world's largest arms exporter, sells almost half its munitions to those countries. Between 1994 and 2001, the
US exported $131 billion in arms, with $59 billion going to developing countries.
Since 1975, the US has spent between 3 and 6 percent of its GDP on defense. That's 15 to 30 percent of each year's federal budget. This
year, the US will spend over $1 billion a day on the military, compared to an annual expenditure
of $15 billion on state and international assistance and $60 billion on education. In the last 60 years, the US laid out $16.23 trillion on the military, compared to $1.70 trillion on health care.
These dismaying facts barely scratch the
surface of the actual and opportunity costs of war. Given the enormity of the suffering, as well as the unequivocal example
of Christ's life and teaching, how could it possibly be argued that the Church keep silent about peace lest she offend the
separation doctrine? Doing so suggests either a callous willingness to sacrifice millions of human beings for the sake of
an abstract (and dubious) principle, or a cynical strategy that seeks the Church's silent acquiescence to state-sponsored
violence. Either way, innocents--including Christ--continue to be rent by war.
Kerry Walters
The Consultation endorses…
For Trustees of General Seminary, the
Consultation asks you to vote for:
Bishops
Michael Curry
Laypersons
Marge Christie
Priest
Paula Lawrence Wehmiller
And…
For the Board of Examining Chaplains
Bishops
Katharine Jefferts Schori
Laypersons
Cynthia McFarland
Priest/Deacon
Stephen Moore
Faculty
Elizabeth Kaeton
Nayan V. McNeill
Resolution
D071: Opposition to H.R. 4, Oppose Federally Sponsored Marriage Protection
I support D071. It is critical that the Episcopal Church speak
up when Congress considers its so-called marriage protection grant program, under the guise of welfare reform.
Conservatives in Congress,
in their eagerness to promote marriage as a "solution" to poverty, are pushing a $1.9 billion grant program to increase marriage
rates among low-income individuals. Republicans have called for a Constitutional Amendment to preempt states from granting
civil marriage protections to gays and lesbians.
Can we be a prayerful voice for the voiceless, especially those who found that domestic
violence, alcohol abuse or economic debts made it necessary to leave a marriage or to remain single?
This week, we see and hear much of weddings,
unions, and blessings. Touring the Minneapolis Rose Garden, I ran into two multicultural weddings; returning to my room, I
met a bride's sister carrying a bouquet. ECW workshops and art exhibits remind us of wedding liturgies and logistics.
We all know the instinctive joy we feel, smiling at a glimpse of strangers' weddings. I found myself clapping after Boston's
gay pride parade, as a wedding party emerging from a local church.
My GLBT friends can now tell me of their trips to Canada and to Vermont to certify their relationships in civil law. My friends and I wait, praying and
yearning and discerning, about how these relationships will be treated: within our home state law and in our home faiths.
Yet I am saddened too, because
we don't often "see" the weddings of low-income women, nor do we "see" them, when they are single, raising children, struggling
as single parents, working several jobs to make ends meet.
When you go home, if you are married, you will remain married as you
cross state boundaries, by plane or train or bus or car. Not true if you are gay or lesbian, where only. a handful of cities
and private companies have begun offering health benefits to same sex couples. While some GLBT couples can enter into legal
covenants to buy a home together, we still lack core protections in civil law. When a partner dies, the law's cruel and "unseen"
omission is suddenly visible. We can face poverty and homelessness when a wealthy partner ends a relationship, if no legal
covenants are in place.
I hope the committee will add language that will urge Congress to let states work out their own solutions
and oppose federal preemption of all marriage definitions. Changes to the welfare rules may be a "back door" vehicle to "reward"
a narrow view of "good" marriages. We should speak clearly in this debate at the national level: it's too important to ignore.
Sara
Hamlen, Integrity, Legislative Team, Boston, Mass.
8/5/03 Tuesday
#6
Gains vs. Losses?
With the 20/20 evangelism
initiative looming on the horizon, an increasing debate is whether the church will gain or lose members as a result of affirming
Gene Robinson's election and/or rites for same-sex blessings. At this morning's press conference, two bishops offered different
personal testimonies of potential reactions in the church. Bishop Ed Little (Northern Indiana) reported on an email
he received two days ago from a person he confirmed this February. The 50-year old confirmed man's note indicated that he
would now leave the Episcopal Church if Gene Robinson is elected. Little warned that this person is just the tip of the iceberg.
Countering
Little's testimony at the press briefing were words from the three other speakers. Sandye Wilson, rector of Gethsemane Church
here in Minneapolis, and Ian Douglas, professor at Episcopal Divinity School, both spoke of people they've recently met who
have expressed to them there new interest in the church due to its growing commitment to the inclusion of LGBT people. Bishop
Wendell Gibbs (Michigan) spoke about his own family. Late last night Gibbs was "Instant Messaging" by email
with his youngest daughter Amber, 24. The bishop reported that she has felt marginalized and disassociated from the church
for many years. Last night, however, she felt different. "I am so proud to be an Episcopalian," said Amber. "I've been waiting
a long time to hear her say that," said Gibbs. "My daughter is a very spiritual person, and believes that God is calling all
of us to be in service to one another. I characterize her as someone who would want the church to do more. I believe she feels
we have let her generation down."
The Claiming the Blessing collaborative strongly believes that these decisions will lead to church growth.
"Yes, I believe that some fundamentalists will leave the church," said Susan Russell, the executive director of the Claiming
the Blessing collaborative, "but I think lapsed church and unchurched folks all around the country are looking for a place
to live out their faith." Russell expresses optimism that Robinson's election and the proposed rite for same-sex blessings
will, in fact, live out the 20/20 call. It's a very hopeful sign.
Ethan Flad
USAPIN
History is a clock that people use to tell their political time of day. It is also a compass that people
use to find themselves on the map of human geography. The role of the Africana scholar is to tell his (his/her) people their
time of day.
Professor John Henrik Clarke 1915-98
DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS?
Do you know or remember why your caucus/organization was founded, why
the Consultation was founded, or why your caucus/organization is a member of that coalition of Consultation member organizations?
Do you know or remember your own organization's mission and purpose statements, any of its previous or current goals and strategies,
and why we work so hard, stay up so late at night, keep our heads up and never give up, especially at General Conventions?
We stand
on the shoulders of so many who have blazed the trail before us and for us. All that our ancestors and forebears endured was
so that we could work as they did in the life of our Church and at this particular General Convention. What role are you playing
to help our people not be instruments of their own oppression? In what ways are you helping and telling our people their time
of day?
Pat
Simpson-Turner
UBE
Chicago Chapter
The Consultation endorses…
For Executive Council, The Consultation asks you to vote for:
Bishops
Wilfredo Ramos-Orench
Laypersons
RPM Bowden Sr.
Dorothy J. Fuller
Sandra Ferguson McPhee
Priests
Edward W. Rodman
Do you feel surrounded
by violence?
Threatened
by evil? Are you spiritually drained from battling for peace? Join the Episcopal Peace Fellowship
for an explorative introduction to
‘From Violence to Wholeness"
… a spiritual
formation and renewal process for personal and social transformation, based on the power of love, a desire for the well-being
of all, and a longing to end the cycle of personal, interpersonal, and systemic violence.
Wednesday, August 6,
at Gethsemane Church,
905 4th Avenue South.
$10 - Pre-register at EPF Booth #231
The Two Coolest Items at Convention!
Pre-orders for the beautiful Desmond Tutu doll, made at an Anglican
craft market in the Khayelitsha township outside of Cape
Town, are being taken by The Witness magazine
at Booth #206. Come see the sample; proceeds go to support micro-enterprise development in this South African township and
also The Witness. Also available from The Witness is "Music of Resistance, Vol. 1," a 20-song CD of social justice-inspired
soul, Latin, Middle Eastern and African music and poetry. Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Suheir Hammad, Gil-Scott Heron, and
many more socially conscious artists are featured.
Ethan Flad
Peace Cranes Celebration
Join the Episcopal Peace Fellowship at 7 a.m. Wednesday,
August 6, at the Convention Center to board the buses for Minneapolis’ beautiful Lyndale Peace Garden, as we gather to commemorate Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
We will offer you hand-folded peace cranes that have been flown in from all over the country…
the peace cranes that say, "This is our cry, this is our prayer, peace in the world."
Bonnie Rosendale
Peace IS Church Business
Earlier this week, in testimony at an open meeting of the National and
International Concerns Committee, a deputy spoke against one of the peace and nonviolence resolutions before General Convention
this year. He appealed to the separation-of-church-and-state doctrine, claiming that it's not the Church's business to consider
resolutions that touch on US foreign policy or the military. The Church should be about God, not politics. Render
unto God, and render unto Caesar.
We've all heard this argument before. But as Dorothy Day was fond of pointing out, everything is God's,
and nothing, properly speaking, is Caesar's. The Church's first allegiance is to Christ. The Sermon on the Mount trumps party
platforms. Commitment to the works of mercy listed in Matthew 25 supercedes commitment to the shibboleth of national interests.
If it isn't the Church's business to labor for the end of the unspeakable (and unnecessary!) violence that daily destroys
humans and crucifies Christ, whose business is it? How many times must the horrible facts about war be repeated before they
sink into our hearts?
There are currently some 30 wars going on in the world. These wars have displaced upwards of 40 million people. - Over
2 million children died in wars during the 1990s. Six million were maimed. Twenty million lost their homes in 2001 alone.
Another 300,000 kids, many of them no older than 10 years, were forcibly recruited as "child soldiers."
War is always--always--more
devastating to civilians than soldiers. Between 1900 and 1990, 43 million soldiers were killed in wars. During that same time,
62 million civilians were killed. In the wars of the 1990s alone, civilian casualties accounted for 75 to 90 percent of all
war deaths.
Most of the 30-odd wars currently raging are in developing countries. The US, the world's largest arms exporter, sells almost half its munitions to those countries. Between 1994 and 2001, the
US exported $131 billion in arms, with $59 billion going to developing countries.
Since 1975, the US has spent between 3 and 6 percent of its GDP on defense. That's 15 to 30 percent of each year's federal budget. This
year, the US will spend over $1 billion a day on the military, compared to an annual expenditure
of $15 billion on state and international assistance and $60 billion on education. In the last 60 years, the US laid out $16.23 trillion on the military, compared to $1.70 trillion on health care.
These dismaying facts barely scratch the
surface of the actual and opportunity costs of war. Given the enormity of the suffering, as well as the unequivocal example
of Christ's life and teaching, how could it possibly be argued that the Church keep silent about peace lest she offend the
separation doctrine? Doing so suggests either a callous willingness to sacrifice millions of human beings for the sake of
an abstract (and dubious) principle, or a cynical strategy that seeks the Church's silent acquiescence to state-sponsored
violence. Either way, innocents--including Christ--continue to be rent by war.
Kerry Walters
The Consultation endorses…
For Trustees of General Seminary, the
Consultation asks you to vote for:
Bishops
Michael Curry
Laypersons
Marge Christie
Priest
Paula Lawrence Wehmiller
And…
For the Board of Examining Chaplains
Bishops
Katharine Jefferts Schori
Laypersons
Cynthia McFarland
Priest/Deacon
Stephen Moore
Faculty
Elizabeth Kaeton
Nayan V. McNeill
Resolution
D071: Opposition to H.R. 4, Oppose Federally Sponsored Marriage Protection
I support D071. It is critical that the Episcopal Church speak
up when Congress considers its so-called marriage protection grant program, under the guise of welfare reform.
Conservatives in Congress,
in their eagerness to promote marriage as a "solution" to poverty, are pushing a $1.9 billion grant program to increase marriage
rates among low-income individuals. Republicans have called for a Constitutional Amendment to preempt states from granting
civil marriage protections to gays and lesbians.
Can we be a prayerful voice for the voiceless, especially those who found that domestic
violence, alcohol abuse or economic debts made it necessary to leave a marriage or to remain single?
This week, we see and hear much of weddings,
unions, and blessings. Touring the Minneapolis Rose Garden, I ran into two multicultural weddings; returning to my room, I
met a bride's sister carrying a bouquet. ECW workshops and art exhibits remind us of wedding liturgies and logistics.
We all know the instinctive joy we feel, smiling at a glimpse of strangers' weddings. I found myself clapping after Boston's
gay pride parade, as a wedding party emerging from a local church.
My GLBT friends can now tell me of their trips to Canada and to Vermont to certify their relationships in civil law. My friends and I wait, praying and
yearning and discerning, about how these relationships will be treated: within our home state law and in our home faiths.
Yet I am saddened too, because
we don't often "see" the weddings of low-income women, nor do we "see" them, when they are single, raising children, struggling
as single parents, working several jobs to make ends meet.
When you go home, if you are married, you will remain married as you
cross state boundaries, by plane or train or bus or car. Not true if you are gay or lesbian, where only. a handful of cities
and private companies have begun offering health benefits to same sex couples. While some GLBT couples can enter into legal
covenants to buy a home together, we still lack core protections in civil law. When a partner dies, the law's cruel and "unseen"
omission is suddenly visible. We can face poverty and homelessness when a wealthy partner ends a relationship, if no legal
covenants are in place.
I hope the committee will add language that will urge Congress to let states work out their own solutions
and oppose federal preemption of all marriage definitions. Changes to the welfare rules may be a "back door" vehicle to "reward"
a narrow view of "good" marriages. We should speak clearly in this debate at the national level: it's too important to ignore.
Sara
Hamlen, Integrity, Legislative Team, Boston, Mass.
8/4/03
Monday #5
Apples and chipped beef
I find it specious that the failure of marriage among heterosexuals
is being used to urge people to vote against blessing successful non-marital relationships among homosexuals.
Erik Nelson is a Research
Associate for the ultraconservative Institute on Religion and Democracy (an organization that exists to roll back progressivism
in mainline churches) argues in the August 2 issue of the AAC's daily Encompass that if the Episcopal Church endorses blessings
for relationships other than marriage it would say to young people that they need not marry at all.
Erik cites statistics that say that children
from families that are not intact are more subject to poverty and that the cohabitation model of relationships is a failure
because it produces unwed mothers. "If the Episcopal Church endorses non-marital unions," Erik states, "it will be blessing
the perpetuation of poverty among the most vulnerable of society." Erik concludes, "As a Gen-X Episcopalian let me appeal
to those in positions of influence in this church. Do not abandon my generation to a cycle of poverty and dysfunction."
The difficult thing about
Erik's argument is that I, a lesbian living for 17 years in a life-long committed relationship, would prefer to be married
to my life partner. For sake of the unity of the church I am willing to compromise on this issue and to settle instead for
an optional blessing of our non-marital relationship. However, in neither case do I know how a faithful, life-long homosexual
relationship could increase poverty, endanger children, or create dysfunction among Gen-Xers.
Jo Belser
A Presence of Hope
As we entered the Convention
Hall Sunday morning, we were greeted with the angry presence of those who disbelieve in the reality of God’s love. However,
as we crossed the street our hearts were soothed with the balm of bright smiles and the peaceful witness of local young people
who expressed the ultimate in God’s love with their rainbow flags and their signs of invitation to the Eternal Banquet.
Their joy gives one hope that the Church will begin to heal as we follow the example of our Lord who loves all and invites
every human being into His presence.
To those young people of Minneapolis who saw an injustice and embraced us all, we thank you. You are a blessing to us
and a reminder of God’s powerful, inclusive love.
Bonnie Rosendale
OPEN MEETING
The Consultation
Today at 12:30
In the worship space
|
