contact: Rebecca Wilson, 330-524-2067,
CHICAGO CONSULTATION RESPONDS TO THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY
Asks Archbishop to Reconsider Statement and Silence
CHICAGO,
IL, December 7, 2009—The Chicago Consultation issued this statement
today from its co-convener, the Rev. Lowell Grisham:
“For
weeks the Archbishop of Canterbury has been silent as the Ugandan
legislature considers making homosexuality a crime punishable by death.
Lambeth Palace has let it be known that it was working behind the
scenes to influence the situation because public confrontation would be
counterproductive and disrespectful. Yet the election of the Rev. Canon
Mary D. Glasspool, a remarkably qualified gay woman as a suffragan
bishop of Los Angeles, incited the Archbishop’s immediate statement of
alarm, implying there would be grave consequences unless bishops and
standing committees in the Episcopal Church refused to consent to her
election.
“Canon
Glasspool is a qualified, respected and beloved servant of God whom the
Diocese of Los Angeles has discerned has the gifts of the Spirit to
help lead their ministry. She is no threat to the work of God or to
Jesus’ commandment that we love our neighbor as ourselves. On the
other hand, executing gay people and creating a state system of
oppression is a gross violation of the spirit of the one who welcomed
the outcast to his table. We are as perplexed by the Archbishop’s
speedy condemnation of the former as we are by his prolonged silence of
the latter.
“We
believe that honoring the relationships and ministries of gay and
lesbian Christians, is, in the end, the only way in which the Anglican
Communion can be faithful to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We hope that
when the Archbishop realizes the damage he has done to the Communion’s
ministry among gay and lesbian Christians and those who seek justice
for them, he will reconsider both the words he has spoken and the words
he has not.”
The
Chicago Consultation, a group of Episcopal and Anglican bishops, clergy
and lay people, supports the full inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual
and transgender Christians in the Episcopal Church and the worldwide
Anglican Communion. To learn more about the Chicago Consultation, visit
www.chicagoconsultation.org.
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