Friends

The Integrity Window, or St. Aelred Window,
was dedicated April 2 at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church,
Fargo, North Dakota.

Today is the second Friday of a new year, the 12th day of January. By happenstance (or divine intervention?), January 12 is also a very important day for Integrity. It is the feast day of our patron saint, St Aelred, Abbot of Rievaulx. I don’t know how much most who will read this know about Aelred, other than being our patron saint. The background information in the Episcopal Church's "Holy Women, Holy Men" (formerly known as "Lesser Feasts and Fasts") is very clear that Aelred placed great value on friendship. It also notes that the monks in his monastery were allowed to hold hands.


Some information can be found at Forward Movement and a reading for services honoring Aelred in his “Treatise on Spiritual Friendship.” Some additional resources are listed on Integrity's web site at http://www.integrityusa.org/aelred. In the figure shown above, the Integrity Window, or St. Aelred Window, was dedicated April 2 at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Fargo, North Dakota.


Obviously I would view the information about Aelred from a different mindset than someone who is not queer. Regardless of that, it is very difficult not to find at a very minimum a “gay friendly” aspect of Aelred’s teachings. Yet our society, and the church of course, has not really owned that possibility. How many do we know who just cannot find a thing supportive of anything “gay” in Scripture or the teachings of the church over the centuries? It’s not surprising. The queer folks had to hide in order to survive. And a straight guy is rarely going to see anything other than “straightness” when he looks at something.


So as this new year begins, I urge us all to look for, nurture, and support the type of friendship Aelred describes and taught in his monastery. Who knows? That might be a way forward in a society that seems to keep us stuck in one way of viewing things.

Bruce Garner, President
Integrity USA ... The Episcopal Rainbow





P. S. Thoughts for the upcoming week: think about how our lives as queer folks has changed in the last year. What gains have been pushed back, altered, or stalled? What have we done to make our feelings about that known to those whose job description is to serve the people.