Gene Robinson in Florida

The Miami Herald reports on Gene Robinson's talk in Florida.

BY DIANA MOSKOVITZ
People must ''rescue the Bible from the religious right'' and fight for civil rights to be extended to everyone, including gays and lesbians, the first openly gay Episcopal bishop said Tuesday night.
Gene Robinson, the Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire, told a crowd of about 150 people at Nova Southeastern University's Shepard Broad Law Center in Davie that society suffers from a system set up to benefit heterosexual couples, which he called ``heterosexism.''

Only straight couples can marry in most states. In the military, gays and lesbians work under a ''don't ask, don't tell'' policy.

And that system needs to end, Robinson said.

''We have lost the distinction between what the state does and what the church and synagogue does,'' Robinson said.

Read it all here.

AP: Anglican leader blasts US over Iraq

By THOMAS WAGNER
Associated Press Writer

LONDON (AP) -- Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury, criticized the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in an interview published Sunday, saying it was worse than the British land grabs of the colonial era.

"It is one thing to take over a territory and even pour energy and resources into administrating it and normalizing it," said Williams. "Rightly or wrongly, that's what the British Empire did - in India for example...." he told the Muslim lifestyle magazine Emel.

Read it all here.

Faith In America campaign

Faith in America group ended its campaign in South Carolina earlier this month with a town hall debate in Greenville between Christian evangelicals [sic] and the campaign's organizers.

PBS video: qurl.com/s3zwb

More:
www.faithinamerica.info/
www.callingfortruth.org/cft/

NY Times: Gay Pastor in the Bronx Could Lose Her Collar

By TIM MURPHY
Published: November 25, 2007

In 1994, when the Rev. Katrina D. Foster became pastor of Fordham Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Bronx, she threw herself into ministering to her small, mostly Caribbean-born congregation. She not only preached to them on Sundays but lived in the neighborhood and showed up to support them in everything from surgeries to legal matters.

But Pastor Foster was keeping a secret from her congregation. She held onto it even after a woman came to live with her in the parsonage, then joined the church choir.


Read it all here.

Come Ye Thankful People Come!

620 Park Avenue #311 Rochester, NY 14607-2943
800-462-9498 info@integrityusa.org http://www.integrityusa.org/

November 21, 2007

In this season of Thanksgiving, Integrity is grateful for the dedication, commitment, and generosity of all those who help make our witness to God’s inclusive love both possible and powerful. In particular…

• We give thanks for the gift of a new partnership with the Arcus Foundation—whose generous grants will enable us to expand our work within the councils of the Episcopal Church—advocating for the full inclusion of the LGBT baptized into the Body of Christ.


• We give thanks for the addition of Jan Adams to our staff as a field organizer leading up to General Convention 2009. A cradle Episcopalian, Jan brings decades of experience as a political organizer and educator—as well as a deep commitment to the Good News of God in Christ Jesus and the Episcopal Church.


• We give thanks for the appointment of Randolph "Randy" Kimmler as chaplain to Integrity's national board of directors. A long-time member of Integrity, Randy brings to the board his gifts as a lay pastor, liturgist, and activist. We are deeply grateful for his willingness to serve.

Above all, we give thanks for the great mercies and promises given to us in Christ Jesus our Lord; to him be praise and glory, with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.

(Photos and contact information for Jan and Randy can be found at www.integrityusa.org/board.)

Tutu: Williams should tackle Anglican homophobia

Nobel Peace Laureate and South African Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu says that Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams should be tackling homophobia in the church and making it a welcoming place for lesbian and gay people.

In a BBC radio interview to be broadcast next Tuesday, 27 November 2007, Archbishop Tutu says that he is depressed by the Church's "obsession" with the issue of gay priests, and believes that its Gospel message is being undermined by "extreme homophobia".

[snip]

Of Dr Rowan Williams...Dr Tutu says: "Why doesn't he demonstrate a particular attribute of God's which is that God is a welcoming God?"


Read it all here.

N. California Takes 'Huge' Step for Blessings

The Rev. James Richardson, interim rector, All Souls Berkeley, writes to emphasize that the Diocese of Northern California's recently passed resolution calling for same-gender union rites "was a HUGE step for our otherwise conservative, mostly rural diocese....no one, including the bishop, expected it to pass." Sounds like the Holy Spirit had expectations of her own. Thanks be for one more sign that "conservative" dioceses are getting just as fed up with the "fast" from blessings as the progressives are. Here's the resolution:

RESOLVED:
That this 97th Convention of the Diocese of Northern California, desiring to support our sisters and brothers in Christ who are in same-gender relationships of mutuality and fidelity, and desiring to provide clergy with appropriate pastoral tools for ministering to persons in same-gender relationships, calls upon General Convention of the Episcopal Church to develop and authorize same-sex union blessing rites.

Niagara diocese approves blessings for gay couples; bishop assents

Anglican Journal

Solange De Santis
staff writer
Nov 17, 2007

Hamilton, Ont.

The southern Ontario diocese of Niagara, meeting at its annual synod, on Nov. 17 voted to allow civilly-married gay couples, “where at least one party is baptized,” to receive a church blessing.

Bishop Ralph Spence, who had refused to implement a similar vote three years ago, this time gave his assent, making Niagara the third diocese since the June General Synod convention to accept same-sex blessings.


Read it all here.

Notable Event: Archbishop of Mexico to Speak in NYC

This just in from St. Luke in the Fields:

"On Thursday, November 29, at 7:00 pm in Laughlin Hall (The Church of St. Luke in the Fields (Episcopal), 487 Hudson Street, the Presiding Bishop of the Anglican Church of Mexico, The Most Rev. Carlos Touche-Porter, will speak on “Latin American Anglicans and the Global Center.” Archbishop Touche-Porter is one of the Patrons of the Inclusive Church movement which he connects to the history of the Mexican Church....Join us! All are welcome. A reception will follow. Free will offering."

INTEGRITY COMMENTS ON DIOCESE OF CHICAGO ELECTION

620 Park Avenue #311 Rochester, NY 14607-2943
800-462-9498 info@integrityusa.org www.integrityusa.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 10, 2007

Integrity congratulates Jeffrey Lee on his election as the next Bishop of Chicago. "We look forward to working with Bishop-elect Lee in continuing Chicago's long history of working for the full-inclusion of the LGBT faithful in the life and witness of the diocese," said the Rev. Susan Russell, President of Integrity.

"Integrity also commends the Search Committee of the Diocese of Chicago for including the Very Rev. Lind as a candidate despite the chilling effects of Resolution B033—and Dean Lind herself for standing for election in spite of the House of Bishops' recent statement in New Orleans," continued Russell. "We may never know how significant a factor Resolution B033 was in the outcome of the Chicago election. However, we do know that Resolution B033 is noncanonical and discriminatory. Two dioceses—California and Rochester—have already passed resolutions to General Convention 2009 that will nullify B033. We strongly urge all bishops and deputies to support such resolutions and their intent to end B033's inequity when we get to General Convention 2009 in Anaheim."

PRESS CONTACTS

The Rev. Susan Russell, President
president@integrityusa.org
714-356-5718 (mobile)
626-583-2741 (office)

Mr. John Gibson, Director of Communications
jhngb@aol.com
917-518-1120 (mobile)

Hands Across the Aisle: TransEpiscopal Supports Rev. Pheonix

Friday, November 2, 2007

TransEpiscopal, an organization made up of Episcopalians who are transgender, as well as allies and family of transgender loved ones, extends its support and congratulations to the Reverend Drew Phoenix [on the reaffirmation of his ministry by the United Methodist Church's highest judicial body]. Rev. Phoenix, by all accounts, is doing an outstanding job at St. John’s United Methodist Church in Baltimore, Maryland. As several members of TransEpiscopal are also ordained clergy who are transgender, and as we serve in various ministries throughout the United States and the United Kingdom, we know something of the struggle Rev. Phoenix is going through, and we offer thanks to God for his ministry and the opportunity he has to engage in it.

Read more here.

UMC pastor to keep his job

The Baltimore Sun reports that United Methodist pastor Drew Phoenix can keep his position as pastor of St. John's United Methodist Church.

The highest judicial body of the United Methodist Church announced Tuesday that a transgender man can remain pastor of a congregation in Charles Village.

The ruling by the Judicial Council affirms last spring's decision by Bishop John R. Schol to reappoint the Rev. Drew Phoenix -- formerly the Rev. Ann Gordon -- to St. John's United Methodist Church.

Schol's action had been appealed to the Judicial Council by several local clergy in the Baltimore-Washington Conference, who have raised questions about the proper role of transgender people within the church.

Phoenix, who learned of the decision early Tuesday morning, said he was elated.

Read it all here

Two Words + Annotation

"....the need to regard the Bishop and the Diocese as the primary locus of ecclesial identity rather than the abstract reality of the 'national church'."

—Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams
In the following letter to Bishop Howe of the Diocese of Central Florida

14 October 2007

Dear John

I've just received your message, which weighs very heavily on my heart, as it must - though far more so - on yours. At this stage, I can say only two things. The first is that I have committed myself very clearly to awaiting the views of the Primates before making any statement purporting to settle the question of The Episcopal Church's status, and I can't easily short-circuit that procedure. The second is that your Rectors need to recognize that this process is currently in train and that a separatist decision from them at this point would be irresponsible and potentially confusing. However, without forestalling what the Primates might say, I would repeat what I've said several times before - that any Diocese compliant with Windsor remains clearly in communion with Canterbury and the mainstream of the Communion, whatever may be the longer-term result for others in The Episcopal Church. The organ of union with the wider Church is the Bishop and the Diocese rather than the Provincial structure as such. Those who are rushing into separatist solutions are, I think, weakening that basic conviction of Catholic theology and in a sense treating the provincial structure of The Episcopal Church as if it were the most important thing - which is why I continue to hope and pray for the strengthening of the bonds of mutual support among those Episcopal Church Bishops who want to be clearly loyal to Windsor. Action that fragments their Dioceses will not help the consolidation of that all-important critical mass of ordinary faithful Anglicans in The Episcopal Church for whose nurture I am so much concerned. Breaking this up in favour of taking refuge in foreign jurisdictions complicates and embitters the future for this vision.

Do feel free to pass on these observations to your priests. I should feel a great deal happier, I must say, if those who are most eloquent for a traditionalist view in the United States showed a fuller understanding of the need to regard the Bishop and the Diocese as the primary locus of ecclesial identity rather than the abstract reality of the 'national church'. I think that if more thought in these terms there might be more understanding of why priests in a diocese such as yours ought to maintain their loyalty to their sacramental communion with you as Bishop. But at the emotional level I can understand something of the frustration they doubtless experience, just as you must.

With continuing prayers and love,

+Rowan

Lesbian couple on Amazing Race

Kate & Pat
Married Ministers

Kate: Thousand Oaks, CA
49, Episcopal Priest

Pat: Thousand Oaks, CA
65, Ordained Deacon

Kate and Pat dated for seven years before tying the knot three years ago. These well traveled Episcopal clergy are ready for the adventure of lifetime–but don’t let the collars fool you–they can play dirty too.

Kate is an Episcopal priest and has one grown son. She claims that the biggest difference between herself and Pat is that she avoids conflict while Pat dives right in. Kate describes herself as passionate and sarcastic while Pat says she is persistent and dependable.

Pat is a vocational deacon in the Episcopal Church and her ministry in the community is to people with disabilities. She is also the mother of two sons and grandmother of three. Pat’s biggest pet peeve about Kate is that she constantly misjudges her time, an issue that could surely cause problems on the Race.

Both are out to prove that they are not afraid to compete with anyone and they are extremely confident that their years of experience will help them combat the physical prowess of the younger Teams.

Read it all here

Gay Christians receive anti-homophobia award from police

Ekklesia reports

Gay Christians have been presented with an award for their work in combating homophobia.

The award was given to the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement (LGCM) following their support for a controversial advert which appeared in the Independent newspaper, challenging faith-based homophobia.

Introducing the award Kevin Boyle a member of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Gay Police Association (GPA) said that Richard Kirker, chief executive of the LGCM, had first come to his attention in June 2000 when he was involved in a police investigation into homophobic attacks against the Rev Follett, the Vicar of Knightsbridge.

At the time the investigation attracted huge media interest. Kevin stated that whilst many in the church had condemned the victim because of his sexual orientation, Richard Kirker had gone on record to urge the Bishop of London not to tolerate the homophobic witch-hunt. Richard Kirker had also supported the police investigation and had supported the Rev Follett throughout the protracted enquiry.

Read it all here