Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Integrity President Comments On Joint Standing Committee Report


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October 3, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Joint Standing Committee has pronounced the Response of our House of Bishops "sufficient unto the day" and now invites the Anglican Communion to move forward in faith in spite of our differences. Calling for a commitment to mutual listening and conversation, the report concludes, "It is only by living in communion what we live out our vocation to be a Communion."

"Our bishops told us their goal in New Orleans was to be 'clear' about where the church ‘is' in their response to the rest of the Communion," said Integrity President Susan Russell. "They said they were doing so in order to 'make room' for the conversations to continue and, based on today's report, they appear to have succeeded in that effort. It must be recognized, however, that this 'success' came at the cost of collateral damage to the lives and vocations of the LGBT baptized who continue to be cast as pawns in this game of global church politics."

"It is now time for our bishops to step up and put their miters where their mouths are and proactively advocate for the inclusion of LGBT voices in the 'mutual listening and conversation' the Communion has committed to continue," Russell continued. "Here's what we want to be 'clear' about: we're done being talked about and we're ready, willing and able to be talked 'to.'"

Integrity looks forward to being an integral part of that mutual listening and conversation and later this month in London will be working toward those goals with Anglican allies at planning meetings in advance of next year's Lambeth Conference.

PRESS CONTACTS

The Rev. Susan Russell, President
revsusanrussell@hotmail.com
714-356-5718 (mobile)

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

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