2015 Louie Crew Clay Grants Announced

The Oasis, the LGBT outreach ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, is pleased to announce its 2015 Louie Crew Clay Grants.

Three grants will fund Oasis/Integrity Legislative Aides to General Convention 2015 in Salt Lake City, Utah. These grants will be used to cover the cost of airfare, hotel room, meals and other expenses associated with attending General Convention. The recipients of these grants are:

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Chris Harding is the 25 year old Youth Minister at All Saints Episcopal Church, Glen Rock, NJ. He grew up in Florida and graduated from Nyack College in Nyack, NY with a degree in History and Religion. He spent a year in San Francisco with the Episcopal Service Corps, living in intentional community and working with Episcopal Senior Communities. Chris lives in New York City with his partner, Andrew.

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Meghan Johnson is 24 years old and from Minneapolis. She teaches high school French and is youth leader at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in St. Paul, MN. She has attended the Episcopal Youth Event as an adult leader and attended General Convention 2012 as a part of the Young Adult Initiative through the Episcopal Peace Fellowship. A member of a Gay-Straight Alliance in High School and PRIDE at St. Catherine’s University, she self-identifies as “a straight ally for as long as I knew what that meant.”

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Kacei Conyers is a 23 year-old postulant in the Diocese of Northern California. Kacei attended Berkeley, worked in Episcopal Camps for over 6 years as a counselor, and recently received a grant from The National LGBTQ Task force to attend Creating Change Conference where Kacei learned different organizing strategies and different avenues for LGBTQ justice. Kacei presently works at Yale as a Graduate Professional Programs Coordinator for programs like W(Holy) Queer, an interfaith LGBTQ group, and Beyond the Binary, a closed group for trans, genderqueer and gender questioning people.

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Chris, Meghan and Kacei will work as part of the Integrity Legislative Committee where they will learn the legislative process through which we believe the Holy Spirit moves to renew The Episcopal Church in the continued revelation of God’s word. Their responsibilities will be to follow pertinent resolutions in committee, to attend committee meetings and hearings, and to participate in late night debriefing sessions with the Integrity legislative team. They will also attend General Convention House of Deputy sessions and House of Bishop sessions, assist with the Integrity Eucharist, and as time allows help at the Integrity Booth.

The Oasis is pleased to be able to honor the rich legacy of Integrity founder Louie Crew Clay by helping to raise up another generation of LGBTQ and straight ally leaders who will gain experience in and understanding of the legislative process in The Episcopal Church.

A 2015 Louie Crew Clay Grant has also funded the Rev. Liz Erdman in the production of five short films entitled “Queer Virtue,” which explores themes from the book authored by Rev. Erdman concerning what LGBTQ people know about life and love and how that can revitalize Christianity.

And a 2015 Grant helped to fund one of the Newark ACTS interns as an interim case worker for the LGBT RAIN Foundation Shelter in East Orange, NJ, which provides emergency shelter and related services to LGBTQ young adults experiencing crisis that lead to acute and chronic homelessness.

UPDATED: Christie drops appeal, Marriage Equality in NJ is here to stay!

 UPDATE:

On Monday, October 21st, just hours after the first couples began receiving their marriage licenses, the Christie Administration dropped its appeal of a lower court ruling that brought marriage equality to the state.  The Supreme Court will no longer review the case in January as described below, and marriages may continue.

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On Friday, October 18th, the Supreme Court of the State of New Jersey voted unanimously to deny the Christie administration a stay of a Sept. 27 lower court ruling  legalizing marriage equality, while an appeal of that case proceeds.  Same-gender couples in the state may wed as soon as Monday, and are already completing the applications in many municipalities to pass the 72-hour waiting period before the law goes into effect. The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the appeal in January.

"On Monday, New Jersey will begin to tear down its Berlin Wall separating straight people who have had total freedom, and LGBT people who have not," said Steven Goldstein,  the founder and former Director of Garden State Equality, a plaintiff in the case along with six New Jersey families.  "Imagine the happiness you’d feel if you won the Super Bowl, the Nobel Prize and an Academy Award all in a single moment, and multiply it by a million. That’s how we LGBT New Jerseyans feel right now.  Ultimately, the Supreme Court’s action today is more than about us longtime couples in love. This is also a triumph for LGBT youth and our hope they’ll get to live in a kinder world than we did. We seek a world that will tell every child, whether LGBT or not: You are normal, and so are your dreams."

Response from the Diocese of Newark

Episcopalians have also been preparing for this day for a long time.  The Right Rev. Mark Beckwith, Bishop of the Diocese of Newark, issued a statement to Friday night to his flock, which makes up the northern third of the state. "I rejoice that state law now provides the opportunity for all couples to receive the full benefits of marriage. I join my prayers of thanksgiving with those many couples who are – at this moment, applying for marriage licenses. Many of our diocesan clergy are preparing to officiate at celebrations. I have been in conversation with one priest whose congregation is planning a group wedding ceremony – and how I as bishop might participate."  He went on to outline his expectations for how clergy and parishes will proceed, using the blessing rite adopted by the 2012 General Convention of the Episcopal Church.  The rite is still distinct from a marriage in the eyes of the church, but clergy who choose to can act as an agent of the state, which considers the couple married under the law.  The June Supreme Court ruling means that the Federal government also recognizes the marriage, with all the rights and responsibilities that go with it.

Clergy are expected to come to an agreement with parish leaders about holding such services.  Approximately half of the 100 congregations in the diocese have endorsed the work of The OASIS, the diocesan LGBT ministry which was authorized by the Right Rev. John Shelby Spong in 1989.

"We are finally be able to say to our gay and lesbian members, 'The State of New Jersey has finally caught up with Redeemer,'" said the Rev. Cynthia Black, rector of Church of the Redeemer in Morristown, an Integrity Proud Parish Partner which has been blessing same-gender relationships since 1991. "For the past 22 years, this church has publicly affirmed that all committed and loving couples are equal in the eyes of God."

Members of Redeemer have been preparing for this day.  One parishioner, Colleen Hintz, creates vestments, and designed a special set to be used at the services.  "My sister is a lesbian—I never thought I would live to see the day that she would be able to get married to her beloved Sarah," she said, holding back tears. Hintz’ sister and her partner live in Texas, a state that has yet to approve marriage equality.  Another, Carol King, composes hymns.  She has been working to choose or write appropriate music for the services. "This is a simple matter of justice for me," she said, "Justice has been denied for far too long."

Response from the Diocese of New Jersey

The Diocese  of New Jersey, with its cathedral at Trenton, recently elected the  Rev. Canon William H. "Chip" Stokes as its new bishop; he will succeed the Right Rev. George Councell in November.  The two leaders issued a joint statement after the lower court ruling, stating, "(We) applaud Superior Court Judge Mary Jacobson's ruling that same-sex couples must be allowed to marry. Our hope and prayer is that Judge Jacobson's court order will be honored, and that same-sex couples may be married beginning October 21."

The Diocese of Jersey also endorsed the official blessing rite adopted at General Convention, and Bishop Councell has given his clergy permission to officiate at these services if they choose to, a position we are hopeful Stokes will uphold.  An official list of welcoming congregations is maintained by The OASIS, the diocese's LGBT ministry.

Christian Paolino is Chair of the Stakeholders' Council of Integrity and Diocesan Organizer for Newark

Newark Guidelines for Civil Unions by Clergy

Sent: Tuesday, May 08, 2007 1:36 PM
Subject: An Open Letter to the Clergy of the Diocese of Newark from The Oasis

Bishop Beckwith has given The Oasis permission to create a list of clergy willing to perform civil unions as a resource for same sex couples who wish for their ceremonies to be performed by clergy. As civil agents of the state, clergy are legally permitted to perform civil unions and canonically there is nothing to prevent clergy from performing them and blessing the union.

Hard copies of this letter were sent to all diocesan clergy last month, but as response to the letter has been spotty we have been asked to re-send the letter via email.

The Bishop has a standard of expectations for any clergy performing civil union partnerships.

1. Civil Union ceremonies may be performed in church.

2. A record of the service may be recorded in the parish register.

3. It is the choice of the clergyperson, as in marriage, whether or not they will perform civil unions, and

4. The same requirements and expectations exist for civil unions – counseling, participation in the life of the church community and congregation, etc. – that the clergyperson and church require for marriage. If it is a second relationship, permission needs to be given by the bishop (as in a second marriage request).

5. Guidelines for the service may be obtained from the Civil Union Task Force.

As you probably know, the Bishop has established a Civil Union Task Force to help respond to this new legal opportunity, chaired by Ms. Barbara Conroy and the Rev. Phil Wilson. In the meantime, if you are looking for services of blessing The Oasis has on file several approved ceremonies of blessing which are available by e-mail to anyone in the diocese who requests them.

If you have not already done so please let The Oasis know if you would like to be included on the list of clergy willing to perform civil unions. You can send a note of your willingness to The Oasis by e-mail to chair at oasisnewark.org or to The Oasis, 31 Mulberry Street, Newark, NJ 07102.

Sincerely,

THE OASIS
John Simonelli, Commission Chair

No schism among local Episcopal churches

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

By TANYA DROBNESS
of The Montclair Times

As the rift over homosexuality splits the worldwide Anglican Communion to the brink of schism, that is not the case in Montclair [NJ].

The global divide has not fractured the wing of the Episcopal Church in the township, where religious leaders are keeping sanctuary doors open to the gay and lesbian community.

"All the Episcopal parishes in Montclair invite gay and lesbian people who are seeking to know God in Christ to come and be a part of the parish,' the Rev. John Perris, rector of St. James Episcopal Church, said last Thursday, two days after The House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church USA acted to reject primates’ demands and affirm their support of gay clergy and religious leaders.

"I think that the position that our bishops took is a position for the gospel, which is that we are saved by grace and God loves everyone," said the Rev. Diana Clark, rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church on Montclair Avenue...

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