Language Matters

Words Have Power

I am beginning to hear discussions about the use of  "expansive language" authorized by our General Convention. Some conversations are "heated" and others more calm.  Some want to retain traditional language, others want to seek words that reflect a different understanding of how we relate to each other and to God.

Those who use Morning Prayer as the source of  their daily prayers know The Jubilate or the 100th Psalm very well. A couple of days ago I felt moved to experiment with language of The Jubilate just to see how a few changes might sound. So in every place where the word “Lord” appeared, I replaced that with God. Every time God was referred to as “he” or “him” or “his” I replaced that with “God” as well.

Then I prayed the psalm. I was not prepared for something I immediately felt:  The intense power those changes created: God was God! The divine power of God came through the psalm in an unexpected way. I realized why. This simple change had removed all characteristics attributed to God that were human in nature. God’s divine nature was not encumbered by the limitations of human language. God was free to be God however I perceived God.

Here is the psalm using more expansive language:

Jubilate (Psalm 100)

Be joyful in God, all you lands; *
serve God with gladness and come before God’s presence with a song.
Know this: God is God; * God has made us, and we are God’s;
we are God’s people and the sheep of God’s pasture.
Enter God’s gates with thanksgiving; go into God’s courts with praise; *
give thanks to God and call upon God’s Name.
For God is good; God’s mercy is everlasting; *
and God’s faithfulness endures from age to age.
Glory to the Holy and undivided Trinity, One God, as it was in the beginning, is now and will be forever. Amen

(I looked in the Enriching Our Worship (EOW) series of services to see if this was something I might have seen there. It was not, in so far as I could determine.)

Then I wondered what impact such simple changes might have on others. How often do any of us consider the impact of God always being portrayed as male (and often as a white male) on our kindred? Is the language of a “male God” a source of comfort to a woman who was abused by her father or husband or brother or some other male in her life? I’m not sure how it could be a comforting image in such situations. Similarly, how well could a man who had been beaten, belittled and abused by his father find comfort in God always being referred to as "he?" If there has never been a positive male role model in your life, how can you see God in a positive light if God is always a male?

We are products of the words and language we use. We are shaped by the images conveyed by those words, even if we do not always realize that. Do our words bring comfort or pain? I really don’t think most of us pay much attention to the power of language. When there is a proposal to change language, especially language in our Book of Common Prayer, we often see much resistance. Are we worshiping God or are we worshiping words?

Even Jesus used the symbolism of a mother hen gathering her brood under her wings. Jesus did not use "rooster". He used "hen". He used a feminine image. Surely if Jesus could look beyond the limitations of language, we can do the same. We might even be able to move beyond what we have inherited from our ancestors whose reference points were invariably male for more reasons than can be covered here.

Our language and imagery cannot contain God, no matter how hard we try. Let God be God, however each of us perceives God.

Holy Spirit, expand our hearts, expand our minds, expand our words. Let us see God simply as God. May we experience the divine power that comes when we cast off that with which we have tried to bind God.

Please continue to offer prayers for  healing and recovery for our Presiding Bishop as he rests and recuperates from prostate cancer surgery.

---

Bruce Garner, President
Integrity USA: The Episcopal Rainbow

Expansive Language, Expansive Love

I urge you to access the activities of General Convention by going to www.generalconvention.org. Click on “virtual binder” you can view the resolutions on which actions were taken. I think it will be worth your while to explore the resolutions that were passed and see how they might impact your life and that of our church.

An area that is likely to pique interest is that of “expansive language.” Resolution D078 provides for the trial usage in Eucharistic Prayers A, B and D of language that is more expansive in our relationship and references to God and each other. It pulls in some of the language used in the Enriching Our Worship (EOW) series of services. It includes other changes that many congregations have essentially automatically been making in an effort to refer to God in more expansive language.

How many of us have begun prayers with “God be with you” rather than “The Lord be with you?” This resolution authorizes that language. In the opening acclamation for the Eucharist you will now be able to hear: “Blessed be God: most holy, glorious, and undivided Trinity.” To which the people may respond: “And blessed be God’s reign, now and for ever. Amen.”

One of the provisions of this trial usage is that it is authorized for use until the next revision of The Book of Common Prayer. This means we can use it beginning the First Sunday of Advent, 2018 and continue from there. 

Resolution B012 is the one that should allow same sex couples to be married in their own parishes whether the bishop of the diocese approves or not. How that will really play out is still to be resolved.

Resolution D067 calls upon us to use “bias free” language in referring to God and humankind. Most might immediately think that is more gender neutral language but it goes beyond that. The language of some Scripture is almost accusatory in tone. John’s version of the Gospel is sometimes anti-semitic in places. This resolution allows for the use of language that doesn’t automatically convey cultural biases. Hopefully that will allow us to see Scripture with more clarity.

Resolution C054 calls upon the church to be more inclusive of transgender persons and seeks avenues to achieve that.

Resolution D088 calls for the creation of policies for amending church records particularly for transgender people. This should make it easier once someone makes their transition to have some very important records reflect their expressed gender identity. 

I find it ironic that we have to pass resolutions to provide for more “expansive” language. God’s love is beyond expansive and always has been. It is our limited view of both love and God that needs expanding in both language and concept. God is beyond our humanly concocted notions of who God is or how God acts or in truth, anything about God. The Divine is always going to be beyond the ability of our limited minds to conceive.

May we learn to be more expansive about how we relate to each other as children of the Living God. Boundaries are of our creation, not God’s. Love knows no boundaries, despite our attempts otherwise.

Holy Spirit, sustainer of who we are as God’s children, expand our minds to engage with our fears and ignorance to see each other as God sees us. Holy Spirit, expand our hearts to match the boundless heart of God in pure and holy and unconditional love for each other and for the God to whom we turn in faith and trust for all that we are.

Please continue to offer prayers for healing and recovery for our Presiding Bishop as he rests and recuperates from prostate cancer surgery.

---

Bruce Garner, President
Integrity USA: The Episcopal Rainbow

General Convention 2018 - Further Retrospective

The final gavels sounded the end of General Convention 2018 a mere thirteen days ago and I have seen a few post mortem comments on what we accomplished. The overall feeling seems positive as important decisions were reached that are for the good of all... even when some of “all” may not realize that yet.

I urge you to access the activities of General Convention by going to www.generalconvention.org. Click on “virtual binder” you can view the resolutions on which actions were taken. A number of resolutions that were passed reflect on how well we are fulfilling our Baptismal Covenant vows to respect the dignity of every human being and to seek and serve Christ in all persons.

Look at the resolutions related to how women have been treated both in our church and in our society.

Guys, and I used that term deliberately, our treatment of women, cis and trans, has been reprehensible for far too long. Women still do not earn the same as men earn for doing the exact same job, although progress has been made, just not enough. How we have ever justified that form of discrimination escapes me.

We have given all sorts of sexual harassment a “wink and a nod” but done nothing to end it. Would any of us have stood silently while our mothers, sisters and other female relatives were treated so poorly? I hope not, but I cannot confirm that just based on history. Yes, many of us were subjected to a role model that condoned, supported or ignored inappropriate behavior and actions taken against women. That is hardly an acceptable excuse.

There is a pop song from a few decades ago by Deborah Cox, entitled “Absolutely Not” that contains the following lyrics:

“If I go to work in a mini skirt am I giving you the right to flirt?
I won’t compromise my point of view. Absolutely not, absolutely not.”

Too many of us grew up when the mistaken attitude of men was that how a woman dressed gave men the right to flirt or behave even more inappropriately. Our work now is to change that mindset and work to reverse the damage done by it. The church is pointing the way. May we have the good sense and courage to follow. We have work to do.

We continued to address our perpetual failings around the issue of racism. We have resolved to work toward repentance, reconciliation and healing as we seek out the Beloved Community. We seem to make “baby steps” but so much remains to be done.

Fellow white folks, it’s time that we threw our hearts, minds, and souls into owning and seeking to rectify what we created. It is a situation, a problem, we created and we have a responsibility to work toward resolving it. I am fully aware that many of us white people do not want to hear these things, but the time is now to insure that all hear what must be said. Owning a problem helps lead to resolving it. The Beloved Community involves us all and our mission is to get there.

Systemic racism takes hard work to eradicate. Are we up to that task?

The Hebrew Scriptures and the Christian Testament both give us guidelines about how we are to treat the alien residing among us. Scripture contains no references as to whether such resident aliens are documented or not, legally admitted or not. We are to treat them with dignity and respect and see to their needs as we see to our own.

We found our voice on serious immigration issues that need to be addressed. Seeing the faces and waved hands of those held in jail, separated from their own children, provided a graphic image of how un-Christ-like so many of our immigration policies are. Can we really claim to be a “Christian nation?” I don’t know how... with any sense of morality.

Through painful compromise, we said that all should mean all when it come to marriage in our church. As we move closer to Advent I, we will be able to see if all really is all in the eight dioceses that have not allowed same sex marriages.

I fear that those eight bishops have forgotten that they are to be the chief pastor over their flocks more than anything else. The service for the ordination of a bishop contains the following phrase in the Examination on page 517 of the BCP: “...and to be in all things a faithful pastor and wholesome example to the entire flock of Christ.” On the following page, the fourth question posed to the bishop-elect, begins with “As chief priest and pastor, will you encourage and support all baptized people in their gifts and ministries?”

Some bishops see their primary role as that of teacher, yet I cannot find that as ranking above the role of pastor in the ordination service. Perhaps they need to be taught about their role as pastor. Other bishops whose first careers were as lawyers, might need to be reminded that they are now pastors, not lawyers. I have to wonder what fear drives the thinking of some. We need now to support the work of people at the local level to change hearts and minds through personal testimony and interaction.

Please continue to pray daily for our church and all of her members as we seek to help personify respecting the dignity of all and seeking and serving Christ in all.

Please offer special prayers for healing for our Presiding Bishop as he approaches surgery and recovery from prostate cancer.

---

Bruce Garner, President
Integrity USA: The Episcopal Rainbow

P.S. - The Reverend Barbara Brown Taylor has written some profound words about where we find ourselves these days. There's a meme posted on Facebook. It's worth your time to read it.

General Convention 2018

The 79th General Convention is over. The exhibit hall has been struck and the contents hauled out. The House of Deputies adjourned sine die (ahead of schedule even!). I’m sure that hall was soon emptied of the tables and chairs where we spent so many hours deliberating issues pertinent to or church.

A couple of things will always stand out for me. One is regarding the final version of Resolution B012 and the other was the resolution that brought the Diocese of Cuba back into The Episcopal Church. Both were sources of great emotion for me.

I was lucky enough to testify at the hearing held on Resolution B012 and several other resolutions related to us queer folk finally having access to marriage rites in every diocese. Unless you have felt the pain of being excluded because of who you are, it is difficult for you to understand how important these resolutions were.

Luck continued as I was also able to testify on the floor of the House of Deputies when the compromise version of B012 came to the floor. I shared the pain and the damage that continually hearing messages from the church that I was somehow flawed, inherently more sinful than other sinners, and somehow less in the eyes of God than others. Such messages wound our souls. I noted that hearing these messages convention after convention wearied me more than you could know. I reminded people who talked about who might leave about the hundreds of thousands of people we lost already who were LGBTQ+ and who walked out or never darkened our doors.

I reminded the Deputies that someday it might be one of their own children or grandchildren who asked why they could not be married in their own parish. And finally, I noted that in a good compromise, no one is happy. This was a good compromise.

The resolution passed in a vote by orders with 96 clergy and 97 lay votes in favor; 10 clergy and 8 lay votes against; and 4 clergy and 5 lay votes “divided.” That represents a “super” majority. I teared up a bit. (Now as you might know the Bishop of Dallas has already started trying to create roadblocks to those same sex couples who want to marry in that diocese. Others will follow.)

Regardless of what we have accomplished, without constant vigilance, we can even lose that. The work continues!

The vote to re-admit the Diocese of Cuba passed with overwhelming majorities. I suspect there was a little bit of shame in what was our correction of a probably illegal ejection of them by the House of Bishops in 1966. The emotional reunion was almost overwhelming. The Bishop and the Deputies were escorted into the House to great cheers and applause. Shortly after a table was marked as the Diocese of Cuba and the Deputies were seated. There is more to be done, but they are back in our church.

You can continue to access the activities of General Convention by going to www.generalconvention.org . There you will find all you ever wanted to know and maybe more than you wanted to know! If you click on “virtual binder” you can view everything we saw and upon which we took action as Deputies. Over 500 resolutions were processed. Thank God for the Consent Calendar!

Please continue to pray daily for our church and all of her members as we seek to insure that our all really does mean all. Please pray for those who live in dioceses where all of us are still not equal.

Pray also for this organization that we all love deeply, as we try to live into the reality of the need to embrace the entire rainbow of God’s creation in a way that all can see. We're trying to make changes that will help build the organization, and recognize that we may need to cast a wider net among our backers if we are to cast a wider net among those who don't know yet what we can do for the church.

Give thanks for the hard and diligent work of those who volunteered to staff our booth at the Convention, those who volunteered at our Eucharist, and those who helped make what we did a reality.


Bruce Garner, President
The Episcopal Rainbow: Integrity USA










P. S. - The United States Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that gays and lesbians are not a protected class. They upheld the firing of a man here in suburban Atlanta because he was gay. WE still do not exist as fully human even in some secular circles. Read more about it at "Atlanta appeals court again rules gays, lesbians not a protected class"

General Convention 2018 - Off And Running

The 79th General Convention is underway. The gavels have sounded in both houses and we enjoyed a vibrant and holy opening Eucharist yesterday. Presiding Bishop Michael Curry inspired us... as always... with a stirring sermon. The theme became: “Keep your eye on the prize.”

Our prize as LGBTQ+ children of God, members of The Episcopal Church, is full equality with all other members of our church... oddly still illusive in some ways... the most obvious in marriage equality.

Hearings on resolutions related to marriage equality were, as in conventions past, a challenge as we endured, yet again, the many ways and words of people who want to keep us in our place, our less than equal place, our place outside looking in. Even after more than two decades of these discussions, hearing language that continues to categorize you as less than, not equal to, somehow flawed, unworthy of all the sacraments... that language still hurts. It still bruises the soul.  It damages the psyche. The salve, the salvation if you will, is that we know in our heart of hearts that such language does not come from God. It still comes from ignorance and the fear bred from ignorance.

As we listen to the debate, the hearing, the discussion, pray that we will be surrounded by a shield, a holy shield, to deflect the language... however disguised... of discrimination and sometimes veiled hatred, deflect that away from us. We have heard enough of it for several lifetimes. Pray that the still small voice of God will find its way to our ears to say: “Keep your eye on the prize my beloved child, keep your eye on the prize. I love you how I created you. And someday all will finally learn to accept and appreciate my handiwork.”

Continue to  follow the activities of General Convention by going to www.generalconvention.org.  There you will find all you ever wanted to know and maybe more than you wanted to know! And visit the Integrity site at http://integrityusa.org/general-convention-resources. And join us on Sunday July 8 at 8pm CDT, watching the Integrity Eucharist at http://bit.ly/IntegrityEucharistGC79.

Please continue to pray daily for the General Convention of our church and all who make
decisions that will be made, especially those with a direct affect on us as queerfolk.

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

Good Fruit

Good Fruit: Our Work Does Yield Good Fruit! (Eventually)

The good folks at “THE TWELVE” a faith based blog, have showered us queer folk with high praise for our steadfast work over the last few decades. A recent item appears at this link:
Five Ways the LGBTQ Community is Saving the Church

The five ways the article states that we are saving the church are:
1 We’ve had to face our judgment
2 We’ve had to face hard conversations that we previously avoided
3 The LGBTQ community is driving the church to look more deeply at scripture
4 The LGBTQ community is helping us rediscover unity
5 The LGBTQ community is helping us rediscover grace

There is far more to the article than just the lead in to each of the five. I commend the article to you because it helps me and I hope it helps you see what some of the struggle over the last decades has produced, at least in the view of one group of people. Sometimes I fear we are so enmeshed in our work that we never really see the fruit of our labors. The “we” in the first two should apply to us even though in the article the focus is essentially the “straight” church.

We really have had to engage in conversations that are difficult and that, quite frankly, most of us would have avoided unless pushed into them. Sexuality has always been that topic no one wants to discuss because it is a subject that involves all of us. It has nothing to do with the “icky” topic many want to make it. It’s a part of who God created us all to be. There are dozens of facets of the topic, yet the tendency has been to avoid the discussion. I’m inclined to believe that if we can have hard conversations about sex, we can have equally difficult conversations about race, and a host of other areas where our relationships often falter.

We certainly have all had to look more deeply into Scripture. I think it is a safe bet that most reading this have had to learn Scripture in order to defend ourselves from its misuse and misinterpretation and its being taken out of context. When an object is being used to oppress, it bears looking at with completely new vision to counter that oppression. Hearing the words “the Bible says” is usually a decent indicator that the words are coming from someone who knows very little about what is actually in the Bible. Scripture is such an important part of our worship that all have benefitted from our studies.

In just a few weeks, we, The Episcopal Church, will have an opportunity to demonstrate how well we have fared in our tasks, even perhaps, saving our church. How well will we do?

Some will trot out old arguments to try and keep queer folks in the second class status where they find themselves in eight of our dioceses. Others will look for ways to create exceptions to the call for full and equal inclusion at all levels of our church, in all the sacraments, all the time. This again will be based on arguments we have heard before, especially about honoring the history of tradition. They were the same words we heard to keep women and people of color “in their place” in church and society. Is oppression really a tradition we should want to uphold?

My recollections of our church’s past is that we consistently have sought ways to create exceptions to that which would hold all accountable to the same standards. Perhaps our biggest debacle was around the ordination of women. There are no exceptions in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There are no “carve outs” or “exemptions” or anything else to allow any of us to water down either loving God with all our heart and soul or mind and strength OR loving our neighbor as ourselves. Try as we might, we are all held to that same standard. We cannot water that down.

So while we may bask for a short while in the praise of those who appreciate what we have tried to do, we cannot rest there for long. The arc of history may bend toward justice, but there are always those with short memories who must be continually reminded of what that means and how easily we can back slide right off of that arc.

My broken record: Contact your deputies to General Convention. Contact your bishop(s). Make sure they know you want them to have the church to continue to bear good fruit. Let them hear your stories about how you still don’t enjoy full inclusion in our household of faith.

Please continue to pray daily for the General Convention of our church and all who make
decisions that affect us.

And just a reminder: Elections for the new leadership of Integrity USA begin next week. Pray and cast your vote if you are a member. If you are not, join us in bearing good fruit.

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

Louie Crew Clay Award

Integrity USA, the Episcopal Rainbow, is honored to award the Louie Crew Clay Award to The Reverend Gay Clark Jennings, President of the House of Deputies, and to The Most Reverend Michael Bruce Curry, Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church.

Photo: Episcopal Church Photo: Episcopal Church

These honors are given in gratitude to those who have demonstrated an ongoing dedication to insuring that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) persons are fully included in the life and work of The Episcopal Church and in wider society. The Louie Crew Clay Award represents the commitment we make in the vows of our baptismal covenant to respect the dignity of every human being, to seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbor as ourselves.

Both will receive their awards at the Integrity Eucharist during General Convention in Austin, Texas on July 8, 2018 at 8pm in the JW Marriott. All are welcome to join in the worship and celebration.

Louie Crew Clay founded Integrity USA in 1974. He may be a retired professor emeritus of English at Rutgers University, but to Integrity he has been the tireless voice for the inclusion of LGBTQ people in the Episcopal Church.

Alleluia! And we have work to do!

Alleluia, Christ is Risen!
The Lord is Risen indeed, Alleluia! (And we have work to do!)

This is the second Friday of the Great 50 Days of Easter. It seems to me that it is also a good time for us to begin work on some of the issues that will face us at General Convention 2018 in July in Austin, Texas.  As we celebrate, so let us plan.

The Task Force on Marriage has issued its Blue Book Report with their recommended resolutions to be brought to General Convention for action.  The two links immediately below provide you with important information about their report and the resolutions.  I urge you to go to them and read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them:

https://extranet.generalconvention.org/staff/files/download/21189

https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2018/04/04/general-convention-will-again-grapple-with-same-sex-marriage-questions/

The first link takes you to the report itself. The second is an Episcopal News Service article about the overall issue.  It is a longer link and you may need to copy and paste it into your browser for it to work correctly.

Among the resolutions are changes to the Book of Common Prayer and these require two “readings” and two votes at successive General Conventions.  The language must be identical for the actions to take place. Some will recall that we voted on some Prayer Book changes at the last General Convention. The work of the Task Force on Marriage resulted in some language changes so we are back at a “first reading” to incorporate those changes.

Each of the dioceses in which we live has 8 Deputies elected to serve at General Convention.  Four are ordained and four are lay folks. These are the people who will receive and review the hundreds of resolutions that will come before the General Convention.  Resolutions are assigned to committees composed of both bishops and deputies that review and study them in depth. Each resolution will receive an open hearing held by those committees at which anyone, even non-Episcopalians may speak.

The committees then discuss, deliberate and vote on the resolutions before them. Bishops and Deputies vote separately and send the results to the appropriate house of General Convention to be considered on the floor of each house. Each house must pass the identical resolution for it to become the mind of our church or a canonical change. The committees are free to amend and change the language as they see fit. Often information heard at the open hearing may influence such changes. People who are most directly impacted by the proposed actions frequently provide moving testimony that does influence how a committee will ultimately act on a resolution.  But all of this is actually AT the General Convention.

There is plenty of work to be done beforehand as well. Those who live in the following dioceses will have a chance to influence their deputations between now and General Convention.  The work of the Task Force on Marriage is very important to them because their respective bishops still refuse to allow same sex marriages to be performed in their dioceses: Albany, Central Florida, Dallas, Florida, North Dakota, Springfield, Tennessee, and the Virgin Islands. Some even prohibit their clergy from performing same sex weddings outside the diocese as well.

It is critical that deputations hear from lay folks on this issue, particular us queer lay folks. What happens at General Convention will have a direct impact on us. And while the vast majority of us already have access to marriage as same sex couples, our kindred in the above dioceses do not. As you have heard me say before: lay people are able to speak the truth to power in ways that clergy cannot. Not to put too fine a point on it, there is nothing the bishop can do to inhibit us from speaking our hearts and minds, even to them! Clergy may not be able to be as, shall we say, direct.

We cannot rest on past accomplishments. So it is incumbent on all of us, even those who do not live in the above referenced dioceses to know what resolutions to come before the General Convention can have a direct impact on our lives. We have an obligation to read, mark, learn and inwardly digest what our deputies and bishops will be called upon to decide. We have an obligation to let them know how we feel about the topics that will come before them. AND we also have an obligation to support our kindred in those eight dioceses as they pray, work and strive toward being able to access all the sacraments of the church.

There is a group of folks from the Diocese of Tennessee who will gather on the 29th of April to celebrate the Eucharist and bear witness to their situation. They use the name All the Sacraments for All the People (ASAP).  The acronym is important. It also brings to mind the immediacy of the need.  There are those who may not live long enough to know that they are fully included in the life or our church.

So, as I have urged before: write, call, email, text those who will be making decisions. Let your Deputies and your Bishop(s) know your opinion. If you have a personal story of the impact of this or other proposed legislation, share that with them. Put a face on what some might be able to more easily dismiss as an issue. A face is more difficult to dismiss.

Yes, Christ is risen. The Lord is risen, indeed, alleluia! Risen for all... regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, gender expression/identity, or any other characteristic of the children of God. And let us be faithful to the work before us to insure that all may know the love of Jesus!








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

General Convention 2018: A Time to Celebrate

Less than a year from now we will have finished General Convention (GC) 2018. This is the first opportunity Integrity USA has had to actually celebrate what happened during General Convention 2015.

GC 2015 represented the accomplishment of a legislative mission that began in earnest about 26 years ago. At the Episcopal Church-wide level, canon law now exists that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender expression, gender identity…among all of the other prohibited discriminations in the life of the church, access to the ordination process and a myriad of areas that impact the lives of all, but especially the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer-plus (LGBTQ+) members of the church.

Similarly, we now have rites to celebrate same sex unions, including the first reading of changes to the language of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer to make marriage rites gender neutral. These rites in conjunction with the Supreme Court ruling in July 2015, makes marriage between members of the same sex available in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and the territories of the United States. We do note that the bishops of eight of the 101 domestic dioceses still do not permit same sex marriages in their dioceses, in clear violation of canon law.

The overarching mission of Integrity USA has been accomplished at the church wide legislative/canonical level. What still remains to be accomplished needs to be done at the diocesan/parish level as grass roots missionary work.

So yes it is time for celebration.

Integrity USA wants to celebrate at GC 2018 in two ways: One is in staffing a booth in the exhibit hall. The other is in sponsoring a Celebratory General Convention Eucharist. The cost of both is outside our budget. So we turn to you.

We need to raise approximately $42,500 to support our booth in the exhibit hall and to cover the expenses of a General Convention Eucharist (space rental, communion supplies, bulletins, etc., usual expenses for a large Eucharist outside our normal church setting.)          

Those of us whose names appear below have served as national presidents of Integrity USA. We seek your prayerful support and your financial support to help us make GC 2018 a holy celebration for the accomplishments achieved over decades of work. Will you join us?

Donate to the General Convention 2018 fund

Kim Byham
Fred Ellis
Bruce Garner
Matt Haines
Caro Hall
Michael Hopkins
David Norgard
Susan Russell