Openly Episcopal in Albany

Discrimination in the Name of God...

...Pisses Me Off!

So writes Larry Steffler in the recent issue of Community, a monthly publication of the Pride Center of the Capital Region.  Larry is the partner of the Rev. Keith Patterson, who went through the process for holy orders in the Diocese of Albany but had to turn to the Diocese of Vermont for ordination because Bishop Love refused to ordain him.

According to the article, Larry met his partner two years into the process, and just after Bishop Love told him “that he would never be ordained in his diocese unless he stayed in the closet, single and celibate.”  Keith was sponsored by Christ Church parish in Hudson, where he had been “an active, well respected member of the parish,” and where the parishioners “loved him.”

After being rejected by Bishop Love, Rev. Keith restarted the ordination process in Vermont, serving in four different churches and traveling back and forth from Albany for over five years.  When the rector of Christ Church retired, the vestry voted to offer the position of interim rector to Keith.  Bishop Love nixed the offer, citing a lack of experience.  According to Larry, “The bishop did not have the guts to be vocal about his own beliefs and be honest about why he turned down Keith for the position,” namely, that he was a gay man in a committed relationship.

“My partner and I had dealt with the repercussions of Bishop Love’s bigotry for over a decade along with many other folks in the diocese,” says the author.  He admits that not all parishes in the Diocese of Albany are closed minded. “A few make a strong effort to be inclusive regardless of the bishop and his policies.”  But the hurt remained. The thought kept recurring, “Why do most of the members of the Albany Diocese accept the status quo?  Are they unaware, homophobic themselves, or just apathetic?”

In an effort to find the answer, Larry sent an email inquiry to twelve clergy of the diocese, in which he asked,

...how you reconcile being a Christian who preaches love and compassion in the Albany Episcopal Diocese and yet do nothing to change your diocese’s stance on LGBT people?  Sadly, I have found that the Albany Diocese has a national reputation as closed minded and bigoted towards LGBT people.  I hope that your answer to my question has more substance to it than “it says so in the Bible.”  If you write back and tell me that your parish is inclusive, I will ask you why you have not protested against Bishop Love’s policies and tried to change them.

Larry Steffler promises to write about the responses (if any) that he receives to his heartfelt question.  In the meantime, what can we do to support equality of access to all the sacraments and ministries of the Church in the face of a homophobic ordination policy by the Diocese of Albany?  In other words, who will challenge discrimination in the name of God?

The Rev. Keith Patterson

Bishop Adams' Easter Message

Bishop Gladstone B. "Skip" Adams is the Bishop of the Diocese of Central New York, now exercising DEPO supervision at the parish of St. George's, Schenectady.  His Easter message is published in the diocesan newsletter, The Messenger:

 

 

"Christ was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and he appeared to Cephas and then to the twelve."

                     I Corinthians 15:4-5

Dear People of Central New York,

 

We come again to the primary celebration of the central truth of our Christian life and experience:  the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.  St. Augustine would tell us that the very reason you and I were created is to adore the Mystery of this truth.  Through the journey of this week we are invited again to consider the reason we exist on this earth.

 

As I have this Lent daily lifted all the people of the Diocese of Central New York to God, I have prayed that somehow, some way in God's grace, that we would be drawn into a renewed and deepened awareness as a people passionately loved by the One who seeks us out.  My hope is that we will be empowered even now to act on the new life we are given.  The promise of Easter gives us the opportunity to know ourselves as God knows us in Christ - created for love as God originally intended for all the creation.  Secure in this embrace, we are able without fear to give the gift of newly rekindled love to others.  Wherever we can bring mercy, justice, release and reconciliation, there Christ's resurrection is known.  It is then that we live out the pattern of Jesus' own giving of himself.

 

What was Jesus' purpose?  It was love, nothing else but love.  May your Holy Week and Easter celebrations bring each of you the joy and peace of this resurrection hope.

 

+Bishop Skip

 

Can the Cost be Justified?

Thanks to Carolyn D'Agostino, a Facebook friend who brought this blog posting to my attention.  It is from the pen of John Shore, a (straight, married) Christian writer who has been "trying God's patience" quite a bit of late.  The news hits close to home, as it involves the death of a young person from a place not far from here.  Can we in the Diocese of Albany read it and not feel just a twinge of recognition?

Jamey Rodemeyer is a 14-year-old gay kid from Buffalo, NY, who earlier this week, after years of being bullied, committed suicide.

If you’re a Christian who believes that being gay is a morally reprehensible offense against God, then you share a mindset, worldview, and moral structure with the kids who hounded Jamey Rodemeyer, literally, to death. It is your ethos, your convictions, and your theology that informed, supported, and encouraged their cruelty.

We Christians who believe that God created gay people as much in His own image as he did straight people are begging you to reconsider your theology — to do nothing more than be open to an alternative, fully credible, scholastically sound interpretation of one or two lines from Paul.

How can you be unwilling to do something so simple, when you see the horrible ultimate cost of that refusal?

Christ died so that you could love more. And now you’re part of a system that allows that same Christ to be used as a moral justification for the most vile kind of abuse. How could that have happened? How could something so right have gone so wrong?

Turn, friend. And when you do, open your arms. Discover waiting to embrace you a new Christ behind the relative shell of the one you inherited. Jesus Christ died for your sins. That was unthinkably beautiful. Now Jamey Rodemeyer has died from your sins. That is not. That is the very hell that, awfully enough, you’ve somehow tricked yourself into believing your life refutes.

Living Our Baptismal Covenant

The Rev. Paul Hartt, Rector of St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Albany, has commended an article for our consideration titled "Reclothing the Emperor" from The Living Church.  He calls the article "worth posting and discussing”.  Paul Hartt is a regular reader and occasional contributor to this blog.  He notes that even The Rev. Susan Russell from All Saints Church Pasadena, and convener of the church group Integrity, has approved the part of the article that addresses our  Baptismal Covenant.

The article’s author, The Rev. Dr. Russell J. Levenson, Jr., starts off with the tired assertion that The Episcopal Church is in numerical decline.  This observation is used to support a rather forced analogy with Hans Christian Anderson’s tale of the emperor, the “naked truth” being that the Church must realize that its own actions are causing a loss of membership.  Never mind the fact that all mainline Protestant churches are currently losing members due to a confluence of inter-related factors beyond the strategic reach of any one denominational body.

The course of The Episcopal Church since the 1970’s, according to Dr. Levinson, has been “fraught with faulty assumptions about the nature of the gospel and its mission.  Reformation is needed, and two actions are key to reforming the Church.  These include engaging in evangelism and living our baptismal covenant.  As The Rev. Paul Hartt observes, the points raised in the section titled “Living Our Baptismal Covenant” are a good starting point for general discussion, so I will quote here: 

The substance of virtually every resolution proposed at each General Convention and diocesan convention concerning human dignity and justice can be found in our baptismal vows, which are grounded in the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount. If we want to spend time at our gatherings focusing on “issues” which affect our daily lives, let us do so through the lens of the Baptismal Covenant and Scripture, rather than taking our cues from the divided political world around us. Following Christ first naturally leads to the secondary tasks of discipleship: outreach, mission and stewardship, expressed chiefly through generous and sacrificial love.

Conservative voices hold the minority on the stage of TEC’s policy and polity, but they must be allowed to practice their beliefs without threat from national or diocesan leadership. This works in many dioceses: liberal bishops permit alternative oversight for conservative parishes, and vice versa. Given that liberals represent the majority, however, they need to work harder to welcome conservative voices into discussions and decisions on all matters related to ecclesiastical life.

When Episcopalians have trouble agreeing to common definitions of original sin or Christology, we should not be surprised at divisions regarding sexuality. Many have expressed concern that theological depth is desperately lacking not only among many of our priests but among our bishops as well. Fortunately, several healthy seminaries seem to be pushing back toward the center.

These are just a few hallmarks of what a “church reformed” (and, indeed, a Church Catholic) will look like in the years to come.

At The Rev. Hartt’s invitation, and keying off of the section just quoted, let me begin the discussion.  The Baptismal Covenant in The Book of Common Prayer includes the questions “Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?”  And, “Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?”  The congregation responds to each of these questions, “we will.”  As Dr. Levinson admits, fulfillment of these promises has been the goal of every resolution of General Convention, and the goal also of many of the dioceses.  The conversation in the Diocese of Albany must address the question, how have we measured up to these promises?

Specifically, the article calls upon TEC to allow conservatives freedom to act “without threat from national or diocesan leadership.” Turning the focus on the Diocese of Albany, will the leadership here grant liberal parishes the freedom to act “without threat”?  Seemingly not, in the essential matters of marriage equality, or the calling of practicing, gay clergy.  The author of the article approves of “alternative oversight for conservative parishes”.  Would the Bishop of Albany be willing to consider such a concession for “liberal parishes” in the DoA?  If Paul Hartt encourages us to engage in discussion on the basis of the article, perhaps he can tell us if this possibility is on the table.  And if the national church needs to work harder to "welcome conservative voices,” should not the leadership in Albany be called upon to include progressive voices that have been shut out from the councils of our diocese?

Yes, there is real need for discussion of issues in the Diocese of Albany, and it might well be started by the points raised in the article that Rev. Paul Hartt has brought to our attention.

 One voice in our diocese that has not been heard from, and whose thoughts on the matters raised are of signal importance, is the Bishop of Albany himself.  I count myself among many in the diocese who would welcome the inclusion of The Right Rev. William Love in this forum.  The participation of our bishop in the conversation is one that is long overdue.

California Court Overturns Prop. 8!

 

As reported at The Episcopal News Update, the newsletter of the Diocese of Los Angeles:

Diocesan Bishop J. Jon Bruno has issued the following statement on federal Judge Vaughn R. Walker's Aug. 4 decision on Proposition 8:

"Justice is advancing thanks to today's ruling affirming Californians' constitutional right to marriage in faithful same-gender relationships.

"Although the appeal process will now challenge U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker's decision on Proposition 8, my continuing prayer will be -- as the prophet Amos said -- for justice 'to roll down' and to prevail.

"to reiterate my statement of November 5, 2008: 'Proposition 8 is a lamentable expression of fear-based discrimination that attempts to deny the constitutional rights of some Californians on the basis of sexual orientation.  It is only a matter of time before its narrow constraints are ultimately nullified by the courts and our citizens' own increasing knowledge about the diversity of God's creation."

Why is this news relevant to Episcopalians in the Diocese of Albany?  Because New York is long overdue in recognizing same-gender relationships in the way California has legislated.  And "our increasing knowledge about God's creation" should make it plain to all church members - including all bishops - that the relationships so honored are a blessing to our Church, not a threat.