Queer Sacramentality: The Church of the Beloved Disciple

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Queer Sacramentality: The Church of the Beloved Disciple

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Jet Magazine coverage of the Church of the Beloved Disciple's first widely publicized Holy Union ceremony
Published on May 13, 1971, this Jet magazine article brought national attention to the Church of the Beloved Disciple and its pioneering ministry to LGBTQ Christians. The feature reported on the Holy Union of Joan B. Kearse and Bobbi Jean Sanchez, a…

New York Post coverage of the Church of the Beloved Disciple's Holy Union ceremonies
As public attention to the Church of the Beloved Disciple's pioneering Holy Union ceremonies grew following the first public ceremony in July 1970, the New York Post reported that Fr. Robert M. Clement intentionally described the rites as Holy Unions…

National Recognition in Catholic World
The June 1971 issue of Catholic World featured Robert M. Clement on its cover carrying the sign, "Gay People, This Is Your Church," during New York's first Christopher Street Liberation Day March in June 1970. Published less than two years after the…

Watch Randy Wicker’s 1971 interview with Robert M. Clement, in which Clement discusses the Church of the Beloved Disciple’s ministry and explains why Holy Union was understood as a spiritual and religious rite rather than a legal marriage.…

Explore documentation of the Gay Activists Alliance’s June 1971 action at New York City’s Marriage Bureau, which responded to the controversy surrounding Clement’s Holy Union ceremonies and the city’s refusal to recognize same-sex relationships.…

Holy Union ceremony celebrated by Fr. Robert Mary Clement, early 1970s
This photograph captures one of the Church of the Beloved Disciple's Holy Union ceremonies, officiated by Fr. Robert Mary Clement before a large congregation at an unidentified location. Following a liturgy modeled closely on the Christian marriage…

Service of Holy Union for John and Israel
Fr. John Darcy Noble officiates the Holy Union of John C. Fout and Israel at the Church of the Beloved Disciple, 348 West 14th Street, New York City. By the mid-1970s, the Church's Holy Union liturgy had become a well-established sacramental rite…

The Kiss of Peace following the Holy Union ceremony
After exchanging vows and rings, John C. Fout and Israel seal their covenant with a kiss as Fr. John Darcy Noble and assisting clergy look on. The public blessing of same-sex couples formed the heart of the Church of the Beloved Disciple's ministry,…

Celebration following a Holy Union ceremony at the Church of the Beloved Disciple
After the liturgy, a newly united couple shares wine and cake at the reception celebrating their Holy Union. Such gatherings were an integral part of the Church of the Beloved Disciple's ministry, affirming same-sex relationships not only through…

Holy Union of Fr. Robert Mary Clement and John Darcy Noble
Pastor Troy Perry, founder of the Metropolitan Community Church, officiates the Holy Union of Robert Mary Clement and John Darcy Noble at the Performing Garage, 33 Wooster Street in Manhattan's SoHo district. The ceremony was relocated after Fr.…

Perry, Clement, and Noble celebrating
Pastor Troy Perry, Father Robert Mary Clement, and John Darcy Noble outside the Performing Garage following the Holy Union ceremony. Standing beneath the entrance to 33 Wooster Street in Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood, Troy Perry (center), founder of…

Restored Portrait of Fr. Robert Mary Clement
This digitally restored photograph depicts the Rev. Robert Mary Clement before the founding of the Church of the Beloved Disciple. At the time, Clement was serving as a parish priest of the Polish National Catholic Church in Perth Amboy, New Jersey.…

Read the LGBTQ Religious Archives Network profile of Robert Mary Clement for a fuller account of his life as a priest, bishop, founder of the Church of the Beloved Disciple, and advocate for LGBTQ spiritual and sacramental life.

Certificate of Priestly Ordination of Robert Mary Clement
This document certifies the ordination of Robert Mary Clement to the sacred order of the priesthood on 7 August 1948. Written in Latin, the certificate was issued under the authority of Bishop William H. F. Brothers, Archbishop of the Old Catholic…

American Orthodox Church of the United States (Western Orthodox) Articles of Incorporation 1969
This Certificate of Incorporation, executed on March 12, 1969, formally established the American Orthodox Church of the United States (Western Orthodox) as a religious corporation under New York law and named Robert Mary Clement as its presiding…

Flyer for the first Christopher Street Liberation Day March
Flyer for the first NYC Pride Parade, then called the Christopher Street Liberation Day March, held in New York, New York, on June 28, 1970, to commemorate the first anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.

"Gay People, This Is Your Church"
Robert M. Clement and John Darcy Noble stand in Sheep Meadow following the first Christopher Street Liberation Day March on June 28, 1970, beneath a hand-painted sign proclaiming, "Gay People, This Is Your Church." Earlier that day, Clement carried…

Explore the NYC LGBTQ Historic Sites entry documenting the route, starting point, and historical significance of New York City’s first Christopher Street Liberation Day March on June 28, 1970.

Watch archival footage of Robert M. Clement marching in the first Christopher Street Liberation Day March and later appearing with John Darcy Noble in Sheep Meadow, where Clement describes the Church of the Beloved Disciple as a sacramental Catholic…

Clement celebrating the first public Mass in New York City
On July 19, 1970, Father Robert M. Clement celebrated the first public Mass of the newly founded Church of the Beloved Disciple at the Church of the Holy Apostles in Manhattan. Attended by an estimated 600 to 800 people, the liturgy offered an…
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