Second Stone #42 - Sept/Oct 1995

Second Stone #42 - Sept/Oct 1995

42

1995

Sept/Oct 1995

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PAGE 10
NEWS in this issue:
.\ Female clergy .hitting a stained-glass ceiling
■ Ril·l#W
Alondon: Gay man banned from nephew's
christening by Church of England rector -,,., .. AN ew Lutheran bishop's position on gay
ordination unknown; Lutherans cave in on
sexuality• statement
■ iif•i¥W
AGay Episcopal priest sues female bishop
for discrimination
■ ¥l·IMW
!Catholics in support of gay rights plan
"Solidarity Sunday"
lii·iWI ■
! Southern Baptist women join fight
against AIDS •· ,.._
=iCWF:Pi::=
.U ough-talking woman elected
Presbyterian moderator
• - f a
Calendar
Announcements in this sectio11 are provided free of charge as a service to
Christian organizatio11s. To have an event listed, send a Pr.ill~ to
Second Stone, P.O. Box 8340, New Orleans, LA 70182, FAX to (504)891-7555
or e-mail to secstone@aol.com.
Third International TEN Conference
SEP T EMBER 1-3 , Liberty Community Church, Vancouver, Canada, hosts
"How Shall We Then Live," the third international gathering of The Evangelical
Network. Workshops will focus on stress management , coping with crisis ,
coupling concerns, being single, burn°out and other issues. For information
contac t Pastor Rick Morcombe, Liberty Community Church, #402-2388 Triumph
Street, Vancouver, B.C., Canada V5L 1L5. •
Conference for Cat holic Diocesan Leaders
SEPTEM BER 8-10, The National Association of Catholic Diocesan Lesbian and
Gay Ministries sponsors a weekend conference ent itled "The Challenge of
Leadership in Diocesan Lesbian and Gay Ministries" The Meany To wer Hotel
in Seattle is the setting. Richard Sparks, C.S.P., will be the keynote speaker
and there will be opportunities for sharing program ex perience and resources ,
social time and liturgies. For information contact Rev. Jim Schexnayde r, 433
Jefferson St., Oakland, CA 94607, (510)763-3101.
PFLAG 1995 National Convent ion
SEPTEMBER 28-OCTOBER 1, The Hyatt Regency Indianapolis is the setting
for the annual gathering of Parents , Families and Friends of Lesbians and
Gays. Seminars and workshops include HIV/AIDS and re ligious issues,
Speakers include Mitzi Henderson, PFLAG national president and Mel White,
author of Stranger at the Gate. For information contact PFLAG, 1101 14th St.,
NW, Ste. 1030, Washington, DC 20005, (202)638-4200.
Hope and Healing Confe rence .
SEPTEMBER 28-OCTOBER 1, More than 500 people are expected to
attend this AIDS conference which is jointly planned by the Lutheran, Episcopal
and United Methodist AIDS networks . Three tracks of workshops will be
offered '. Care and Compassion, Prevention and Education, and Calling and
Service. The program is expected to include theologians such as William
Countryman and several experts from the Centers for Disease Control. For
information call (202)628-6628.
Ur-iity Fellowship Second Annual Convocation
OCTOBER 2-8, The Unity Fellowship Church Movement sponsors "From Fear
to Faith," at the Ram.ada Inn in Culver City, Calif. Nightly worship, morning
praise ·and prayer service, workshops on self empowerment, music , spirituality, .
human rights, family, health, cultural arts, youth, economic empowerment. For
information contact Deacon Alfreda Lanoix-Owens, 5149 W. Jefferson Blvd.,
Los Angeles, CA 90016, (213)936-4949.
Advance'95
OCTOBER 2,8, "Heaven, The Building of God" is the theme for this annual
gathering of gay and lesbian Christians for a week of preaching , education ,
revival and fellowship. The activities include a pastor's and minister's fellowship,
School of the Prophets, the Advance Weekend and a children's ministry.
For information contact Advance Christian Ministries, 4001-C Maple Ave.,
Dallas, TX 75219,(214)522-1520.
School of the Prophets
OCTOBER 4-6, Students select from _ 18 courses established by pastors and
ministers through Advance Christian Ministries held as part of Advance '95 in
New Caney, Texas. The courses are designed to provide knowledge in .
Biblical content and practical training for Christian leadership and ministries. For ,
information contact Advance Christian Ministries, 4001-C Maple Ave., Dallas, TX
75219, (214)522-1520.
Solidarity Sunday · ·
OCTOBER 8, Gay and lesbian Catholics and their supporters are asked to
wear rainbow ribbons to Mass and throughout the day. For information contact
Dignity/USA, 1500 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Suite 11, Washington DC 20005,
(202)861-0017 or Bruce S. Jarstler, M.D., 2634 Pebble Breeze, San Antonio,
TX 78232, (210)545-9097, FAX (210)545-6906, BruceSJ@aol.com.
National Day of PrayeL Fasting and Spritual Renewal
OCTOBER 10, Rediscover the power of effective intercessory prayer for the
gay and lesbian community on this day of prayer held every year on the day
before National ·Coming Out Day. Support materials available from .River of
Lile Healing Ministries, 134 Quincy, NE, Albuquerque, NM 87108,
rolhm@ae>l.com.
National Coming Out Day
OCTOBER 11, Visibility makes a difference . For information about National
Coming Out Day or to . order official Keith Haring NCOD merchandise, call
Hl00-866-6263. .
SEE CALENDAR, Page 17
SECOND STONE -
THE NATIONAL ECUMENICAL CHRISTIAN
NEWSJOURNAL FOR LESBIANS, GAYS AND BISEXUALS
Contents
o • • · • o • • e o • · • e o o o e • \9 e ~ • o o e • o
Calendar
Opportunities for connectedness
across the country
[~ .
AIDS charities feel pinch of _ft_j competition , compassion fatigue
1:10 l Cover Story · Gay Christian musician Jal/en Rix ·
. . continues his powerful ministry with new release
In Print
Two mothers' stories: Prayers For Bobby,
Cleaning Closets; Also: Voices of Hope
[6 '! Noteworthy
[j Sl ~i?ie~:aleh~!teria: Have you felt it yet?
.
· From the editor
. Join Roman Catholics for a day of solidarity
1201 Classifieds
Plus
10 pages
of news
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 9 9 5
News .........................................................................
Female clergy running into a stained-glass ceiling
By David Briggs
AP Religion Writer
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - More than
two decades after women started stepping
into pulpits in significant numbers,
they are encountering a stained
·gJass ceiling, a barrier that's keeping
the ministry far behind other professions
in workplace equality.
A study by Hartford Seminary
finds that the percentage of female
clergy has actually declined over
eight years in denominations once at
the forefront of women's ordination,
such as the Presbyterian Church
(U.S.A.), the United Methodist
Church and the Episcopal Church.
In their survey of 4,900 clergy in 16
Protestant denominations, the most
comprehensive ever done on women
in ministry, researchers found clergymen
in general had stayed close to
the career path they envisioned for
themselves in seminaries.
Women with the same goals,
however, had to settle for lower-paying
positions as assistants. Women
also averaged $5,000 less in annual
salary and benefits than men with
similar work experience.
When men and women ordained at
the same time were asked about their
• present jobs, 22 percent of men were
senior pastors of larger churches, compared
to 6 percent of women, according
to the study released to The .
Associated Press.
"Sexism is behind the fact ... the
church won't accept women as senior
pastors,'' said Adair Lummis, one of
the study's authors. "Law and medicine
are subject to secular laws, about
hiring, about affirmative action."
Women are still banned from
pastoral positions in some religions,
such as Roman Catholicism and Orthodox
Judaism. But various Protestant
churches have permitted female
clergy for more than a century, and
women founded others, such as the
Christian · Science Church and the
International Church of the Foursquare
Gospel.
It was not until the 1970s that
women, powered by the feminist and
civil rights movements, began donning
religious robes in large numbers,
as they also forged into other
previously off-limits territory such as
law and the military. .
But the significant gains made by
women in other professions have not
been matched in the nation's
churches, the study finds. While
women now account for 25 percent of
lawyers and 21 percent of doctors,
only 11 percent of the clergy are
female, cfespite a near doubling of
female seminary enrollment since
1980.
Seventh-day Adventists reject
ordination of women
UTRECHT, Netherlands (AP) - The
Seventh-day Adventist Church h_as
rejected the ordination of women, the
church announced July 6 during its
world congress here.
"Women can be ordained to be
elders (in church) but not as ministers,"
said a church spokesman Cees
van der Ploeg.
The women's ordination request
came from the church's North American
division, which asked that ordination
be allowed specifically in its
North American churches.
Ordination is not allowed for
women in Adventist churches worldwide
;
"Gender inclusive ordination, while
perhaps not appropriate in some .
places, will be helpful in North
America," said Alfred C. McClure,
· president of the Adventist Church in
North America, in a presentation
before the vote.
'There is a generation of bright and
devout young people coming on the
scene - tomorrow's leaders .. . the
majority of whom believe it is right,
and who will be seriously disillusioned
by a negative vote," he said,
according to a church press release.
In the opposing camp was Dr.
SECOND STONE
Gerard Damsteegt, associate professor
of theology at Seventh-day Adventist
Theological Seminary, who suggested
that women are "different in functional
roles."
The Bible does not allow "spiritual
headship" of women in the family or
in the church, he said in the pre-vote
discussion, adding that women ordination
runs counter to Adventist
interpretation of the Bible.
Fewer than one-third of the
delegates attending the church's 56th
world congress voted in favor of
women ordination .
Most in favor were from Europe
and North America, while the bulk of
the opposition came from Central and
South America, Africa and Asia.
The first request for women's
ordination within the Adventist
Church came from Finland in 1968. In
1990, the church defeated by more
than a two-thirds majority a proposal
for women ordination in all Adventist
churches.
The Adventist denomination numbers
abut 8.5 million members, all
but about 10 percent of them outside
Canada and the United States.
The church's world headquarters is
located in Silver Spring, Md. -
The numbers defy the idea that
women would naturally excel in a job
that requires counseling and interpersonal
skills. Where the theory
breaks down with womel'.I clergy is in
its failure to consider the longstanding
Western Christian tradition of
male authority, replete with ubiquitous
images of Jesus and the disciples,
said Patricia Chang, another Hartford
Seminary researcher.
'You'd think that women would fit
into that role (ministry) more quickly,
but it's the exception that proves the
rule," she said.
The study was conducted from
August 1993 to February 1994 by
Lummis, Chang and Barbara Brown
Zikmund for the seminary's Center
for Social and Religious Research. The
researchers found startlingly different
experiences for men and women
ordained since 1970.
The most frequently cited career
goal of both men and women was to
be sole pastors of churches. But while
43 percent of men achieved their
dream, only 19 percent of women
did. The first job of more than onethird
of women seminary graduates
was as an associate or assistant minister
.
Asked about their present jobs,
two-thirds of male clergy were either
sole pastors or senior pastors, while
just 39 percent of women held such
jobs. Nineteen percent of women held
assistant positions, more than twice
the percentage of men in such jobs.
Examining overall clergy figures,
the researchers found the percentages
of active clergywomen actually fell
from 1986 to 1994 in the Christian
Church (Disciples of Christ), Episcopal
Church, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
and the United Methodist Church.
In some more evangelical churches
such as the Wesleyan Churches and
the Assemblies of God, the total number
of clergywomen remained about
the same.
One reason researchers give for
clergywomen's stalled progress is a
declining job market in mainline
churches, which have lost millions of
members in the last generation.
However, even that excuse is
related to a basic bias against women
in the pulpits in many churches,
researchers said.
"What's amazing is there are a lot of
men out there who are getting jobs.
SEE CLERGY, Page 18
Recent finding by top biblical ·scholars
offer a radical new view on
the Bible and homosexuaiity.
WhatUible the l.J
Really Says
About
}lornosexuality
.
1
• \-le\minial<.. Pn.D,
oan1e ,-.
Daniel A. Helminiak, Ph.D.,
respected theologian and
Roman Catholic priest,
explains in a clear fashion
fascinating new insights.
" ... will help any reasonably open and
attentive reader see that the Bible says
something quite different on this subject
from what is often claimed. 11
-L. William Countryman,
Author of Dirt, Greed and Sex
" ... the most thoughtful, lucid and accessible
summary I know of curre~t bibli:cal
scholarship relating to homose xual
issues .. eminently useful... 0
-James B. Nelson,
Author and Theology Professor
Order now from Second Stone Press
Quan.
□
WHAT THE BIBLE REALLY SA VS
ABOUT HOMOSEXUALITY
By Da:iiel A. Helminiak, $9.95, paperbk
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SECOND STONE •
News
• • o • • o ~ o e e e • e • • e • • e • • o e • • • • • • •
Gay man banned from
nephew's christening
By Ron Kampeas
Associated Press
LONDON (AP) -.Simon Lawley says
he fits Church of England godfather
standards to a T: He's monogamous,
stands up for his beliefs and has an
abiding faith in Jesus Christ.
Nevertheless, Lawley is gay,
which is why officials at his local parish
banned him from the christening
of his nephew and godchild, Freddie.
. Lawley's sister and brother -in-law
took the christening in April to another,
more liberal parish, where the
godfather was welcomed. But the ban
once again opened up the debate on
the place of Gays in the church.
"No one asked me about my
spiritual or moral nature or welfare,"
Lawley told the British Broadcasting
Corp. on August 14. "As a practicing
gay man, I was considered to be inappropriate
as a godfather - and that I
consider to be sheer bigotry."
The rector of St. Peter's church in
Farnborough, Hampshire - a tweedy
town just southwest of London where
Lawley owns a restaurant said he
had no choice once Freddie's mother,
Elizabeth Toms, revealed that her
brother was gay.
'The practice of homosexuality, as
opposed to homosexual orientation, is
not condoned in Scripture," Canon
, Alan Beddington said in a statement.
· The local curate was "therefore bound
to give an opinion based on biblical
teaching ."
Beddington 's comments reflect
Church of England doctrine on gay
clerics. In recent years, the church has
allowed Gays and Lesbians to take up
the cloth, as long as they agree not to
have sex. Even senior bishops have
been able to acknowledge their "ambiguous"
sexuality.
There is no clear church ruling on
godparents, however, and Lawley
may be the first to press the issue.
One church official says · church
policy on gay and · lesbian clerics
should not apply to godparents.
Bishop Richard Harris, whoheads the
church's working group on sex, says
· gay and lesbian godparents need not
be celibate.
"If you have somebody who is
homosexual and in a stable relationship,
who is clearly a godly, loving,
prayerful person, a sincere follower of
Jesus Christ, then I think it would be
quite wrong to tell that person that
they could no longer be a godparent,"
Harris said. ·
"It's quite wrong to have a kind of
inquisition of godparents," he said.
Conservative clerics strongly disagreed.
Rev. David Holloway, of the
traditionalist Reform Group, cited the
words priests say to parents and
godparents during the christening
service:
''The children that you have
brought for baptism depend chiefly:
on you 'for the help and encouragement
that they need. Are you willing
to give it to them by your prayers by
your example and by your teaching?"'
Holloway says gay or lesbian godparents,
even ones in monogamous
relationships, might not be set appropriate
examples for children.
'The Bible is clear," he said. "Active
SEE CHRISTENING, Page 18
Bishops deny homosexual tendencies
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Four
Roman Catholic bishops denied
claims August 1 by a gay rights
activist that they have homosexual
tendencies. Two of the four
threatened legal action.
The claims by gay rights
activist Kurt Krickler were
widely condemned by Gays,
Catholic church leaders and
prominent politicians.
In a sharp rebuke, Vatican
Radio said the accusations were
"without substance and come
close to being pathetic."
Krickler offered no proof for
his claim that the four bishops -
Christoph Schoenborn, Andreas
Laun, Klaus Kueng and Egon
Kapellari - hav:e homosexual
tendencies.
Laun, a bishop in Salzburg,
said he had already instructed
his lawyer to take court action
against Krickler.
'Td like to tell Mr. Krickler
that he cannot produce any
witnesses for my alleged tendencies,
because they do not
exist," Laun told the Austrian
Press Agency.
Kapellari, bishop in the
southern Austrian province of
Carinthia, also said he would
bring a court action for
Krickler's "violation of basic
principles on which a democratic
society rests."
Schoenborn and Kueng also
denied Krickler's accusations.
Austria's church has been in
turmoil since the spring, after
Vienna Archbishop HansHermann
Greer was accused of
sexually abusing minors more
than 20 years ago.
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER l 9 9 5
News e e e e e O o O O O O O e O O O O O O O O O O O O O O • 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 t t O O O O O O O o O O e e O e e e 0
I
Has to "figure out" his position on gay ordination
College president elected to lead Lutheran Church
By David Briggs
Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) · A moderate
college president who called on
Lutherans to be active in a world
starved on "spiritual junk food" won
election August 19th to lead the
nation's fifth-largest Protestant denomination.
The Rev. H. George Anderson, 63,president
of Luther College in
Decorah, Iowa, received 698 votes to
become only the second presiding
bishop in the short history of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America.
Anderson defeated Wisconsin
Bishop April Ulring Larson, the denomination's
first woman prelate.
Larson received 334 votes on the fifth
and final ballot at the church 's biennial
assembly .
"Our only task is to be sure that we
are still God's church, and not just
dressed up to look like it," Anderson
told cheering church delegat es immediately
after his election. ·
Anderson succeeds Bishop H erbert
Chilstrom, who has led the 5.2 million-
member denomination since its
founding in 1988 with the merger of
the Lutheran Church in Am erica,
American Lutheran Church and the
Association of Evangelical Lutheran
Churches. Chilstrom decided not to
s·eek re-election.
In remarks before the assembly,
Anderson sought to be a conciliatory
voice in the church, which in recent
years has found itself divid ed by
sexuality issues and still facing
lingering tensions over the merger.
He called on church members to set
aside divisions and begin a churchwide
conversation on issues affecting
the denomination .
"Friends, it's time for us to recognize
we need one another, " he said.
On the sexuality issue, Anderson
Lutherans cave in on
sexuality statement
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) · Calling the
issues of masturbation and homosexuality
divisive, the largest U.S.
Lutheran church has put aside a vote
on a draft outlining the church's view
on sexuality.
After the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America issued a draft
statement two years ago that said
masturbation was normal, that there
is biblical evidence supporting homosexual
marriages and that teaching
teens to use condoms is a moral
imperative, the phones rang off the
hook at the denominational headquarters
in Chicago.
Over 10,000 phone calls and 700
l"etters, most of th em hostile, were
received and a new task force was
appointed and set about revising the
first effort.
Now, there will be no vote.
The new statement was slated for
discussion at the biennial church-wide
assembly · in August. But the 39
council members voted to postpone
the vote on the new statement indefinitely.
"We're still a long way from consensus
on this," said Kathy Magnus,
vice president of the chur .ch and
chairwoman of the Church Council.
"At this ·point, we will inform the
church that the proposed sexuality
statement will not be ready by 1997.
Until we get some resolution on
significant issues, we will not bring it
forward."
The second draft of the statement is
a far cry from the first attempt at
putting together a manifesto on the
SECOND STONE
church's values regarding sexuality.
The second draft says nothing about
masturbation, urges single people to
remain celibate and says "genital
sexual activity between persons of the
same gender is not in accordance with
God 's will."
The church council apparently
followed the advice of the second
draft when it postponed the vote on
the second statement indefinitely. The
draft says the church "rejects the idea
that. it must at this time make a
definite legislative decision concerning
its teaching on and practice with
gay and lesbian persons."
"Any such decisions would be
divisive for this church," the statement
continues, "and would not be
made on the basis of the careful study
the topic requires and that should
characterize the decisions of this
church."
Rather, the statement says, the
ELCA will continue to follow "current
policy and· practice in relation to gay
and lesbian persons, and will rely for
its teaching on the social statements
from its predecessor church bodies.
This church pledges to pursue with
determination continuing study and
discussion as it seeks to discern God's
will."
The statement asks that deliberation
on human sexuality be conducted
with a faithfulness to church doctrine
and "by the will to love one another."
Conflict, the draft said, can be either a
source of division or renewal depending
upon the wisdom and grace of
church members. -
said he agr eed with a Church Council
decision earlier this week to indefinitely
postpon e work on a social
stat ement on human sexuality.
"We still have really some foundational
discussion to do as a church on
the authority of Scripture as it relates
to homosexuality, " Anderson said.
He said the church should have
"continued deep conversation" about
sexual issues, and he invited gay and
les bian Lutherans to be part of th e
dialogue.
At a news conferenc e, Anderson
said he still is trying to figure out his
own position on issues such as the
ordination of homosexuals and whether
same-sex relationships are part of
God 's plan.
At the assembly, however, .he also
told U.S. Lutherans they cannot avoid
dealing with sexual or other social
issues.
"Our destiny as a church is to be in
th e world, to suffer the pain of the
world, so we can be a sign of hope ,"
he said.
People are spiritually hungry, he
said.
'The problem of our world is that
they 're eating spiritual junk food,
including secularism, to s atisfy that
hunger. And the trag edy is they'r e
still hungry," he said.
Twice before, Ander son had b een
considered for church leadership posts
but declined. At the 1978 Luth era n
Church in America 's convention,
Anderson was the leading vote-getter
on the first ballot for bishop but
withdrew his name . He said at the
. time he did not feel an inner call. A
short time later, it was discovered his
first wife had cancer. She died four
years later.
Anderson said his decision to
withdraw from the bishop 's race •
which enabled him to devote more
time to his wife during her illness •
was a sign of God guiding his life.
Anderson said he decided his
ability to work with different groups
of people was a special gift needed by
the still-new church.
"I think I'm a good hstener," he
said. "I think I'm a good consensus
builder."
CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE:
Helping Christians
· Debate Homosexuality
Few other issues divide the
Christian community more
sharply than homosexuality.
In this new volume, writers
with divergent points of view
deal with questions at the
center of the debate between
pro-gay and anti-gay believers.
Edited by Sally B. Geis. director, Iliff
!11sti tt11e, lp y a11d Clergy Education, The
Iliff School of Theology , De11ver, a11d
D011a/d E. Messer , presid ent, The Iliff
School of Theology.
Order now from Second Stone Press
Quan.
□ CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE
By Geis/Messer, $12.95, paperbk _ _
Postage/Handling$3 first book, $1 each additional ____ _
TOTAL AMOUNT ENCLOSED -----
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ADDRESS ______________________ _
CITY/STATE/ZIP ______________ __, ____ _
ORDER FROM: SECOND STONE PRESS, P.O. BOX 8340, NEW ORLEANS, LA 70182
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 199 5
News ............................................... .........................
Episcopal priest sues female bishop for discrimination
WOODSTOCK, Vt. (AP) - An Episcopal
priest from Woodstock has filed
suit against the nation's first female
bishop charging she discriminated
against him because he is a gay man .
The Rev. Richard Lacava is seeking
$2.2 million in damages plus legal
fees from Vermont Bishop Mary
Adelia McLeod for allegedly firing
him and replacing him and two
assistants with women.
The message is "no men need
apply," Lacava said.
However, members of Integrity say
McLeod is and has been for many
years a firm supporter of Integrity
and of full participation for Gays and
Lesbians in the life of the Church. She
was one of the first bishops to move
forward to sign Bishop John Spong's
"Statement of Koinonia" during the
1994 General Convention.
Until his firing in April, Lacava, 47,
served as vicar of the Church of Our
Saviour in Sherburne, which serves
Sherburne, Plymouth and Bridgewater.
He now lives in Woodstock.
An attorney of McLeod said
Lacava's firing had nothing to do with
his gender or his sexual orientation.
There are "very serious concerns
among the members of the (church)
over his abilities to fulfill his obligations
as an Episcopal priest," said
Burlington Attorney Thomas Little.
He would not be more specific.
McLeod was consecrated as the
nation's first female bishop in 1993.
Lacava filed suit in May in Windsor
County Superior Court in Woodstock.
Lacava is being treated for depression,
but said his therapist and a
psychologist retained by the diocese
told him he was fit. to return to work.
McLeod has been vague when
Lacava asked her what he did
wrong. He was told in a phone call
last October that he didn't "recognize
boundaries" and had violated unspecified
confidences of parishioners,
he said.
He also said McLeod reported he
was "too outspoken and too angry ... ,
about gay issues in the church."
Lacava said he had called for the
church to respect gay priests. That "is
totally appropriate. The whole pur- ;
pose of Christianity is for the libera- :
tion of all people ... I felt it was ·
important to raise the issues and to be
strident about them," he said. ,
Lacava said he has had an !
non-traditional ministry in which he ·
spent time in the community meeting
a wide variety of people.
Lacava said he was initially angry
about his firing, but he's gotten over :
it. "For me now it's an issue of
justice."
Religious coalition founded to promote tolerance
By Barbara Bracht!
Joumal American
BELLEVUE, Wash. (AP) - It's no
longer considered. good form to hurl
racial or ethnic epithets at opponents
in public debate. But increasingly, a
person's religious beliefs appear to be
fair game.
Last fall, for example, a member of
the audience at a Lake Washington
School District board meeting accused
one of the board members of being
"anti-Christian."
No matter that the board member
was an active member of her Lutheran
congregation. Because he disagreed
with her on a matter of school
district policy, the man concluded she
must be "anti-Christian," and he said.
so in no uncertain terms.
The increasing numb~r of incidents
COME OUT
IN STYLE
Let others see the diversity of the lesbian
ond goy oommunity by weoring your ·own
Notio;10l Coming Out ,Doy Official
Keith Hering T-Shirt.
S T O N E
like this concern the founders of The
Interfaith Alliance of Washington
State.
· "It's very apparent that public
discourse has sunk to a new low,
particularly when it comes to religion,"
says Rick Morse, pastor at Lake
Washington Christian Church and a
member of the group's steering committee.
Morse and other Interfaith Alliance
founders believe groups like the
Christian Coalition and Focus on the
Family are promoting intolerance by
maintaining that their political
opinions are the only ones that are
morally correct.
'The leaders of the Religious Right
do not speak for all people of faith,
and _we are here to say they do not,"
Morse said.
Among the 60-some religious
persons · who began meeting in
Seattle's Eastside suburbs last fall to
· form a Washington state affiliate of
the National Interfaith Alliance are
Catholic,s, Lutherans; Methodists, Disciples
of Christ, Episcopalians, Presbyterians,
Congregationalists, Unitarians,
Moslems, Jews and Buddhists.
Members of the Alliance say they
don't believe separation of church and
state means people whose values are
rooted in religious faith should sit
down and shut up - far from it.
But they say they do believe this
nation was founded on the notion that
more than one religious faith could be
valid.
"We have to be tolerant and
rational about our beliefs towards one
another - that is what it is to be an
American," says David Serkin-Poole,
cantor af Temple B'nai ·Torah on
Mercer Island.
However, Dave Welch, executive
director of the Christian Coalition of
Washington, denies that his group
has encouraged intolerance or raised
the volume of the rhetoric.
"We've never claimed to be the •
single voice for all Christians," says
Welch. "If somebody of Christian faith
disagrees with our position, that
certainly does not- mean we don't
believe they're a Christian."
Welch says members of national
and state Interfaith Alliances are
raising the volume of the rhetoric by
accusing conservative Christians of
intolerance.
In fact, he says, the Christian
Coalition got started because "the
liberal left" discounted the opinions of
those whose values were based on
their religious convictions.
Why did the Interfaith Alliance
effort begin on the Eastside?
Primarily, says Barbara Wells of the
Woodinville Unitarian Universalist
Church, because "it's a statewide
organization that had· to start some-·
where, and it started on the Eastside . ."
But also, says Morse, because the
group felt the religious right had
been strongest in the suburbs.
Thus far, the organization has not
taken any political positions in fad,
Kirkland Congregational pastor
Walter John Boris says, "I couldn't
even tell you what members' political
positions are."
However, this could change.
"We do feel if there is an issue that
will challenge the religious plurality
of our community and our nation, we
will take a stand," Wells said.
Gay atheist group shuts down
AMERICAN GAY AND Lesbian
Atheists, Inc., has ceased
operation after the death of its
director, Don Sanders, who
died on May 17. Member files
have been transferred to the
American Atheist General
Headquarters in Austin, Texas.
Sanders founded the organization
in 1983 and served as its
only national director.
Jon Murray, president of
American Atheists, said that
the organization could not
survive the death of Sanders
and that there would be no
further issues of the AGLA
newsletter. "I shall be filing
dissolution papers for the
corporation with the State of
Texas," Murray said.
Portions of Sanders will indicated
that he had at one time
provided for the continuation of
AGLA but after a conflict between
himself and his board of
directors, Sanders willed that
the organization not be continued.
"It grieves me a great
deal," wrote Sanders in a stat,oc,
ment made part of his will, "lei'
know that so little concern has
been shown by American Gay
Atheists, Inc.'s board of directors
that no one of them is willing
to take over the helm of the
gay and lesbian community's
most important movement.
Therefore, I want none of my
estate or property to be rendered
unto anyone associated
with American Gay Atheists,
Inc. for fear that it will simply
be used to enrich individuals
and not to further the cause of
atheism in the lesbian and gay
community."
"Mr. Sanders will be missed
by us all," stated Murray in a
letter to members of AGLA.
'The gay and atheist communities
have both lost a
spirited combatant for civil
liberties.''
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER l 9 9 5
News . . . . . . . . ~ . . . . . . . . . . . .
(Popular priest and author leaves Catholic Church for UFMCC
DR. ROBERT GOSS, an unlaicized
Catholic priest, a former Jesuit and
. author of Jesus Acted Up, has
announced his intentions to transfer
his dergy credentials from the Roman
Catholic Church to the Universal
Fellowship of Metropolitan Community
Churches. The announcement was
made during Samaritan Institute's
awards luncheon on July 25, part of
the 17th General Conference of the
UFMCC in Atlanta.
"I have ended my 17 year exile and
found a home to learn, collaborate,
and leach about the vision of justicelove
of God's reign," said Goss. 'The
UFMCC is by no means the perfect
Christian community. It is growing
and struggling with issues of racism,
classism, economic oppression, etc.
The UFMCC is generations ahead of
Catholic Christianity with a vison of
Minister offers alternative
to Promise Keepers
ARVADA, Colo. (AP). - An Arvada
minister who believes the evangelical
men's group Promise Keepers has a
"simplistic philosophy" is offering an
alternative: Premise Keepers.
Rev. Charles Schuster said his
group will examine the bases of
belief, faith, ethics and integrity. It
will be established at Arvada United
Methodist Church, where he is a
senior pastor.
"We'll explore our doubts, our affirmations,
our commitments, our theology
and our ultimate destiny as hu'
man beings," he wrote in a church
newsletter announcing the new
group.
Schuster was turned off by the
hugely popular Promise Keepers,
started by University of Colorado
football coach Bill McCartney. He
·claimed the group fills a vacuum for
many men who don 't know exactly
what their roles are.
The "me-generation of the '80s left
in its wake a self-indulgent macho
male, who, in reaction to the liberation
of women, felt unsure of his role
and incumbered with self doubt,"
Schuster wrote in the newsletter.
Schuster believes Promise Keepers
OutRage! outs bishop
LONDON'S GAY OutRage!
group disruplo,d the retirement
service for the Anglican Bishop
of St. Albans, Rt. Rev. John
Taylor on July 23 lo protest his
affiliation with Courage, an exgay
organization.
· As Taylor began his farewell
address, proleslors stormed the
altar chanting 'Taylor out,
Courage out." Taylor retreated
from the pulpit and one of the
activists delivered a sermon of
his own. ·
The proteslors left after 10
minutes, blowing whistles and
chanting, "Church of hatred,
church of fear, stop crucifying
queers."
"OutRage! has repeatedly
tried to get the church hierarchy
to address the issue of
SEC O ND STONE
has a "simplistic philosophy," a narrow
view of Jesus and "prejudice
against homosexuals." He also worries
there may be a "presupposition" of
the dominance of the male.
Promise Keepers officially believes
"homosexuality violates God's creative
design," but Gays are welcome
at the events, said the group's spokesman,
who denied the group promotes
male superiority.
Promise Keeper~ is holding 13
mega events _ this year in football
stadiums around the country . The
events, which began in April and run
through October, will draw 500,000
evangelical Christians. .
While Promise Keepers offers a way
for men to go "one on one with Jesus"
and learn how to keep promises and
put life in balance, Schuster said he is
worried about what happens when
men leave the stadium events.
He said they could "lapse into the
same patterns that produced the irresponsibility
in the first place."
Promise Keepers has set up men's
groups in individual congregations
and leaders stress the stadium events
are only half the picture.
ex-gay groups and acknowledge
the emotional damage
that such groups do to the
vulnerabl.e, often young, people
that they target," OutRage!
said in a press release.
'Today's action sends a message
to the Church of England
that the lesbian and gay com_
munity will not stand by as the
church allows other gay people
to be damaged in the name of
their religion by fundamentalist
bigots . We are seeking an unequivocal
condemnation of the
actions of the ex-gay groups
from the church and will not
stop our campaign of disruption
until the church acknowledges
its moral responsibilities."
-Seattle Gay News -
justice and compassion ... I recognize
that God's spirit is actively present
· and transforming the UFMCC into a
prophetic change community, posing
an alternative vision of justice -love
and inclusion to the mainline Christian
denominations."
Goss called the Catholic Church a
"dead institution" and was critical of
Dignity /USA, a national organization
of gay and lesbian Catholics. "On a
local and national level, Dignity has
been unable to offer queer Catholics a
vision of justice that comprehended
homophobia as embedded in misogyny
or connected to racism, ageism,
classism, etc ... Dignity has faltered
from a lack of vision on the national
level and a well orchestrated plan to
render it useless by the U.S. Catholic
bishops ."
Goss said that outside of a few folks
such as himself and John McMeill,
Catholic gay and lesbian voices have.
remained silent. "Jeanine Grammick
and Robert Nugent have c'aved in to
terroristic climate," said Goss. 'They
now involve themselves with parents
of Gays and Lesbians and lead tours
to the Holy Land. Priests, nuns, and
theologians have remained silent."
Goss is a resident of St. Louis,
Missouri. He had, ·oined the Samaritan
Institute for Re igious Studies, the
educational and theological arm of the
UFMCC, as an adjunct faculty member
earlier this year. ·
Canadian church
welcomes
,gay ministers
TORONTO'S BLOOR Street
United Church is the second
congregation of Canada's
largest denomination to fully
welcome Gays;~induding as
ministers, the T_~ronto Star
reported. "We'v'r made this
decision after a lc\ng period of
prayer, reflection and study,"
said Elder Jean Hilliard. "We
felt a need to take a stand to
involve Gays and Lesbians in
every aspect of church life -
leading a Sunday School class
or leading us in worship,
marrying or burying us."
-Seattle Gay News \
\,
HOMOSEXUALITY IN THE CHURCH:
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experience discuss the place
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community offaith. This
book will provoke discussion
in congregations, study groups,
and ethics and social justice
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Edited by Jeffrey S. Siker, Associate
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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER l 9 9 5
News
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• ~ • If ••
Episcopal bishops bring retired colleague to church trial
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Episcopal
bishops have voted to bring a retired
colleague before a formal church trial
because he ordained an openly gay
man.
Presiding Bishop EdmondBrowning
said August 18 that at least 75 bishops
have voted to move forward with
charges that retired Bishop Walter
Righter of Iowa violated church law
by ordaining a homosexual deacon in
1990. Righter was assistant bishop of
Newark, N.J., at the time.
A minimum of one-quarter of the
church's 297 bishops had to vote by
mid-August to proceed with the trial
or the charges would have been
dismissed. Church officials .did not
release the vote totals.
In January, 10 bishops filed charges
accusing Righter of violating his
ordination vows by ordaining a man
openly having a gay relationship .
The bishops said Righter was . "teaching
a doctrine contrary to that held by
this church."
Righter has denied the charges,
saying church doctrine in this case
does not limit a bishop's right to
ordain a "canonically qualified candidate."
The case will go before a Court for
- Episcopal bishop opposes heresy trial
DENVER (AP) - Trying retired Iowa
Episcopal Bishop Walter Righter for
heresy because he ordained a gay
man "would be ludicrous" because
the church doesn't have clear rules
dealing with homosexuality, Colorado's
bishop says.
"It's a murky situation," Bishop
Jerry Winterrowd said. "It would be a
waste of the church's time, talent and
treasure to proceed with the trial."
Winterrowd said he hopes to
persuade fellow bishpps at next
month's meeting of bishops in Portland,
Ore., to put a three-year moratorium
on ordaining Gays and blessing
same-sex unions.
He said the bishops could use the
three years to "draw up a definitive
statement" on ordinations and samesex
marriages.
The official Episcopal stance about
Gays and Lesbians was approved fa
1979 and says it is "inappropriate" .for
the church to ordain practicing Gays
or ' heterosexuals who are having ·
sexual relations outside of marriage.
Winterrowd said that stand is too
weak to defend.
He said about a dozen bishops have
ordained practicing Gays and others
have blessed same-sex marriages.
"What will we do, try all these
bishops, one by one?" he asked.
Fred Phelps convicted on two counts
EMPORIA, Kan. (AP) - Convictions
on two misdemeanor counts of disorderly
conduct apparently don't bother
anti-gay activist the Rev. Fred
Phelps.
"If you guys knew how little this
bothers me, you wouldn't even be
asking me questions," Phelps told
reporters after the verdict was read on
August 11.
A Lyon County jury deliberated
about 50 minutes before returning the
guilty verdicts against Phelps, who
was charged with shouting insults at
a group of six people going into a
Topeka restaurant to celebrate a
woman's 86th birthday.
'This is just another little skirmish,"
said Phelps, pastor of Westboro Baptist
Church.
Phelps said he plans to challenge
the constitutionality of the state's disorderly
conduct statute "all the way to
the Supreme Court."
It was the last of several trials
involving six members of the church,
all charged with misdemeanors in
incidents in Topeka last year and this
year. The cases were transferred from
Topeka to Emporia on a change of
venue.
SECOND STONE
Defense witnesses, all members of
Phelps' church, testified that at no
time on July 7, 1994, did Phelps stand
in front of the Topeka restaurant and
shout offensive names at the six
people.
Prosecution witnesses testified that
. Phelps called them names, including
"queer faggot" and "whores" before
they entered the restaurant. .
Eric Ridenour, the group's
limousine driver, said he approached
Phelps, wanting "to rip his head off"
before being surrounded by picketers.
Jonathan Phelps, the defendant's
son, said the incident did not involve
his father . The younger Phelps said
Ridenour told the picketers not to
bother the group because it included
an elderly woman, Margarite Hanlon,
now 87.
Jonathan Phelps said he and James
Hockenbarger exchanged words with
Ridenour and Topeka attorney John
Hamilton, culminating in Hamilton
telling the 300-pound Jonathan Phelps
to "eat a salad, skinny."
"Nobody said anything directly to -
the Trial of a Bishop, consisting of
nine other bishops . Action would be
taken by a majority vote and possible
penalties include admonishing
Righter .
However, no sentence could be
imposed unless the findings by
church courts were approved by a
two-thirds vote ·of all the church's
bishops.
Gay and lesbian Episcopalians
respond to vote to try Righter
NEW YORK, N. Y. - Integrity, Inc.,
the lesbian and gay justice ministry of
the Episcopal Church, says it is disappointed
that sufficient consents have
been submitted to bring the Rt. Rev.
Walter Righter to trial for heresy for
· his ordination to the diaconate of the
Rev. Barry Stopfel, an openly gay
Integrity member, in 1990. ·
The outcome of such a trial is
virtually a foregone conclusion, according
to Integrity, who claims that
Bishop Righter will be acquitted - and
the homophobia of the Church will be
convicted.
"A heresy trial at the close of the
20th Century will undoubtedly hold
the Episcopal Church up to ridicule,
just as the 1992 trial depossing the
Rev. James Ferry, an openly gay
priest in Toronto, made the Anglican
Church of Canada appear overly
rigid and out-of-touch," said a statement
released by Integrity. ·
A vote of only 25 percent of the
bishops was required to bring Bishop
Righter to trial. Over half of the bishops
eligible to vote are retired, and
any women going in there," the
younger Phelps added.
Hamilton testified that he did not
have any conversation with Jonathan
Phelps on July 7.
Shawnee County Attorney Joan
Hamilton, who is no relation to John
given the composition of the 1994
signatory list of the so-called "Affirmation,"
authored by many of the
same bishops who brought the presentment,
it is probable that a
substantial majority of the signatories
are retired bishops.
At present, Integrity is aware of
at least 117 iJersons who were known
to be sexually active gay men or lesbians
by their bishops at the time of
their ordinations. Such ordinations
have occurred in all parts of the
country over the last 20 years. Over
35 bishops have performed such ordinations.
The claims that other bishops will
be similarly charged do not ring true,
says Integrity. A change in the
canons will become effective on
January 1, 1996, which will subject
such charg.es to review by a committee
appointed by the Presiding
Bishop. Such a panel rejected similar
charges against the Bishop of
Michigan, the Rt. Rev. Stewart Wood,
Jr., last year.
Hamilton, said the rebuttal witnesses ·
were the key to winning the conviction.
'This is a good ending in Lyon
County," she said. "I hope members
of the community will continue to
come forward."
Phelps' grandson convicted of spitting on man
EMPORIA, Kan. (AP) - A
grandson of anti-gay activist
Fred Phelps was found guilty of
battery for spitting on a man
during the picketing of a
restaurant.
The Lyon County District
Court jury deliberated about 4
1/ 2 hours July 27 before convicting
Benjamin C. Phelps on
the misdemeanor.
The trial was the fourth of six
being held in Emporia on a
change of venue for Fred
Phelps and five members of his
Westboro Baptist Church in
Topeka. Charges against them
stem from encounters that took
place during demonstrations.
Testimony in the latest trial
ended July 26 when Benjamin
Phelps denied spitting on Jerold
Berger, the husband of the
woman who owns the restaurant.
Phelps said he was coming
to the defense of James
Hockenbarger, whom he said
was being charged at by
Berger.
Phelps said Berger put his
hand on him. Berger testified
that any contact with Phelps
was unintentional and could not
have been more than a brush
against him.
SEPTEMBER/ 0 CT OBER 9 9 5
AIDS CHARITIES
FEEL COMPETITION,
'"COMPASSION
FATIGUE"
BY FRED BAYLES Remember the days when a
new and terrible killer called
AIDS inspired an outpouring
of generosity with an optimistic
surge of walkathons, glittery
award dinners and soaring donations?
These are not distant memories for
AIDS victims, their friends, families
and scientists trying to stop the
· disease that has claimed more than
270,000 lives in the United States
alone.
But for many, the sense of urgency
is gone. And AIDS organizations are
feeling the pinch.
The American Foundation for
AIDS Research, the nation's largest
nonprofit source of research funds, cut
its budget by 20 percent this spring,
blaming a drop in donations on an
increasingly complacent and resigned
public .
"A sense of crisis has largely evaporated,
" said foundation chairman
Mathilde Krim. "People don't make
grand gestures. They've learned that
$100,000 is not going to make it go
away."
In Seattle, where donations to an
annual AIDS walkathon quadrupled
in its first three years, participation in
the past few walkathons has remained
fiat.
"People are getting weary and
getting new people to give is getting
harder," said Carol Brogmann, direc,
tor of development for Northwest
AIDS Foundation.
Even symbols of support are
fading. Red ribbons signifying soli'
darity with t~e AIDS cause, ubiquitous
at past Academy Awards
presentations, were rare this year .
Celebrities wore emblems ·of new
·causes from breast cancer to the
National Endowment for the Arts.
"People are moving on to other
issues," said Marcia Levy, a spokeswoman
for the Whitman Walker
Clinic, a Washington, D.C. AIDS
.service group that saw donations drop
more than 6 percent last year.
"For some people the issue of AIDS
is a downer," she said. "People who
contribute to cancer hear lots of stories
about cures . With AIDS it's an unhappy
story ."
While there is no central accounting
of the money donated to thousands of
organizations that offer AIDS programs,
a survey by the American
Association of Fund Raising Counsel
Inc., estimated between $575 million
to $850 million went to AIDS causes·
in 1992.
That compares to $373 million
raised by the American Cancer
Society alone in 1994.
With new AIDS organizations
popping up all the time, it is hard to
track the flow of contributions. But
Ann Kaplan, director of research for
AAFRC, said current data show some
AIDS charities "are not faring well."
"Some smaller, grass-roots organizations
are doing well, but our sample
of the large national organizations .
shows declines or increases below the
general increase in charitable giving
for 1994," she said.
AIDS groups are not alone in their
predicament. Philanthropy in general
has weakened over the past few years
with total giving just barely topping
increases in in'flation.
Fund-raising experts blame a range
of causes: skepticism about waste and
fraud in larger charities, uncertainty
abo.ut the economy and a "compassion
fatigue" that burned · out potential
donors .
AIDS fund-raisers say this burnout
has a new, terrible dimension for
them: Many of their strongest advocates
and donors in the gay community'
have died. Others have given
all they can.
"We've already lost a generation of
leaders . Some of the people who were
there leading the charge in the '80s
are gone, " said Henry Goldstein, a
New York fund-raising consultant.
Those supporters who have
survived have given all they can.
Paula Van Ness, president of the
National AIDS Fund, which has
distributed $42 million to communitybased
AIDS groups, talks of an
overreliance on "black tie bake sales,"
expensive fund-raising · events that
used celebrities such as Elizabeth
Taylor as a dra~.
Guest lists, she said, were
invariably the same.
'They kept going back to the same
people again and again," she said .
"When I worked in Los Angeles, it
was not uncommon to be invited to
an AIDS event every week."
Kaplan said her survey found 75
percent of AIDS donations were
raised by special events that rely on a
specific group of donors. Other charities,
she said, draw just 25 percent of
donations from special events. The
rest come from such broad-based
methods such as direct mail and
telemarketing.
Officials at AIDS charities admit the
reliance on a limited group slowed
potential growth of donations. · But
they said it was hard to branch out in
the face of the scorn some attach to a
disease that claims a bulk of victims
from the gay community and intravenous
drug users .
"What they are finding, is the
stigma is making it very difficult to
broaden the appeal," Goldstein said.
"No CEO of a major Fortune 100
company is stepping up and saying
there's a tremendous financial and
social cost associated with this
disease."
Krim said contributions also have
been hurt by a growing feeling that
AIDS only affects a limited part of the
population, dispelling early public
pronouncements the disease would
spread to .the general population.
"People expected to see an
explosion of AIDS in their neighborhood,
but that is not the way AIDS
spreads," she said.
Michael Seltzer, who recently left
his post as executive director of
Funders Concerned About AIDS,
believes the plethora of small 'AIDS
-organizations has made it harder
donors to find the equivalent of a
National Hearl Association to give
their money .
There are an estimated 18,000
nonprofit groups raising funds for .
AIDS programs, ranging from the $16'
million American Foundation for
AIDS Research to the Atlanta Girl
Scouts, which supports an AIDS
project.
"In the campaign to find a cure for
polio, the March of Dimes was
anointed as the leader . That's not the
case with AIDS," said Seltzer. "My
hunch is the average American does
not know what organization to send a ·
check to."
"For some people
the issue of AIDS
is a downer ...
People who contribute
to cancer
hear lots of
stories about
cures. With
AIDS it's an
unhappy
story."
Some groups try to solve that
problem by joining forces. In San
Francisco, where 200 different organiz
ations compete for donations, there
are attempts lo unify both fundraising
efforts and. the services they
provide.
"If I go to a corporation and say we
are working with two other agencies,
that makes the entire program more
appealing," said Jane Breyer, director
of development for the San Francisco
AIDS Foundation.
Some fund -raisers believe AIDS
donations will recover as organizations
consolidate and mature in fundraising
efforts. They say they were
slow to react because of a misplaced
optimism that a cure was just around
the corner.
Van Ness tells of working for a Los
Angeles AIDS group · early in the
crisis . At that time the group decided
there was no reason to sign a
long-term lease for a copy machine .
"We really thought this might just
be a little blip and that if we could
just get through this next phase, the
crisis would be over," she said. "A lot
of us were caught in this hope we
, wouldn't have to work on this for too
Jong. Now we have to face the fact ·
that it is going to be here for the long
haul." ·
.S E C O N D ST O N E - SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER l 9 9 5
J all en Rix: The
journey takes a
new direction
FOLKS WHO HAVE developed
an appreciation of the
deeply personal message of
the music of San Franciscobased
gay Christian recording artist
Jallen Rix are eagerly awaiting the
release of his new work due out in
October. Rix has_ spent the past six
years in full-time music ministry,
performing in hundreds of locations
across the country. His new recording
marks his fourth release and his
first on CD.
Through his music over the past few
years, this remarkably talented artist
has invited us along as an intimate
companion on his personal journey.
We have shared in both his
struggles and his triumphs and he
has matured before our very ears. If
friends and fans of Rix . feel they
somehow share in that maturation
with .him, it is because they do.
"There are times when I write
music from experiences of people that
are around me," said Rix. 'They've
told me their stories and somehow in
the telling it has changed my life. It
has improved me in some way. And
.. those unique moments have been
soJnelhing that has been important to
me. So I would write about them."
Rix is an evangelical Christian who
grew up in a home where learning to
play piano was a requirement. He
developed a fondness of gospel music,
while growing up in his church-going
family. By the time he graduated
from high school, he knew that music
was · what he wanted to do. He got a
degree in music and has been ._composing
and performing ever since.
As with most evangelical Christians,
the early messages Rix heard from
the pulpit regarding sexuality were
negative. His spirituality and his sexuality
were polarized. What is unique
about listening to )alien's music from
one recording to the next is that one
can actually hear and feel Rix begin
to integrate his sexuality and his
spirituality.
"When I write music/ Rix said, "I
lend to be inspired by a variety of
experiences . Probably first off is
personal experience. Inevitably my
life is lived out in my music."
Jallen's new recording, 'The Sacred
And The Queer," marks a-new direction
in his musical career. Not only is
this recording fully orchestrated (the
past recordings were piano and vocal
only), but he is venturing into new
subject matter .
'This recording highlights a new
way my music reflects my personal
journey," said Rix. "In the past, it
tended to reflect only my spiritual
experience. In doing this I neglected
singing about my sexuality. This
recording integrates my spirituality
and sexuality. This freedom and
wholeness feels great!"
The wholeness is honestly and
poetically dealt with in several of
Jallen's songs. 'The Pendulum
Swings" is a mainstream, pop song
that speaks to the changes and com-.
plexities of relationships. "I Hold His
Hand Loosely" unfolds a story of
knowing the difference between
infatuation and· true love, sung in the
context of a light Latin sound . Probably
most direct is the R&B song
''Down at Stonewall" in which Rix lets
two seemingly opposed subjects dive
headlong into each other with
positive results. The song has Jesus
miss a church service to hang out at
Stonewall, the gay bar known as the
site of the beginning of gay liberation.
'This song started tongue-in-cheek
with a friend," said Rix. ''But I realized
it actually exemplifies what is
happening in my heart. My spirituality
and sexuality are integrating.
When I relax and let the process
happen, I discover that I am more at
peace than ever before."
J alien's music is not exclusively
about the gay experience. Issues of
sexuality, injustice, creativity and
unconditional love are subjects many
people relate to in his music.
;
1'J\,1usic seen1s to cut right to our
ein;otions and hit us on more than one
1evel. We can think about the 1 yrics,
we can enjoy them and how they're
p,ut together, but the music somehow
kind of carries it to our hearts ... "
"As a composer/lyricist I am
challenged by the task lo create music
that bridges the gap between an
artist's expression and the listener's
understanding," said Rix. "Music
seems lo cut right to our emotions and
hit us on more than one level. We
can think about the lyrics, we can
enjoy them and how they're put
together but the music somehow kind
of carries it to our hearts... What's
wonderful about music is that it can
bring the experience home to us.
Issues of our day are not just their
issue, but they're our issue."
For fans who were afraid that
Jallen's new fuller sound would take
away from the intimacy of his music,
the deeply personal quality is still
present. One listener commented, "I
feel like I'm eavesdropping on
(Jallen's] life - like I really don't know
[him) well enough to be hearing
some of this. There isn't much music
written at this level of openness. It's
one of an artist's highest goals, and I
think he's attained it."
Three songs that have been favorite
piano/vocal pieces on past recordings
have been orchestrated for this one:
"When You Touch Me I Know,"
"What The Preacher Did To Me," and
''Better Tha11 Before."
Rix says he has a special place in his
heart for the church. In addition to
his music, he leads worship services
and offers a variety of workshops and
speaking topics to strengthen and
support the church.
"I believe that the church has potential
to create the majority of healing
between the lesbian/gay community
and the religious community," Rix
said. "My goal is to take a group one
more step in faith toward the God
who loves them .
Praise for 'The Sacred And The
Queer" comes from some big names
in the gay music business. Romanovsky
& Phillips said, "Jallen's new
recording is a stunning debut album
filled with well crafted and brillinat
musical gems - but then what would
we know about gay music." Will
Grega, editor of Out Sounds: The Gay
and Lesbian Music Alternative gave
Jallen's new release the highest
ratings by naming · it America's Best
Gay Album.
'The Sacred And The Queer," on
CD and cassette, is scheduled to be in
record stores and gay /lesbian bookstores
in October and is also available
from Triam Music Agency, 501 Hayes
1122, San Francisco, CA 94102,
triama@aol.com.
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER l 9 9 5
Will wear rainbow ribbons to Mass October 8
Catholics in support of gay ri_ghts to celebrate solidarity
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Dignit y/
USA, the national' organization for
gay and lesbian Catholics, has called
on Catholics who disagree with
official church teaching on homosexuality
to join in a visible protest on
Sunday, October 8, 1995. Dignity has
named that day, which coincides with
a planned papal visit to Baltimore,
Maryland, "Solidarity Sunday," and is
asking supporters to wear a rainbow
ribbon throughout the day.
In announcing the eve nt, Dignity/
USA president Marianne Duddy said,
"For too long, the Pope and bishops
who endorse discrimination against
gay people have controlled the Catholic
message about homos exuality,
when in fact their attitude is not at all
representative of what most Catholics
think. It's time that people understand
that most Catholics are fair and
decent, and believe that all people
should be treated with respect ."
Duddy pointed to numerous studies
that indi cate that the majority of
American Catholics support gay
rights . A 1992 Gallup poll put this
support at 78 percent.
In contrast, recent Vatican state ments
have named homosexuality as
'Philadelphia' screenwriter to
speak at Disciples' banquet
RON NYSW ANER, screenwriter for
the Oscar-award winning movie,
"Philadelphia", will be the keynote
speaker for the Gay, Lesbian_ and
Affirming Disciples (GLAD) Alliance
banquet in Pittsburgh, Penn., during
the General Assembly of the Christian
Church (Disciples of Christ),
October 20-24. Nyswaner, who grew
up as a youth in the First Christian
Church of Carmichaels, Penn., served
. as a delegate to the General Assembly
in Cincinnati, Ohio when he was
a teenager. At the October 21 banquet
at the Pittsburgh Convention
Center he will be sharing his reflections
on his journey of self-discovery
and how his work with the film
motivated him lo be more open and
honest ab.out being gay.
The screenplay for "Philadelphia",
the first major studio film to confront
AIDS and homophobia, brought
Nyswaner major acclaim and nominations
for the Writers' Guild, Golden
Globe and Academy Awards. He has
. written the screenplays for "Smithereens",
"Mrs. Soffel", "Love Hurts",
"Gross Anatomy" (coauthor), and
wrote and directed 'The Prince of
Pennsylvania." His first stage play,
"Oblivion Postponed", will be produced
this fall Off-Broadway.
Nyswaner works and lives in Ulster
County, New York, where he is a
founding member of a theater company,
and volunteers for Angel Food
East, an organization which feeds
homebound persons with HIV/ AIDS.
He speaks lo many groups of people
about the rights of gay people with
HIV/ AIDS, and has traveled to prisons,
schools, conferences and human
rights festivals to do so .
The banquet is one facet of the
Alliance 's progra _m during the
General Assembly of the Christian
Church. On Friday, October 20,
Alliance members and friends will
gather at a pre-assembly event. Two
"aftersessions" are · plann ed, one for
parents, families, and friends on
Friday evening and one for Open &
Affirming Congregations on Sunday,
October 22. GLAD Alliance was
formed to provide advocacy, education,
and nurture for lesbian, gay,
bisexual, transgendered and affirming
persons within the Christian
Church (Disciples of Christ), a moderate
Protestant denomination founded
in th~ early 1800's.
(SEE CALENDAR.)
Minister fired after performing lesbian marriage
NEW YORK (AP) - A Long
Island minister was fired by his
congregation after he married a
lesbian couple, The New Yark
Times reported .
The Rev. Renwick Jackson
was dismissed by a vote of 84 to
67 taken by the members of the
Congregational Church of
Patchogue on July 31.
Jackson performed the wedding
Dec. 31.
"I tried not to force my views
on those who were against the
union," he said, "and performed
the marriage not in
Patchogue but at a Congre-
SECOND STONE
gational church in Bay Shore.
"But passions have run high
and tempers at many meetings
since then have flared," he said.
'Those against me threw chairs
and shouted, 'I want no lesbian
in my church,' and stalked
out."'
The Times said many parishioners
who favored dismissing
Jackson denied that homopho.
bia was the reason.
One person sai d the minister
was fired because he was
causing division within the
congregation .
•
"intrinsically disordered" and · are
seen by many as tacitly approving of
violence against gay people . Cardinal
Joseph Ratzinger, Director of the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith, wrote "When civil legislation is
introduced to protect [homosexual]
behavior .... neither the Church nor
society at large should be surprised
when ... violent reactions increase."
The national coordinator of
Solidarity Sunday, Bruce Jarstfer, a
retired military surgeon who lives in
San Antonio, Texas, said, 'The radical
right has targeted our community for
abuse, and to drive the fundraising
for their ministries. Hate crimes
against people perceived to be gay or
lesbian increase with every sermon or
speech based on gay hatred. It is
time to call a halt to such verbal and
physical violence."
Dignity /USA predicts that as many
as 250,000 Catholics will wear rainbow
ribbons to Mass on October 8, in
the first of what is hoped to become a
national event. Solidarity Sunday is
also planned to coincide with National
Coming Out Day, celebrated on
October 11.
-Lutheran church offers
free condoms to teenagers
NEW YORK (AP) - A South Bronx
church offered free condoms to teenagers
at its basketball tournament,
but found few takers - at least, in
front of television cameras.
Still, All Saints Lutheran Parish
marked a legal victory July 9 in St.
Mary's Park by offering four brands
of condoms along with anti-AIDS literature.
The church had won its court fight
against the city for the right to hand
out condoms in the park. State Appellate
Court Justice Israel Rubin ruled
July 8 that a ban on distributing condoms
on city p r operty was unconstitutional.
The Rev. David Kalke, pastor of All
Saints, said his church routinely
dispenses condoms as part of its AIDS
awareness project, including at last
inspired "secret policy" that would not
survive a full court hearing later this
month.
'This ban represents politics at its
worst," Siegel said. 'The Giuliani
administration pandered to certain
conservative elements of our city,
whose message is abstinence.
"We need to get real on this
life-or-death issue," Siegel said.
In a statement issued at City Hall,
Corporation Counsel Paul Crotty
stressed the limitations imposed by
Rubin's order.
"We are happy that the court ·
recognizes that there can be reasonable
time, place and manner of
restrictions on activities that may
cause offense to other people," the
lawyer said.
year's basketball tournament. That's -,------------•-.i why he said he was surprised to find
that this year's park-use permit
stipulated "no condom distribution."
Norman Siegel, head of the New
York Civil Liberties Union, contended
there was no reason for the
city to ban condom distribution when
it allows T-shirts, key chains and
other items to be dispens ed in its
parks.
"If Disney and Pocahontas are
allowed in the park, and th ey were,
surely Rev. Kalke and the All Saints
Lutheran parish, and condoms,
should be allowe d in the park,''
Siegel told reporters.
Kalke was told by Parks
Department offi cials that city rules
barred such activity. He asked for
help from the union, which won an
initial court ruling July 7 that blocked
· the city from enforcing its policy.
In rapid-fire order, the city then
won a temporary stay of that ruling,
and the .issue was bounced to Rubin.
The judge sided with -the lower court,
clearing the way for the church to
h the epirit of 5t. Fraicia and 5t.
Clare, wdre ~ mJge l,uiden;
and~ IM(8l"6 tojoum:y with
us ii tlJB f~ of J89oo Ori:;!;.
C?
rl!'f) We are an ecumenical,
inclusive. non-clerical
0.,. community of baptize~ men
~ and women from various
Christian traditions who
~ chose to worship and live in
~ a faith-sharing spirit .
You may become an
~ Associate or enter the
program leading to the •
profession of vows as a
~~ religious Brother or Sister.
Ask to receive our
newsletter, "Footsteps." t We work in ministries
of love, care and reconciliation
nationwide.
• · For more information,
please write to:
proceed - on condition condoms be IIER"_V OF Goo COMMUNITY handed out only during Sunday's Pl .,
tournament, and only to youths 16 Att: Vocation Director
and older who asked. P. 0. Box 41055
Siegel charged that Mayor Rudolph Providence RI 02940-1055
Giuliani was backing a politically ~amiliiiiiiiiiii,i,iillllilliiiiaiiiil!'liilili•.-
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 199 5
Baptist women take up fight against AIDS
By Jim Jones
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
FORT WORTH, Texas - An organization
of Baptist women have decided to
move to the forefront in the fight
against AIDS. The 1.2 million
members of the Woman's Missionary
Union are beginning a nationwide
AIDS education program.
The program, Dare to Care, doesn 't
officially begin until October; but
churches from Texas to ·Maine are 'We d~n't try to be judgmental in
already receiving educational materi- . · any of our materials in the AIDS
als on how to help those suffering project," said Trudy Johnson, special
from acquired immune deficiency projects director of the Birmingham,
syndrome. Ala.,-based Woman's Missionary
Some pious religionists have called Union, an independent auxiliary of
AIDS a curse from God - punishment the Southern Baptist Convention.
for homosexual lifestyles and the But the AIDS education program of
promiscuity of heterosexuals. But the women's group does promote
most Baptists and other evangelicals traditional morality - including sexual
don't go that far. Their faith compels abstinence - as a way of pr eventing
them lo assist people in trouble, the disease . Training materials from
regardless of their circumstances. the women ' s group and other Baptist
son, Scott Allen, was fired from his
ministerial position with a Christian
Church (Disciples of Christ) congregation
in Colorado. Scott Allen returned
to Texas where his father was then
president of the Baptist Radio and
Television Commission in Fort Worth .
Acting out of concern for the health
of their congregations, leaders of Fort
Worth-Dallas churches, both Baptist
and those of other denominations,
discouraged Scott Allen's family from
attending Sunday school or other
church functions.
American· Baptists divided
agencies emphasize that sexual
contact and blood transfusions are the
major ways of contracting AIDS.
Worshipping or praying with a
person with AIDS won't give you the
diseas e, the materials state. Cards
asking for prayers for specific persons
who have AIDS also are included.
Information is given on setting up
care teams and church education programs
.
One of the source materials offered
by the women's group's AIDS program
is a video, Valley of the
Shadow, distributed by the Texas
Baptist Christian Life Commission,
which tells the story· of the Allen
family and includes videos of physicians
and others talking about the
disease. It also features information on
services provided to AIDS patients by
Broadway Baptist Church of Fort
Worth and First Baptist Church of
Arlington.
over churches that welcome Gays
By Joe Bigham
Associated Press Writer
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The American
Baptist Church is divided on
whether to accept gay and lesbian
members, and four churches in the
San Francisco area may be at risk of
being pushed out of the fold for doing
·so.
; At least 16 churches have asked the
!board of managers of the American
· ·· ·Baptist Churches of the West to expel
congregations in Oakland, San Jose,
• Berkeley and San Li!artdro from the
organization.
The board, which represents 220
churches in Northern and Central
California, deadlocked on the issue
earlier in the summer.
One side believes homosexuality is
wrong. The other accepts Gays and
Lesbians as members and claims
:autonomy of local churches is at stake.
Two San Joaquin Valley pastors are
spearheading a drive to oust four San
Francisco Bay area churches from a
regional Baptist conference unless
they quit condoning homosexuality.
"Our primary purpose is to ask
those churches to renounce and
change the direction they're going,"
the Rev. Harold G. Meers of First
Baptist Church in Visalia said. 'They
are unwilling to change in any way
because they have introduced the
affirmation of homosexuality into both
.the ordination and lay leadership ."
Meers tells his congregation that
homosexuals can change their s.exual
orientation if they want to, and offers
a support group.
The Rev. Jim Dunn of Stockton's
First Baptist Church called homosexuality
"still a sin" no matter whether
it's a lifestyle or whether men and
women are born homosexual.
Homosexuality is condemned in
The Bible in an Old Testament list of
practices forbidden to the Hebrews.
But the Rev. James Hopkins of
Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church in
Oakland called homosexuality "the
. last respectable prejudice of the 20th .
century." ·
Lakeshore Avenue _ belongs .to the
Association of Welcoming and Affirm.
ing Baptists, along with First Baetist
-• SECOND STONE
of Berkeley, Community of Faith
Church of San Jose and San Leandro
Community Church.
Hopkins said sexuality is "a gift
from God" that should be enjoyed as
it is - within a "context of commit.
ment."
"I will fight this fight a long way to
keep that hallmark of Baptist religious
freedom . from being taken
away," Hopkins said.
"American Baptists for centuries
have stood strong on social issues and
justice issues," said the Rev. Kay Wellington,
pastor at San Leandro Community.
She said American Baptists
are not fundamentalists - believers in
the infallibility of scripture - as are
many Southern Baptists.
Meers said his church and Dunn's
"foster love and ministry to people
struggling with homosexuality. It is
an issue of Biblical authority around
the teachings of scripture."
The board of managers of the
American Baptist Churches of the
West, which represents 220 Northern
and Central California churches, will
. take up the issue this fall.
"One of the things that could
happen if they continue to hold lo
their position is they could be
removed from the denomination;"
Meers said of the four affirming
churches.
. But Hopkins hopes the dispute
doesn't get to the point of a formal
split, called a schism when churches
divide over doctrine .
"He (Meers) is hoping we would
recant our position, which morally I
don't think we can do," Hopkins said.
"I hope the board of managers of
American Baptist Churches West sees
this move as patently opposed to
Baptist principles."
Wellington said the board already
voted 30-4 in March against having
its executive committee develop a
method of dealing with the affirming
churches.
"We've been battling this issue for
almost two years," she said. ''It would
have died a number of times, (but)
the pastors of First Baptist Stockton
and First Baptist Visalia refused to let
it die."
In February, the Woman's
Missionary Union will sponsor a
nationwide collection of items needed
by AIDS hospices as well as money
for services. The money will be donated
to an AIDS hospice in Victoria,
Brazil.
Baptists got a wake-up call about
the AIDS pandemic four years ago
when the Rev . Jimmy Allen, a former
president of the Southern Baptist
Convention, revealed the tragedy
that had happened to his family.
His daughter-in-law, tydia AHen,
became infected with human imrnunodeficiency
virus through a
blood transfusion. She and her
youngest son, Bryan, died of AIDS
and her oldest son, Matt, now 12, is
critically ill with the virus.
During the ordeal, Jimmy Allen's
Johnson said Jimmy Allen's
willingness to share the tragic story of
his family has had a "tremendous
impact" in convincing Baptist congregations
to take up AIDS ministries.
For his part, Allen commends the
WMU for its efforts, noting that it is a
"network of women who historically
have been involved in the cutting
edge of caring .
'There has been a counter-tide, sort
of hardening of the heart of the nation
against those who need help,'.' Allen
said. "Compassion is evaporating in
this country."
Ht believes rediscovering compassion
in churches will help a great
deal.
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship to study
break from Southern Baptist Convention
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -
The head of the Cooperative
Baptist Fellowship will name a
special committee to study
whether the moderate group
should split with the Southern
Baptist Convention and become
a separate denomination.
Patrick Anderson, a Florida
college professor who was
elected moderator of the fellowship,
made the announcement
at the end of the group's threeday
convention.
"Our bell has been rung on
this issue, and I think it is time
a committee make a systematic
and careful study of our options,"
Anderson is quoted as
saying in the Fort Worth
Star-Telegram.
The committee will gather
information on the problems
and advantages of becoming a
denomination. But the group
won 't be asked to make a
recommendation until next
year's general assembly
meeting in Richmond, Va.
"We don't think this is something
you can do in a debate on
the convention floor with 5,000
people," Anderson said.
The fellowship was formed
four years ago to protest the
conservative takeover of the
:15.5 million member Southern
Baptist Convention, the nation's
largest Protestant group.
Conservative leaders of the
Southern Baptist Convention
say the fellowship already is a
separate denomination because
it has .its own Atlanta-based
headquarters, supports some 80
missionaries and seminaries
and other ministries .
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 9 9 5·.
Former journalist opposes gay/lesbian ordination
,TQl:Jgh-talking woman elected Presbyterian moderator
By Keely Coghlan
The Odessa American
BIG SPRING, Texas - Marj Carpenter
hated her first month of. work as communications
director for the Presbyterian
Church of the U.S.A. ·
Now she's just been elected as the
church's moderator, the highest
non-paying job in the Presbyterian
Church.
But 17 years ago, Ms. Carpenter
wasn't sure she wanted to stay in her
new job for more than a year.
After 27 years of chasing car wrecks
and fires, politicians and football
coaches throughout West Texas, Ms.
Carpenter awakened to every. shrieking
siren in those still Atlanta nights
in 1979- and felt left out. ·
"I would hear sirens, and think I
was supposed to go take pictures,"
Ms. Carpenter said . "All the meetings
were boring. I was doing a weekly
newsletter and a monthly magazine,
and they were filled with stories
about meetings."
The former Big Spring Herald
reporter had been recruited for her
experience as a reporter and active
church volunteer, but all she did was
write about meetings.
Until she visited the church's
mission in Brazil.
"I was in a packing crate village ih
. Brazil when they brought the news
that a child in our school had died of
an abscessed too.th," Ms. Carpenter
recalled.
Someone asked the mother why she
hadn't asked the missionaries for
help. "She said we had already done
so much, she didn't want to ask," Ms.
Carpenter said . "Well, I didn't think
we had done so much."
So Carpenter decided to see for
herself. She traveled to missions in
102 countries on her own funds to
write about the church's work.
"I found out we were doing a Jot,"
Ms. Carpenter said,. citing work in
building churches, schools and
agricultural projects throughout the
world, from Cuba to Soviet Russia
and Zaire.
She retired in January, but Ms.
Carpenter, 68, isn't finished with
church business. The moderator's job,
to which she was elected July 16 at
the church's national convention in
Cincinnati, is• a one-year term as head
of the Presbyterian Church USA, the
largest Presbyterian denomination in
the United States with more than 3
million members .
Moderators set the tone of the
church's discussion and focus for the
year and are selected by conference
Presbyterian Church's rift grows
over conservative newspaper
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - A leader of erator's appointees accu-sed the Lay
the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has Committee of "subversion" and asked
challenged a committee to take a the Cincinnati General Assembly to
stand regarding a conservative news- . urge the Lay Committee to "cease and
paper that denounces the church's desist its destructive behavior, which
leadership as being theologically out · \ harms our beloved church."
of touch. · The Layman retorts that it is
· The requested review of The standing up for rank-and-file Presby-
Presbyterian Layman was made by the terians and for what is right.
Rev . Robert Bohl, the church's moder- 'The fact is that a deep division
ator, and came as the church pre- already exists," it said in its latest
pared for its 207th General Assembly, issue. 'That division is between
which was held the week of July 16 in national leadership and staff and the
Cincinnati. people of our congregations."
'The Layman has been a destructive
instrument to the mission and minis- At the heart of the matter is
try of the church," Bohl told The theology and how free-thinking Pres-
Courier-Journal in an interview. byterians want to be. Presbyterianism
The newspaper has been critical of, traditionally has been an inclusive
al'(long other things, efforts to bring faith, encouraging debate and unwilgay
and lesbian people into the full ling to draw strict doctrinal lines
life of the church. designed to exclude non-believers.
'Though we want them to exist, we The Layman is pushing the idea of a
want them to exist in a Jess vitriolic uniform creed, "that there is a truth
style. But there's no guarantee, even that can be absolutely defined and
if they were struck by lightning from that they know it," said the Rev.
God, that they will change." Eugene March, dean of the Louisville
J..ast summer the 206th General Presbyterian Theological Seminary
Assembly set up a special Reconcilia- and a commissioner, or delegate, to
lion Committee to try to determine the General Assembly.
. "appropriate boundaries" for the The Lay Committee also is
Presbyterian Lay Committee and the concerned about financial accountabilprivate)
y ~unded newspaper it pub- ity of church governing bodies and
lishes six times a year . what it views as a liberal bent in the
But the Reconciliation Committee appointments of ministers and lay
coll11J>~e_d this spring when the mod- people to significant committees.
SECOND STONE GJ
delegates, all of whcim must be either
lay elders or ministers.
Ms. Carpenter has said she will
focus on mission work and church
. 1 development . ·
"Marj is devoted to the mission of
proclaiming the gospel to all the
world," said the Rev. Flynn Long,
pastor of the First Presbyterian
Church in Big Spring, where she is
an elder. "She's been involved since
· she was a little girl."
"All the mainline denominations
get so involved in justice issues and ·
in politics. I want to emphasize
mission," Ms. Carpenter said.
"I belfeve Marj is correct. People
today are interested in the church
doing things to help others, not fancy
stained-glass worship services," Long
said.
Presbyterians provide medical and
agricultural aid to countries or impoverished
areas, often being among the
first missionary groups to arrive in
previously closed countries. And then
they leave .
"We get a church going, but we
don't stay . We go back if we are
asked, but we do not try to change
the way they are and we do not ·
colonize them," Ms. Carpenter said.
She also cites the church's tradition- ,
al three-way budget split between J
medical aid, agricultural aid, and ,
evangelism as one of the strengths of I
the mission program. :
'There are people who think we ·
should only evangelize," Carpenter '
said. "But if you read the New
Testament,Jou see that Jesus healed
the sick an told parables to educate
them. We get into a lot of countries
by helping them with an agricultural
project. We teach them how to grow
food when they are starving."
Hospitals and schools are welcome
in many Muslim countries where missionaries
are prohibited from evangelizing,
Ms. Carpenter said, citing a
hospital in Pakistan where doctors
perform · hundreds of cataract operations.
"People walk across the mountains
to go to that hospital," Ms. Carpenter ;t:·~1:~Y say, Th~ Christians make .
Ms. Carpenter doesn't see herself as'
a trailblazer, although her car does
sport a buinper sticker, "Press
Women Make Headlines," a reference ·
to her membership in the National
Press Women.
Seven of the 400 moderators in
church history have been women; the i
Presbyterian church began ordaining
women in the 1950s.
''Being a woman has never stopped
me," Carpenter said. "I wrote sports
in West Texas when there were no
women sportswriters." ·
The military tried to confiscate her
pictures of a plane crash near the
now-closed Webb Air Force Base at
. Big Spring, running her off the road
and actually taking her camera - only
to discover she had already removed!
the film. ·
"I told them the film was on my ·
person, and they didn't have a female
'officer with · them and they were
welcome 'to call my edito& and dis::
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InP rint ••••••••••••••••••. • •.••••••••••••••••••••••••• •· ••••• -• •••••• f
Two mothers' stories
M·other's journey begins too late for gay son
By William Carey
ContributingW riter
Prayers For Bobby: A Mother's
Coming to Terms With the Suicide
,of Her Gay Son, Leroy Aarons,
author; New York HarperCollins;"
1995. 271 pp., $22.
ayers for Bobby is a most pro- ,
ound and moving book. The
book tells of a tragedy, and is
made all the more tragic by the fact
that the story it tells is true.
Bobby Griffith was born June 24,
1963 in Oakland, California. The
third of four children, Bobby was an
intelligent and talented child born to
a fundamentalist Christian mother.
From an early age, Bobby showed
devotion to God and desired to be
right with God in everything he did.
He, like his brothers and sisters,
attended Sunday School through his
high school years. They attended
church regularly, and his mother
taught Bible studies at home. It
seemed like Bobby had everything
going for him.
In his teens, Bobby told his brother
Ed that he was gay. Ed, in turn;
worried about his brother, told their
mother. Although the family loved
Bobby, they could not accept him as
he was. Over the next few years,
Bobby learned to hate himself for
being gay. His hatred mingled with
anger at his family for preaching to
him, at God for not "curing" him, and
at himself, for not being able to be
anything else but what he was.
On the night of August 26, 1983,
· 20-year-old Bobby Griffith jumped off
a highway overpass into the path of a
tractor trailer. He died instantly.
Prayers For Bobby chronicles the
story of his . life, as well as the
realization of his mother that her own
ignorance and bigotry had contributed
to the death of her son. To
compound the tragedy of his death,
the realization of what their faith had
done to Bobby caused the family to
abandon much of the brand of
Christianity they knew at the time.
This is a painful book to read,
contains some strong (but honest)
language, and leaves the reader with
an intense sadness, not only for
Bobby, but also for his family.
If there is any message of hope to
be drawn from Prayers For Bobby, it is
SEE GAY SON, Next Page
Overheard comment sends mother on a mission
. By Allen V. Harris
Contributing Wri~er .
Cleaning Closets: A Mother's Story;
Beverly Cole, author; St. Louis:
Chalice Press, 1995. 163 pp. $13.95
n this age when the art of
dialogue seems to be consumed
. by fiery rhetoric and blockaded
by unbending posturing, treasures of
wisdom and reason shine bright. In
the fine tradition of other parents of
lesbian and gay children who have
dared to share their stories in print,
Beverly Cole has brought to us her
unique perspective and in doing so
has provided a needed clearing for a
meaningful conversation.
CleaningC losets:A Mother's Story is
a wonderfully honest account of one
Now available from Second Stone!
The Word Is Out
365 DAILY MEDITATIONS FOR LESBIANS AND GAY MEN
Author Chris Glaser fearlessly
liberates the Bible from those
who would hold it hostage to
an anti-gay agenda. In this
inspiring collection of 365
daily meditations, the Bible's
oood news "comes out11 to
- ~eet all of us witb love,
justice, meaning, and hope.
Chris Glaser is the autbor
of Uncommon Calling and
Coming Out to God. He is
agn1duate of Yale Divinity
School.
The Word Is Out,
$12, paperback.
Order now from Second Stone Press
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SECOND STONE -
woman's journey through her own
emotions as she discovers, quite by
accident, that her teenage son is gay.
While putting the wet laundry into
the dryer, Cole happened to overhear
one of her son's friends say to him,
"You're the only gay person I know
who doesn't smoke." That revelation
sent this comfortable wife and mother
of two, living in Salina, Kansas, on an
engaging encounter with the
unknown.
The book begins with a foreward
by Cole's son, Eric, and ends with a
postscript, "All in Good Time," that
gives good advice to Gays and Lesbians
who are thinking about coming
out.
What makes this volume different
· from many such narratives is that in
this instance the parent is grounded
in a strong Christian tradition.
Beverly turns first to her pastor for
guidance, and eventually her investi- ·
gation will help others in her local
United Methodist Church to understand
the blessings that can indeed
come through such surprising means.
Early on in her story, once she
confirmed the truth of what she had
heard with her son, Beverly quickly
assured him that God still cared for
him. After reflecting upon that instinctive
response, she wrote,
"I had never even thought about
being gay and being Christian at the
same time. I would have to wrestle
with that question myself. In my
heart, I felt that God would be there
for him, but there's only one way that
feeling can be transferred from one
person to another, and that is through
love. I couldn't make Eric feel God's
love. All I could do was love him
myself. I had no control over his
other experiences in life. I wondered
if those experiences would be any
-- different since he was gay?" (p.15)
this faithful mother decided to explore
many different perspectives in order
to more fully understand same-sex
attraction and how it relates to spir-
. ituality.
Particularly helpful is the casual yet
extremely effective manner irt which
Cole has integrated her findings into
her book. She annotated the books
and resources she found, putting
them within the context of her own
search so they become living resources
for others to pursue. She
quite willingly tackled viewpoints
which, in the end, were different
from her own. In every case, she
took what she needed and what she
believed to be true and left the rest
behind, confident that God's Spirit
was with her in her quest. She urges
the reader to do likewise.
With a matter of fact style, Cole
draws the conclusion that ultimately
what matters to God, and to her, is
Led by her heart and her mind, SEE MISSION, Next Page
S E P T E M B E R / 0 C T O B· E R l 9 9 5
e I I I I I e ·. e I I I I I I I ID I I I I I I I I I I I 1 1 ~ In Print . . . . . . . . . . ............... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . •·
New Catholic work on homosexuality
THE CENTER FO~ Homop _hobia f~rence of bishops and i_ndividual part of Voices of Hope.
Educat10n has_ pubhsh~d Voices of bishops, Roman Congregations, theo- The editors say the new collection
Hvpe; A Collectwn of Positive Catholic logians, Catholic social justice groups, updates and expands several similar
sciences a respect for the experiences
of people, or a willingness to employ
methodologies which could lead to a
development of magisterial teaching." Wntings about Gay and Lesbian Issues, Catholic newspapers, professional previous collections and represents
edited by Jeannine Gramick and Catholic organizations, Catholic par- "the best of the Catholic intellectual Voices of Hope is available from New
Ways Ministry, 4012 29th St., Mt. Robert Nugent, a Catholic nun and · ents, lesbian and gay Catholic groups and moral traditions." Many of the
pnest team who have specialized in , and representatives from religious , ,documents show "pastoral sensitivity
Catholic gay /lesbian ministry since orders of women and men. an openness to new data from th~
the early 70's. Both have authored The three sections of the book
• Rainier, MD 20712.
and edited several previous works on contain brief statements and resoluhomosexuality
and Catholicism. tions, longer documents and pastoral
Contributions to Voices of Hope come letters and critical respons.es to a 1992
from the United States, Canada, the Vatican statement on discrimination.
Netherlands, New Zealand, Belgium, Gramick and Nugent contribute a
France, Ireland, England and the preface, section introductions and a
Vatican. conclusion . An author/source index
Voices of Hope contains material and an appendix with the full text of
from national and state Catholic con- the 1992 Vatican statement are also
GAY SON,
From Page 14
in the incredible metamorphosis of
Bobby's mother from a frightened,
ignorant woman, preaching hell-fire
and damnation to a son who only
wanted to be loved and accepted, to
an outspoken advocate for gay and
lesbian youth. Upon reading the
book, it becomes clear that the work
she has done, and continues to do,
has saved many other young people
from Bobby's fate. I wish that she
had been able to find a way to
reconcile her fundamentalist Christianity
with her new-found acceptance
of gay people, and perhaps someday
she will. For now, however, the pain
and anger of what that type of
fundamentalism did to her son, and
caused her to do to her son, have
prevented that from happening. So,
although she and her other children
are still living, their current spiritual
condition can only be regarded as one
more tragic loss caused by the actions.
of those who would use. the name of
Jesus tii' further the cause of bigotry
and hatred.
Although Prayers For Bobby can be
shocking at times, and certainly
doesn't have a "happily ever after"
ending, I .still recommend it highly.
all of us need an awareness (or
_perhaps just a reminder) of what
young gay people must endure. For
many of us, our own adolesence was
so painful that we just try to block it
out. But ·now that we've grown up,
and have learned the truth of God's
love for us, we have a responsibility
to the young people just coming to
terms with who they are. There have
been too many tragic deaths and too
many driven from the word of God
by ignorance and hatred. And no
one of us alone can change all of that.
But if we each· do something, we can
make a difference. And if even one
Bobby Griffith is saved from an
untimely death and can be helped to
know and believe that God loves
him, then anything we do will have
been worth it. There's a whole
generation of teenage boys and girls
out there who need to know that they
are not horrible, depraved perverts,.
but young men and women made in
the image of God, who creates people
as . God sees fit.
Brother William Carey is pastor of
{.,ighthouse Apostolic Church in Schenectady,
New York. The library at the
church has been named "T11e Bobby
Griffith Memorial Library" and aphotograph
of Bobby hangs on the wall.
Bulk Copies Available
OF THIS ISSUE OF SECOND STONE
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MISSION,
From Page 14
that her son is a loved and loving
being. Confronting her fears and
misconceptions about her son's boyfriends,
scriptural mandates, and
even the family's childhood pediatrician
(who proves to be quite the
bigot) Cole gains the confidence she
needs to live her refashioned life with
integrity.
Cole also writes: "It seems to me
that we Christians, as a people of
faith, are beginning to realize that we
need to take a closer look at our gay
and lesbian brothers and sisters as an
acceptable and vital part of our faith
community."
For openly lesbian or gay folks who
have told their story to others, or to
parents who have been involved in
the movement for justice for their
children, this book may provide few
new findings. Even so, the manner
in which it is written is .so warm and
inviting I would recommend it to
even the most seasoned advocate for
lesbian and gay persons .
For those parents or children who
are just coming out of their own
closets and anyone, for that matter,
who is grappling with the implications
for their faith of God's unabashed
love for gay men and Lesbians,
I would enthusiastically recommend
Cleaning Closets: A Mother's
Sto:Y·
Rev. Allen V. Harris is pastor at Park
Avenue Christian Church (Disciples of
Christ) in New York City.
Recommended Reading For Everyone ...
PASTOR, I AM GAY
by The Reverend H. Howard Bess
An extraordinary book. PASTOR, I AM GAY .. .is a
pro_pheti~ witness to the church. It is compelling in
• its mtens1ty, compassionate in its identifications and
· cour~~eo?s in its . call to sharing humanity without
duahf1cat1ons. A reader will not be able to put it
own. James B. Ashbrook, Professor Emeritus and
Senior Scholar in Religion and Personality
Garrett Evang e lical Theological Seminaiy
No rthwestern University
PASTOR, I AM GAY )s a superb entry into the difficult and painful
subiect of homosexuality that faces us in the church and society today .
Both pastor and lay person will find this book readable and informative
as we seek more insight into the lives of homosexual friends inside and
outside the church. Donald Parsons, Bishop, Alaska Synod
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Order now from Second Stone Press
Quan.
□ PASTOR, I AM GAV by Rev. Howard Bess
$14.95, paperback. ___ _
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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1 9 9 5
. . . . .. . . .. . .. . .. Noteworthy ~ •.• .. ........... .................... ' ............... .... .
GayC hristnias on
televisionin P hoeinx
t:,.CASA DE CRISTO Evangelical
Church now has a weekly TV program
carried on Cox Cable Channel
22 in the Phoenix metro area, 'That
Church!" is hosted by Casa's senior
pastor Fred L Pattison, The format of
the program includes music, an interview,
and a short message from
Pastor Pattison, The goals of the
program are to combat homophobia
as it exists among non-gay Chnshans
and to reach disenfranchised evangelical
Christian Gays and Lesbians.
Brethren/Mennoneivteen td raws
90 from across the country
!:,.CHARLOTTEN, ORTH CAROLINA
was the site for the first jointly
sponsored conference for the Church
of the Brethren Women's Caucus and
the Brethren/Mennonite Council for
Lesbian and Gay Concerns. The two
day event held June 25 and 26,
"Dancing at the Wall: Re-Imagining
the Church," drew 90 members of the
Church of the Brethren from as far
away as California, Colorado, Indiana
and Maryland. The group, ranging '
in age from their teens through their
70's, gathered at Mey_ers Park Baptist
Church to explore what it means to be
excluded by the Church and to build
a vision of an inclusive faith community.
Integritcyh aptecre lebrate2s0 th
t:,.INTEGRITY NEW YORK will be
celebrating its 20th anniversary October
19, with a Eucharist celebrated by
The Right Rev. Richard F. Grein,
Bishop of New York. The preacher
will be Louie Crew, founder of
Integrity. The service begins at 7:30
at the Church of St. Luke in . the
Fields, 487 Hudson Street (just south
of Christopher),
Pennsyvlania and Ohio
mark firsts in
Open & Affirming Progr am
t:,.THE GLAD ALLIANCE Open &
Affirming Ministries Program has
annou nced the addition of a new
Open & Affirming Congregation and
a new Open & Affirming Campus
Ministry, both firsts in the program
for their respective states. This makes
the number of local congregations,
campus ministries, regions, and
advocacy groups within the Christian
Church (Disciples of Christ) which
have named themselves as "Open &
Affirming" now total 30.
"I'm not a straight
man, but I play one
on television."
Many gay and lesbian people like Dan Butler thought acting straight was
better than being open and honest. They hoped that others did not know,
or that they feared friends and family would not accept them, After coming
out, the love and support many receive
tells them one thing -- that being
themselves·; s the best act to follow,
National Coming Out Day
is O~tober 11
Come Our.
It truly makes a difference.
Nationa l Coming Out Project
is an edUC11tloann do ulr,ach prog,.mo f tM y,t !-- PAIGNFUND
Form orei nformniona bou1h owy ouc anm ake
a diffi:rtncotn Nnioiul C.OminOgu rD :iy,
or 10 ordero fficiilK eithH aringN ationaCl .Oming
OurO Jym erchandisael,l 1-800-866-62~3.
SECOND STONE
Sandra Kelsey, Chairperson of the
Task Force on Human Sexuality of the
United Christian Church of Levittown,
Pennsylvania (Disciples of
Christ and Ul)ited Church of Christ)
announced that after a 13 month
extensive study on the issue of
human sexuality, the congregation
voted unanimously on June 4 to
become Open & Affirming.
Jan Griesinger, Director of the
United Campus Ministry at Ohio
University in Athens, Ohio said that
the campus ministry there has also
made a public statement of wekome
to gay, lesbian, and bisexual people,
Ohio Campus Ministry ,made its first
public statement in 1978 and has
continued since that time to house the
student gay, lesbian, and bisexual
organization offices.
The Open & Affirming Ministries
Program was created by the Gay,
Lesbian, and Affirming Disciples
Alliance to provide resources for
stuc;ly and support for local congregations
and other church organizations
who wish to more fully include
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
persons in their mission and
ministry, paying special attention also
to frien ds and family members of
persons who are gay. For information
on this program contact Allen V.
Harris, O&A Ministries Developer,
1010 Park Ave., New York, NY
10028.
25y earsm arkedi nD allas_
!:,.CATHEDRALO F HOPE MCC celebrated
its 25th anniversary in July.
The church celebrated with several
special events, a concert with Christian
singer Cynthia .Clawson, and a
special message by Rev. Elder Troy
Perry. Senior pastor Michael Piazza
presented his vision of the church for
the next 25 years, entitled "Celebrating
Our Future."
Lutherans Concerned
leader passes
t:,.REV. JON NELSON, a former cochair
of Lutherans Concerned/North
America, died May 14. He is preceded
in death by his partner,
Michael Gerke and is survived by his
family, . including sister Beth, parents
Bob and Jane, two nephews and
countless friends. "Jon was different
from the beginning," said Lynn
-Mickelson, co-chair of LC/NA, speaking
of her personal relationship with
Nelson. "He was a Lutheran clergyman
with multiple degrees, not
interested in power, control or gender
roles ... his label as a "high church .
feminist" effectively shut him out of
leadership in his synod."
celebrating his 18th anniversary as
pastor of the church, Pattison became
senior pastor of Casa de Cristo on
October 2, 1977. In addition to
serving as pastor, Pattison founded
Cristo Press which has a world-wide
literature ministry outreach, Cristo
AIDS Ministry, The Evangelical Network,
which is a fellowship of independent
evangelical churches ministering
in the gay and lesbian community,
and the Phoenix Evangelical
Bible Institute. Pastor Fred and his
life partner, Joseph Sombrio, have
been together since May, 1973. Casa
de Cristo celebrates its 25th
anniversary in September. It was
formerly affiliated with the UFMCC
but is now an independent church.
Jesuipt riestta ughat bout
AIDSin h isf inald ays
t:,.THE REV. TERRY SHEA, former
president of Seattle Preparatory
School, has died from complications of
AIDS. The Jesuit priest was 58.
Shea died July 17 in his sleep at a
Spokane infirmary .
He publicly revealed his illness in
May and used publicity generated by
his disclosure to teach Seattle Prep
students about his disease.
Shea was president of Seattle Prep
from 1992 until last June, when he
stepped down.
Local Catholic leaders said Shea's
illness gave them the chance to affirm
the church's teachings that call for
compassion toward peopl{'._Wilh AIDS.
The church also teaches respect for the
confidentiality of those who are infected.
"As Catholics, we need to show out
love, our understanding," said the
Rev. David Jaeger, who runs the
AIDS Ministry for the Seattle Archdiocese.
Shea was born in 1937 in Spokane
and entered the Jesuit novitiate in
Oregon in 1955. In 1968, he was
ordained at St. Aloysius Catholic
Church in Spokane and three years
later earned his master's degree in ·
business administration from New
York University.
In 1972, Rev. Shea became president
of Bellarrnine Preparatory School
-in Tacoma, where he remained until
1976.
Shea is survived by a mother in
Spokane and three brothers and three
sisters.
Churchd edicates
new sanctuary
MTLANTA'S OLDEST MCC held its
first service in its new sanctuary on
July 23. First MCC held its dedication
in conjunction with the UFMCC General
Conference. Rev. Troy Perry led
the dedication, which was attended
Pastocr eel brates by almost 500 people. "It's a relief,"
18tha nniversaOryfm inistry said Rev. Reid Christensen, First
t:,.PA STOR FRED L. PATTISON, MCC's pastor for the past eight years.
senior pastor of Casa de Cristo "We have been working on this for
:Evangelical Church in Phoenix, is the last year and a half."
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER l 9 9 5
Keyes speaks out for creat ionism, against homosexuality
NASHUA, N.H. (AP) - Gays and Lesbians
are not entitled to special rights
and are open to public judgement,
presidential hopeful Alan Keyes said.
Keyes, former U.S. ambassador to
the United Nations' Economic and
Social Council, said discrimination
against Gays serves to educate the nation's
youth.
"If I don 't have the right to discriminate
against behavior that I don't like,
then how am I going to educate my
children?" Keyes said.
He drew an analogy between
homosexuality and adultery .
"What about married people who
have the sexual preference to sleep
with other people than their wives?"
he said . ''That's a sexual preference,
too.
"You go down this road, you're
essentially destroying the concept of
sexual responsibility," he said.
CALENDAR,
From Pa&e 2
Keyes, host of a nationally syndicated
radio talk show, appearei:I
July 5 as a guest on WMVU's Kevin
Miller Show.
Keyes told listeners that students
should be taught creationism to better
understand their rights as American
citizens.
The Declaration of Independence
refers to divine creation in explaining
how people are endowed with inalienable
rights, the conservative Republican
said.
"What does the Declaration say?"
Keyes said . 'That rights come from
God . When? At the moment of creation
... So, of course I think that it
ought to be possible to teach our
children about the idea of creation."
The document says "We hold these
truths to be self-evident that all men
are created equal, that they are 1
endowed by their Creator with
Open and Affirming Churches gathering
OCTOBER 13-15, "Gathered in Spirit; Gaining in Strength" is the theme of the
national Open and Affirming Exultation to be held in Cleveland, Ohio. Rev.
Paul Sherry, president of the United Church of Christ, will speak. The
Northcoast Men's Chorus and the Just Peace Players will perform . For
information contact ONA-UCCUGC, P.O . Box 403, Holden, MA 01520.
Lesbian spirituality retreat .
OCTOBER 13-15, "Claiming Our Own Voices: A Retreat About Lesbian
Spiritiiality"'will 'be held at Algonkian Center in Fairfax County, Virginia.
Leaders are Joan Beilstein, a lesbian priest from the Episcopal Diocese of
Washington, D.C., and Rose Hassan, a lesbian priest and chaplain of
Integrity/New York. The program includes liturgies, large plenary sessions,
small group discussions and social time. For information contact Rose Hassan,
(212)989-9363 or Joan Beilstein, (703)440-8405. . ·
GLAD Alliance meeting · .
OCTOBER 20-24, The Gay, Lesbian, and. Affirming Disciples Alliance (G_LAD
Alliance) will meet in conjunction with the biennial General Assembly of the
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) meeting in Pittsburgh, Penn. The GLAD
Alliance will host a Pre-Assembly Event beginning at 11 :30 a.m. on Friday, Oct.
20. On Saturday, Oct. 21 there will be a reception and a banquet featuring
Ron Nyswaner, screenwriter for the Academy Award-nominated film,
"Philadelphia." Two educational forums are scheduled, one for parents,
families, and friends of Gays and Lesbians on Friday night, and the other for
Open & Affirming Ministries on Sunday evening, Oct. 22. For information
contact GLAD Alliance, P.O. Box 19223, Indianapolis, IN 46219-0223,
(816)432-6139.
Ghost Ranch gathering
NOVEMBER 2-5, Led by Lisa Bove, former HIV/AIDS minister at West
Hollywood Presbyterian Church, and Chris Glaser, au_thor ~I The Word /s Out:
The Bible Flee/aimed for Lesbians and Gay Men. Reg1strat1on, $100, room a_nd
board, $120. For information, contact Ghost Ranch, HG 77, Box 11, Ab1qu1u,
NM 87510-9601, (505)685-4333, FAX (505)685-4519.
Call to Action National Conference
NOVEMBER 8·10, The Hyatt Regency O'Hare in Chicago is the setting for
Call to Action's national event. "We Are The Church: What If We Meant What
We Said?" is the theme. Cosponsors include Dignity/USA, New Ways
Ministry, Catholics Speak Out, Women's Ordination Conference, and others .
The CT A annual conference is evolving into a national congress of persons;
communities and organizations working to "reinvent the church." For infomation
on this -conference contact Call to Action, 4419 N. Kedzie, Chicago, IL 60625,
(312)004-0400, FAX (312)604-4719.
Christian Responses to Homosexuality
NOVEMBER 10·12, Three days of dialogue with people from across the
philosophical and theological spectrum, sponsored by the Rocky Mountain
Conference of the United Methodist Church. The cost of this conference, which
will be held in Denver, is $125. For information contact Elizabeth Pruett, Box
2922, Glenwood Springs, CO 81602-0292, (970)945-7293
SECOND STONE •
certain unalienable Rights, among
them the· right to Life, Liberty and
the pursuit of Happiness."
Creationism focused national
attention on the region in the winter
when the Merrimack School Board
considered a proposal from a minister
to include creationism in the science
curriculum. The Rev. Paul Norwalt of
Merrimack Baptist Temple withdrew
his proposal in February but vowed
to reintroduce it later this year.
Keyes also commended Gov. Steve
Merrill for refusing $9 million in
federal Goals 2000 education money.
Merrill passed up the money,
arguing federal mandates were too
restrictive.
"Governor Merrill was so right, and
I would applaud him 100 times over,"
Keyes said.
He said the program usurps state
and local authority to set educational
goals for public schools. Another presidential
hopeful, former Tennessee
Gov : Lamar Alexander, agreed and ;
said Goals 2000 has become a "gross
intrusion" in state affairs.
Reiterating campaign platforms ,
Keyes decried declining morals and
an increase in the illegitimacy rate.
He said welfare undermines the family
structure and harms the poor by
diminishing their self-esteem.
Critic of Gays: My religion shouldn't
bar me from police board
NEW YORK (AP) - A clergyman who
denounced the Gay Games asked a
City Council committee to judge him
by his actions, not his religious
beliefs, and reappoint him to a police
watchdog panel.
The City Council's Rules Committee
is holding hearings on the Rev.
Ruben Diaz's reappointment to the
Civilian Complaint Review Board,
which investigates allegations of brutality,
verbal abuse or other misconduct
by police,
The Pentecostal minister told the
committee July 13 that his beliefs on
homosexuality should not prevent
him from continuing as a member of
the review board . 'Judge me for my
record," he said.
Diaz told the Rules Committee he
. has supported efforts to hire Gays and
Lesbians as investigators on the
review board.
But some committee members
harked back to comments Diaz made
last summer, when he said the Gay
Games would spread AIDS and teach
children that homosexuality is acceptable.
When the black and Puerto Rican
clergyman related that he had once
been beaten up by white soldiers and
verbally abused by a lieutenant
while in the Army, Councilman
Stephen DiBrienza - who opposes
Diaz's reappointment - asked ·if he
would want that officer to serve on
the board.
"Jesse Jadson called New York
'Hymietown' and you voted for him .
You supported him," Diaz shot back
· at the Brooklyn Democrat.
When DiBrienza continued to press
him on the question, Diaz said he
would ba_ck putting the officer on the
board "nowadays, in this era."
Two gay councilmen split on
supporting Diaz. Tom Duane opposed
him on grounds his presence
discourages complaints by Gays and
Lesbians, but Antonio Pagan supported
the minister, saying Diaz has
been a . "hard-working and responsible"
member of the board.
~DD
rno1vELLOW PAGES"' INFORMIN& THE LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL &fTI
lgj '. TRANSGENDER COMMUNl1Y SINCE ma ~
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Listings broken down by State & City. Index & fast llCCMS phone list. UPDATED ANNUALLY.
For an application to be listed (no charge), or for details of current editions and prices,
or Information about mailing labels, please send a aeH•addressed stamped envelope to
Renaissance House, PO Box 533-SS, VIiiage Station, New York, NY f 0014 (212) 674-0120
You can order directly from the address above, or you can find us your local gay-friendly bookstores.
If you wish to order by phone with a credit card, please call A DIFFERENT LIGHT 1-800-343-4002;
FAX (212) 989-2158; outside USA and Canada call 1·212-989-4850. (A Different Light has stores in
New York, Los Angeles, ·aod San Francisco. They are not involved with production or publication of
· Gayellow Pages, so please cfon't call them except to order.)
·1 wish all my readers had.a copy of this ve,y useful volume. If you live in Nowheresville, U.S.A., and haven't a clue
about how to find other gay folks, this book is indispensable. There's no way to remain isolated if you make use of
the information contained in thv Gayel/ow Pages.• P•t C.lllla, The Advocate Advisor
'By far lhe most comprohensive and up-to-<iate gay guide ... Gayel/ow Pages . . . includes the standald entries for
bars and restaurants . .. But the Gaye/low Pages excels thanks to its additional alphabetized listings by city for
AIDS and HIV services, legal _rasources, organizations (ca.tegorized by purpose or interest}, religious groups,
publications, businesses and more. In short, if an entity welcomes gay. lesbian and bisexual people, no matter ho~
unlikely the service or remote the town, it's probably listsd ;n the Gaye/lo~ Pages . ... Hardly a week goes by that it
is not consulted in the Out offices.• Reviewed by Jeff Howells, OUT (Pittsburgh, PA}, December 1994 .
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 199 5
, ...... ~.•. . . •.~ . .. .... .... . .C. . .o . .m. . . .m. . .• e ...n. . t .. . . . .. . ~ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The new millenium:
The joining of the secular and the sacred
By Dirk deVries
·Guest comment
I call it millennial hysteria. Have
you felt it? A general sort of
digging in - a desire to maintain
the status quo, -no matter
how dysfunctional it might be, a
yearning to turn back the cultural
clock to an earlier, safer time, a time
that may not, in fact, have ever really
existed except in television nostalgia
or wishful remembering. Entrenchment.
Fear. Doom-saying.
Millennial• hysteria finds expression
worldwide. We see it in the rise of
religious fundamentalism, Christian
in our country, and in other faiths
elsewhere in the world. People
frightened of change seek refuge in
easy, black-and-white _ answers, replacing
the mystery of God and the
evolving uncertainty of faith with
inflexible dogma ·· and absolutes,
finding reassurance in being told
what to believe and how to act. The
future may look unnervingly hazy,
culture and technology may spin out
of control around us, but our faith is
'outlined, conc;lensedi packaged and
memorizable. We interpret our holy
writings literally. We regard with
mistrust anyone outside our little faith
circle. We're the right ones with the
right knowledge and the right
behavior.
CLERGY,
From Page 3 ·
They're doing fine and are unaware
women are still struggling," Chang
said.
And while churches opened
themselves to W';)men clergy in recent
decades, no laws forbid them from
discriminating in their hiring.
Answering only to themselves,
many denominations have cut back
or eliminated staff whose job it was to
prod congregations to consider and
hire female candidates. This surrendered
ground to the informal "oldboy
networks" that have traditionally
been responsible for most clergy
placements, the study authors said.
Even when churches use
computerized employment networks
or forbid the exclusion of any ·
candidate, the reality is that many
1
churches stilllook for men to preach
to them, researchers said.
"You will have all these
liberal-speaking people on the church
governing boards who will say,
'Personally, I have no problem (with
a woman pastor) ... but what would
our older, wealthy patjshioners do?"'
Lummis said.
R. Douglas Brackenridge, a religion
professor at Trinity University in San
Antonio, Texas, said pulpit commit-
SECOND STONE
Such faith does feel secure, but also
sterile and void of the creative tension
of doubt and challenge, exploration
and questioning.
Millennial hysteria breaks out
politcally as well. In Germany, the
Nazi party gains supporters; in
America, legislators strive to undo
legislation which for decades has extended
Christ-like compassion to
society's outcasrs and the downtrodden.
Stamp out diversity. Lock the
doors. Clamp down. Keep out the
strangers.
· What is it that frightens us? What
fuels this desperation that turns us
inward, protecting, closing up and
pushing away? Change. At some
level we know that change is coming.
We are about to take another turn in
a predictable historical cycle. In humanity's
history, each major temporal
milestone, such as the tum of a century
and even more so a millennium,
· brings with it species-wide angst. We
preceive the year 2000 as more than
just the beginning of a new year; it's
the start of a new epoch, a new era.
And each era brings with it new
ways of understanding ourselves, our
relationship to the world, each other
and the divine.
This change is happening . For
example, in the book Sacred Eyes, Dr.
L. Robert Keck identifies major shifts
in humankind 's "deep values," those
tees in the Presbyterian Church are
required to look at resumes from
women an<;! minority candidates, but
the rule does not have much effect.
'They take a look at the dossier and
throw it down - 'We considered it,"'
said Brackenridge, co-author of
Presbyterian Women in America: Two
Centuries of a Quest for Status.
He said the Hartford study backs
up earlier research.
'There still is a residual resistance
to women in the pastoral ministry,"
Brackenridge said. "It's still there."
c,f'fP,ozn tius' Puddle
values that underlie and support our
cultural structures, including institutions
like the church. Ke~k hypoth,
esizes that this shift in deep values
has been in the works for centuries,
some of them embodied in the
ministry of Jesus 2,000 years ago. But
the speed at which information and
technology continues to multiply
exponentially is forcing the change
quickly.
What might such changes entail?
For some with their eye on cultural
evolution, it's good news: we will see
a maturing of spirituality. The importance
of spirituality will increase.
Spirituality will be far more pervasive,
of recognized importance in
more areas of life. It' starting. Take a
look at contemporary physics; the
current big names in the field often
sound more like theologians than
scientists. Maybe they're both? Two
decades ago the medical community
scoffed at healing models that taught
that the mind was involved in
healing; that didn't fit the scientific
model. Now the medical community
trains it's people to understand the
mind-body connection and the power
of prayer and faith in healing. In
short, the world is coming to
recognize that God is, in fact, in and
through and with all things. The old
division between secular and sacred
crumbles.
We have a choice: dig in and get
left behind, or open up and embrace
our future with God. Either throw up
the battlements and retreat into "the
CHRISTENING,
From Page 4
sexual relationships are to be reserved
for heterosexual · marriage ...
homosexual sex is wrong."
A staternent from the Church of
England said it welcomed homosexuals
in permanent relationships as
members, and that that policy would
naturally extend to godparents.
way it was," or join with those called
by God to face the certainty of
uncertainty with courage, excitement
and openness. The church in the next
century may look little like the one
we know now. Do you want to be a
part of it? In her book Spiritual Fitness,
Dorothy Donnelly says, 'Threatened
and frightened people will protect all
kinds of things: possessions, reputations,
status, achievements. But
redeemed women and men will count
everything as folly except service ,of
the Lord."
"Watch out; don't be fooled. Don't
be afraid when you hear of wars and
revolutions," Jesus told his nervous
listeners. They had good reason to
quake; their way of life was crumbling,
coming to an end. But Jesus
doesn't tell them to hold on to it; he
doesn't urge them to maintain the
status quo, religious or otherwise. He
agrees, "It's going to · be · a bumpy
ride." No easy, comforting answers
here. Instead he tells them, "Sounds
like a great chance to tell the good
news!"
He says, "I'll be with you."
And that's good enough for me, Go
ahead, God, turn it all upside down.
What new things do you have to
teach us? What new ways to serve
you? worship you? experience you? I
don't know what you have in mind,
but take me along for the ride.
Excerpted from the Evangelicals Concernedn
ewsletter,T he ECable.
'The simple issue of sexuality
should not be relevant to whether
someone can become a godparent,"
said the statement.
Harris, while agreeing with that
policy, said that implementation was
difficult when the church encouraged
individual parishes to make their
own decisions.
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Your Turn. ~ o o O o O e O O O O O O O O O O O O • . • 8 O O O O • . • O O O O O O O O O O O O .• O O O O O O O O O O O O O . • 0 0 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
Tualatin, Oregon
Letter to a homophobic
'university president
Ed note: This letter was written by a ·
Second Stone subscriber to Royce
Money, president of Abilene Christian
University, in response to an article in
the July/ August issue about Money firingplay
director Robert Neblett because
of his homosexuality.
Dear Mr. Money,
I lived in Texas for the first 28 years
of my life, and I still feel like a Texan
in many ways . I gradua ted wi th
honors from Baylor University in
1954. I am now a retired CPA.
I was disappointed to learn that
ACU has rescinded Robert Neblett's
·in vitation to direct 'The Merchant of
Venice" this summer . And I respect-
MODERATOR,
From Page 13
cuss not running the pictures with
him. And I drove off," Ms. Carpenter
said . .
She chuckled .. "We ran 'em that
·afternoon. We were not at war. The
· Air Force just didn't want to be embarrassed."
· Ms. Carpenter also wants to
emphasize new church development
programs in the United States, an
·area the church has begun to re.
emphasize.
Referring to statistics that show
ma inline churches declining in membership
. while fundamental denominations
appear to -be booming, Ms.
Carpenter cites a difference in the
way membership is counted. •
"Mormons, Southern Baptists and
Catholics leave members on the rolls
forever," Ms. Carpenter said. 'They
have a deceivingly large count
because they include people who
have not been to church for 15 years.
;They count people who have been
baptized and are back for their
burials.
"Presbyterians push people out if
they are not active," she said. ''I don't
know if that's right. I think we should
be more encouraging."
Ms. Carpenter has handled thorny
fully suggest that you are misi~c
formed when you describe homosexuality
as a "choice of lifestyle."
Homosexuality is a sexual orientation.
Homosexuality is an intrinsic
part of one's identity. Homosexuality
is an innate part of one's being.
Homosexuality is not a . chosen
lifestyle.
Consider this evidence:
A scientific study at the prestigious
Salk Institute found that "the segment
of the brain that governs sexua l
behavior is half as large in homosexual
men as it is in hetero sexual
men" (The Sacramento Bee, 9/9/91).
A scientific study at Northwestern
University "provides some of the
strongest suggestions to date that
sex ual orientation is -determined · in
large part by genetic factors" (Th e.
Oregonian, 12/17 / 91).
issues with the church's headquarte rs.
When the Rev . Benjamin Weir was
released from Lebanon in 1985 after
being held hostage by Islamic
terrorists, Ms. Carpenter arranged
and scheduled interviews.
She also met with the press when
the church issued a paper on homosexuality
and reaffirmed that the
church ·would not ordain Gays and
Lesbians as clergy.
But too often mainstream
newspapers and television programs
gloss over religious news. ''Religion is
Dig news. Most of our wars are tied to
religion. Terrorism is often tied to
religion," Ms. Carpenter said.
Ms. Carpenter returned to West
Texas and Big Spring because of the
people, she said. ''It's not the prettiest
place I've been, but I like the people,"
But Ms. Carpenter has neve:r left'
the Presbyterian church; her grandchildren
are fift)t generation members
of the faith . "We are . a reformed
church. We are always changing, but
Jesus Christ is the he(ld of the
church," Ms. Carpenter said, speaking
of her faith.
"And I believe in prayer. I really
believe in prayer. It works," she said.
"Everyone was praying that Benjamin
Weir would be released, and he was ."·
SECOND STONE Newsjoumal, ISSN No. 1047-3971, is puhlished every other
month by Bailey Communications, P. 0: Box 8340, New Orleans, LA 70182.
Copyright 1995 by Second Stone, a registered trademark.
SUBSCRIPTIONS. U.S.A. $17.00 per year, six issues. Foreign subscribers add
$10.00 for postage. All payments U.S. currency only.
ADVERTISING, For display advertising infonnation call (504)891-7555 or write
to P.O. Box 8340, New Orleans, LA 70182 .
EDITORIAL, send letters, calendar announcements, noteworthy items to
(Department title) Second Stone, P.O. Box 8340, New Orleans, LA 70182.
Manuscripts to be returned should be accompanied by a stamped, self addressed
envelope. Second Stone is otherwise not responsible for the return of any material.
SECOND STONE, a national . ecumenical Christian social justice news journal
with a specific outreach to sexual orientation minorities.
PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Jim Bailey
SECOND S. T O N E GJ
A scientific study at UCLA School of i
Medicine "found new anatomical difference
in the brain structure of
homosexual men and heterosexual '
men" (The Oregonian, 8/1/92).
A scientific study at The National
Cancer Institutes Laboratory of Biochemistry
"makes the most compelling
case yet that homosexual orientation
is at least partly genetic" (Time
Magazine, 7 /26/93).
Yes, the evidence from s cientific
stu dies is indeed compelling. But
those who do not trust scientific
st udies . should use th eir common
sense. There is no way in the world
that youngsters, ·just becoming aware
of their sexuality , would "choose" a
sexuality that carries with it such a
cruel stigma.
There is no way in the world that
teena gers wou ld "choose" to be the
target of the irrationa l hatred and
hostility that is so often directed at
Gays. And there is no way in the
world that they would "choose" to be
the focus of the vilification and the
condemnation that so often goes with
having a gay sexual orientation.
Certainly our common sense tells us
that teenagers would not "choose" a
sexual orientation that will very 1
likely result in their being rejected by:
their families, shunned and ridiculed ,
by their classmates, and condemned
by their churches.
The irony of all this is that the real
"choice" here belongs to those who
choose to persecute Gays. They can
"choose" to discontinue their persecution
any time they w ish.
Perhaps someday they will.
Sincerely,
Martin Matson
We welcome
your letters
and opinions
Write to Secone Stone. All letters must
be original and s!¥"ed by the writer.
Clearly indicate iJ your name is to be
withheld. We reserve the right to edit.
Box 8340, New Orleans, LA 70182, or
e-mail, secstone@aol.com or FAX to
(504)891-7555. ·w From the Editof W . . . . . . . . .
_ Everyone be Catholic for a day
By Jim Bailey
• • c: . . •
LEADERS OF DIGNITY /USA have designated Sunday, October 8th
"Solidarity Sunday" and have called on Catholics and others who disagree
with Roman Catholic teaching on homosexuality to join in a visible protest on
that day. October 8th coincides with a planned papal visit to Baltimore.
Sometimes when I gather with other gay and lesbian Christians, we start
. trading war stories on how tough it was to grow up in, come out in, get
thrown out of, and so forth, the denomination our parents brought us up in.
As a former Southern :Baptist, I used to think I had the toughest stoi:y - or was
at least tied with Assembly of God folks.
I believe gay and lesbian Christians who have the toughest stories are
Roman Catholics. The Catholic Church rejects and condemns its gay and
lesbian members more viciously than other denominations - yet gay and
lesbian people who are Roman Catholic are the least likely to put aside the
"one true church"_in favor of a more accepting faith environment.
I have a Catholic friend who is in a loving, faithful and committed
relationship. He goes to church and confesses the sin of this relationship.
This week I learned that a friend and fellow publisher, a talented musician
who has provided his services to a Catholic church for many years, has been
fired by the new priest, who thought having a gay man on staff would give
the parishioners the wrong idea. Very sad. ·
In my denomination, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Amerka, and in
the Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church, the United Church of Christ,
and other denominations, there are fighters for equality and justice who have
stayed in the church because they can count their small successes. As for our
Roman Catholic gay brothers and lesbian sisters, they fight a battle without
the benefit of those small victories. They are a remarkable witness to their
church hierarchy.
So on Sunday, Qctober 8th, which happens to be gay pride weekend here in
New Orleans, I'll be Roman for a day and join my gay and lesbian Catholic
friends as they tell their church, ''We're still here and we're not going away."
· If you would like to participate in Solidarity Sunday, · contact your local
Dignity ci,,pt., o, raJI tho Mli""" offioo ~;861-0017.
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 9 9 5
Classifieds C11 8 C11 8 O 8 8. ,8 . 8 0 0 0 e CII 8 I .,0 ~ -
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·N. Ke-eler Ave nue, Chicago, IL 60641.
312/735-5526. FAX-312/736-5475. 10/95
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CLASSIFICATIONS
[ J Books & Publications
[ J Busjness Opportunjtjes
[ J Employment
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Pyramid .'Press, 13237 Montfort, • Ste. 810J,
Dallas TX 75240. 10/95
I ~~w Orleans, LA 70182 appears ,_ '---- .- - - '----- - -- -- --- .-------------------- ---- --- ------ --- --
NOVELS FOR RELIGIOUS people! The
· nov·els: ·or: · Lammy:winning author Toby
Johnson deal pos;tively with the · spiritual
significanc e of' gay. experience. GETTING
, LI~ IN PERSPECTIVE is a heart-warming,
•soul ·. stirri~ ·t.ale of love and religiou s
imeaning. · Av.ailable at gay bookstores
!nationwide.-·: Or: for $11.50 from Peregrine
. Ventures, ·P.O. Box· 684704, Austin, TX
78768. 12/95 . . , ·. ·
"A POSITIYE LOOK at the Bible and
Homosexuality" tracts; f ast reading ,
excellent for pride ·e.ve11ts, bar ministry,
personal sharing. Economical. $1 and SA.SE
will return sample an_d . order form from:
River of Life, 13.4·Quincy NE, Albuquerque,
NM 87108 ·10/95 · · . · .
.TIRED OF BI'BLICAL ;,cond~mnation" of
gays? Read · "f'rom Darknes~ into Light: ·
·what the · Bible Really Says About
. Homosexuality" '.by-Da,vid Coqper. Do gays
· have any basis for l-!oly Unions? Read "Sex,
Marriage, : and ' :-Divorce " by · Cornerstone
Fellowship. Both pamphlets , available f,;,r
$2.00 each · from Cornerstone Fellowship,
2902 N. Geroniriio. Tucson. AZ 85705.
·.flib)@~•M-ll
)iAS GOD CALLED you to the ministry? A
growing iriterdenominat!on~i yongregation
'seeks pastoral l~ade rsh1p m East Texas.
· Please send your · inquiry to : Pasto_ral Search
Committee <;IO R Reno, 5621 Old Bullard
13,d. #205,_Ty!NJ){ 75703. 10/95
GAV TEACHER desires a caring, sharing
:.male·friend-first. At 50 I enjoy home, travel,
·restaurants, movies, music. church, and
diverSity. Your heart's desire? Write tonight!
Dave, .Box 18122, Rochester, NY 14618.
' 12/95
'PROVERBS SAYS "There is a friend who
sticks closer than a brother!' GWM, 43,
:non-smoker, non-drinker, seeks such a friend
'to share faith, fellowship, and.fun. Life is
meant · to be shared. Let's discover what
interests · we have in commo n and begi,i
building the relationship God has in store
for us! Please write: P.O. Box 68005,
Rochester NY 14618. 12/95
responsible for the difference between the
issue amount and the altered amount. 2. Do
not reveal personal information about
' yours elf that would be harmful to you if
•passed .on to employer, family or others.
l@"<~Dl)©trti)O; D~~©®{l ,
INVITATION: OPTIMISTIC writers willing
: to sham short personal prayers or reflections
(biblical or not) with those facing death, loss,
terminal illriess, coming out. Information:
·AMDG E,nterprise, Box 12754, San Antonio,
TX 782'12. i0/95 ·
GAY GLOBETROTTER - Dashing 40 year
old beauty.specializes in being a travel escort
for &eniors and disabled who never get out
and . want their own personal travel escort.
Write LG., P.O . Box 22007, Seattle, WA
98122. I travel the world at reasonable rates .
.: TF..
WANTED: PATRON(S) Young gay Christian
HIV+ write;. ·Former Fund.ementalist. Intense.
Passionate, Deeply spiritua l. Compelling
desire to communicate the transforming
power ·.of God's uni versa! love. Distracted by
tight fipances, ·seeks financial supporters!
More details - write JRL, P.O. Box 4914,
' Irvine, CA 927.16-49\4._Thank_s!
,. .1 ; l,j\ •
;LIVE . OPERA performances on audio/video
·casette. Incredible selection sinc e 1930's ,
world-wide. Over 7400 items. Magnificent
fr~e computerized catalogue. Live Opera,
P.O. Box 3141, Steinway Station , Long
Island City NY 11103. 12/95
PIANO FOR SALE. Wanted: a responsibl e
person to take on a low month_ly payment on
a beautiful console piano, no money -down.
Call toll free: 1-800-533-7953. 12/95
BECOME ' A PRIEST - Gay, Lesbian and
'Bisexual persons, serve God and Community
as a Priest. External program leads to valid
ordination. An inc ardination process is
available for those already in Orders. Those
interested in this program for personal
fu lfillment without interest in ordination
may also reply. EACA - Vocations, 2401
Artesia Blvd., Ste. #106-213, Redondo
Beach CA 90278. 12/95
CONFERENCE FOR CATHOLIC LESbians~
(CCL) is a national organization . for
WARNING- REGARDING PRISON CORRESPONDENCE:
While most prisoners
seeking correspondence are genuine in _ ·.
· their intent, some are not. Readers are
· lesbians of Catholic heritage. Quarterl y · cautioned to protect themselves from
·scams; 1. Do not send checks or money
orders to prisoners and do not cash checks
or money orders from prisoners. Persons
cashing altered checks or money orders are
SECOND ST O N E
newsletter. Supportive network. Advocates
for lesbia n issues in political and Church
forums. For membership information please
contact CCL-SS, P.O. Box 436, Planetarium
Station, New York, NY 10024, (212)
663-2963 FAX (212)268-7032. 12/95
INDEPE NDENT CATHOLIC religiou s order.
Men/women, lay/clerical, gay/ non-gay.
Optional ce libac y, non-residential, ecumenical.
O rdin ation possible. Father Abbot,
O rder of St. John the Divine, 166 Jay St.,
Albany, NY 12210. 10/95
GAY PRINCIPIANS GROUP - Gay , Bi, Les-
. bian and Straight/Suppo rt i ve Alumni of
Principia Co llege (Elsa h, IL) and Upper
Schools (St. Louis) Contact: David White
#124, 2900 Connecticut Ave., N.W., Washington
, DC 20008-1404, 202-387-7250,
E-mail Mrblanc@aol.com. 12/ 95
CHRJSTIANS IN COMMUNION with Creation.
An Organizat ion for "Green Christians.
" Membership wi th monthly mailing s,
$35. Roger Wharton, 1404 Arnold Ave., San
Jose, CA 95110. 408-451-9310. 12/95
RETREATS FOR GAY monks focusing on
coping techniques in repressive communi~ies
at Saint Benedict Monastery. Information
write: Dan, 1012 Monastery Rd., Snowmass,
CO81654.
GAY EROTIC Spiritualities. Mystics, Ministers,
Masse urs, Theologians, Teachers , Artists
speak in 25 videos wisdom that only comes
from the heart. EroSpirit Newsletter. Free.
800-432-3767 12/95.
THE EROTIC CONTEMPLATIVE. Renee•
tions on the Spiritual Journey of the Gay/
Lesbian Christian. $ 199. For contents , call . ·
EroSpirit. 800-432-3767 12/95
HOW CAN WE activate our individual and
communal visions if nonstop grief has shut
us down? An hour vid eo talk by Pastor Jim
Mitulski, MCC minister. $24.94. EroSpirit.
800-432-3767. 12195
BOTH LOVER AND PRJEST : In this hour ,
video Robert Goss, author of Jesus Acted Up,
discusse s liberation theolog y and how he
came to write his bestseller. $24.95.
EroSpirit 800-432-3767. 12/95
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