Second Stone #56 - Jan/Feb 1998

Second Stone #56 - Jan/Feb 1998

56

1998

Jaln/Feb 1998

SECOND STONE
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Issue #56 LI VING INTHEEMBRACEOF A Lov 1NaAN0JusTGoo January/February 1998
''EVl-----·--g· I needt o
knowI learnedfr om
.watchingD isney''
BY MICHAELCATLETT
RoBERT fULGIIUl\1 told the world
that everything he needed 10 know he
learned in Kindergarten. With apologies
to him and to you, I might say that
almost everything I needed to know I
learned from watching Disney.
I have discovered the gospel from
time lo time within their celluloid
frames of animation. I have heard the
gospel pronounced by some unlikely
characters. The gospel is not relegated
to specific places and times. ff we will
but listen we can hear it spoken all
around us. Sometimes we hear Ilic gospel
through sermons and worship services
- and sometimes it's through ch.il<lren'
s stories contained on VHS tapes
with a mouse-eared logo.
Dumbo was an elephant with huge
cars Almost c11cryone made fun of the
pint sized pachydcnn with the ten gallon
audi tory ornaments . The other animals
laughed when he tripped and fell over
them They pointed winj?~ and hcaks and
fi lll!crn al hi 111a nd <·alh-<I1 1111a1 freak!
Tlll'y ma<lr IJmnbo feel \'cry ~ad, and he
felt like he was all alone.
A mouse became his best friend, and
everyone knows that mice and elephants
don't usually gel along. But they
became friends because the mouse was
willing to sec that Dumbo's liabilities
were acnutlly his assets. With the whispered
encouragement of his friend,
Dumbo learned that he could llap his
huge ears and fly. His ears enabled him
to soar above those who once criticized
him. No one bas ever seen an elephant
fly, but then no one had ever known an
elephant like Dumbo. Just because
some persons are different, it docs uot
make it right to make fun of them. No
one should be ostracized hccause he or
she is tutique.
Jesus never told a story like Dumbo,
or did he? Do you know the story of
Zacchcus? I have no i<lcu if he had big
cars, ,Ulcl I am certain he could not fly.
However, I do know of a time when he
climhcd up a tree to sec Jesus. I suspect
that others made fun of him, 1101 only
SFF DISNEY, Pagl' 2
JimmyC reechs' supporters
ptt)te.5etx tendeds uspension
OMAHA, Neb. - An Omaha pastor suspcmkd
afl cr pc rfom 1in~ n lcsb i:u, coiu.
mitment cere mony was supposed IO be
back behind the pulpit Jnnuary 11. His
name was even listed on a church program
as preacher for the day's worship
services.
Instead , about 75 supporters of the
ReL Jimmy Creech gnthcred outside
Omaha's f-irst United Methodi st Church
to protest the pastor's absence.
Creec h was not at church because
Nebraska United ~lcthodisl Bishop Joel
Martinez indefinitely e.\tended Creeeh's
suspension - al least until a statewide
church conunillcc finishes its im·esliga lion.
"I wish I could stand here flus morning
and tell you that I understand why
(the bishor.) felt it was necessary to do
this, bul l can't," said William s Jenks,
who JL-u the pn:,.('rccc h rally
Jenks. cha i nuun of the 011rnh:1
church's srnff parish rela tions committee.
said man} felt "aba ndoned, dismissed
and even betrayed" because the
committee mel with f,.forlincz and had
"adrncatcd strongly" against extending
the suspension.
"Ile ga,·e us nothing we feel we can
point to as a clear and conrincing reason
for taking this action," Jenks said.
When asked about his response to the
extended suspension, Creech told 1cle,
·ision stalion KETV that the "church is
infected with society' s general higotry
toward this issue."
Creech said he has not hccn told when
he c1m return to work. (Al')
A Supportive Congregations Network church
Blaze destroysh istoric
Indianac hurchb uilding
NORTH MANCHESTER, Ind. - A fire
that destroyed one of this northern lndi
ana city's largest churches did more than
just cause millions of dollars in slmctuml
damage .
It also left a hole in the community.
"I keep thinking about all the sacra
mcnts that took place inside this
building," the Rev. Susan Boyer, pastor
of the Manchester Church of the Brethren,
said . "Baptisms, child dcdicatwns.
funerals ,md weddings The way people
have met ( 'hnst in this building ."
A lite on Ian 7 s\\allow,:d the roof,
•Prayer •The Bible •Words & Deeds
''EverythinIg n eedt o knowI
learnedfr omw atchinDg isney''
From Pagel
because of his height, but because he
was in cahoots with the Roman government.
He was a freak, a traitor, who
made his living by extracting money
from his fellow Israelite s for his personal
enrichment and the enri.chment of
the Roman govemment.
Yet Jesus convinced him that he
believed in him, and his trust transformed
Zaccheus' liabiliti es into assets.
Jesus offered Zaccheus salvation, and
when Zaccheus received that gift of trust
and faith, be began to soar; he began lo
believe in himself. He gave away half
of his money, and whatever he had stolen
from others he repaid four times
over. Those who once thought him
rather short were surprised to discover
how tall he had become. Those who
once thought his money bags much too
large were befriended by Zaccheus' generosity.
You've seen about everything
when you see a tax collector give to the
poor and repay those who have been
cheated! "Today salva tion has come to
your house," Jesus declared, and Zaccheus
began to fly.
In "Beauty and the Beast," an ugly
monster, imprisoned by an evil spell,
falls in love with a beautiful young
lady . She had willingly taken the place
of her father who was held capti vc in the
Beast's castle, offering her life in place
of his. At first she is afraid of the ogre.
But soon she recognize s that there is
more to this creature than meets the eye.
She treats him with kindness, and he
reciprocates. The beast became less
beastly. lllltil suddenly the beauty no
longer secs him with her eyes, but with
her heart. She fell in love with the
ogre, and her love transformed him.
humnui1..ed him, and the spell was broken.
The facade of the beast was
stripped away and he became a handsome
prince . The truth is that he was
always a handsome prince.
Jesus never told this story. but he did
tell the story of a beast of a man who
hved on 1m island, i~olatcd from other
tolks. solitary because others saw him
2 JANUARY•FFBRt;ARY 199K
as hideous. Often the townspeople
would try to bind him with chain s. but
the chains would not hold him, and he
would terrori ze the countryside . again.
Jesus met the man and treated him with
dignity and released him from the
demons that tormented him. The man
was restored , clothed, and was made
whole. Then everyone could see what
Jesus had been able to see, that the
Gadarene demoniac was a man. It was
the love of Christ that transfon ncd the
demoniac, the same love tl1at enabled
Jesus to sec him not as a beast, but as a
brother.
In 'The Little Mermaid," the merpeople,
those who lived beneath the sea,
believed that their existence was far different
from those who lived above the
waler. Much of the movie dealt with
the misconcept ion that each group had
fonned concerning the other. Bits and
pieces of human society had made their
way beneath the waters, and the merpeople
grossly misunders tood the purposes
of the simplest of human articles.
Ariel, the little mermaid, fantasized
about living on the surface as a human.
Her father could not understand why she
would want lo live with those others.
He wanted her to follow bis traditions ,
to embrace life as he understood it, and
he could not fathom why she would go
her own way, especially if her way led
her out of his milieu and his control.
Ariel was willing lo embrace those who
appear to be different from her, and her
father could not understand why.
Jesus could. That's what Jesus con stantly
taught and believed. It's what
Jesus lived out each day. To lepers,
those who suffered from a hideous disease
that always put them on the fringe
of society, Jesus offered acceptance, and
the grace and love of God. In the homes
of tax collectors, like Zaccheus, Jesus
would dine and have fellowship. Rcligi,
ms types would have nothing 10 do
with those outcasts l'iccause they were
unclean and sinners . But Jesus loved
1hem and said lhcre was no basis for
!heir exclusion . "lie even cals with
si1mers!" the religious leaders shouted iu
order lo criticize Jesus. Jesus implied
that if a pcr~on refu sed lo cal with sinners
then he or she would perish from
hunger because all di1mcr companions
are sinners.
Y cars after Jesus' death, the Apostle
Paul would write that "in Chri st there is
no Jew or Greek, male or female, slave
or free." He wrote those words because
that's how he understood the kingdom
of God. That's how Je~ ad lived o~L
that kingdom. ~ ,. •
Once a la\'fyer, a ~c~. ..~. ~J~~
how one should live~ ~ I -
Jesus answered lhe man's question by
posing one of his own: "What do you
think you arc supposed to do?" The
lawyer responded that he w,as "to love
God with all his heart, soul, and mind,
and love his neighbor as him se lf."
Jesu s told him that was the right
respon se. Then the man asked if Jesus
would qualify the term "neighbor."
Apparently the man hoped it would
mean only those folks who were like
him, or those who-he perceived were
like him.
Jesus' respon se was tl1c story of the
good Samaritan. He did not give an
edict, nor did he offer a philo sophical
treatise. Jesus told a story, and asked the
man to look at the story and discover
tl1c gospe l in it.
Through the story the man discovered
that a neighbor was anyone in need. He
also tcnrncd that compassion and Jove
cut across racial, etlrnic, and social divisions.
It was a Samari tan, the man
from a race despised by the Jews, who
offered to help the Jewish man in need.
Jesus lold the story to point out that all
of us have a responsibility to care for all
of humanity ." No mail er what arbitrary
barriers we may think divide us, those
barrier s do not separate us from our
duty, our obligation, our opportunity to
demon stra te the love of God by giving
and receiving compassion and grace.
I don't think Victor Hugo would be
enti rely plea sed with Disney 's adaplalion
of "The Hunchback of Notre
Dame." Disney used the story as the
basis of its presentation, but chose not
lo be strictly faithful - to the dark story -
line that Hugo penned. Howe ver, the
meaning of Hugo's work and the adaptation
by the animators at Disney is clear:
oulcasts arc people, too. The gypsies, a
marg inalized people who dwell on the
fringes of society. are represented by the
character &meralda, a beautiful womai1
who befriends and is befriended by
another outcast, Quasimodo.
Quasimodo, a hunchback, was
dcfonned at birth and raised within the
sanctuary of Not re Dame. The man
responsibl e both for the death of Quasimodo's
mother, his deformity and his
education is a govenunenl official who
takes every opportunity to remind Quasimodo
that he is differen t, that he is
defonned, that he ca1rnot be accepted by
society .
Quasimodo rings the be ll s of the
ca thedral, telling all the commun ity that
the services are about to begin, that all
need to come lo worship, that all arc
welcome witltin lhose walls . Everyone
but Quasimodo. The townspeople ridicule
the hunchbac k, awarding him the
honor of Chief of Fools in their ammal
celebration, only to respond witl1 anger
SEE DISNEY, Next Page
Christian music stars reflect
on WWJD movement
BY DAVID BRIGGS
IN A NEW BOOK lhal expands upon the
growing popularity of the "What Would
Jesus Do?" movement - expressed in
millions of bracelets, T-shirts and other
items with the WWJD iogo - Christian
music stars reflect on how they respond
to die question in their own Ii ves.
'The Christian life is not a painless
life. It wasn't a painless life for Jesus,"
said composer Dana Key, who compiled
the stories in the "WWJD Interactive
Devotional" from the Grnnd Rapids,
Micb.-bascd Zondervan Publishing
House. "Pain is part of a Christian
experience."
The WWJD movement , which now
has ils own album and Bible in addition
to the popular bracelets, asks youths lo
consider what Jesus would do in a broad
range of situations in their lives.
Some of the examples in the new
devotional are self-promoting stories of
lhe impact of their music, bul in others
the musicians attempt to reflect on how
they handl ed incident s in their own Ii ves
that chal lenged them spiritually.
Michael Tait, a black perfonner for de
Talk, tells of stopping in a country
store in rural Tennessee and being
stu1med when an older man said . "You
don't belong around here boy." The man
went on to say. "You stick around here
after dark and we'll bang you.''
But Tait didn't lose his composure.
Instead, Trait said he calmly told the
man that racism was not acceptable anymore.
.. I was even surprised myself al the
restraint I showed," Tail recalled. "I
knew Jesus would not have lashed out.
And lo tell you tl1e truth, l think my
calm made that man madder than anything
else I could have said or done."
After each personal story, there is a
biblical text and a section calkd "lhc
point" that attempts to intc~rnlc 1hc
Bible with the lives of readers . (1\1')
FAITH IN DAILY LIFE
A time to act:
Callf or Rene~als' SecondA nnuaPl entecosAt gainsPt overty
PENTECOST COMMEMORATES the
day Christians believe the Spirit of God
empowered the early believer s. It marks
the crea tion of the church . In 1998, Penteco
st Sunday will be May 31.
Faith communitie s have al re ady
started plannin g their activiti es for Call
to Renewal 's second ru.mual "Penteco st
to Overcome Poverty ."
Acts 2:42 sa ys the early church
devoted themselves to praying. teaching,
and sharing their bread with the poor . In
1997, 55 loc a l actions and reli gious
services in 26 states were made up of
these elem ents - praying. teaching , and
sharing. Churches gathered in their
houses of worship for a Pentec ost servic
e , then gathered at state capitol s,
mwlicipal buildings, and other location s
with other churche s. Churchgo ers
learned about the issues critical to welfar
e and pov erty in their communitie s,
pray ed for tho se in need, shared a community
meal, reaffirmed that as church
and societ y we are respon sible for how
we treat the most vulnerable among us.
These events included a variety of speak ers,
brin ging them tog ether to develop
strategy for new partner ships an d programs
that will work toward t11ee limination
of poverty.
lu wors hi p services and in other
events, this day foc uses on increas ing
awareness, educati ng people about the
effects of welfare refonn on individ ual
commwuties and the na tion as a whole,
and working for jus tice for people made
poor in our society. "Pentecost to Overcome
Poverty" can bring together Chris tian
values, experience, and comm unity
in au effective public witness.
In most areas of tbe country, it is safe
to say that a year into welfare reform
"we l fare as we know it" no longer
exists. What does e,i;ist is a crazy quilt
of inconsistent policies varying from
Prayer link for
social justice
THE METHODIST Federation for
Social Action bas established a Social
Justice Prayer Network. Interested volunteers
are asked to make a prayer commitment
in support of social justice and
peace issues, which are suggested
biweekly via mail or e-mail. At the
same time, volunteers muy submit indi vidual
requests for prayer. To participate,
write to MFSA, Alln· George
McClain, 76 ('Jinton Ave., Staten
Island, NY 10301, gmcclain@igc.org.
state to state, and in some cases from
county to county. While there are some
early succe ss stori es to report, the tmly
difficult work still lies ahead.
Those most emplo yable, and on welfare
for the shortest periods of time • the
easiest to move from welfare to work -
are gener a ting impressi ve stati stics in
several states . Long term welfare recipi ents
- those who are the lea st emplo yable
- are still waiting to make anyone's
chart s. There is also the huge unanswered
question about the fate of people
after tliree months of work when most
follow-up ends, and those dropped from
welfare rolls but still unemployed. We
have a long way to go before welfare as
we knew it is truly tran sformed into a
decent living standard for all.
The role churche s will play is still
emerging. Some communitie s have
relied heavily on local faith communities,
others have depend ed solely on secular
social service agencies , and still
others have managed to combin e the
DISNEY,
FromPage2
and horror when they discover that be is
not wearing a cos tume, that be really is
defo rmed, and that he is nothing like
them.
His life is spared by Esmeralda wbo
bas compassion for him . She had
always been an outcas t, and she unde rstood
his pain and his need for acceptance
and love. Her act ions place her at
odds with the village officials, so she
lit erally takes sanctua ry in the church,
lliding there. She real izes she is now an
outcas t more than ever. She knows that
Quasimodo is an outcast too. The beautifu
l windows of the cat hedra l shine
wilh the radia nt love of God, and Esmeralda
sings a song entitled "God Help the
Outcasts:"
"I don't know if you can hear me or if
you're even there. I don't know ir you
would listen to a gypsy's prayer. Yes, I
know I'm an outcast. I shou ldn 't speak
to you. Still I see your face and wonder
were you once an outcast too? Gcxl help
the outcasts, hungry from birth. Show
them the mercy they don't find on earth.
God help my people, they look to you
still. God help the outcasts, or nobody
will. I ask for nothing. I can gel by,
but I know so many less lucky than I.
Please help my people, the poor and
downtrod. I thought wc were all the
children of God. God help lhe outcast
children ofGod."
best gifts of both. In some place s the
poten tial offer ed in the charitable choice
prov ision of the welfare law is being
maximized.
No matter how your commu1uty is
responding, the Call to Renewal 's sec ond
annual "Pentecost to Overcome
. Pov er ty" off ers an opportunit y for
orgaru ziug. If faith -based communiti es
are actively participating in shaping and
implementing social polic y, activ itie s
can be used to celebrate that while continuing
to call governm ent to do its
share . If there is a need for increa sed
invol vement on the part of the religious
community in your area, this is an
opportunity to call them to accountabil ity.
"Pentecost to Overcome Poverty" offers
churche s an event around wliich to
come together to talk about the way
poverty and social policy impacts communitie
s, and to find ways to act together.
Tllis can be an important first step
to openin g dialogu e among group s, con-
Ca n you h ear th e gos pel in that so ng'?
For years we' ve listene d to "His Eye Is
On The Sparrow" and heard within those
words and music the assurance that God
cares for us, no matter how insignificant
we may feel. In some ways, isn' t that
what Esmeralda's song is about ? God
loves and cares for margi nalized people,
and we have a respo nsibility to love and
ca re for one another as well. Many
folks in churches and cmsades have
heard "His Eye Is On The Sparrow ," but
cow1tJess millions have watched the video,
and taken their children to the Disney
movie in which Esmeralda sang of
the love of God that knows no bounds,
the grace of God that is ex tended to all
peop le. Isn't that gospe l, too?
There are othe r gospe l lessons that
can be gleaned. Even little children
know that it is not right to hurt others
for one's pleasure. They may have
picked it up from "IOI Dalmations."
They know it isn't right to hurt those
puppies just so Cruella DeVille can
bave a spotted coat. And perhaps they
will come to realize that great power of
Aladdin• s final wish, which is 1101 for
riches, wealth, or fame - but to lift the
yoke of oppression from someone's
shoulders: to set the Genie free. That
sounds like gospel to me.
If there is a theme that connects many
of the Disney cartoon works, it is love.
grega tion s, and people where none has
previou sly existed.
Actions could includ e: an interd enominati
onal service focu sing on poverty
and the special needs of poor people in
your area; a community meal for poor
peopl e held in a public plac e such as a
county welfare office or a sta te building;
a teach-in on the impact of welfare
reform; a job fair for welfare reci pien ts
making the tran sition from welfare to
work; a concert and canned food drive; or
a volunteer fair that enables church
member s to find exi sting agencies with
which to ,york. All of the se take
months to plan, so beginning work now
is importan t.
A Pentecost organi zing packet ,
including an organizing ~uide , worship
resources, and a new " Pledge to Overcome
Poverty" is avail able from Call
To Renew a l, 2401 15th St. NW,
Washington OC 20009 , (202)3 28-8842 ,
Call_to_Renewal @convene. com.
ac ceptan ce nnd ap prc c iali o u of those
who are difTerent from us. whatever "us ..
may mean. Whether it is "Pocohontas ..
and t11c issue of Native America ns and
those who came to conqu er, colonize
and ignore their traditions; or "Bea uty
and the Beast," and the recognition that
beauty and bestiality are a part of all of
us; or "T he Littl e Mermai d," and the
insight that we seldom really understand
those whom we pe rceive as different
from us; or "The Hunc hback of Notre
Dame," and the realization that outcasts
are people, too, there is an implied declaration
tha t we have a moral responsibili
ty to Jove and care for one another.
The barriers erecte d to demonstrate our
differences are artificial constructio ns.
Everyo ne is my neighbor. I believe that
is the gospe l.
That means tbat tl1e 10,000 messeng ers
to 1b.e Southern Baptist Convention
who voted for the resolution to boycott
Disney are also my brothers and sisters,
and also my neighbors. If I choose to
belittle them, or if I determine to make
them outcasts because they have done
something I would have preferred they
not do, then apparently I haven't
watched and listen ed to those Disney
movies or paid ancntiou to the gospel
of Christ. In Christ there is no liberal
or fwulamentalist, nor moderate or conservative.
We arc all one in Christ.
SECOND STONE 3
FAITH IN DAILY LIFE
Forg aym an,o ttlinatioan 13-yeajro urney
BY ALLEN V. HARRIS
GERRY BRAGUE was ordained into
the minist ry of the Chri stian Church
(Discip les of Christ) on Nov. 16 in a
ceremony marked by hum or, tear s of
pain, and thunderou s applau se. Guided
by such words such as "prophetic,"
"patience," and "joy" hundr eds of folks
gathered in the sanc tuary of First Christian
Church, San Jose, Califomia to
commemora te the thirteen year joumey
toward ordination which Gerry has traveled
After graduation from seminary at
Andover Newton Theological Schoo l
near Boston Gerry soug ht ordination in
the Presbytelian Church (USA). Gerry
moved to New York Ci ty in 1991 to be
with his partne r, Allen Foste r. There he
joined Park A venue Chri stian Church,
where Allen was already a memb er, and
began the proces s toward ordin at ion in
the Chri stian Church .
Gerry and Allen moved to Nor them
Califomia in 1995 following the refus al
to endo rse Gerry's ordinati on by the
Commissio n on Ministry of the Northeastern
Region due to its policy against
ordaini ng m1yone who "openly communicates
their homosexual lif eslyle," a
policy in s ti lut ed in 1992. They first
attended Forest Hill Christian Chur ch in
Ecumenical & Inclusive
We are a Christian community of men
and women from various Catholic and
Protestant traditions involved in minstries
of love, compassion and reconciliation.
We live and work in the world,
supporting ourselves and our ministries
and are inspired by the spirit of St.
Francis and St. Clare. We are not
canonically affiliated with any denomination.
For more information or a copy of our
newsletter, Footsteps. picas~ write us:
Vocation Director
PO Boll 8340
New Orlcan\. LA 70182
Join us on retreat May 1-3, I 998
al LaSale!le, Attleboro, MA
Mercy of God Community
4 J A N lJ A R Y • F f, B R U ,\ R \' I 9 9 R
San Francisc o hoping to fi nd a congrc galion
supporti ve of hi s or din ation.
When th.is became unlikel y, they moved
their member ship to Fir st Christian
Church, San Jose, an Open & Affirm ing
Congregati on. Followi ng a year of
study and pre paration , Ge rr y was
approv ed for ordinati on last spring by
the Eld er_s of Firs! Chri stian Church,
San Jose, and the Recognition and
Standing Co mmilte e of the Northern
California-Nevada Region of the Christim1
Church.
Two signific ant co ngregat ions that
nurtured Gerry along his faith j onmc v
were Church of the Coven ant (United
Church of Chri st/Pre sbyteria n Church
USA) in Bos ton and Park ;\ venue
Chri~tian Church in Ne,~ York City .
Both sen t strong words of commenda tion
to the service. The Rev. · Crai o
Ho~fman and the Rev. Allen Hanis, re1~
resentativcs from Park Avenue Christian
Chur ch, the ~ongreg ation which sup ported
Gerry for ordination in the North~
aSlem Regio n, brought words of greetmg
and support from lhe ciders of 1hat
congregatio n. A commis sioning service
was celebra ted at Park A \'enue Chris1inn
Church on Sunda y, October 12 for his
Eas• Coa st com muni ty. Gerry served as
Admini stra tive and M.inisle1ial Assistant
at the church, as well as in the volunteer
position of Pastoral Partner for Con temporary
Culture .
Com munio n was celebrated at the
ord ination service using three sets of
communion ware symbolizing imp or tant
period s of Gerry 's lif e. One sci was
sent from friends in South Australia
where Gerry studied for one of his yea rs
in seminar y. Another set was from the
office s of the Nort hern California
Nevada Conference of the United Church
of Christ , where Gerry currently serves
as Admi nistrati ve Mini ster for Sear ch,
Plac eme nt , and Authori zati on. The
third communi on set was commi ssioned
by the Elder s of Park Ave nue Christian
Church in hono r of Gerry 's ordinati on.
Jim Gaynor , an arti st in New York City
and member of the congrega tion , fashioned
the chalice and paten from "found"
items, rep rese ntin g sy mboli ca lly the
close connections between salvaging and
salvatio n.
A native of Dallas. Pennsy l\'a nia ,
Gerry was j oined hy many family mem ·
hers, in cl uding hi s mothe r, Doris
Brague; his sister, Linda Ross O'Nei ll .
and her hushand: Gerry's nephew, Jonathem
Ross; one of his two bro thers,
David Brague, and his wife. and their
childre n. llis paru1cr, Allen Foster, was
an integral part of the ceremony, haYing
helped de sign creative elcmenl s such as
the banner proclaiming Micah 6:8 -9
"Wha t d9cs God require of you'! Do ju stice,
Love mercy , Walk humbly with
yo ur God," splendid flower arrangement
s, and a ph oto di splay of Ge rry 's
life shared during the reception .
The Rev. Dr. Jane I Icckle s and the
Rev. Dr. Kathle en Greid e r provided
Gerry with his mini s terial charge.
Using the creative invit ation lo 1he ordination
that Gerry a nd Allen had fashioned
, which was pr in ted 0 11 reused
maps, i\ls. Ilcck.lcs and t-.ls. Greid er
explored the journey Ge1ry had been on,
and con templated whe re Gerry mi ghl
want lo go in his mini stry . Eventually
they came to the co nclu sion lhal Gerry
was following God's call within himself,
where all of us ult imatel y listen for
God's urgin g mid dir ec tion.
A tran sformati ve moment occ urred
when member s of Forest I !ill Chri stian
Church of Sa n Fra ncisco stood and tcarfull
y share d their persona l pa in and
regre t that their church was not willing
or able lo endor se Gerry's requ est for
ordination at that point.
T he Rev . Chu c k Bl a isdell, regional
minister and pre sident of the North ern
Califomia -Nevada Reg ion , offered the
pra yer of ord inati on as the community
laid hands on the ordinand . Following
the act of ordin at ion , ex tended app la use
met Gerr y as he ro se to his feet. The
now Re ve rend Brague pre sided at com muni
on and gave the hen cd ic tion mid
final charge .
Gayg roupr aisesfu nds
for Baptisct hurch
IN THE AFTERMATH of the Bapt ist
boyco lt of Disney, it seems nnthinkab
le . Gays and le sb ian s raising mone y
to help n Baptist church? It's tm c .
As Mickey Mouse faints and Jerry
Fa! well hisse s, a group of gay and lesbian
Baptists in Dal las have embarked
on a fund rai sing c-ampaign to support
Austin 's Univer sit y Bapt ist Church.
Two years ago the church ordained an
open ly gay member as a deaco n. As
word filtered to the larger Bapti st communit
y, a fire stonu of controve rsy
erupted . · The official Bapti st response
was publ ic and punitive as the Austin
Bapti s t Ass ocia tion revoked UBC' s
member ship and the Bapti st Ge neral
Conve ntion of Texas sci into works a
mechani sm to refuse sea ting UBC' s
me ssen gers to its annual stale conv entions.
UBC found itself isola ted and alone,
but not without friends.
" It's sad that , in the Bap tist church ,
we sa y that everyo ne is welcome when
they' re not ," said Bria n Burt on, president
of Honestyffexas, a support , educa tion
and advocac y gro up for gay Bap tists.
'' Like proph ets thro ugh the ages ,
UBC is suffering fo r doing th e right
thing.''
Pastor Larry Be thun e said that, in
terms of members hip and finances, the
decis ion to ordain a gay person was
costly. "We lost key families who either
left over the decision or because of the
glare of the nega tive publicity," he said.
Carter Wheelock, deacon chaim1an at
llBC, said that while the church is
smal ler, its sp irit has improved . "There
is a higher spir itu a lit y. Doing what we
feel is right has lift ed our spirits and
made thing s better. " he said .
Recently Bethune welcom ed 32 gay
mu.I le sbian Bap ti sts who ga thered for a
weekend retreat ho sted by UBC. "It was
the first time most of them had been
ope nly accepted by a Bapti st mini ster in
a Bap ti st ch urc h, " reca ll s Wheelo c k.
"There was har dl y a dry eye among
them."
Pam Van Dyk e , vice pre sid ent of
Hones ty. said that the idea to rai se fund s
came af ter the retreat. "W c found out the
UBC needed to re furbi sh their ex teri or
sanctuary doors." The beautifully carved
wooded doo rs are worn and graffiti is
scrawl ed on two of the impres sive stone
doorway s. According to Van Dyke , "As
we dis cussed our option s at our November
meet ing of Hone sty, someo ne in the
group said , ' I like the sy mbolism of
refurbi shing those doors. " '
In the fir st week o f the camp aign,
Hones ty rais ed $ 1,400 towar d its goal of
$2,500 .
"P eo ple fe lt powe rle ss when UBC
was bein g cru ci fied two yea rs ago, " Burton
sai d. 'T his gives folk s an op portllllity
to say 'Th anks fo r standi ng up and
speak ing the truth with. grace and cou rage.
T hank s for open in g your doors for
us."'
Donations for this ca mpai gn, payable
to llniversity Bap tist Chu rc h, may be
sent to Open the Doo rs. c/o Brian Bur ton,
P .O. Box 191021, Dallas TX
75219 .
FAITH IN DAILY LIFE
Strmght pastor shapes church's
ministryt o gays iriot a natitJnaml odel
BY CLARK MORPHEW
ST. PAUL , MINN. -A Luth eran chur ch
here began a mi nis try to gay men and
'lesbians in 1978 , the same yea r a citywi
de re fe rendum denying th em ci vil
rights was passed. Backed by fundamentalist
chur ches, the meas ure repealed earlier
leg islation that outlawed discrim ination
in hous ing, emp loyment and education
to all St. Paul residents.
As the deb a te grew in int ensity, one
small chur ch , St. Paul Reform ation
Luth eran , stood out from the crowd as
an ad vocate fo r ci tize ns' ci.;,il rig hts
regar dless of their sex ual orientation.
Tod ay that congregation has become a
nat iona l mod el of inclu sive mini s try .
St. Paul Refonna tio n church will bar no .
person from worship and has a history
of ad\'Ocacy for anyo ne in nee d.
The Rev. Paul T idemaiu1, pastor of
the congrega tio n since 198 I , has
endur ed the wra th of those who wan t
gays m1d lcshia ns set apart from the traditional
churc h.
In one way, Tidemann , who is heterosex
ual, didn't have much choic e . He
became pa stor of St. Paul Reformation
ju st as the newly me rged congreg ation
was taking shape . By then, membe rs
alr eady had isola ted several issues tha t
would id entify their mission ever since.
Memb e rs wanted to: foster closer
involvement with the African -Americ an
com mun ity ; part icip a te in di alog ue
about apartheid in So11tl1A fric a; become
an inclu s ive communit y in rega rd to
wome n; open their congrega tion to refugees;
advocate for people with di sabilities,
and become a welcoming church
for gay men and les bian s.
Tidemmm had come to the same concl
usio ns abo ut mini stry. Il e had served
as a pas tor in inner city chur ches and as
a miss ionary to Guya na dwin g the Jim
Jones massac re. He also had twin brot hers
who were gay and who both died of
AIDS. Ti demann was no stranger lo
controversy.
By the time he arrived in 1981, the
congregatio n already had become a
gathering place for Lutherans Concerned.
Within a year of his arrival,
Tidcmann and otbers had founded Wingspan,
a ministry with and for gays and
lesbians. Wingspan became one of the
premier advocacy groups for gays and
lesbian s in the Twin Cities. working
with the Minnesota Cou ncil of
Churches and other ecumenical agencies.
l3y 1983, Ti<lemmm was faced with a
decision he suspected would nwke his
ministry much more controversial. I le
had been asked · to bless a committed
relationship between two lesbians.
"That was the big co ntrover sy," Tidemann
said. "I expec ted a sma ll pri vate
se rvice, but when I arri ved, about ISO
people were the re . Within weeks , news
of the blessi ng service was all acros s the
countr y. And pe opl e were calling the
bishop demanding that Tidcmann be disciplin
ed. So, we' re a long way from that
flO\ \'."
Tidem arn1 was not disci plin ed. Since
then, he has perfor med more than 20
union serv ices . Such cere monies, ca lled
■
The Rev. Paul
Tidemann ... has
endured the wrath
of those who want
gays and lesbians
set apart from the
tradition al church .
■
blessings. he said, arc nol lhe equi\'alcnt
of church weddin gs because of prevai ling
laws and society's reaction.
"lf we can bless an elepha nt walking
down tl1e aisle of a cathedral on the feast
day of St. Francis, we ought to be able
to bless the committe d re lation ship of
two gay or le sbian peop le ," Tidc mmu1
said. ·
Now after nearly two dec ades of being
on the front line with gay and lesbian
peopl e and witnes sing eonnt less reports
and studie s. Tidernam1 thinks it's time
for the c hurch to move in n new directio
n.
"\Ve',·e s tudied the mailer to deat h,"
Tid emmm said . "Now we ha ve it all
wri llen down - all kind s of s tudie s and
reports - and there isn't much roo m for
the lloly Spiri t to move."
Still in the years ahead, Tidemmm and
Wings pan directo r Anita Hill will continue
to pnsh for the full par ticipation
of gay a nd les bian peo ple in the Evan gelical
Lutheran Omrc h in America.
Now Tidemrum says there is only one
issue for the church to consider - will
the denomi nation ordain gay mid lesbian
cm1didatcs, who are in a committed mid
blessed relationship, into min.istry'?
"We've made some progrcss,"Tidcuuum
said. "But it's wearying and wearing.
And over the years I haYe become
so fed up listening to hate mongering
and all the rest." (St. Paul Pioneer
Press)
Since 1988, a friend
for the journey.
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secstone@ao l.com SecoSntdoe n THE STONE THAT THE BUIWERS R£JECTED
BECAME THE CORNERSTONE· Mark 12:10
SEC'OND STONE 5
- ' • - ' ' .. _ ::,--~- .- ~ ·:-:_ ~ -~❖. ..~. -- ·---_-: ~ ·~· .· .. ~ .... ·,,., . ~~ A
. ..•· . ! .- ... ~ .,., ,.... M . N
: ...· N.·;· .,-.~.i / ".·'.•· .\.t~~ . . '. - . ,. - . . ... ,J
' ' .
. . •
BY REV.D ONNAE . SCHAPER
A meditation on . .
boundaries
Spirit of the Edge, draw near. Let us
look both ways, out fr01n where we arc
and in to ·where we arc and across the
table at the one some. think of us as other.
Let us sec ourselves in others and
let others see themselves in us. Amen
l hear the word boundary everywhere
but don't think we know what it quite
means.
My hunch is that, among
feminists/womanists, white women like
boundaries and women of color don't.
There may be two border theologies
afoot at the moment. Post-modernism
has not only split our consciousness but
also our community.
It is nothing to sit in a meeting with
white women and hear the loud tongue
clicking about the men of the Achilles
Penis se t. "They have no
boundarie s ....... that's what is wrong
with tl1em. " Solution: get men more
bounded. The other popular . topic
among clergy is overwork: I work too
hard is the theme song of this lament.
Solution: get more personally bounded.
Structure your time; take care of yourself.
There is a clear pro-boundary movement
among white, middle class clergy.
Right next to these kinds of thoughts
arc those that are basically pro.
immigration . We want immigrants; we
want multi-culturalism. We :•pprove of
"mixed" couple s. We welcome the
stranger who crosses the boundary to
come to the United States.
In "Rethinking Borders" by Trin Min
Ha, we arc brought to realize how
"thoroughly hybrid ... things arc. Other
is between us, not out there. Cultures
arc far from being unitary. We no
longer have clear border s. One constautly
threads the fine line between
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C.Otnrol c.ndP r1..c-nv1lon
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.If hlU!Iw lt(mb noUtI UilO~p (ton
dilm1ii1lli n 8 iblt-lbltd, ~ilhm vrmi tnt•.
JillI MilltllJ
llm!t\l tdil 111PBn pn
C.clldUlii lmly--l/llDR!ln
6 JAN UARY • FEBR t lARY 19 9 8
positioning and depositioning: One trav els
tran s-culturally while engaging in
the local habitus which links inhabit•
ants."
Chung Yung Kuhn joins her in a
basic appreciation of the post-modern
mixt-up-edncss. At the Auburn conference
on the p1,1blicv ocation of women's
theology, she teased her public detractors,
"You don't like my synchretism
■
encourage sexual experimentation or the
breaking of marriage vows? No:· But
we .should encourage promise on the
right theoretical foundation. Promise is
less about keeping boundaries than it is
about accepting the call to be more
Christlike and to break some of the bondage
of our humanity . Promises and
covenants do more than humans normally
can do. We are unbounded in our
Promises and covenants do more
than humans normally can do ...
Promise is less about keeping
boundaries than it is about accepting
the call to be more Christlike and to
break some of the bondage
of our humanity.
but you do like the synchretism of
orthodo:,i; Christiaruly ... T
One theologian likes boundaries; t11e
otl1c.r enjoys mixing things up. What
can personal bow1darics mean theolooicall
y. under these circum stanc~?
0
Does "boundary theology" have any•
thing to do with Christianity, which
mixes God and human iu a way that
makes it different from all other world
religions?
Can we imagine Anselm being
opposed to t11e boundaries that God
chose to cross? Or any of the original
Trinitari:ms thinking U1at God did not
mix and blend the self of God?
When we decide not to mix boundaries,
we go against some central doctrines
of the church . We decide that
God's self -disclo sure to God's self is
more than we can bear. We try to let
God be God and us be humans. We
make tirings clear , way too clear . God
will mix them up, I believe.
By way of personal disclosure, I am
both white and very human. I actually
think that "taking care of ourselves" and
"keeping strong personal boundaries" are
middle class, white values. They do not
compute to the alien. the stranger, the
traveler or tl1e poor: they want to move.
We do not want them to move.
These ,,aJucs do not compute with the
kind of God we know, a Go<l that is on
the move, even within the very self of
God.
Docs tit.is boundary crossing at the
heart of God mean that we should
■
love for our intimate partner: not bow1ded,
but unbounded by ii and lo ii. Simi larly,
we do not need so much to
"protect " our time as to relea se it to
God. God will protect us in our self.
giving. There is a mathematics to generosity
: the more we give, the more we
are able to give . Again, the theoretical
premise of bmmdaries is dangerous. It
turns us stingy.
Peggy Way onoe described Christianity
as the "freedom to choose one's own
bondage ." I believe she is getting close
to tl1e paradox and virtue of boundary
theology . We need to explore this paradox
in racial and class terms and see
what could come of it , for use ·by both
people of color and wltite people. We
need to reacquaint ourselves with the
Trinity - and ask the interesting question
of whether the Trinity was not postmodern
before post-modentity . We need
to refocus on the multitude of textual
material about the strnnger. the exile,
the alien: what are tl1ey called by God to
do? I believe they are called by God to
break out , uot to stay put, and I believe
tha t lib era ting motion is at the very
heart of the one we dare call , by three
names . God.
Tlte Rev. Donna E. Schaper is Associate
Conference Mi nister witlt the
Massachusetts Conference of the
United Cl111rclo1f C11rist. Her new
book is "The Sense In Sabbatl1: A
Way To Have Enough J'ime," t,misf
ree.
MANNA
Travel that can change your life
BY REV. DONNA SCHAPER
Kottler, published by Jossey -Bass,
1997. $20.00.
IF YOU ARE GOING more places, and
enjoying them less, it may be time to
read this book . Here you will find out
how to read a new city, how to find
yourself in a foreign place, and how to
use travel for personal renewal, rather
than personal exhaustion.
Transfonnation is the word used most
often here - and the author both promiscs
and delivers a deligluful set of
recipes for precisely that.
Kottler develops the theme of travel
as both necessity and luxury and shows
us how to blend the two. Joining the
Dutch architect and intellectual, Rem
Kool has, Kottler shows that we Ii ve in
a time of nows, not just space, and
movements, not just "getting there."
We increasingly need lo develop a psychology
and spirituality of flow.
The capacity to live an interior life in
a strange place is the destination of this
God's Lover
by
Kathleen Kopitsky
The story is like this:
There was a woman. A deeply spiritual woman, who
stood before God and gazed into God's eyes.
"Amma," she whispered.
"Ask," God answered.
"Show me Jove," the woman queried.
God peered into the woman's eyes, down to her soul,
and saw her need, her longing to understand and to know.
"We will send you a Jover."
The woman went away happy, for she knew her God
would not let her down.
As the sun was beginning its journey down from it~
height s, the woman noticed someone on the horizon.
"It must be my lover coming to me," she thought.
Her lover's hair was dark. Her lover' s eyes were blue.
Her lo ver's stride was strong. Her lover 's hips swayed. Her
love r's rob e flowed. And when her lover spoke , she sounded
like the univ erse sighing .
Toge th er they raised one voice in a song of praise.
Togeth er they danced in to the night, thanking God for the
Pr ese n ce.
God smiled and was happy.
"Blessed are yo u, 0 Woman. You remained op en to Jove,
and I came to you ."
book. It almost ar.rives. Slight ly
repetitive, it assures us that we can be at
home anywhere while minimizing the
difficulties many actually experience as
time zones change and bodies don't. As
practical as the book is, it might have
paid more attention to the actual practicalities
of travel, like what to pack, how
to gel rest when you can't rest, and the
like. For those of us who want to get
home when we are away, and to get
away when we are home, this book is a
shade short of helpful. It doesn't appreciate
paradox or agony as much as we do
- and pays more attention lo lhe pleasures
than the pains of traveling.
Typical of travel Ii tcrature, it shows
us how the best thing that can
sometimes happen on a trip is the loss
of one's purse or luggage. Auschen bach,
the tragic traveler of the German
Novel, "Death in Venice," told the
story of losing one's baggage the best.
But this book is a good rival. Surprise
is part of most itineraries.
With Pearl Buck, the daughter of
Chinese missionaries, who said that she
knew the "joy and the anguish of being
homeless on both sides of the world,"
this book is clearly written by someone
who loves travel and wants others to ·
love it as much as he does.
Whether your next destination is
exotic or plain, this book is a good
companion for the bed table and the
carry on bag. It might even transform
you, if you want lo be trausfonned.
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The Un Time -Management ·Book
Sabbath
Sense
This is your
invitation to pack
your spiritual baggage
and move to the
neighborhood called
ENOUGH - en ough
time, enough rest,
enough play. The
reality of "sa bbath " as
a day of rest and been
lost am idst our to-do lists, day-organi zers,
and endless err ands , but the sens e of sabb ath,
as spiritu al leisur e, is very much nee ded in
our tim e-st arved world .
• Turn not-enoug h time in to ENOUGH time;
• Uni fy fragmented time through RITUALS;
• Weave a pattern of SACREDNESS into your life;
•DECLUITER, simp lify , and slow down.
A
Spiritual
Antidote
for the
Overworked
by Donna Schaper
$11 .95 paperba ck
6X9
128 pages
ISBN 1-880 913 -25-9
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SECO ND ST O NE 7
'PagorJ eff'i n forefronot f
challengteo ELCApolicy
BY MARTHA IRVINE
SAN FRANCISCO - He hardly looks
the part of a renegade, I.bis clean-cut
pastor who hums to himself as be walks
through Lhe sanctuary of his tiny church
with his black lab Murphy trotting at
his side.
But there is something about the Rev.
Jeff Johnson that many church leaders
would rather most people didn'L know -
something that led them to reject Jolmson
and the 55 members at San Francisco's
First United Lutheran Church.
John son is openly gay. He also
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8 JANUARY•I-EBRUARY 1998
refuses to take a vow of celibacy. And
that is unacceptable in the eyes of the
leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America - and the majority of
faiths. Christian and otherwise, in this
country and many others.
"As far as they're concerned, I no
longer exist," says Johnson , one of a
growing number of pastors who are
challenging their churches' stances on
homosexuality.
Leaders in many faiths are stmggling
with this question : what does it mean to
be gay or lesbian and a person of faith?
The question seems particularly precarious
when applied to pastors and rabbis.
'Twen ty or 30 years ago the bold
move would have been for a white
church to hire a black pastor," says Rita
Nakashima Brock, a religious expert and
director of the Bunting Institute at Radcliffe
College in Massach usetts. "These
days, it's the church that hires an openly
gay or lesbian pastor that is scrutinized."
Until recently, it was the norm for
lesbians and gay men, both pastors and
parishioner s, to hide their sexuality or
to leave their faiths altogether.
These days, a very few lesbian and
gay pastors - in the United Church of
Chris t, Metropolitan Community
Church and some refonned Jewish synagogues
- have the church 's blessing to
be openly gay without requiring celibacy.
Other pastors and rabbis are willing to
come out to their congregations. But the
majority maintain a "don't-ask-don'ttell"
policy with the higher ups, knowing
that divulging too much would have
swift and costly consequences.
Even those who consider themselves
the equivalent of married rarely tell their
bishops or other church elders.
"If I crune out publicly - for example,
in the press - I would be fired," says one
Protestant pastor, who doesn't hide her
long-term relationship with a woman
from her San Francisco congregation
and peers, but has not discussed it with
church leaders.
Living openly has not always been
UnitedM ethooisct lergys up):X)rt
Creech,e xpressd isagreement
withc hurchJ :X)Sitioonn g ays
IN AN ACTION OF support for the
Rev. Jimmy Creech, the Ontaha.
Nebraska, United Methodist pastor who
has been suspended by his bishop for
conducting a covenant service for two
women in his.congregation, the coordinator
of "In All Things Charity" movement
has made public the names of the
hundreds of United Methodist clergy
who signed the foundation statement,
"In All Things Charity."
More than 1300 United Methodist
clergy have signed the statement since it
was first circulated in late 1996.
Signers of the statement of conscience
"affinn appropriate liturgical support for
covenantal commitments between samegendered
couples" ru1d join the protest
initiated by the 15 Methodist bishops
who during the 1996 United Methodist
General Conference disse nted from the
church's official posit.ion that homosexual
practic e is "incompatible with
Christian teaching ."
"We feel this is a moment for our
· movem ent to go public in support of
Jimmy Creech and all United Methodist
clergy who seek to extend pastoral care
to persons without discrimination as lo
sexual orientation," said coordinator
Greg Dell, pastor of Broadway United
Methodist Church in Chicago.
According to the statement, "The
Church has called itself to be in ministry
to all persons regardless of their sexeasy
for the 35-year-old Jolmson mid his
church without moral - 1101 to menuon
financial - support of the greater
Lutheran church. They receive financial
suppor t from a Washington-based nonprofit
that supports gay and lesbian
Lutheran pastors.
But, if they have any regrets over supporting
him, his parishioners don't say
so.
"He is who he is, and we love him for
it," says 75-year-o ld May Vignola says
of " Pastor Jeff," known as much for his
ready laugh as his ability to quote any
number of Biblical passages at will.
Vignola, a member of First United
Lutheran Church for more than 45
years, was one of several members who
stood behind Johnson when the ELCA
ordered the church to fire Johnson or be
thrown out.
"The few people in the church who
didn't agree, well," Vignola says , pausing,
"They left."
That was in 1995.
But Johnson's troubles began long
ual orientation. To withhold rituals of
support and accountability for committed
relationships is unconscionable.' '
The original 15 signers of "In All
Things Charity" are Gilbert H. Caldwell,
senior pastor, St. Mark 's United
Methodist Church, Harlem, NY;
Minerva Carcano, Perkins School of
Theology, Dallas, TX; Ignacio Castuera,
pastor, North Glen<lale United
Methodist Church, CA; Susan P.
Davies, district superintendent, Omal1a,
NE; Gregory Dell, pastor, Broadway
United Methodist Church, Chicago;
Victor Paul Furni sh, professor, Southern
Methodist University, Dalla s, TX;
Sidney G. Hall III . pastor, Trinity
United Methodist Church, Austin, TX;
William A. Holmes, pastor, Metropolitan
Memorial United Methodi st Church.
Wa.shington; Takayuki Ishii, pastor .
Metropolitan-Duru1e United Methodist
Church, New York City; George
McClain, exec utive director, Methodist
Federation for Social Ac tion. Staten
Island, NY; Richard S. Parker. pastor,
Island Park (NY) United Methodist
Church; Sharon Rltodes-Wickett. pastor,
Westwood United Met11odist Church,
Los Angeles, CA; Tex Sample. professor,
St. Paul School of Theology, Kansas
City, MO; Eugene Winkler, pastor.
First United Methodist Church, Chicago;
J. Philip Wogaman, pastor,
Foundry United Methodist Church,
Washington, DC.
before in 1987 when he and two lesbians
decided to come out to their bishops
while in seminary at Berkeley.
"It was gut -wrenching," Johnson
says. "As far as we knew, no one had
ever come out and survived."
His bishop at the time was the Rev.
Lyle Miller, a man Johnson had known
since his childhood days in Simi Valley.
CaJif., and who was a close personal
friend of Johnson's parents.
"Part of the reason I became a pastor
was because of him," Johnson says of
Miller.
That made it all the more painful
when, in 1988, Miller called Johnson
into his office to ask him to sign a lifelong
vow of celibacy.
"What about unconditional love,
unconditional grace?" Johnson asked
Miller, who had spread newspaper clippings
about the three seminarians across
his desk.
"There was no religious motivation
behind what hi! was doing ," Johnson
SEE JOHNSON, Next Page
NATIONAL NEWS
ABCw on'ts how 'NothinSga crede'p isodea boutg aypr iestw ithA IDS
LOS ANGELES - An epi sode of the
ABC series "Nothing Sacred" about a
gay Catholic priest with AIDS is being
withheld by the network out of
"cowardice," the drama's consulting produccrsaid
.
Richard Kramer co-wrote the episode
in which Father Ray (series star Kevin
Au~.erson) discove rs that a friend , a fellow
priest he knows to be secretly gay,
I• JOHNSON,
From Previous Page
said. "He wanted to save his political
butt."
Discus sing the matter is still difficult
for Miller, now a Lulheran pastor in
Tacoma, Wash. He has recently rekin dled
his friendship with Johnson's parents
but not Jolmson.
"It was very painful and Jeff is a fine
person .... He has good gifts and is a dedicated
person," Miller says. "But if a
person is gay, he or she is not to be
sexually active as a gay person. Sexual
activi ty belongs in the commitment of
marriage."
Sex outside of marriage has, iu fact,
hecn the focus for many faiths when it
comes to gay clerg y, making for often
contentious church convention s and disciplinary
hearing s as a growing number
FIRE,
From Front Pagl'
back and parts of the sides of the I I 7-
yea r-old church , whose 700 member s
make up what is believed to be the lar gest
congregation in this town of 6,600.
A police office r on patrol spotted the
fire shor tly after 2 a.m. The fire was
thought to have started in or near the
boiler room . No one was injured in the
fire.
The Manche ster chur ch is one of the
19 cong regatio ns of the Supporli ve
Congr ega tions Networ k. a group of
churches that have made a public state ment
welcoming gays and lesbia ns.
Suppo rtive Congrega tion s Network
churches de signated Jan uary 25 as an
"Ecumenical Sunday of Welcome ," and
as a symbo l of solidarity, SCN has designated
half of the Ecume nical Sunday
of Welcome offerings collec ted in support
of the work of SCN for the rehuildi
ng of the Manchester Church of the
Brethren.
An investigation into the fire's cause
ha~ hcgun. A federal requirement man dat,.;
s that ATF in\'cstigntors look into
c\'cry church fire nationwide, said Norlh
is ill with AIDS. Father Ray tries to
persuade his despondent friend to stay in
lhc priesthood.
"ABCs decision to bury ii was based
on cowardice, cruelty and co-option of
the religiou s eight's agenda," Kramer
told the Los Angeles Times .
fonncrly the series' co-executive producer,
Kramer wrote the script with
Father Bill Cain, a Jesuit prie st. The
of pastors - both gay and straight - break
their silence.
There also are a growing number of
straight pastor s wh9 are speaking on
behalf of their gay and lesbian counter part
s. One of those is the Rev. ·waiter
Bock, a retired Lutheran pastor in San
Francisco who has spoken on Johnson's
behalf.
"I don't think it's fair or right," Bock
says. "A Christian mini stry of word and
sacran1ent is still being carried on and it
has nothing to so with their sexuality.
"And we're losing a 101 of fine people
beca USC of i I."
It was that sort of opinion that led a
small group of San Francisco pastors to
ordain Jolmson and the two lesbian pastors
he grad uated with in 1990 again st
Manche ster Fire Chief Jack Fetrow.
More than 100 firefighter s hauled the
blaze for several hours before bringing it
under control. Their efforts were hampered
by a broken natural gas main that
fed the fire.
Damag e to the church is expected 10
be in the million s of doll ars, he said.
The foundation of a $1.6 million addition
that had been started was in the mbhle.
No one was injur ed in the fire. And in
that, Boyer found comfo rt.
"The church is the people ," said Boyer.
"We're all OK."
Sunday services were planned to be
held at a high school auditoriwn, accord ing
to church member Bob Gross .
The church, whose origi nal structure
was dedicated in 1881. was a complex of
se,•era l rcmodelings and additions,
including 11 $1.3 million education
annex that was still under constniction.
''It's going to be a pretty dc,·astating
lo~s to the town," said fetrow . " fhcy
arc II large part of the community." (AP
and other rcpons)
episode was filmed in July and had been
intended lo air as "Nothing Sacrcd's"
second hour, after the pilot.
David Manson, producer of the freshman
series that has drawn critical
acclaim as well as allacks from some
Catholic groups, said the unaired episode
is abont religion rnthcr lhan homosexuality.
"It's not about this man's sexual prefthe
church's wishes. The church still
considers the ordinations illegal.
In another move of defiance , Lutheran
pastors in San Francisco have con tinu ally
elected Johnson as their dean to rep resent
tl1em in the Sierra -Pacific Synod -
- 218 Lutheran congregations in Nortl1-
em California and Ncrnda.
"There's a very clear intention lo send
a messa ge to the church, " says Bishop
Robert Mattheis, who now oversees the
Sierra-Pacific Synod.
Mauhci s - who calls Jolmson "very
gifted and capa ble'' - says the synod has
not cha ll enged Johnson' s elect ion ,
though he cannot participaie in official
church business, such as ordinalion s.
But, beyond that, some sense a shifl ing
in the synod's views on the matter.
Unlike his predeces sor, for example ,
Matthei s opted not to puni sh St. Paul
Lutheran Church , a large congrega tion
in Oakland whose pastor is openly gay
and in a long-tem1 relationship.
"I cho se to say I'm just going to not
deal with lhat and let it take care of
itself," Mattheis says . "My sympathies
lie more on the open and accepting side.
The issue is not settled for roe but my
sympatlues are there."
The issue is also hardly seule d for the
ELC/\ or any other number of churches,
- both in lenm of clergy and pari shioners.
Last year, for exam ple, the Ameri can
Baptist Churche s of the West, voted to
expel four churches in the San Francisco
Bay area for a policy of welcoming gay
and lesbian members without auempt ing
to rcfonn them.
With all the discnssion and the
infighting has come change - albeit
slow movi ng - for some ch urche s,
including the Chicago-based ELCA.
'"I sense that there is less and less
resistance ... and more of n willingnes s
to think seriously about lhc question,"
Mattheis says of his faith . "It won't
happen tomorrow ....
"But God's 1i111111sgu rpri ses us.
almost always ."
erences but about the nature of tolerance
nnd compassion and about trying to get
a mnn who doesn't feel worthy lo come
back to the table," Manson said. (AP)
Presbyterians for
Lesbian & Gay
Concerns
"For all Presbyterians
who care about lesbian
.and gay people and their
full membership in the
Presbyterian
Church(USA) "
Boston/Northern New England
802-229-5438
SouthernN ewE ngland
203-442-5138
New Jersey
908-249-1016
GeneseeV alley
716-663-9130
Pittsburgh
412-683-5239
~ 1~ Philadelph ia
2 15-699-4750
o,stricl of Columbia
202-488-4220
Ballimore
410-254-5904
EasternV irginia
804-497-6584
Norlhem Ohio
216-932-1458
Central Indiana
317-931-9553
DelroiVSoutheasteMrnic higan
313-255-7059
WinnebagWo,i sconsin
414-731--0892
Twin Cities Area
612-884-6908
Chicago
312-751-0250
SI. Louis
314-822-3296
Central Arkansas
501-224-4724
Louisiana
504-344-3930
Nebraska
402-733-1360
Oklahoma
405-848-2819
Houston
713-440-0353
San Francisco
510-653-2134
Oregon
503-6526-508
Seattle
253-859-5686
I
SFCONI) STONE 9
1,
NATIONAL NEWS
S~ers ong ayt opiar;e movedf romd iversitcyo nference
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - The State
College Arca School District dropped
two speakers who were to address homosexual
issue s at an emplo yee diversity
work shop after a local Christian group
objected.
"We were not prepared for the contro versy
that was generated by having
those people invited ," said David
Hutchinson, chairman of the district's
diversity committee. "There was a concern
on our part that we might end up
jeopardizing the whole diversity day if
we went ahead with the original plan."
A program for the January workshop
lists a keynote speech by Milton J. Bennett
of the lntercultural Communication
In stitute and a choice of 16 session
titles, including "Steeples, Temples. and
Minarets: Te aching and Working in a
Religiou sly Diver se Americ a ,"
"Communicating Respect" and 'The
State of Hate in Pem1Sylvania."
The committee eliminated pre senta tions
by Sue Rankin of the office of the
Vice Provost for Educational Equity at
Penn State , and Penn Sta le psychology
professo r Tony D'Augcll i. In an unrc -
lated move, another 13 speaker s, who
were not speaking on homosexual
issues, were eliminated from the program
when the district narrowed the
workshop 's scope.
D'Augelli , a research psychologi st.
said his speech was going to focus on
some problems gay and lesbian children
experience adjusting lo a lifestyle many
don't accept.
"I can't remember ever in my profe ssional
career being disinvited to a professional
presentation ," he said . .
Ms. Rankin. a diversity planning analyst
at Penn State , said she had plrumed
to speak about such issues as how students
feel about anti-gay mune calling .
She received a leller on district station
ery from a diversity commiltec
member, saying that "due to budget constraints
and other unfore seen circumstances
, we have redesigned our program
to provide a more general overview or
cultural diver sity and its impact on
schoolin g .... We regret that we have
eliminated your session."
The di ve rsity work shop , mandatory
fo r the di strict' s estim a ted ·600
PresbyteriaCnh urchw ill
hear dispute over gay man's
appointment as elder
CINC INN ATI - The Pres byterian
Ch11£ch (U.S.A.) will bear an appeal in
a 2-year-o ld dispute over a gay man' s
appointment as an elder.
The General Assembl y's permane nt
j udicial commission probably will hear
the case in August, Jerry Van Marter.
direc tor of the church's news age ncy,
said.
A church member com plained after
Knox Presby terian Church in Cincinnati
ordained as an elder a man it knew was
gay. The member said the local session,
which governs the 1,300-member
church, improperly allowed a homosex ual
to become an elder.
The comp laint sent the issue to the
Cincinna ti Presbytery's permanent judi cial
commission, which declared the
ordination invalid by a 4-3 vote.
The regional Synod of the Covenant
in Columbus overturned that deci sion in
October, and the member who filed the
complaint appealed to the church's headquarters
in Louisville.
The church has not publicly identified
lhc gay man, who ii; curren tly holding
the position of cider, or the complain -
10 J1\N IJARY • rEl:lRll/\RY 1998
ant.
The church did not immediately comment
after the ju dicial commi ssion decision
in Cincinn ati.
The re is continuin g disagree ment
witllin tl1e church about whether its constitution
forbids the ordina tion or homosexua
ls, said the Rev . Sam Roberson,
general presbyter of tl1e 86-church Cincinnati
Presby tery, which includes Knox
Presbyteriru1.
While church offic ials have welcomed
gay and lesbian membe rs, the assembly's
po licy has been that "selfaffinning.
practicing homosexual per sons"
are ineligible for ordinatio n.
However, the ban has never been
placed in the church's "Book of Order,"
or constitution . It gives the responsibility
of ordaining deacons and ciders to
congregations and the authority to
ordain mi1listers to presbyteries.
In recent years, some pastors have
told their congregations they arc gay,
while others were ordained after coming
0111. There arc about 20 openly gay pastors
in the church. (AP)
employee s, was scheduled for Jan. 21 at
the Pew1 Stater Hotel and Conf erencc
Center. The school district draws nearly
7,400 students from 150 square miles.
The commiltee removed the two
speakers on gay and lesbiru1 issues after
obj ections from a group or some 60
people led by Mitch Smith, pastor of
tl1e Christ Community Church & Worship
Center of Stale College , who met
with Superintendent Willirun Opdenh off.
Barry Kroeker, editor of the Communicant,
a local Chri stian newspaper. had
wriuen t11at members of the group. Citizens
for Excellence in Education, feared
the workshop would provide a fonun for
local homosexual advocate s.
The district appointed Smith to the
diversity committee after his group met
with Opdcnhoff. Smith s~id he brings
the view of "traditional values" to the
comm.illee .
"Because we live in a university
town," Smith said, "there is a push
from the university lo have our elementary
kids act as college students in tcnns
of making decisions about their sexual ity."
.
Opdenhoff said some member s of the
group feared Ms. Rank.in and D'Augelli
would try lo influence the district's curriculum
. But the superintendent said the
two would not have pre sented material
to be used in the clas sroom.
John Bell, a member of the local gay
SEE DIVERSITY , Page 17
Survey finds clergy amiss in
providing comfort to dying
BY DAVID BRIGGS
AS AMERICANS consider their own
mortality. they are concerned thal God
may not forg i vc them or that they will
be cut off from God or a hig her power al
the time of their death .
Acc ordin g to a Gallup Poll on spirit ual
beliefs ru1d the dying process, near ly
nine in 10 peopl e get comfort in the
beli e f that they will be in the loving
presence of God or a higher power after
death.
Yet, barely more than one-third of the
respondent s said the clergy co uld be
comfortin g to lliem in man y ways when
they were dyin g.
"The surve y is a wake- up cal l for the
cle rgy," said George H. Gal lup Jr. "Not
man y see the clergy pro vidi ng broad
spiri tual suppo rt in th eir own dying
days."
The George H. Ga llup ln tema tional
Institute, in a study spo nsored by The
Na than Cum mings Founda tion and
Fetzer lnsti lute, surveyed 1,200 adul rs
ages 18 and older by telephone in a
nationwide random sample in May
1997.
When people think abou t their own
death , spiritual concerns are central
issues for a large part of the population.
For example, 89 percent of the
respondents said they would be com forted
during the dying process by
believing they will be in the loving
presence of God or a higher power.
When they think about their own
death, 56 percent said they were con ccmed
about not being forgiven l>y God
1111d 51 1>erce111 worried they might be
removed or cut off from God while
dying. .
In contra st. only 19 percent womed
about having someone go through their
possess ions after they died and only 13
pe rcent sai d they were concemed abo~t
what will be said a bout them at t11e1r
funerals.
When asked what kind s of support
from another person - other than medi cal
attention - would be import a nt lo them
if they were dying, ha.If the respo nden ts
said hav ing some one pray for them
would be very import ant.
For ty -four pe rc~nt said it would be
very important to hav e som eone help
t.hem become spiritually a t pea ce. the
same percen tage that sai d it would be
very im po rtant to hav e someo ne pray
with them.
Thi rty -two perce nt said it would be
very importa nt to have someo ne read
them spirit ual or inspiratio nal materials,
while onl y 13 perce nt sai d it would be
very important to have someone read
them something oth er than relig ious
material .
Doctors are expected to give dying
patients more than their technical exper tise.
Two -thirds said if they were dying,
they would want a doctor who cares
about them. Two in five respo ndents
said they would want a physician who is
spiritually alluned to them .
However, only 30 percent said tl1ey
would expect doctors to be comforting
to them in ways other than medical
aucution if they were dying .
SEE CLERGY, Page 17
Alaska
PALMER(9 07)
Chllch of the Co.enant P.O. Box2 888, 99645.7 46-1al9. Ho.YatHd .
Bess, pastor.A Welcominga ndA ffirmingA men:anB aptistC ongegaliln.
Arizona
PHOENIX(6 02)
CasaD e Cristo EvangelicaCl hurch, 1029E . Turney,8 5014.2 65-
2831.
EvangelicalsC oo:emedW A,P O Box6 6906.( l:J3)657-359. 3
Olive Tree Ministries, PO Box 47787, 85068-7787 . 861-3424.
http'}{fVlll.oom/olivet.r ee
TUCSON(5 2l)
CornerstoneF ellowshp2, 902 N. Geronimo, 85705. 622-4626S. unmy,
9 a.m., 10:30a.m. . Wed"lesday7.p .m. Players elVicela stS un. of
the month, 6p.m. Rada Schaff,p astorC. HAISTFORA@LLjlnJo.com.
Fust ChristianC hurch, 740 E. Spee<t,ya6y5, 719. 624-869.5 Sun.,
8:15a.m., 10:30am. PasklfNciliKaneko.
FAYETTEVILL(E5 01)
Our l.aOfo t Guadal~ CatholicC hurchP, O Box8 32, 72702-0832.
444-960.7 Sat, 5:30p.m. at St Maritn's EpiscqlalS tudenCt enle.r
614 W. Maple. Fr. Joseph Paul Smith, pastor.
Californi a
fAVlNE (714) . .
IrvineU nited Churcho f Christ 4915A ltonP kwy., 92714. 733-022. 0
An Open& Alfirming Congegition, prCXJdptri 011essiw. intenlionally
indusiw.
LA CRESCENAT ( 626)
Evangelicasl CoocemedW omen'sM inistly, PO Box9 4302, Pasadena,
CA 91109. 568-4803. ecsocal@aol.com. Weektj Btlle Stu>
ies, monthly potluck and rap sessions.
LAGUNA 8EACH (714)
Christ Chape,l PO !lox4 950, 92652. 376-~.
EvangerJClsa ConcernedP. O 8(111( 452.9 2652-1452. 451-37n.
Tll!S., 7:30p.m.
LAGUNAN IGUEL(7 14)
Sewnth-dilyA cmnlist Kinshp lntemaoona~P O Bae7 320,9 26n.
248·1299.F or Seventh-dilyA cmntJst lesbians, gaym en, bisexulas.
their famiies and friends.
SAN JOSE , CALIFORNIA
Jvt.arslia Stevens
lntemationally known singer afld com pose r. auth or
o f 'For Those Tean t Died', will be at our Valentines
Day dinne,- and frtt conce rt ...
".'A. Time of Love"
Saturday, February 14
6 pm - Dinner ($15/ person)
8 pm - FREE Concerti
• call for Info and tickets •
(Q,,oki~lb-tf/ j
•. j.\ -.",/.
\•ll•A•I
••• Marsha will also be at our
J_,..141., Sunday Service on Feb.15th
Non-Denominational . Bible Centered
Sunday Services - 10:30 am
at The Billy DeFrank Cen te,-
175 Stockton Ave .. San Jose, CA
Pastor David Harvey • (408) 345-2319
http ://www .lodesys .com/ce lebrate /
LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA
Weary??
C Ol.YIE ~O'M: E!!
/,~
~~QliiL J fm.n lrfLllOtr Jiu!f
or lOMQ Dr.d!Ctl
.J. .... .,.I .. 111,...JL',c u"J ..
Classes
Retreals
Counseling I Sacral Activities
"Spiritual Support· Group 1
Mid-Week "Prayer & Praise· Services I
Saturday, 6:00 PM "Worship" :
North Long Beach Christian Church I
111
( ;i2)c5t:;{t)39 90Ci A.
-E-Mall PaslorDLM@aol com
LONGB EACH( 562)
FirstC ongegibOnaCl hurch, 241C edarA ve. . 90802. 436-225.6 An
OpenandAttirmirgCongegitiCJloIl lle Un~edChllcholChrisl
Holy Spirit FellcM'shp , PO Bax 91272, 90809. 435-0990 . Christianity
asy oua lwaysh q)ed it couldb e.
LOSA NGELESA REA( 213)
Crescent Hei!1)ts UMC, 1296 No. Fai~ax Ave .. West Holly,Yood.
90046. 656-5336 .
UniledC hurchC oaltionl a LesbiarvGayCax:erns,S oulllemC alflania
Chapter. 241 Cedar Ave .. Long Beach. CA 90802. Rev. Ll:fy
Tigler and Rev. Dan Brink (562)436-2256 .
NEWPOTR BEACH(7 14)
Evangelicals Concerned, 460-6998. ecsocal@a.oclom. Bi-weekly
Bble sit.des. fun. le!laNsh".
PASADENA(8 18)
Evangelicals Concerned. PO Box 94302, 91 t01. (626)568-4803
ecsocal@aol .com. Weektf Bble stuoes, run, lelk1Ns h".
FirstC ongegalionaCl hll ch, 464 E. Walnut St, 91101. 795-069.6 An
Opena ndA ffirmingc ongegitJonw ithin the UnitedC hurch of Clvist
E-maU:l amtrllfcc@ao.cl om.
SANF RANCISCOBA YA AEA(415)
LutheransC oncerned.5 66V allejoS t , #25, 94133-403. 3956-206.9
A<M!nl
SAN JOSE (408)
Celebration of f'a,lh Praise and Worshp Center, PO Box 5765.
95126. 345-231.9 Sun. 10:30a.m. al TheB illy DeFrank Cenler1. 75
StocldonA ve.
First ChristianC hurch, 80 S. 51hS L, 95112. 294-294.4 RichardK .
Mdler, pasla.
Gay, Lesbian. andA ll"mingD ~ . c/o FirsI Chrisran Church8. 0
So.51hSt , 95112. 294.2944_
SANL EANDRO(5 10)
FailhFaJIGospelFello,vshp, 15781M alilertAw. . 94576. 4819-933.
faith2lelloNshp@hotrnail.com.
SANL UISO BISPO(8 05)
MCC of the Central Coast PO Box t 117. Grover Cily, 934l3·1117
481-9376 . Sunday, 10:3<2.m. Rev. Randi A. Lester. pasla .
WESTH OLLY WOOO(2 13)
Evangebcals Concerned, 833-6418. ecsocal@aa.com. Weekly
Btlle studes, fun. lebYShp.
WHITTIER(3 10)
Good Samarit an MCC. 11931 E. Washington Blvd. 90606-2607.
69&-6213R. ev. Gm Chapmanp.a sbr.
DENVER(nl)
EvangleicalsR ecoooled3. 31· 2709.
District of Columbia
DISTRICOT FC OLUMBIA(2 02)
Olg1ty, PO Bax 5:3001 . 20009. 367·4516.
Florid a
FOAT MYERS
ADS ainlSC ongegaloi n (lnoopendenl),2 756M cGreg:iBr lvd. Mad:
1830 MaravillaA ve., #12, 33901. allsainlS@worsRh)er.com. Rev.
Michael Balfour , pasta .
INTERLACHE(N00 4)
BetheEl vangehslleM inislries, Inc., PO Bax1 n a. 32148.
KEY WEST (3)5)
MCC. 1215 PetroniaS t. 33040. 2948-912. Sunday9, :30. 11a.m. .
Wed. 7p.m. Rev. StevenM. Torrence.p aslo.r
MIAMI/COCONGURTO VE( 3)5)
PlymootCh ongegalional UmlecCf hu/cho f Christ 3400D evonA d,
33133. 444-6521. Sun., toa.m. Aedobroa<i:ast on FM 93.1. AIDS
ootreach ministly, memorial services. tdy LlliOO.S All welcome.
www.krealive.com/plymtohu.
PANAMCAI TY( 904)
Famtt ot God Worshp Center, 1139 Ewrilt Ave., Cedar Grove.
32401.7 84-4815.S un., 10:3<2m. . soottt,gic@aof.oo.m
TAMPA(813)
Pentecoslals of Tampa Bay, 2023 Gallleman Dr., Brarxtin. 33511
651-1505
Georgia
ATlANTA(919)
Evar!!J!llcaClSo ocerned.2 86-7314.
DECATUR (404)
St. Ae~adP ansh, Sts. Sergus and BacchusB yzanllneM lsston.
ECC. PO Bax 3191, 30031. 315-6544 Rev. Fr. Joe Ciou. actninlslrabr.
Illi nois
CHICAGO (173)
lnle!Jlt\tCtucagP:,.O Bax3 232O. akP ark. IL 603(0-32323.4 1Hi362.
JACKSDNVILLE (217)
SI. Millcim1haKno lleC athoocC hurcho l !he AmericasP. O Box
t345,62650-1342S4. 3-4539S un. s·:J:Jp.ro.
Indiana
INOIANAPO LIS (317)
HolyEUchraislChurch2, 070E .5 41hS.L Sie. 7. 46220. 251-452.6
LAPORTE(2 19)
NewL i1eC ommunity Church of Hqie, POB ox9 212, Mlclligna City.
46360. 778-933. 2Fullg :ispe,l evargelicaVcharismalic.P aslorR aoo,,
Duncan. •
Iowa
DESM OINES{5 15)
WordotG od Minitsries, P.O. Box4 396, 50333. 264-151.5 MeelSa l
SL Mark'sE piscqlalCllJl'cl3l, 120E . 241hS L,D esM ooles.
URBANDALE(515)
UnitedC hurcho f Christ 35307 0thS l , 50322.2 76-0625F.a x. 276-
2451A. nO pen& Affirming( ONA) Congegaoon.
Kansas
TOPEKA(9 13)
MCCP, OB ox4 7766. 6604-077263. 2-6196S.E l ndanaA vea t25lh
WICHITA(3 16)
Wdll la Praisea ndW asnpCente,r 1607S . 8/oao,ya,y 67211. 267•
6270. ChuclB< leckerv~ pasta.
Kentucky
LOUISVILLE (S02)
Third LulheranC hurch, 1864F ranklorA1v e., 40206. ~ -Sure
day, 10:30am. TLCX2@ecunelorg
LDuisiana
NEW ORLEANS (504)
Firsl Jesus NameC hurchP. .O. Box5 8362,7 0158,836. 2An Acts
2:38o ongegliaon.
St Thomas Aq.rinasC atholicC hurch of the Americas, 717P attersoo,
70114. 263-5412.
Massachusetts
CAMBRIDG(6E1 7)
Old Cambrq)e Baptisl Church, 1151M assachusettsA ve. . 02138.
864-8068. Irving Cummings, paslor. A Weloominga nd Affwming
AmericanB aptist congegalion.
WAL THAM (617)
LutheranCso ncernedd.o RaraibR K.: e1081/2ChestnU1S0l,2 154·
o«l6. 893-2763
Michiga n
ANNA RBOR(J lJ)
GuildH ouse CampusM ,us11.y 602M onore.4 6104 662-5189. Rev
Diane CtrlSl ~ r.m
DETROI(T1 110-)
MCC, PO Box 836. R{1f31O ak, Ml 48068-083. 6(248)399-7741.
MeelS at Oray1a, Pr~ eren Chllch. Sun. 10a m • 7p.m.
FLINT( 810)
Redeemre MCC. 1665 N. Chevrolle Ave., 485043-164. 238-670.0
Sunaiy, 11a.m .. (61).m. second and fourth Sun. ea ma,th excepl
Aug). Rev. Lilian R.F er!JlSOOpa,s tor.
FT.GRATKlT(810)
AnS oos' AJx)sloliCca lholicC hurch,4 653D esmonBde ach. 4805.9
385-9242. ~ Eochalisl Sun. 11a .m.
LANSING(5 17)
D1g1ty . PO fl(II( t265, East Lansirg, 48826. 321-4841
Minnesota
MINNEAPOLIS/.S PTAUL( 612)
AUG ods Chikten MCC. 3100 Park Ave. S., Minneapol,j s55407.
824-2673.W na:Jioi l Wellness CounsebnCg enter offers pos11M!
affkming Chri stian oounselmg for homosexuals .
LutheransC oncerned1.0 0N OXfadSL. St Pau.l 55104-654. 8066-
8941.
Wing;p.n1 Mns11,y 100N . Ox1ordS.t PaUI5. 51042. 24•3371
Mississi ppi
JACKSON(6 01)
SafeH aroorF amilyC oorch. 2147 HernyH II Dr., Ste. 203, 39204-
2000. 961-9500. Rev. Jame, H. Becker , paslor Wkmy: 359-o604 :
E\/8·8 25-ll05.6 Sun,. 5p.m.. A<ill SundaySchoa6,1 ).m
Missouri
KANSASC ITYA REA( 816)
Abldng PeaceL utheranC hutch, 5090N E ChouteauT rafflCW,a y
641l 9. 452-122. 2Canngfo rpeqllla ndaeatx:nM al'{Gerlia,n conlact
personA Reconcilfel dC llrislo ongegiuon
ST. Lours P14)
TheAgapeCtuc. h2109SoulhSpmgA.1, 6138110-351676 +3588
agapechur@actc:om
Distribution of Second Stone in some
com1nunitics is sponsored by our
Outreach Partners. We invite you to
visit thetn for worship.
Montana
LIVINGSTON(~
Affrmation(U nrtedMettmsls)5, 29N .8 thS t, 590472. 22-443. 6
Nevada
LAS VEGAS(7 02)
MCC1, 119S . MainS L, 89104-102. 3684-2325.
New Hampshire
MANCHESTER (603) .
PFLAGN H, PO Box3 86. 03105. 536-5522o r8 00-750-252(4N H
only.) Monlhly support gro14>m eelins in conC01dP. lymoul.h
Stralham, Laooniaan dL ancasle. r
New Jersey
JERSEYC ITY( 201)
ChristO.n TeacherGalhoicChurocfh t he America,s 2191s1S t, #1,
07302·286383. 3-1094b. ejcity@aof.com.
NEWB RUNSWIC(!KD l)
PLGC. POB O>3I6 , 08903-003P8i.b : MoreL i!111
New Mexico
ALBUQUERQU(E50 6)
MCC2, 404S anM ateoP L,N E.8 7110. 881-908.8 Rev. Dr. Frede.
Winiams. e3stor. Sun., 1oa.m.
Rivero f Life HealirVJM initsries. 134O Lincy. NE.8 7108.
LASCRUCES(505)
HolyF amilyP arisho f the EvangellcaAl rgicaCnh urchin A merica,
t 701E . MISSOOfi.A, 8\/880015. 22-711. 9An indusivepraish qien lo
all
KOlllOr,i a2162D oraoDor. . 8801t. 521-149.0 Gayandlesbianspriltuakly
!Joup.
New York
NEW YORK CITY AREA
Manhal1an/NeYwo rkC itya rea( 212)
BlessedV ir!j n Mal'{M iss1011'12,3 E . 15S t, 10003. 226-089.8 Sun,
1:1r,p.m.
ChrislianS cienceG rOl4. )c/o4 443 1dA \/8.. #4.1 001.6 532-8739.
Gay, Lesbian& Alfillnlng Oi!4JleSA lliance. c/oA llen Harris. 1453A
LexingtlnAw .. 10128-250208 93-019.
lnle!JitylNewYork, PO Box 20067, 10011. 691-7181. Gayftesbian
Episcq)alians. Meets every Wed, 6;30p.m.
MICHIGAN CITY, INDIANA
Pastor Randy Duncan
Sunday Scr,i e,?: 11 :30 am
:I carmg church (or a h11rt111rgo rld
1·<here El 1:.1ff0.\IE1s welcome'
• Fu/1<,ospel
• Christ centered
• Bible hased
P.O. Box 9212
t-.lid1igan City. IN 46360-9212
(2 I 9) 778-2803 • (219) 778-9332
Email: innulife,gn dnit.: o.net
DAYTON, OHIO
COMMUNITY
GOSPEL CHURCH
P.O.! DX 163-4• DWTONO, I1 45401
DISCOVER YOUR Dlfil1NY!
ALL ARE WELCOME
mt>ets5:4 6 XeniaA ve.
lliyton, Ohio
SundaylOam
E-11', /\ll.R; e.&unue!KCci>aol.com
VlSit our Wch Sit:d
h~ / ;...,'\\WJ-1.:'>V1;'..;.1<>l..ronv'""'lilmuelk
937-252-8855
REV. SAMUEL KADER,
PASTOR
I
New York
ParkA venueC hristina ChUrch~ ol Clvisl),1 010P arkA ve.
at 851hS L. 100282. 88-3246A. vbanL aeawe. anda verseo ongegatial
comminedl:>extenclthneg 1 cMo! t Clvistt oaapeqlle.
Potluckd, o AllenV . Hanis.1 010 ParkA ve. . 10028-099218. 8-3246.
FOU1Fhr iday7, p.m.
UCCUGCd. o Craig Hottman. 1453AL exingtoAn ve.. 10128. 289-
~16.
Queens(718) ·
QueensL esbian& Gay ChristiansP. O Bax4 154. Collegi Pc:int
11356. 353-394 1. Ni: Tte GoodShep)erd
NIAGARA FALLS (716)
OneressN xls1lllGico speCl hurch1, 646N iagaraA ve. . 1430.5 284-
4500. Bro. t . Rdlerts, pas1a.
PLATTSBURGH(5 18)
SL MarysE cumerica!CalhoflCChurPcOh, B ax1 59,C llaZ,y 12921.
493-327(2V Oicea ndF AX.} Rev. Fr. MchaelR .F rost
ROCHESTE(R71 6)
PLGCd. o Caner, 111M tJurnSL, 14607-291287. 1-764.9
CHARLOTTE (704) •
Chadottlen tertaithN etwor1k0 G1 ay,\.esbiaEn~ 1ty, 5945R e<tlnan
Rd, '205.2 8212-166~4. -GarnetEt .P titbl . ronlactp erroo.
GREENSBORO (910)
UnitarianU niversatisCt hUlcho l Greensbor,o 5603 H~lop Rd. .
27414. 856-033.0. M eetsa t GTCC-JamestowSnu, nd3yS choo,f
9:30a.m .. Service, 10:30a.m. Barbara Cooke. pastor.
~:Jlmeml:Els.ad.co:n/wcg
TRWIGLE ~ (9\9)
PulenM emmat Ba!)\15C1l 'IJtth,1 60\ lillstxxoughS L, Ra\e1!1'-
27605. 82&-0a79. M. M!hanSiler.Jt., pas10. 1
Ohio
AK~N(Dl )
cascaooC ommunitCy hurch,1 190/119I6n manS L. 44306. 773-
5296. Sundly. ~m . Plb: CascadeN ewslett.e r
CINCINNATI( 513)
lnEgtly.4 905ChaletD..r # 11, 45217-144. 2542-729. 7
Mt. AuburnP resbylerianC hurch, 103 WnhamH ov;ardT ait Rd.
45219. 281-594, 5~AX2 81-2664. Rev. O.t HaroldG . P011epr.a sl0.1
A Meteli gll congegalio. n
COLUMBUS (614)
Diglity, POB ax8 2001, 43202. 451-652. 8
lambolGodAngicanCh11.c PhOB ox1 6447,2 43216
DAYTON (9:17) •
CetnmunitGy ospeCl hurchP, O Box1 634, 454012. 52·8855S pmt
filled,C hnslc enteied.M eetsT hurs.. 5p.m., Sun. 1oa.m a15 46
XeniaA ve., Day1oSna mueKl ade,r paste.t
GRANVLILE(614)
FrrstB aplls_t Church, 115W . Broac!,va, y43023·117. 9587-033.6
GeorgWe1 niamsoJnr. ,. past0.1 A WeloomlllQan dA lfrrmlngA mer\canB
aotisCt ongegatlo.n
MANSFIELD (419) •
Centerr or PasroraCl are, 3180G erman Church Rd. 44904. 756-
297,7 774-537F7.A X7 74-98.0 S5undayN IUrg/, f0:15am Pasloral
oounseknrge.t reats
Oregon
PORTLAN(D5 03)
Evaf9!1icCaol1sc emedT.T S-338268, 1· 2764.
MetaraPae aceConvnuni1yut.2e1. 16NE1 8thAY.B. 9 7212·4 600.
281-389. 7
Pennsylvania
ELWYN(6 10)
PdgimF etlONs~Churt:hP, .O. Bax4 306,1 90632. 37-136.7 MeelS
Sun.a t Phlla Ailpcr1C om10I1n1n.
LEHIGH VALL Y (&10)
Graooeo..enanF1e lloHstl,4 2)47N . 101hS l , Aftentown1.8 10.2 740-
0247. Sunda~1y0 :458.m. 8l'yUI Ro.Y.e past<>T' homR itte,r music
mlrllste.r Se the Lellig\ Valle.y
PHILADELPH (215)
Eva!l!JllicaClSo ncerned7,2 5-799. 9
UntiedC hurchC ootitlotno eL esbian/GaCyo ncerns, PO Box6 315,
1913.9 724-124. 7
Rhode Island
PROVIDENC(E40 1)
St. Pete(s & St. Araew's EpiscopaCl hurch2, 5 PomonaA ve• .
02909-525. 2572-964. 9Rev. JanN unle,y reC1oarn dC IHXlfMlOoOl I
lntegil',fflhoi3 IslandW ea rea •rarixlwcongeg.1tooo'f Cttnslians
from al walks of tile, with an act,ve lnleglly chapter, heallng and
AIDS mrisuy. Se habla Espana.
South Carolina
COLUMBIA(8 03)
Gay1t8sbiCane tnmuni1yCent1e1r,0 8W ClXto.YSTt Tl-7713
LutheranCs oncernedM eetsth id fn . 7:~ .m., at PALMC ente,i
USC. PO 8ox 8828, 29202.
MCCC olumbiaP, .O. Be,( 6753, 29202 256-215.4 Meetsa t 1111
8eflewlwSL , 12. Sun.• 11a.m. Rev. PatooaV oell'.e, 1, J!s10. r
PFLAG. Meets third Th11s. ewry month, 6p.m. at Community
HouseS, L Mar1Jn's-ln-1h&-FEfeplic,clsq )alC lu.lch,5 220C lemson
AW.
GREENVIUE(8 64)
t.«::C3. 14UCr,dSL2.9 601-14,0 2833-0919S.t ll.. 11am . . ~m Rev,
t.ti Hinsonp. aslof,
Tennessee
CHATTANOOGA/423)
~ SoundC tv,slJanF et>wstipC hlleh. PO Box8 506 37414.
894-6224.R ovC. tllck D Thorrp:on. PIIS~ StJ1. Sp.m arIll eU nltarlln
UllMiflarisl Cho!ch 3224 NavapOr
MEMPHIS(9 01)
HolyT rn1YC etnmunrtCyh urch, 1559h '~011, 38104 726-9443
Prod&tm,nGgo dsl rM)f a aa~
NASHVILLE(6 15)
Cl'r!Jfdlo1f h0L MngV/atc. rPOB oe1 312. M,1ct;01T1N, 3 71181-312.
8(,6,.2679 SUn.~m
12JANIJAR\'•FEl:lRl/ARY 1998
OUTREACH PARTNERS
HotyTrmt1yCOlnmuintyChUrchP, O Be,( 2188223, 72213. 27·4551.
Meetsa t UnityCenklr3, 0281.roanoPnik e.
lntegify.P Oilo<1 21172, 37212·117323. 3-7509.
Texas
AUSTIN(5 12)
Joan Wakefetd MinistriesI.n c. . 9401G rouseM eaoowL n.,7 8758-
63488. 357-354.
DALLAS/FORWT ORTHA REA( 214)
Alfirmation( UnitedM eloodists)P. O Box 191021. Daftas.7 5219.
52&-491. 3
GtaceM ilislries, Inc.,4 307-AH ollan:7!.5 219.
HolyT rinityC etnmuncCy hurch4, 402R oselmdA ve., Dallls.7 520.4
827-5088".A homel o! 11verhye art"s erving1 heD allas lesbiana nd
gayc ommunityt011y8e ais.
SilenHt arves1MnisUiePsO, B e,( 19051.1 75219-051512. 0-665. 5
EL PASO (915)
MCC,9 828 Montana7, 9925.5 91·4155S. un.. 10:30a.m.. 6p.m..
Wed, 7p.m.
Unitarian Universalist Communi!)'. 4425 Byron. 79930. 562-4001
J~ ,j/!/J,fP/ .
GALVESTON(4 00)
Unitarian UnillersalisFl e!M~. 502C hurchS L, mso. 765-833. 0
AUl aithsa ooepledS.e xuael ti?ntaliorne spected.
TYLER(903)
SL GabrieCl ommun,tyChUlc1h3, 904C ountyR d 193.7 5703!.x ii·
6923. PastorD onnRa .C anp:,eU.
Utah
LOGAlll_ VO\)
MCC. PO Box 4285, Ml23. 7~5026 Sun.,\ 1a.m.
SALT LAKE CITY (001)
SacredL gtl cl ChnstM CC6. 23S . 600E . 84102·35075.9 6-0052.
Virginia
FALLSC HURCH(7 03)
TelosM I1s111nestB apttsts. )POB ox3 390. 220435 60-268.0
MANASSAS (703)
Bull RunU nrlananU nrversaltS. tPsO Box2 416. 361-626.9 A UUA
WelcomnCg oigegallon
RICHMOND (804)
HonestyMr~nia. 315 Strav,t>errSy t , 23220-341.2 354-680.4
honeSt.yv a@Jlln.coon. GayB aptisst i.qxr1g QU.-1)
WILLIAMSBURG (804)
Foundauonosl StoneM intStrsie. 149N elsonD r., 23185. 229-063. 2
Teachings.e minarste, treats, revivals.
Heaven'Ts ablelanCd hurchP. .O. Bax2 674. 23167. (757)887-37.1 9
Rev Adelle L Bar.r paslo.r MeetsS un. 8o1JldarSyt . LtJrarya t ,:30 ~m .
Washington
SEATTLE(206)
lnllgil;. PO Bax 200i3. 98102. 525-4668.
UniversitCy oogegabonaUl ntiedC hurcho f Chnst 45151 6thA ve. •
NE. 981055. 24-232'2O. penlygaypeqllea taul evelso f le»Jrshp.
Wisconsin
APPLETON (920)
Angelso f Hq)e Mee.1 10S . LocusSt t. 991-0128S.1 n, Sp.mR. ev.
KenH Uiip, aslo.f
GREEN BAY (920)
Angels of Hq)e Mee, 614 Fetest SL. Green Bay. 54302. 432-0830 .
Sun..1 1a.m.7, p.m. Rev. KenH ul.l paslof
MILWAUKEE (414)
l.UlheransCoooernPeOd,B ox1 676. 53201-167468. 1-966. 3
~~Ills HIV/AIDSM inistry1, 0101W . Wiscons1A1v e., 53226.
Nationa l
ADVANCEC HRISTIANM INISTRIES, 4001-CM aillAe w .. OaHa. s
TX 75219. 1214)522·15.2 F0AX. (214)528-10.7 '0ThomasH osch.
cirec10. I
AFFIAMAT ION/UnrtedM elhodstsf ol Gay & LesbianC oncerns
P.O. Bax1 021. Evanslo,n IL 60204. (708)733-95. 90 '
AMERICANB APTISTSO ONCEANE, D13318C la~epoinlWe ay,
Qal<JanCdA, 9 4619-353(15.1 0/465-a65V2o. k:cel t heT ~
AMERICANF RIENDSS ERVC E COMMITTEE(Q uaker2) 249E .
BurnsidSet . POltlandO, R9721.4 (503)230-94. 27
APOSTOLICC ATHOLICC HURCHIN AMERIC,A a naoona'll lYlrlerd/
c)JnominatioBni.s htpP aulD aviCd . StrongO. SJD.P OB <»<
81005S. earoeW. A9 8108-100(52. 06)763-24. 0a0pcalhchSaolcorn.
ht1>1lmermers.aolcan/ap:altdt
ASSOCIATIOONF INDEPENDENMTI NISTRIE, SPO Box8 506.
ClilttanOOgTl,N 3 7414. (423)8~4 a (205)833-35. 01
ASSOCIATIOONF WELCOMINAGN DA FFIRMINGB APTISTS,
P.O. Box2 596,A ttlebOlfoa ll;, MA< rl763-069. V4fF( 508)226-0945.
WABaplists@a.ccolm. httpJuser.aso.toornlwabapti.s Ats netwol1(o f
chulcheS, et'jlntlatk)ns andi nciwlJalsw ltow eloomaen da <M>cea t
fet ihe lull pa~tlon ol lesblan, gay. andb isexuapl eqll8 w,1/11n
1heA mencanB aotisCt hU!ches/USA.
BALM MlNISTf'.UE, SP.O.Bor 1961, COSlaM esa, CA 92628,
(714)641-896. 6Marsha Stevens, slngerlsongrvterrr. Suzanne
Mcl(eagm. anagJr
BRETHREN/MENNONPITAER ENTSO F LESBIAN/GACYH ILDREN.
B ox1 708U, ma, OH4 5802
BRETHREN/ M ENNONITEC OUNCILF ORL ESBIANA NOG AY
CONCERN.S Box 6300, MlnneapolisM, N 55406-0300(6. 12)722·
6906 BMCounol4'aol.C. hX~lJffllM\',v,v.ebcorn.com/bnlSC~I
tor Bretlvene ndM onnontler, ry, lesbian. andb isexuapl ecple, and
too:rp arents.S fl(llmS , relalf'.esan d fnend.s Pl.llhcatm Dt.l~
CHI AHOP RESS.A spcctnlwak Oft hOU FMCCM oAUantiC[), :;brcl
PiJllrshOoI t rol,{jOUSbo oks and matemt.s P 0. Bot 7864,
Ge~herwur, gt.t)20696,( 001)670-18.5 9
COMMUNICATION MINISTAVI,N C· Dlilklg.leo nds ""°r, !JOI.Cl
torr ;pya nd 18S1>c1:a1lnl1 oalleer wa nd religiousP. .o Box6 0125,
CIICIJg>IL, 6 06©0125. Pl.tlfQ!bOCn etnmlin1caoon
CONFERENEC FORC ATHOLICLE SBIAN,$ P.O. Bar4 36P bnotarllllSl
to.,N 111Y1 ork.N Y 10024( 718)921-04.6 3
CONNECTOINS• SPIRITUAUL NKS• Stlmlnras, workshq)Gc,o nternnaieo
n! Jlol Ondb ere.tvemenRl O.Y Rdl.1rdB Gtllort.C ilOCICJ
1504t i Cl~ 8L, va~Dl$0 , Ill '-6385 (2l9)484-81$3F;A X,
(219~1-2230.
DIGNITY/USA15. 00M assachusetAtsv e. . NW,S le. 1t . WashIngl:>n.
DC2 0005. (202)861-0017F, AX (202)429-980. 8Gay and lesbian
Cathoicsa ndt teir ttiends.
ECUMENICALC ATHOLICC HURCH,P .O. Be,( 32, Vi la Grande,
CA9 5486--00. 3(7207)88·71020, FAX.( 7071887-70. T0h3eM ostfleV.
MarkS . Shirilau. Ph.D. PIJlllCalio: nTte Taliel
ECUMEINCALO RDERO FC HARITYP. OB ox2 57.D esM c:in.e IAs
50301.( 515)251·825.4 An ectJ111eniicnacll,1 1Sirveelig ious0 1deor l
mena ndw omenm iltSteringo n 1hec utting~ ol 1he! P51)L8 W~
site: www.~rramp .nE:V-dlraily. E-ma:il blitMOY@a.coel tn.
EROSPIRIRT ESEARCIHN STITUTEP,. O. 8ox3 893.O alclandC,A
94609. (5104)28-906.3 Networok t g.rya ndl esbiane cslali:so tlenog
classesa rd videosi n erotics ptrrtuhaty.
EVANGELICAALN GLICANC HURCHIN AMERICA2. 401 Attesia
Blvd..S te. 106-213A. edonooB each.C A 90278. (310)798-672. 0
EACA2AIACS@aol.c. eNtnatx>naolf ficeo l aUE ACAc hurch·c om·
mun,tte. s
EVANGELICALCSO NCERNEDdo. Dr. Ra\:)1B1l air, 311E asl7 2nd
St , NewY Oik,N Y 10021. (212)517-31.7 P1ltlicalo,s : Rev,ewa nd
Record
THEE VANGELICANLE TWORKB.e ,( 1610.4 Proemx, AZ6 501\ .
(8l2)265-2831
fe.?ER;(f,fJ(l(lYlJ RBf.fI f@ f'f1(ffl(J1(J{({ '1flll.f-$I .NO
GAV S,I NC. P.O. Be,( 27605, WasllngtonD, C2 0038.(2021638-42. 00
Send$3.00 ta packect l inf01mati:ln.
GULFL Ov.£RA TLANTICD ISTRICTol theU niversaFl ello!,sh~ol
MetropoIlal n communityC hurche.s 1379T ullie Rd. Atlanta. GA
3032.9 (404)325-137. 2Rev. Jay Neely.c isUIct coordnaIo.r E-mad:
GLADMCC@a.cootm.
Wet:iste: httpJ/wwN.geocitie.osom/WestHot,woco'1.4 90
FRIENDSF OR LESBIANA NDG AYC ONCEflNS(O Ual<e!S1) 43
Camp:,el Ave .• l\llaca, NY \4650. l607)272-\024. FAX \607\212:<
Sn.
GAY AND LESBIAN PARENTSC OALITIONIN TERNAt10NAL
P.O. Box5 0360. Wastingto,n DC2009.1 (202)583-60.2 f9'lillrcalion'
NelWOk.'
GAY, LESBIANA ND AFFIRMINGD ISCIPLESA LLIANCEp O
Box1 9223l.n danapohsIN, 46219-022. 3(319)324-6213. Fa ·mem:
bers ot the ChrrsbanC hurch (Disapleso l ChrtSI.) Pul)ilcalion:
Crossbeam. s
GAYELLOWP AGES• P.O Ila( 533.V tltagi S1n. NewY etk, NY
1CXJ14-0.5 (23132)674-012. 0
GAEAT LAKESD ISTRICTo l the UniversaFl ellowshpo l MeUqxihlanC
ommunitCy hurches1. 300A mbrdgeD r. . loulSVll,le KY4 0207.
2410. (5028)97-3821'I,O ICeandfa. JxUC,,,Da. oleoordnaett.
HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN. 1101 14th SL. NW, Ste. 200.
Wasl1nl gon, DC2 0005. (202)62!1-41. 00
INTEGRITYI.N C. . P.O. Box 5255,N ew YOik. NY 10185-525. 5
(201)868·248. 5Plbl,caloo: TheV c:iceo l lntegIty
NATIONAL .
SOCIETY OF THE
FRANCISCAN SERVANTS
Of THE POOR
An Ec umen ica l Communit y o f
Men & Women In Gosp el Service
to the p oor . negl ec ted &
disenfra nchised In t he spirit of
Sts. Francis and Clore of ASSisl
For More Informa tion Co nt act:
Minister Guardian, FSP
133 Pav onl o Ave nue. 335
Jersey City, New Jersey 073 1 o
EMall: sfsp@be llat la ntlc.ne t
/1
~/l J
~~
HAYWARD. CALIFORNIA
Faith
Full Gospel
·Fellowship
Worship: Sunday 5p.m.
15781 Maubert Ave .
San Leando, CA 94578
( SJ 0)481-9933
E-rnnil· faith2fellowship@hotmail com
web site;
http :t/www2.nctcorn coml~i lsamc / failhfcl
lowsh1 p. html
INTERWEAEV, 25 BeaconS t.. Boston. MA 02108 16177142·2100
A lay org.,mzal!Oofl UmtauanU mversalisls lor lcsblan, b,sexua. l
gaya ndt ransg,ndeor onoorn. s
LIVING STREAMSP. .O. Box 178. ConcordC A 94522·0178B e
monlhtyp co6cat!O. fl
LUTHERANCSO NCERNEID N ORTHA MERICAB. ax 10461F. or,
DearborSn tatm Chk::lg:,IL. 60610-046. 1Plblrcation: TheC oocord
METHODIST FEOERA TION FOR SOCIAL ACTION. a gayalfirmingm.
ulti-issuen eM01k7,6 C 11nloAnv e. . Slatenl slari:l.H l301·
1107 (718)273-MFS. PAiblrcati:o Snoaal OuestlOIIBSu lleUn.
MERCY OF GOD COMMUNITY, PO Box 41055. Provdence, RI
02940-105. 5(401)722-313. 2Christian. Ecumenicaal nd 111Clusrve
communitoyl sisters. brothersa nda ssoaate.s http:lJmg:.etgmg:.
Merc-,Comm@aol.com.
WILLIAMSBURG , VIRGINIA
HEAVEN'S TABL ELAND
CHURCH
ofW illiamsburg, Virginia
P.O. Box 2674
Wi\ha msburg,, \litg,inia B \ '67
(757) 887-37 19
I ffab lct.m<l@aol .com
dasmu llcr@jtmo.com
Services held · Sunday at I :30 P.M
Williamsburg Regional Libra!),
Please call for further infon na tion
ALL ARE WELCOME AT T HE
LORD' S TABLE .
MEMPHIS , TENNESSEE
HOLTRYIN ITY
COMMUNCHITUYHR EC~
INT ENNSSEE
MEMPHIS--
1559 Madison Ave.
90 I /72 6-9443
Sunday: IO a.m. Sunday School
I I a.m. Communion
Rev. Timothy Meadows, M.Div., Senior Minister
NASHVILLE--
302 8 Lebanon Rd. (in the Unity Center)
615/ 83 7-242 4
Sunday: 6 p.m. Worship Service
Rev. Cynthia looper, M.M.
Proclaiming God's Love For All People
KANSAS CITY , MISSOURI
Come share your ministry with us
at. ...
~
Abiding Peace Lutheran Church
5090 NE Chouteau Trafficway
Kansas City, MO 641 19
(816) 452-1222
Caring for People and Creation
(Ncr!h of the River)
Sunday Worship: 10:30 am
Sunday School: 9:00 am
b11p.l/www.sound.m:1/~picklc
Welcome!
ff YO\ I FOUND this copy of Second
Slone al a gay pride event, a P-FI .AG
meeting, or some other event or loca tion.
there· s a Second Stone 0111reacl1
Partner in your area . They arc a Christian
church or orgm1ization with a spc cilic
outreach to gays and lesbians. We
encourage you to visit them for their
next service or meeting . In the mean time.
you may be asking some questions
like the ones that follow .
After all the rejection
I got from my church,
why should I even
care about God?
Your church may have rejected you. but
God never has. God' s nature is to draw
you clo ser to Him, not to reject you.
The church is achninistercd by pastors,
bishops, lay people, cornrnillec s; people
like you and me - sometime s connected
wilh God al work among us, and sometimes
not. Sometimes the people who
run t11e church , because of fear. selfishness
or oilier reasons, are not able to
follow as God leads. In tlie past, the
church failed lo speak out against tlle
Holocaust and slavery. At some point
in the future, the church's pres e nt failure
to affirm gay and lesbian people and its
failure to speak out against the homophobia
that leads to discrimination and
violence will be seen as a terrible
wrong .
Does this mean I
shouldn't go to church?
Absolutely not! (It means tlle church
needs you prob ably more than you need
1be chur ch .) There is a place for you in a
church in your neighborhocxt. There are
National
MOREL IGHT CHURCHES NETWORK6,0 0 W. Fulerton Pltwy.,
Chlceg,> IL6 0614-2690,( 773)338-0452A.8 SOllopea cke~$ 12. PtblicaoonM:
cfeL i!tlCt hu'cheNs etv.akN ewsener
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CATHOII.C DIOCESALNE SBIAN
AND GAY MINISTRIES, 433 Jetf8fSOSOt , OaklandC, A 94607.
65·9344. Newsletler and national conference.
@aof.com .
NA NALC OUNCLI OF CHURCHES4,7 5R iYersidDe r., New
YOik,N Y1 0115. AIDS Task Foroo, Room5 72, (212)870-24.2 1
HlM11Saellx ualitOy fficeR, oom70 8,( 212)870-2151.
NATIONACL OUNCILO F CHURCHESW, ashing1oOn1 fic.e 110
MaMJndAYON.E, , Washil!tOOD,C 2 0002.( 202)544-2350.
OPl:N& AFFIRMINGM ll'IISTAIESG, ay, Lesbiana ndA ffinning
Ois~s AllianceR, ev.A llenV . Harri,s do 1010P ar!(A ve., New
Yor1N<.Y 1 0028-099. 1(212)288-324N6u. rtureandec1Jcab1'c1xan-l
118!),llloannsd o therm inistrieso f theC hnStiaCn hurch(~ of
Christw) hichs eekt ow eJoomaen da fluml eslim, gay, andb isexual
pelSO. OS
OPENA NDA FFIRMINGP ROGRAMU.n itedC hlial Coaitionfo r
Lesbiar-.'GaCyo ncerns. PO Box 403, Hoklen, MA 0152(}()40. 3
(508)856-93. 1P6lbllcatiorOr NAC anmlllQJ8 -
THEO THERS IDEM 11Q,1,Z 3in0e0W . ~ SL, Phiaoo~ia, PA
1914.4 (2151849-21. P78tillishesa rticleso f 1111erloe sptr ogessiYO
Christian. s
OTHERS HEEPM ulllculuralM llllsr1iesw rlhS exuaMl ,nonhes,3 19
N. Four1'h9 02, SL Lcui.s MO6 3102·193.6 (314)241-240.0 FAX
(314)241-240E3- maQ: gherzog@oal.com. ThcolOgeanl de c1Jca,
lklnall l'!Jk kx:.11, .nyaliOl'ra, lalyndi ntemaliOl'ra~Sl 4ll)OltrngJ X)ilSive
Wta l siwort for! JlY5a ndl esbfanisn theC lvisUn., chucrh
ORTHODXO CATAOUC CHURCHO FA MERICA, P.O. Bolc12 22,
l!Wr\aiXlfl,S IN463l6-122. 2(317)251-4526
PRESBYTERIANS FOR LESBIAN& GAYC ONCENRS, PO Boe
38,I -lowOrull!Wllc,i tcl.108903-oo:l&(9 08)93-72501, (Q0)8249-1016.
Pu>blbn: Morot. vitU pcilll>
•
OUTREACH PARTNERS
many Christian churches and organiza tions
around the country that have a specific
ministry to gay and lesbian people .
Even in the mainstream denominations
gay and lesbian people have prominent,
although sometimes closeted , places in
the church as pastors, youth leaders,
choir master s, lay leader s. and so on.
Many mainstream churches across the
country have moved into positions of
welcoming and affinning gay and lesbian
people .
How do I know that God
doesn't reject me?
Even if you ' ve never set foot in a
church or tllought much about God, you
were created by a loving God who seeks
you out. If tllere's a barrier between
yourself and God, it is not God's
responsibility . Blackaby and King in
"Experiencing God" say there are seven
realities of a relationship with God: 1.
God is always at work around you. 2.
God pursues a continuing love relationship
with you that is real and personal .
3. God invites you to become involved
with Him in His work. 4. G~ speaks
by the Holy Spirit through the Bible,
prayer, circum stances, and tlle church to
reveal Himself, His purposes, and His
ways. 5. God 's invitation for you to
work with Him always leads you to a
crisis of belief that requires faith and
action. 6. You must make major adjustments
in your life to join God in what
He is doing . 7. You come to know God
by experience as you obey Him and He
accomplishes His work through you.
I would like explore further.
What can I do now?
While tllere are many good books and
videos available, there's something
AECON9ILING CONGREGATION PROGRAM, 3801 N K le :\~~:,,! 60641. (773)73565-26. FX( m}736-S47.· 5~'.
RELIGIONW A_T~H. P.O.B ax6 52, Nonh Belmor,e NY 1m o
newsle!Er montta1ngtr erdl TnC Ol1!8fnporraefryg on · A
TELOS MINISTRIES (Bapbsls), PO Bax 3390, Fa.ls Church VA
220435. 00-268. F0ax, ~15 .teloorrin@er.closm '
SILENT HARVEST MINISTRIESP O 80< 1905i1 Dallas TX
75219--0151.( 214}S20-6655. ' · ,
SPIAITSONGM iNISTAIE, SPO Boe5 204.D eerfieldB oachF L
33442. (9541418-837.2 DeannaJ awookl,s i~r/song,'lriler: Jiff
Anctew, ms ana!J!r.
SUPPORTIVE CONGREGATIONSN ETWORKM ennonttaen d
Brethren, PO Box 6300, Minneapolis, MN 55406-0300 .
SCNetworka@otoom. A net.voorkf M ennonitGe eneraCl onleronce
MeMCJliaten dCh1c1ho t the BrathreCn Ol9'fl9illrowl'Bh ichw etoome
<JJYle,s bina andbisexul ma embe.r s
UNITARIAN UNIVEASALISOTF FICEF ORL ESBIAN/GACYO NCERNS2,5
B eacoSn t, BostOIM\ A02Itll. (617)7421-020.
UNITEDCH URCHC OALITIOFNO RL ESBIANG/ AYC ONCERNS
18 N. CollegeA. then,s OH 4570.1 (614)5 93-7301P. ublicaoo: n'
waves
UNITEDC HURCHO F c_HAISTO,l fklef orC hurchrn S ociety1,1 0
Ma~ndAw .. NE, Washin!tODOC. 2 0002(.2 02)S<l-15.1 7
UNIVERSALF ELLOWSHlOl>F METROPOLITACNO MMUNITY
CHURCHE8S7 04S antaM onicBaM l, 2ndF ~.W esHt aly,YOoCdA,
90069·454.8 (310)360-864, 0FAX (310)360·8680E. -mai:l
ulrTVY'Mlill.oaomt W ooirles: hl\'.1)NNrW.ufmo.:oom.
P~ilxi :K . rnTouch
THEW ITNES00hed t,,;t heE piscqxCil hurdPl ~hmg Co..
1249WaSl1nglonB,M SII.B.3 t 15, De~aMt l 48226-18.6 (3813)962·
2650
WOODSWOME-NA <mnturotr awl for wome.n 26Y I. Oiamooo
l.DkeA d, Mom8ojlOlisM, N5 5419. (600)279--05. (56512)822-3809,
FAX(612)822·381d
powcrf ul in being "where two or more argea thered." You may want to check
out a ministry in your area witll a specific
outreach lo gays and lesbians ,
including Second Stone's Outreach
Partner. The worship style may not be
. what you're used to, but tlle point is to
connect witll gay and lesbian Christians
with whom you can have discussions
about where you are. Or you may want
to try a variety of churches in your
neighborhood, even those of other
denominations. (fhere is no "one true
church.") There are gay and lesbian people
in almost every church and God,
who is always at work around you, will
connect you to I.he people yoil need to
know - if you take the first step:
Wouldn't it just be
easier to keep my
sexual life a secret?
Some gay and lesbian people who arc
happy. whole and fully integrated may
have to be silent about tlleir sexuality
because of tlleir job or other circwn stanccs.
(fhe day will come when I.hat
'is no longer the case .) But a gay or lesbian
person who cannot integrate their
sexuality witll tlle rest of tlleir being
faces a difficult struggle indeed. To
deny one 's sexuality to oneself while in
church or at work or witll straight
- friends, and tllen to engage in periodic
sexual activity is not a self-loving,
esteem-building experience . An inability
to weave your sexuality into tlle fabric
of your life in a way tllat inakes you
feel good about yourself and allows you
to develop relationships with otl1ers is a
cause for concern and should be discussed
with someone skilled in gay and
lesbian issues.
January/February 1998
Outreach Partner Fund Report
Second Stone' s Outreach Partner progran1 helps local ministries make
Christ known in their communities . Par!,icipating mini strie s arc
assisted, when needed, by the Outreach Partner fund. As of January 5,
1998. the Outreach Partner fund:
1998 EXPENSES
Heaven's Tableland Church - 60.00
Holy Trinity Community th urch - 60.00
Abiding Peace Lutheran Church - 115.00
Society of the Franciscan Servants of the Poor - 60.00
Faith Full Gospel Fellowship - 60.00
New Life Community Church of Hope - 87 . .50
Community Gospel Church - 60.00
Holy Spirit Fellowship - 60.00
Celebration of Faith Praise and Worship Center - 60.00
Total 1998 Expenses - 622.50
CONTRIBUTIONS
Balance forward - 2492.76
Abiding Peace Lutheran Church - 72.47
Holy Tri nity Commun ity Church (Memphis) - 92.79
Mt. Aubum Presbyterian Church - 58.14
Safe Harbor MCC - 60.00
First Congrega tional UCC - I 15.00
Holy Spirit Fellowship - 50.00
Holy Trinity Church (Dallas) - 23.47
Community Gospel Church - 30.00
New Life Community Church of Hope - 30.00
Anonymous subscriber contributions - 85.00
Rev. William Regan - 25.00
Rev. Dr. Paul Gillespie - 25.00
Allan Michaud - 25.00
Richard Leclair - 25.00
Ann Amidco - 25.00
I. Woldeguiorguis - 25.00
Total Contributions - 3259.63
Contri bu lions applied toward 1997 expenses - 3075.64
Conlribulions applied toward 1998 expenses - 183.99
FUND BA LANCE ( 438.51)
SE C OND ST O NF 13
NATIONAL NEWS
An open window:
ChUICihn stallgsa y-themewd indow
BY RICHARD D. MOHR
CHAMPAIGN, 111-. A local Presbyterian
church recently dedicated a gaythemed
stained glass window, becoming
the first mainstream church in the
United States to do so, according to area
residents.
Built at a cost of $10,000, the
window was dedicated in honor of Carolyn
Worley. a long-time bead of the
church's social concerns committee who
is currently suffering from late stage
Parkinson disea se. The window was
donated by her brother, Mark Jucrgensmcyer,
a professor of sociology at the
l . n.ivcrsity of CaJifomia-Santa Barbara.
.. I wanted to do something impressive
for my sister - and something before she
died." Juergensmeyer said. "When the
hoard of directors informed me that the
remaining :wailab le window slot had
been reserved for a gay-themed work, I
was delighted."
The classic 5-by-12-foot cathedral -arch
window installed at the McKinley Presbyteriai1
Church features a pink triangle
set against a white Celtic cross and blue
background . Immediately below the triangle
is an abstrac t rainbow flag and,
beneath that, a red AIDS commemorative
ribbon .
At mid-window left, are two male
hands clasping passionately, and, on the
right, two female hands holding each
other . In tum, each couple's hands are
embraced by a pair of hands representing,
according to Pastor Charlie Sweitzer,
either the congregation or God.
The window also contains the flaming
heart symbol of the compassionate
Jesus and two peaceful landscape.panels,
which echo the tone and palette of a Tiffany
Studios pastoral window placed
nearby.
A scroll on the left contains verse
from Galatians 3:28: "In Christ tllere is
neither Jew nor Gentile, sJa\'e nor free ,
male nor female ." On the right, a scroll
quotes the parting words of Jolm Robinson
to the pilgrims as they left the
Netherlands: "The Lord has yet more
/ The Erotic Contemplative
Reflections on the Spiritual Journey of the Gay/Lesbian Christian
By Michael B. Kelly
A SIX VOLUME STIMULUS FOR
LIVING, LOVING AND PRAY.E R:
l) Our Experience (75 min)
2J Revisioning Sexuality (80 min)
3) E.xodus and Awakening (75 min)
4) The Desert and the Dark (88 min)
5) Liberation (84 min)
6) The Road from Emmaus (63 min)
The six volume video
set is $199.00
Order through:
EROSpirit Research Institute
P.O. Box 8340
New Orleans LA 70182
.. The Erotic Contemplativ e is the
most powerful and insightful study of
gay spirituality that I know of. I have
watched 'The Road From Emmaus"
(tape 6) three times and still find new
riches." -- JOHN J. McNEIL, PH.D .,
author of The Church and the
Ho111oesx11a/.
"In my theology classes, both gay and
straight seminarians benefit from
Kelly's integration of sexuality with
Christian mysticism." -- ROBERT Goss,
PH.D., author of Jesus Acted-Up .
"An excellent resource ... a worthwhile
investment." •• BONDINGS, a publication
of New Ways Ministry.
''The Erotic Co11te111platviivdee o course
has helped gay men and lesbians who
grew up as Christians move toward
healing the wounds of the past." ••
JosEPH KRAMER, M.D1v., EROSpirit
Research Institute.
"This work should be consicJercd
essential 10 anyone ~erious ahout their
sexuality/spirituality ancJ mandatory for
anyone who in any way acts as a
spiritual director for gay and lesbian
pec,plc." -- More Light Update.
I ·M«~1c,k 1uiled mfonnalmn nbnul each video i, ,1vJilnbk upon requcJt. Also av:ulnbtc in Pal =-;;,; -1 Eurnpcanl/\ustrnUun lormar Calif.lrn1a rc'1\lcm, n,J~ K:25% snlcs 1ax lJS ,hipping charge: S~ 00.
Jn1crna11unla ~h1pp1g1 1char&,; S:IVIO E) 1997. EROSpm1 Research l11~11u11c
... - ---- •-------- ~ --
11 .1/\NIJJ\RY•FEBRI IARY 199R
light and truth to break forth from God's
word"
The phrase "More Light" is set in
capitals to mark the church as one of the
Presbyterian More Light ministrie s,
which are dedicated to social and religious
ju stice for lesbians and gays.
The McKinley Presbyterian Chur ch,
which has been a More Light congregation
for 18 years, has been one of the
most consistently gay-progre ssive in stitutions
in Champaign. Next spring, it
will host a national conference of the
More Light Church es Network . (Windy
City Times)
Gay deacon whose ordination
was protested becomes a priest
KALAMAZOO, Mich. - When gay
divinity school student Thoma s Drown
was ordained a deacon during a ceremony
last June. two Episcopal priests rose to
object.
But Brown was undaunted. The 27-
year-old recently graduated from divinity
school and returned to Episcopal Church
of Christ the King in January to be
o, lained as a priest.
Brown, formerly of Kalamazoo, says
people in his hometown parish have
been less openly critical of him as time
has passed. Brown now li• 'es in Califor -
nia but frequently returns to the Kalama zoo
area.
"Of course, in the wake of my ordina tion,
people knew who I was. If they
didn't alr eady know me, they were able
to figure out, 'That is the homo sexu al."'
Brown told the Kalamazoo Gazette
in a recent story.
"But I was touched by how welcom ing
many people were .... I think that' s
a tribute to the Episcopal Church in
Western Michigan and Bishop Edward
Lee for helping us maint ain that type of
unity ."
After Brown is orc!ained a prie st, he
will be eligible to lead a parish of Iris
own. Right now . he is the dir ecto r of
alumni and church relat ions at the
Church Divinit y Schoo l of the Paci fic
in Berkeley, Calif., and a pan-time
clergy associate at the Church of St.
John the Evangelist in San Francisco .
SEE DEACON, Page 17
Gay deans uess chool.filesc omplaint
withH umanR i,ghtsC ommissi,on
NEW HAVEN. Conn. - A gay dean ,
who was dismissed by Albertus Magnus
College , has filed a law suit against the
school, charging it with breach of contract,
slander and libel.
Michael Hartwig, 43, filed a lawsuit
against the school, which is affiliated
with the Roman Catho lic Church, and
the school president Dec 12.
Ile has also filed a complaint with the
state Commission on Human Rights
and Opportunities. In his complaint ,
Hartwig claims he was discriminated
against because of his sexual orientation
and religious beliefs.
"No faculty member should have to
fear discrimination because of their personal
beliefs or relational commiunents.
1 want to assure that what haJJJ)Cllcdt o
me, won't happen to my colleagues,"
Hartwig said in a prepared statement.
Hartwig was placed on paid leitvc in
October, soon after he wrote an op-cd
piece for a newspaper identifying himself
as a pric.~I "on leave."
Under Roman Ca tholi c Church law,
priests can never be abso lved of their
vows, but they can lea ve the active minis
try in good standi ng provided they
undergo "laicization." Har tw ig was
never laicized.
The college has said Hartw ig's dismissa
l was' the result of conflicting
accounts he had given about his status
as a priest aud not because of his sexual
orientation .
School officials maintain Hartwig
told them he was no lon ger active in the
ministry when he applied for the joh six
years ago. Bul according to court documents.
his resume said he took "a permanent
leave of absence from active
ministry " for personal reasons at lhc end
of 1987
Ilartwig's l11wsuit seeks unspecified
monetary damages, a retractwn of uJI
alleged defamatory st,llcmcnts <1hout
Hartwig made by school officials and
llartwij,!'s rcappoint111cn1 to the faculty
(AP)
NATIONAL NEWS
Rev.P erry,A rchbishoTp utu meetinJohamiesburg
A MEEflNG OF historic significance
to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered
communities took place on
Dec. 12 as two internationally recognized
human rights activists met in
Johannesburg, South Africa.
The Rev . Troy D. Perry, moderator of
the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan
Community Churche s, met with
Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop
Desmond Tutu in Johannesburg for a
wide-ranging discussion of human rights
issues . Others in attendance for this historic
meeting included the archbishop's
wife, Leah; Rev. Perry's spouse, Phillip
DeBlieck; and the Rev. Andre Muller ,
UFMCC area coordinator for South
Africa.
The meeting began with cordial greetings,
following by Archbi shop Tutu's
request that the group open in prayer.
The archbishop led the group in a prayer
of welcome and affinnation.
During the meeting, Rev. Perry
expressed thanks to Archbi shop Tutu for
bis work to include protection s on the
basis of sexual orientation in the new
South African constitution. Perry shared
how this accomplishment has helped to
mobilize the American gay rights movement
in seeking protections from the
United States Congre ss, including laws
that would ensure basic rights to lesbian,
gay, transgendered and bisexual citizens
to work for a living without the
fear of discrimination.
Both Archbi shop Tutu and Rev. Perry
discussed the roles that religion plays in
the ongoing debates surrounding sexual
orientation. Archbishop Tutu noted that
Gay chorus, black Baptist
choir sing together
THE TURTLE CREEK Chorale of Dallas
and the Male Chorus from Hamilton
Par k B a pti st C hurch haven't appeared in
the president's national dialogue on race .
But they make a pretty strong argument
for reco ncili ation on all level s. First
Baptis t Church of Hamilt on Park is a
predomin antly black Bapti st church. The
Turtle Creek Chorale is a predominately
gay men's chorus. Many of its members
have avoidet.! mainline churches, particularly
Bart. st on es, becau se of painful
experi ences with them.
These two choirs could have shied
away from each other. And yet the
choirs are sang together at the Meyerson
Symphony Center and sold out all five
j oint con certs. The audi ences were as
mixed as any in the history of the hall.
The co1obi11ed voices made amazingly
powenul music. (Dallas Morning News)
Protesters warn of 'presence' at
Gay Days at Disney parks
BY MIKE SCHNEIDER
KISSIMMEE, Fla. - Cri ticiz.ing the
gay-friendly policies of the Wall Disney
Co., about 75 pro testers said they may
try to estab lish a "presence" at Disney
World.
The protests on Dec. 29 led 10 traffic
j ams as protesters passed out leallets and
carried signs that read "Choose Jesus
over Mickey."
Three people were arrested, including
a leader of the anti-abortion group Operation
Rescue , the Rev. Flip Benham.
They were charged with obstructing
public streets.
The protesters, mos tly people attending
a youth conference al a church in
Palm Bay, listed many of the same reasons
as the Baptists for their boycott:
Disney's granting of health benefits to
same-sex partners of employees, allowing
"Gay Days " at its theme parks and
having Ellen DeGenercs, the star of the
ABC show "Ellen, " 10 come out as a
lesb ian. ABC is owned by Disney.
Benham said the protesters may establish
a "presence" at the theme parks,
most noticeab ly during the next Gay
Day in June . The pro testers will buy
tickets to get into the parks. pass out
litera ture and read from the Bible, Beu.
ham said.
Disney spokesman Bill Warren said
the protesters will be asked 10 stop if
they do that.
"We discourage anyo ne coming in
with a personal platform or agenda,
whether it's holding a political bruu1er or
setting up something for a statement,"
Warren said. "It's not a place for making
s1atcme111osr political causes ." (AP)
religious fundamentalists have questioned
the right of the government to
add sexual orientation to the South African
Constitution and want simple
answers to life's hard questions . "Some
people .always tiy to take the Bible literally
and legalistically," he said.
The Archbishop further stated,
"Parents mnst love their children . It is a
shame that fathers still teach their sons
not to cry as though that would make
them seem like a woman. Fathers teach
their sons not to have real feelings .
Every human being should rejoice and
celebrate both our masculine and feminine
sides."
Rev. Perry and Archbishop Tutu also
reviewed a range of otl1er human rights
issues, including their common opposition
to the death penalty.
Archbishop Tutu discussed his work
as chair of South Africa's Truth and
Reconciliation Commission, which will
conclude its work in June of 1998. At
that time, Tutu will become a visiting
professor at Emory University in Atlanta,
Georgia.
Rev. Perry extended an invitation for
Archbi shop Tutu to addres s the 1999
General Conference and World Jubilee of
CALLED OUT WITH
Stories of Solidarity
the Universal Fellowship of Metropoli tan
Community Chnrches in Los
Angeles, California , at which the
denomination will dedicate its ne,v $5
million UFMCC World Center com plex.
The archbishop indicated his residence
in the US at that time makes ii
more likely that he might be able 10
accept the invitation .
The meeting finished with Rev. Perry
assuring the archbishop that he is surrounded
with the prayers of all MCCers
for continued good health after his recent
bout with prostate cancer.
Doe to the international attention
focnsed upon the -archbishop's work
with the South Afri.can Truth and Rec- .
onciliation Commission, the meeting
almost did not take place . A message 10
Rev. Perry from the archbishop's staff
initially noted that the meeting needed
to be canceled because of "the exhausting
hearings involving Mrs. Winnie
Mad.ikezela-Madela and the State Security
Council ,'' which ran a week over the
time scheduled for it. However, on Dec.
8th, and aide to the archbishop phoned
witl1 the news that a scheduling change
had made it possible for Archbi shop
Tutu to mee t with Rev. Peny .
Sylvia n,orson-Smith , Johanna W. H. van Wijk-Bos , Norm Poll.
William P. Thompson, editors
l'af'<" S 16.00
n suppon of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered persons. Inspiring
'Stories of heterosexuals who have stood In support of justice and inclusion
of sexual minorities In the church. Each person's story is a testament to
the struggle to live out one's personal faith In a public world.
WE WERE BAPTIZED Too
Claiming God's Gracef or Lesbiansa nd Gays
Marilyn Bennett Alexander and James Preston
Paf'<"S/7.00
With a foreword by Desmond M. Tutu, this book challenges
the church 10 take seriously Its understanding of b.1pusm
and communion a.s a means of grace, fusti~, and liberntlon
and 10 rememl>< •• It~ pledge to accept, love, forgive, and
nurture newly baptized members .
UNCOMMON (A LUNC.
A Gay Christian's Struggle to Serve the Church
Chris Glaser
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SECOND STONE 15
Archbishop of Canterbury responds
Don'ta cto uto fi gnorancaen d
fearS, JX)ngurgceosl leagues
EPISCOPAL BISHOP John S. Spong
of Newark , New Jersey, has sharply
criticized the Archbishop of Canterbury, .
Dr George Carey, and other Anglican
bishops for their negative statement s
about homose,mality . In a letter sent to
the leaders of the world-wide Anglican
Commwnon Spong expressed deep concem
for the gay and lesbian population
of the world. He also sent Anglican
leaders an eight-page "white paper" he
had written, called "Message to the
Anglican Communion on the Subject of
Homo sexuality," and an earlier
"Koinoni a Statement" along simi lar
lines, signed by 73 bishops. Homosexuality
is likely to be a major focus tins
summer at the Lambeth Conference, the
10-yearly meeting of the world's Anglican
bishops.
Bishop Spong's letter of Novembe r
12 to the Primates of the Anglican
Communion:
Dear friends:
. I write to lay before you my deep concern
for a significant part of both our
communion and the human race; namely,
the gay and lesbian population of
our world. I an1 fearful that when we
meet at the Lambeth Confe rence in
1998, we will act out of our longstanding
ignorance and fear, instead of
out of the Gospel imperati vc and thus
deal one more violent blow to these victims
of our traditional prejudice .
My fear s have been enhanced by
recent statements issued by Lambeth
Palace, tile General Synod of the Church
of England, the incredible and ill-
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infonned diatrib e that came this pa st
year from the Archbi shop of the Southern
Cone (South America) and the much
publicized, hostile and threate1nno Kuala
Lumpur statement , signed by ~e rtain
- bishops of Southeast Asia. All of these
negative messages were widely disseminated
through U1e press. My concern is
that if U1ose are the only voices raised in
the public domain, then a distorted picture
of the status of this debate will be
seen. The facts are, I believe, that tl1ese
religiou s voices are significantly out of
touch with the knowledge revolution
that marks our generation .
It is on that basis that I offer to you
the following white paper which is
designed to set these issues into a proper
context and to challenge the prejudice
and ignorance that I believe has been
inflicted upon this Communion. I commend
tins paper to your serious consideration.
This comes with every good
wish.
The Arch bi shop of Canterbury's
November 24 reply to Bishop Spong :
Bishop Spong:
I acknow ledge receipt of your letter
addressed to Primates of the Anglican
Communion and I am also copying this
brief reply to them . I am saddened by
the hectoring and intemperate tone of
your statement which appears to lea ve
little room for the dialogue you demand.
You claim the high ground of science
and reason; you argue that the view of
those who disagree is 'tired and threadbare'
and tl1eir leadership lacks integrity.
Furth ermor e, you attack personally
those of us who disagree with your
opinion and in doing so you distort the
theologie s and reasons why we are led to
conclude that there is no justification for
sexual expression outside marriage .
I would invite you, Bishop. to reread
my Christmas letter in which I express
my hope that bishop s coming to L·unbeth
will come to "give" and "receive." I
assure you that there will be open and
honest debate on all issues that concem
our Communion . I expect that to characterize
the discussion on the issue of
homosex ualit y. I understand that you
feel passionately about this and that you
have the support of a significant number
of bishops. However I would ask you in
turn to reco gni ze that a very large
nwnb er of bishops fro m all ove r the
world disag ree with you with equal passion.
You seem to be under the impression
that the Kuala Lumpur Statement
is the work of SoutJ1 Asian bishops.
Tins is not the case. It was agreed by a
conference of some eighty participants
represe nting the majority of Anglican
provinces iu the southern hemisphere.
The most recent Dallas stateme111,
which expresses similar sen timents on
sexuality. also drew bishops from many
parts of the world. I draw your attention
to these facts because I want lo be sure
that everyone fully reali zes the divide
potential of this. not just for the Com -
mmnon, but for people more generally .
If bishops come to Lambeth wanting a
showdown on this issue, I am quite
clear that there will follow a very negative
and deslructive conflict which will
put even furtJ1er back the cause of tl1e
. people you represent. I have no wish to
lay furll1er burdens on any group s, but
the tone of your paper. ironically, risk s
creating such a situation. If we each
come to listen to others in the spirit of
our Lord whom ,ve all try to serve, then
we shall all benefit from our collllno n
discussion.
I hope tJlat the bishops will ask me to
set up an International Commission to
con sider these issues. The Conference
will be less inclined to do so, however,
if you, or, indeed, other s on the
opposite side of the argument, intend to
spli t the Conference open on tms matter.
Do come in peace , do come to learn,
come to share - and leave belnnd any
campaiginng tactic s which are so inappropriate
and unproductive , whoever
employs them. I urge you to come in a
construeti ve spirit.
Bishop Spong's reply to the Archbi shop
of Canterbur y. November 26:
Dear Archbishop :
Tiiank you for your letter received by
fac simile and dated Novcm~r- 24th .
Your response was quite hclplul m tha t
it illu strated more clearly than I could
ever have hoped the nature of the problem
faced by this Communion .
You characterized my statement as
"intemperate " and as " leaving little
room for dialogu e. " Yet I do not recall
your issuing any critici sm. much less
similar har sh word s, about the Kuala
Lumpur Statement . the Dalla s Stat ement
, or the Statement hy the Archbishop
of the South ern Cone . Those
statements made ass ertions about gay
and le sbian people that were not ju st
intemperate, but offensive, rude and hostile
. Tho se statement s went so far as to
thr ea ten schi sm if their point of view
did not prevail or to break off commun ion
with pro vinces of our Communi on
who di sagreed with them. You do not
appear to have sugg es ted that they left
"little room for dialo gue." The se statements
also threatened to withdraw financial
suppo~t fro m the work of the
Church unless the Churc h's lea dership
endorses their po int of view. Tha t
strikes me as a form of ecclesiastica l
blackmail. By your silence in the face
of these affronts, you reve al qui tc clear! y
where your own convic tions lie . That
makes it quite diffic ult to have confidence
in your willingness to handle
this debate in an evcn-l11u1dcd way . Gay
and lesbian Christians arc at great risk if
these altitudes prevail nt u1moolh.
You suggest that tlw prohlcm for our
Communion lies in the fart that !here
SEE SPONG, Page 17
Spong, Archb ishop exchange letters
FromPage16
are deep divi sions among the bishops on
the subject of homo sexuality . · May I
respectfully disagree. We have bad deep
divisions before over important issues
like slave ry, segr,egation, apartheid and
the full humanity of women and their
right to pur sue equality in both church
and society . The Church can live with
divi sions . Th e issue is not that these
d ivi sion s e xist, but who is ri ght.
Church unity is imp ortant to me, but it
is not au ultimat e value . Truth and ju stic
e a re. A Church unified in racism,
chauvini sm or homophobia ca nnot be
the Body of Chri s!. Our task as God's
Church is to di sce rn truth and to proclaim
j ustic e, a nd if that disturb s the
unity of the Church, then so be ii. In
our effort to discover tmth , however, we
caimot clo se our mind s• or ignore new
in sights that challen ge even the liter al
truth we quote from holy Scripture . I
am aware, as I am ce rtain you are, that
church peo ple have used biblical quota tion
s, as well as wha t you have called
" theologies and reasons" for centuries to
ju stify altitud es that today are univers-
DIVERSITY,
From Page JO
comrmm.ity, said distric t employees need
to und ersta nd the prob lems of gay and
les bian students to better address their
needs.
"h isn't turu.ing them gay ," he sa.id.
"This wasn't somet hing like going in
and indoctrina ting all the students."
Shirley Steinberg, a Staie College
res ident and professo r of educa tional
studies at Ade lp hi Universi ty who is
scheduled to speak al the diversi ty program,
called the deci sion to drop the
speakers a "denial."
'The diversity seminar is certainly not
any k.ind of encouragement of homosexuality
within the schools. We don't
want kids to have leukemia, but when
they do, we have counselors they can go
to to deal with it," she sa.id.
Her husband, Penn State education
Professor Joe Kinchloe, who will also
CLERGY,
FromPagel0
Somewha t surprisingly, just a slightly
higher percentage - 36 percent - would
expect a clergy member to be comforting
during tl1e dying process.
The Gallup Institute says the study
suggests that religious communities
should encourage and train more people
to pray with the dying, and to
"appropriately" share their beliefs about
ally rejected . Why do we not recognize
that quoting an ancient text to try to
solve a complex nioral or scientific
is sue is as irrelevant today as it was
when the book of Joshua was quoted to
condemn the discoverie s of Galileo? I
am amaz ed that this is not clear . It certainly
is to so many ii;t the secul ar world
who have rejected the Church as no
longer viable for their live s.
How many more moral debates will
we have to und ergo in the Christian
Church before people recogni ze that the
literal Bible was wrong on the seven day
creation story, wrong on epilep sy being
demon possession , wrong on sickne ss
resulting from sin, wrong on the sun
rotating around the earth, wrong on
slavery , wrong on defining women as
inferior people, and is now wrong on
the origin s, ca uses and me anin g of
homo sexuality ? How many irrele vant
rea r guard battle s must we Chri stians
lose before we give up this tactic? How
much longer will we pretend that this is
about divisions in t11e Church?
Perhaps we need to remind ourselves
-
lead a ses sio n at the work shop, sai d his
interest isn't pure! y theoretical.
"O ur k.ids have so many gay friends
(at State High) ... I ju st sit sometim es
and listen to the stories that they tell me
with tc::arsi n their eyes," he said.
Opdenho ff said the divers ity commi ttee
still feels the homosex uali ty issue is
impo rtant.
"It is unfortunate to tit.ink that tit.is is
not one of t11e diversi ty issues covered,"
he sa.id. "We have an obligation to provide
infor mation on this issue. The
diversi ty committee is unanimous on
that."
He said the dis tric t hopes to ta lk
about homosexual divers it y issues in
the future. Two more district-w ide
diversity workshops are planned - one in
1999 and the other in 2000. (AP)
the afterlife.
People value touching, hugs, expres sions
of love, as well as reminders of
God's Jove for them, in their final days,
the study indicates.
"Old people getting sick need to cow1t
on the faith community to which they
have belonged," the institute reported .
"Too often they caw1ot do this." (AP)
that Anglicani sm has never identified
the word of God with the literal words
of Scripture . The living word of God for
us is rather found underneath t11e literal
words of Scripture and in the perso"l of
Christ, whom we have called tra<l,uc,nally
the "Word of God Incarnate ." In the
living word of God we hear it proclaimed
tliat all per sons are created in
God 's image , loved by God through
Jesus Chri st and called lo the fulln ess of
life inside God's Holy Spirit. Our task
as Christian ethici sts today is to apply
that "Liv ing Word" lo the complex
moral issues of our day with minds
infonned by knowledg e developed in the
secular and scientific world. We can.μot
slop the world becau se it no longer
affinn s our prejudice s. If we are uninformed
by availabl e scientifi c data , we
have no business trying to pre scribe for
the live s of million s of people .
Finall y, you seem to assume tliat my
intention is lo seek to impo se a solution
to this issue upon our Commun ion.
Perhaps if you would rerea d my
statement, you would disc over that is
absolutel y not what I said or what I
DEACON,
FromP age 14
"I feel called to my work at the seminary
and my work at St. John tl1e Evangelist,"
Brown said. "I aspire lo serve a
parish full -time in the next one to two
years."
Still, there are some in the church
who hope t11at doesn' t happen. The Rev.
Raymond Bier lin , one of two pries ts
who stood to obj ect when Brown
became a deacon in June, said he plans
to attend Brown 's ordination into the
priesthood.
'There will be an objection to his
ordination," Bierlin said.
Brown said he feels people like Bierinte
nd. · I spea k tod ay as I do only
bec ause of the silence of leaders like
yourself in the face of tlte abuse present
in the public statements of the Southern
Hemisphere bishops, the Archbishop of
the Southern Cone and the Dallas signatories
who do seek to impose their solution
on the Church. They are the ones
threatening the Church . I se1:k, and will
continue lo do so in tl1e future, to stand
between tl1e gay and lesbian Christians I
ant privileged to serve and the negativity
and abuse of one more insensitiv e statement
issued on this subject by those
who, while quite sincere , are not wcllinfonn
ed. I do not wan t our Church to
be embarra ssed yet again becau se we are
so slow in embracin g ntw knowl edge
and new way s of perceivin g reality .
Your leader ship in this endea vor is crucial.
I will come to Lambeth guided by tl1c
motto of my tlteol ogi cal semin ary, "to
see.k the truth of God come when ce it
may, cost what it will." I hope you and
all the oth er bishops of thi s Church will
do likewise.
Jin are the exce ption.
" I feel like I have been rece ived really
well," he said.
Brown grew up in the Upper Peruusula
and graduated from Western Michigan
Unive rsity in 1992. After his graduation,
he worked in the Kalamazoo area
for two years as a teacher at Plainwell
High School and as an educator and
trainer for Planned Parenthood of Soulb
Central Michiga n.
The Episcopal Church of Christ t11e
King sponsored Brown when he entered
the Church Divi ni ty School of the
Pacific in 1994. (AP)
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SECOND STONE 17
HIV-{mtiveJ XX,Jfien d
variouwsa yst oc o~ withs tre§
BY WAKA TSUNODA
NEW YORK - One screamed. Another ·
couldn't believe the test result and
demanded to see the report. Yet another
accepted the news calmly, but he walked
home in a daze, almost bumping into
trees and poles.
Even with recent medical advances,
AIDS is a disease without a cure, and
being diagnosed with mv or Human
Immunodeficiency Virus that causes
AIDS is nothing less than devastating.
"I just sat there," recalls Wilma
Smith. 'Then, suddenly, I just started
screaming at the top of my lungs and
sobbing uncontrollably. I was totally
lost."
HIV is far more than a death sentence.
It still canies a certain social stigma,
and HIV-positive men and women face
additional hardships such as rejection
by society and famiJy and loss of jobs.
They also must watch their fellow
patients - friends and even family - die
one by one as their own hea!th deteriorates.
How are they coping with these overwhelming
stresses'!
Smith, a 41-year-old former drug user,
and 37 other HIV -positive men and
women, all under pseudonyms, tell their
stories candidly and articulately in a just
published book , "Being Positive, The
Llves of Men and Women" by Robert
Klitzman, M.D.
Dr. Klitzman, assistant professor of
clinical psychiatry at Columbia University,
has found from their narratives
that there are six broad patterns of handling
the stress of HIV: Fmding camaraderie
in the community of HIV patients;
finding solace in religion; finding meaning
and a sense of purpose in work or
volunteerism; and trying to forge closer
tics with family. Two other, and less
desirable, modes of adaptation are: minimizing
or denying the seriousness of
their condition; and finding temporary
release in sex and su·bstance abuse.
George Sullivan, a 55-year-old gay
man and former Wall Street executive,
is one of the men who has found "some
security and safety" in "HIV-land," or
the HIV community.
"l have a Harvard edncation and used
to go to work in a suit," he says. 'Then
I got the virus. I went through various
self-improvement and transformation
games ... to raise my self esteem and not
feel like a second-class citizen. But I felt
outside the financial world where I
worked. All those people were straight
and HIV negative. It was very difficult
to get along there as an openly gay -
never mind HIV-positive - man."
Gregory Colson, a Vietnam veteran
who spent time in jail because of drug
use , tnmed to rugher powers for help.
After being tested positive in 1986, he
explains , "I started really believing in
God and the Bible."
He attributes rus continued existence
to God's will.
"God wants me here for a reason: to
do good," he says. "He doesn't want me
to die. He wants me to help other peo ple,
to be a messenger, and spread the
word - about how to protect yourself
from HIV, and how to live with it if
you've already got it, and how not to
give it to somebody else."
Maurice Bradford, a 44-year-old former
hospital administrator, on the other
hand, finds a sense of purpose in rus
part-time work as a consultant.
" ... work has always been extremely
important to me," explains Bradford,
who is gay. ''I was never a person who
watched the clock and worked only nine
to five. I always put in a lot more time
- uncompensated - than I had to. It was
an important part of defining my life."
To counter the destruction and stigma
of HIV, many patients try to reconnect
with kin, Klitzman points out. Trus
goal allows men and women to "live
on" after death through future genera tions,
but the es tabli shment of such
bonds can be difficult, the psychiatrist
says .
Jenny Singer, a 38-year-old ItalianAmerican
nurse who used intravenon s
drngs, says, "the worst part of HIV is
not being able to have a child now .... I
know there 's a chance I could have a
scroncgative child , but it would break
my heart if I gave birth and then had to
watch the child be sick for years and die
from AIDS. I couldn't inflict that kind
of pain on another human being. Instead
I jnst bought a cote little baby dog. It's
nice to see her growing and changing
every day. No matter what I do or say,
she always loves me. "
Leonard Barber, a 31-year-old gay
man, is one of those who choose minimization
or denial to cope with his HIV
status. "I practice conscious denial," he
says. "I pretend I'm going to live forever.,,
Klitzman is an experienced hand in
studying epidemics that cause massive
death. Even before he entered medical
school, he conducted research on the
medical epidemiology and medical
anthropology of kuru , a viral disease in
Papua New Guinea, which killed 90 percent
of the women and two-third s of the
entire population of a "Stone Age"
group and its neighbors.
"HIV raises in bold relief issues that
each of us will one day confront." lie
says in conclusion. "We will all face
death, though we rarely think about it.
... Those with HIV - mostly baby boorners
- have had to face these issues before
others of their generation, and have
illustrated what does and does not
impede and help." (AP)
Advocatesw orrieda boutp ublicb elief thatm edicationc uresA IDS
BY AMY BErH GRAVES
COLUMBUS, Ohio . The killer in
Michael McDonald's body is silent.
The AIDS-infected man has lived with
the deadly HIV virus for 12 years. A
year ago his viral load, the measure of
HIV in the blood, was more than 1 million.
Today, it's undetectable.
The reason is simple: McDonald is
one of 150,000 people laking a powerful
cocktail of AIDS drugs called pro•
lease inhibitors.
Brought back from the brink of death,
McDonald, 38, is planning for a f'uture
he never thought he would have .
Dreams of going to medical school are
real again and his living will is tucked
away in a drawer.
There's only one problem - the cocklllil
is not a cure. The virus still lurks in
hf.~ body. AIDS advocates are alanned
by what they say is a growing public
belief that the treatment cures AIDS.
"People think the AIDS epidemic is
18 J A N U A R Y • FE 8 R U A R Y I 9 9 8
over," McDonald said. "That's scary
because it's not."
The more people believe that, the
more risks they may talce - risks that
could lead to a resurgence in the nwnber
of HIV cases.
"We are a talce-a-pill society. People
seem to think the drugs are a cure. I'm
constantly amazed at the level of ignorance.
HIV never leaves the body," said
Randall Russell, director of AIDS Task
Force of Alabama.
AIDS groups are seeing a large
increase in the number of HIV and
AIDS cases involving women and
minorities, said Thomas Bartenbach,
director of Indiana Cares, which works
with 12 AIDS centers in Indiana.
A new federal study found the number
of AIDS cases among women is rising
more quickly than among men. From
1.99 l through 1995, the number of
women diagnosed with AIDS increased
by a whopping 63 percent, compared
with 12.8 percent among males. And for
the first time, more women are being
infected through heterosexual contact
than throngh drug use.
The study also found AIDS cases
diagnosed in 1996 rose 19 percent
among heterosexual black men and 12
percent among heterosexual black women.
"Younger people think they can participate
in risky behavior again. They
have no fear." said McDonald, who
gives speeches to schools and businesses
for the Columbus AIDS Task
Force. "Heterosexuals still think this is
a gay disease and not as their disease,
too."
Education about AIDS is more
important than ever, said Daniel Zingale,
director of AIDS Action, a
national organization that represents
2,000 AIDS groups.
"lt11 be a tragedy if people start walking
away from prevention," he said.
"The worst is not over. The drugs aren't
· a cure and don't work for many people."
Zingale said protease inhibitors fail
for at least 30 percent of patients who
take them. The cost - $10,000 to
$15,000 per year - is prohibitive.
Another question is bow long the
drug cocktail will be effective. Russell
said some patients show no sign of HIV
for a year or two. But then for some
unknown reason, the virus and infections
return, killing them.
McDonald knows all about that.
"I still live with the fear in the back
of my mind that tomorrow I could
become sick again. That the virus will
grow again," he said .
"For the past 12 years, I have watched
all my goals crumble in front of my
eyes. I was on my way to osteopathic
school but didn't go because of my
impending death. Now that I have hope,
I'm thinking of going to nursing
school. I just have to make sure I don't
overdo it." (AP)
AIDS WARRIORS AND HEROES
Littlesvt ictimso fA IDS
thrivein K enyanh ome
BY KARIN DA VIES
KAREN, Kenya - Joseph Angelo arrived
at a home for HIV -infected orphans,
new I y born and covered in dirt .
His mother, alone and dying of AIDS,
had buried him ali \'e- because she
assumed her son would not live .
Rescued by a policeman, Joseph joined
49 other youngsters at Nyumbani , or
"home" in Swahili .
Three months later, Joseph sucks
gustily on a bottle and laughs when
tickled.
. · Joseph is just one of 7.8 million
children living in sub-Saharan Africa
who are orphan s because of AIDS,
according to figure s released by the
United Nations.
Many inherited the immune-stripping
dise ase-from their mothers, including at
least 530,000 African children born last
year - 90 percent of the world total.
Often those children are abandoned
the fate of an estimated 150,000 in Ken:
ya.
Dr. Angelo D'Agostino, a Jesuit priest
and surgeon from Providence, was
upset that some of those children were
dying alone along the potholed streets of
Kenya's capital, Nairobi, or in a poorly
run govenrment hospital .
In 1992, he opened Nyumbani, in a
lush suburb 10 miles southwest Nairobi.
Nyumbani is a noi sy, cheerful place
where 50 youngsters, from infant s to a
15-year-old, thrive on a recipe of the
best nutritional , medical , psychiatric and
spiritual care, plus lots of love.
D'Agostino said if the . orphans were
not at Nyurnbani, "they would just die
on the streets."
He is ups et by the urbaniz ation of
Africa, wh.ich has broken down a tradi tion
of villag ers caring for one another.
"In the city, peopl e with AIDS have no
one."
D'Agos tino join ed the Jesuits in
1981. They didn't need a surgeon, so he
studied psychiatry. He now sees private
patients to earn a living. Abou t 60 percent
of his time is devoted t~ the
orphanage.
The yoW1gsters live in groups of five
to nine in cottages, looked after by livein
surrogate mothers . Walls are brightly
decorated with handmadaquilts. Older
childr en climb into bunk beds at night ,
while babies have cribs .
They play hide -and-seek beueath lotsized
T-shirts and pants fluttering dry on
clothesline s, ride bicycl es in a rainmuddied
yard, and study in a new
school.
Thanks to good care, the children arc
fairly healthy despite their fragile
immune systems. Raspy coughs arc
common, and some children aretro ubled
by skin problems - open sores or disfiguring
warts.
Another Providence doctor is talciug a
year away from the University of Massachusetts
in Worcester to do volunteer
work in Africa.
Dr. Lorin Mirnless said most of the
children are small and behind for their
ages from the combined problems of
being HIV positive and orphans .
Many of the children are neglected
before they get to Nyumbani because
the people around them are afraid of contractino
.the disease. Left alone, they fail
to dev~lop social skills and language
normally, said Mimle ss, a professor of
psychiatry.
As children get older, they begin to
ask what it means to be HIV-positive,
■
Many of the children
are neglected before
they get to Nyumbani
because the people
around them are
afraid of contracting
the disease.
■ said Sisler Mary Owen.
She recalled a 12-year-old whose AIDSinfected
friend died. Aware that he too
had the disease , the boy asked if he was
going to die.
"I answere d him truthfully - that he
had a very serious illn ess, and his life
might be limited, hut no one could
know by how much ," the sister said.
Protus Lumiti, program director, said
he has learned to hem in his grief. "The
children look at me. If I am strong, they
will be strong . But if I am brooding,
they will, too," he said.
Behind the cement -block school,
beyond a garden crowded witli !arrots
and spinach, is a growing cemetery . Six
small crosses mark graves - the youngest,
a girl,. lived for just 10 months . The
old est, a boy, died montlis short of his
10th birthday.
Flmeral s are conducted in a converted
bam, where the youngest children spend
most of their time.
"We say goodbye. They arc sad, but
tJ1ey_ und erstand that tl1eir friend will be
with Jesus - he will be happy and he
won't be sick anymore," said D'Agosti -
no.
It costs about $10,000 a month to nin
the home, money collected from small
donations. D'Agostino scowls at people
and agencies willing to give millions lo
protect Africa' s wildlife, but notJling to
care for its children.
Sometimes, a child gets lucky.
Children born to women with AIDS
test positive at birth because they are
filled with their mother's antibodies. But
one out of four babies at the orphana ge
has later proved to be HIV-free.
D'Ago stino is hoping baby Joseph
will be among the lucky, and can be
placed in an adoptive home. But if
Joseph , too, is HIV-infected, he will
have a place in D'Agostino's heart and
home.
For more information about N}1unbani,
its ·website is at www.nyumbani.
com. Or write to D'Agostino at P.O.
Box 21399, Nairobi, Kenya . (AP)
Fliers posted all over town draw people to speech
.W omant akesc hurchp ulpit
to~aboutAIDS
EDEN, N.C. - Rosalyn Jackson · walked
to the pulpit and spoke from her heart as
one more voice hoping to chase AIDS
out of the shadows.
"To me, the sickness comes from the
ignorance," Jackson told the friends,
family and strangers who were drawn to
Antioch Church of God in Christ by the
flier she had posted all over &!en.
She read from a speech she had been
Writing for several weeks. She clasped
and unclasped her hands. Theq she
stopped referring to her notes and began
speaking. She cried at times.
Jackson is 30, and her son is 4. Both
have tested positive for HIV. the virus
that causes AIDS , and both receive treatment
at clinics at Baptist Hospital in
Winston-Salem . Jackson believes tJmt a
man she once dated infected her through
sex , and she unknowingly passed the
disease on to her unborn son.
Jackson stressed the basics: People
who engage in unprotected sex or inject
drugs expose themselves to HIV. Then
she focused on what it is like to live
with being HrV-positive.
At first, she had nightmares in which
she saw herself in a hospital bed dying .
She has left those visions behind. She
tells herself that AIDS will not kill her.
Four years after testing mv -positive,
the only adverse physical effect she
experiences is occasioual shortness of
breatli, she said. A large woman, she
said she has yet to lose any weight.
Nor ~ her son experienced adverse
physical effects, Jackson said. The drugs
that mother and son take are helping,
their caregivers say.
It is the stress from secrets and igno rance
about AIDS that bothers Jackson
more· than anything, she said. She
believes that people gossip about her
and her son. AIDS to her is a whispered
mmor , a face quickly rumed away.
Her audience responded with claps.
amens and shouts of "You go, Rosalyn!"
Dara Gamer-&lwards, an HIV social
worker at the pediatric infectiou sdiseases
clinic at Baptist Hospital who
helps Jackson's son, was at the church.
In three years on her job, she is accustomed
to patients telling a few family
member s' about their· illness . But she
had never seen such an event as Jackson's.
"'She's pretty amazing," Gruner -
. &!wards said. "It's a big risk thal she's
taking . It could turn out positively for
her, she could get lots of support, but it
could also twn out negatively. "
Gamer-Edwards applauds Jackson's
work to fight AIDS. Jackson sees it as
her duty .
"Until people realize that AIDS is
real, the fight to save our children will
be a never-ending battle," Jackson said.
She began attending Antioch church
about three months ago and joined it
soon afterwards . She told the Rev. Joe
Edward Garrett Jr. about her condition as
soon as she met him. During subsequent
worship services, she told the congregation
about her illness. They have
been supportive , she said .
Garrett took the pulpit after Jackson
and spoke of tlie importance of love for
Jackson and the rest of the world .
Behind Garrett, Jackson sat in a chair.
holding her small son in her lap and
dabbing her eyes with a tissue.
At the pastor's invitation, the crowd
ill the sanctuary contrib uted to an offer ing
for Jackson. They walked single file
up the red carpet to the front of the
church and placed cnunp led bills in a
collection plate. Many of the donors
then walked to the. pulpit and hugged
Jackson or kissed her on the cheek.
• 'Among those people, Jackson said,
were ones who hnd once gossiped about
her. (AP)
~F.CO ND STON E 19
Mercy of God Community
celebratelsO years
BY BR. RONALD FRANCIS MGC
A DECADE AGO, it was only ·a dream .
Now it's a reality with unique opportunities
for Christians who feel called to
religious life but who seek · something
different or whose circumstances make
them reluctant to approach traditional
orders.
The idea of an ecumenical and inclusive
religiou s community started in
1988 as the Brothers of the Mercy of
God (BMG), when Br. Gerald William
and a few followers gathered in Hartford,
Connecticut, for prayer, camarad erie, and
planning. In 1992, the community
expanded to include women and changed
its name to the Mercy of God Community
(MOC). Since then, the commllllity
has received inquiries from coast to
coasat nd has growns teadliy in numbers
and commitmentto its foundingp rinciples.
They now have member s and
associates in 17 states. Thi s year,
MGC celebrates its 10th anniversary.
The Mercy of God Community is a
group of ordinary but fervent folks, who
gratefully receive and dutifully extend
God's mercy. Their lives are rooted in
prayer, and they commit to three vows:
living in the spirit of the Go sp el,
detachment from material things, and
responsible sexuality. The commllllity
is guided by a scripture-bas ed rule, bylaws,
and a democrati c governance .
They take their lives and ministrie s very
seriously, but they also exude joy and
make a point of enjoying life and one
another's company .
The community is in spired by St.
Francis and St. Clare of Assisi, but is
not officiallyF ranciscan.H oweverB, r.
Jon Bankert, of the Society of St. Francis
(SSF), Li ttle Portion Friary, Mount
Sinai, New York, who led a day of recollection
at the community's Conf er-
Church&Or anizationNews
Reconciling Congregations Program
grows in numbers, activity
TWENTY -ONE congregations and four
camp us ministries in the United Methodist
Church publicly declared themselves
"Reconciling Congregations" in
Im. The Reconciling Congregations
Program, a grass roots movement seeking
to counter anti-gay policies and
practices in the second -largest Protestant
denomination in the United States, now
encompasses 140 Reconciling Congregations,
20 Campus Ministries, 6
regional conferences, and numerous
other reconciling groups. In addition,
12,500 Reconciling United Methodist
individuals have enlisted in a collective
witness to "open 1hc doors of the United
Methodist Church to the participation of
all people, regardless of sexual orientation."
A major highlight of the Reconciling
Co ngregations' year was a national
gatheri ng of 500 RCP members and
20 J A N U A R Y • FE B R IJ A R Y I 9 9 8
friends in Atlanta in July for a spiritfilled
weekend of worship, study, training
and celebration.
'The Reconciling Congregation
movement not only grew in numbers
this past year," said executive director
Mark Bowman, "but we've seen a
dramatic rise in local activity and organizing
in every area of the country."
The rising visibility of the Reconciling
Congregations program has also
stirred up those in the church who
oppose the work of the organization.
"Anti-gay groups in the church now
regularly rail against the RCP in their
communications and fund raising activi ties
and seek to discredit us," Bowman
said. "But we are succeeding in redirecting
the church's attention from casting
judgment upon lesbian and gay persons
to inviting them to be partners in faith."
Members of the Mercy of God Community attend an investiture ceremony:
Sr. Molly Grace, front, and, left to right, Br. John William David, Br.
Thomas Jude, and Br. Alberto.
ence '97 la st October and who observed
the group closely, found that they truly
have the Franciscan spirit, manifested
by their sense of family and their handson
ministries to people who repre sent
Jesus to them.
Events
A11110c1e1m1e111tsi 11t his section are provided
free of charge as a service to
Christian orga11izatio11s.T o have a11
event listed, send i11formatio1t1o Second
Stone, P.O. Box 8340 . New Orleans,
LA 70182, FAX to (504)899 -4014, email
secsto11e@aol.co111.
CharismaticC onference
JANUARY 23-25, 1998, Holid ay Inn
Long Beach Airport, Long Beach. is the
setting as MCC Long Beach hosts this
conference, them ed "Lift up your
hi:ads ... that the Ruler of Glory may come
in.• (Psalm 24:7) Guest Speakers include:
Rev. Elder Troy D. Perry: Rev. Elder Donald
Eastman; Rev. Elder Freda Smith, River
City MCC Cathedral of Promise, Sacramento,
CA; Rev. Pat Bumgardner. MCC
New York, NY; Rev. Bradley Wishon,
Gentle Shepherd MCC, Phoenix, AZ; Rev.
Janet Parker, Maranatha Fellowship MCC,
Houston. TX; Rev. Lee Thompson, Abundant
Grace Fellowship, Covington, LA:
Rev. Joan Wakeford, Joan Wakeford Ministries,
Austin, TX; Rev. Sandra Turnbull,
MCC Long Beach, CA; and Chadash Ministries,
Riverside.CA. For information or
registration, contact MCC Long Beach.
3840 Cherry A venue, Long Beach, CA
90807, (562) 426-0222, Fa~. (562) 426-
8321, E-mail: MCCLB@aol.com
Friendsf or Lesbian
and Gay Concerns
Midwinter Gathering
FEBRUARY 13-16, The Northern Virginia
4-H Education Center in Front Royal, Virginia
is the setting for this gathering of
gay and lesbian Quakers and their friends.
''Friends Meeting on the Mountain: Different
Paths, Common Journey" is the theme
In comfortable accommodations in II beau
tiful location. a time of worship. work-
Members of the Mercy of God Community
are self-supporting and remain
in their own homes, as relocation is not
necessary, but they travel to two
Continues Next Page
shops, entertainment, fun and good food is
promised. For information contact Kari,
(301 )527-89 29, alexank t@weslat.com -
o r Kevin, (202)362-5683.
dc.kevin@worldnet.all.net.
Marsha Stevens concert
FEBRUARY 14, Celebration of Faith
Praise and Worship Center sponsors this
concert by Chri stian singer /songw riter
Marsha Stevens. "A Time of Love" will
start with a dinner at 6p.m. followed by a
concert at 8p.m. at the Billy de Frank Lesbian
and Gay Community Center, 175
Stockton Ave., San Jose, Cal. The concert
is free; dinner, $ 15 per person. For information
contact Celebration of Faith Praise
and Worship Center, (408)345-23 I 9 .
Evangelical Network's
1 J th Annual Conference
FEBRUARY 27-MARCH I, The Evangelical
Network (TEN) gathers for its annual
conference at the Phoenix Airport Hilton.
TEN is dedicated to helping gays and lesbians
rediscover the promises and gifts of
Jesus Christ. The organ ization is a network
of Bible believing churches, ministries,
Christian workers and individuals
bound together by a common shared faith,
united in purpose and witness and established
as a positive resource and support
for Christian gays and lesbians. The conference
theme is "Here Am I! Send Mc!" In
addition to the conference, Dr. Joseph
Pearson of the Christ Evangelical Bihlc
Institute will lead II special one day seminar
on March 2. Conference registration is
$50 per person plus $25 if attending the
Monday seminar. For information, visit
the TEN website al
www psn.net/-tcn/home.hlml or call
(602)314-9628 .
CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY NEWS
10 years of Mercy
From Previous Page
national meetin gs every year, in spring
and fall, and convene regional gathering s
as often as po ssible. They have recognized
Ne w England and Midwest
regions , se veral other member s and
associates in Atlantic coast states, and a
small group recently assembled in Califomia.
The community's events have been
likened to "Brig adoon," the 1948 Lemer
and Loewe musical about a town in
Scotland, which in response to a powerful
prayer come s into being only once
every one hundred years . They gather
much more often, but like Brigadoon
the mystical plac e, their meeting s have
a certain magic; then they di sper se to
th.cir re spective routine s, where , in their
own small ways, they endeavor to be
the salt of the earth and the light of the
world.
The entrance criteri a are that the indi- .
vidual be a baptized Chri stian, at least
21 years old. and sense a vocation to
religious lire , A six-month contact
period, participation in at lea st one
meeting , and a pe rsonal interview are
requiredb efore an applica tion for candid-
Events
Connecting Families
Weekend
MARCH 20-22. Pastors Debbie Eisenbise
and Lee Krahenbuhl will facilitate this
gathering al Laurelville Mennonite Church
Center in Mount Pleasant, Penn. "Building
Bridges Across A Chasm Of Silence" is the
theme. The weekend has been planned by
families with gay and lesbian members to
be a safe, relaxing time to share common
concems regarding gay issues in the family
and in the church. For information contact
Gwen Peachey, registrar, 242 Cats
Back Rd .. Ephrata PA 17522, (717)354-
700 1.
National Gay Pentecostal
Alliance Spring
General Confe rence
APRIL 17-19, Lighthouse Ev angel Tabernacle
hosts this confere nce, themed
"Restoration," at the Quality Inn in I-laze)
Park, Michigan. For information contact
Lighthouse Evangel Tabernacle, PO Box
20428, Ferndale Ml 48220, (248)544-
4442, lighthse84@aol.com.
More Light Churches
Conference
MAY 22-24, "Honor the Past. I 978-1998,
Transform the future• is the Iheme or the
1998 More Light Churches Conference, to
be hmted by McKinley Memorial Church
acy can be approved .
There is a two -year formation program,
provided as self -dirccled study
under the guidance of a vowed member
paired as a mentor. The firs! year leads
10 novitiate, and the second year culminates
with profe ssion of first vows .
Wearing of a habit is option al but
encouraged for liturgical services.
Other s, including non-Chri stian s.
who wish to identify with the community,
but who do not pronounce vows,
can become associat es who support the
community in prayer, help in various
ways, and arc welcome to attend all .
activities .
Members arc engaged in various ministries
of love, compas sion, and reconciliation,
including education, coun sel ing,
health care, hospitality , pastoral
work and church music . They mainJy
serve people who are poor . marginal ized,
and oppres sed . They select their
own ministries, which are affinned by
tl1e community in an annual missioning
service.
Paula Gailagher, a Master of Divinity
student a t the Divinit y School of the
in Champaign, lllinois on Memorial Day
weekend. Keynote speaker will be Rev. Dr.
Beverly Harrison, from the faculty of
Union Seminary, New York City. For
in formation , contact Richard Spro tt,
(510)268-8603, rasprott@ix.netcom.com
or Tim Shea, 217-3 55-3 413 ,
tms2@jun o.com.
GLAD Alliance Gathering
JULY 16-19. the Gay, Lesbian and Affirming
Disciples Alliance (GLAD Alliance)
will gather for retreat, respite, and \'isioning
at their annual GLAD Event. The setting
will be the Benedict Inn. a retreat center
in Beech Grove, Indiana, just outside of
Indianapolis. The event is open to all
interested persons. especially to folks in
the Christian Church (Di sci pies of Christ).
The facilitator will be the Rev. Melanie
Morrison, co-director or Leaven, a nonprofit
organizat ion that prov ides education
and resources in the areas of spiritual
development, reminism, anti-racism, and
sexual justice. She is also author of the
book "The Grace or Coming Home: Spirituality,
Sexuality, and the Struggle for Justice•
puhlished in 1995 by The Pilgrim
Press. Morrison is an ordained minister
of the United Church of Christ and leads
retreats for women and men across the
church. For additional information, conlact
GLAD Alliance at P.O. Box 19223,
Indianapolis. IN 46219-0223.
Univer sity of Chicago, who is studying
new and emerging religiou s communi ties,
attended the community ' s Spring
'97 relreal and observed that MGC is
unique in the way they nol onJy minis
ter to alienated persons, but also welcome
them into the community, and
hence minister to one another . They • Members are
engaged in various
ministries ... including
education,
counseling, health
care, hospitality,
pastoral work and
church music.
■
base this on the parable of the Great
Fea st {Luke 14: 12-24) which teaches
what it means to actually invite "the
poor, maimed, blind, and lame, " metaphorically
speaking, to join.
The Mercy of God Community is
decidedly ecumenical and inclusive .
Among the current 21 members and 48
associate s, there arc Catholi cs and Protestants;
ordained clergy and layper sons;
women and men; married or commiued ,
and single; heterose,mal s as well as
many who are gay or lesbian , bisexual ,
or trau sgendered; a range of ages, a mix
of racial and ethnic origins , some who
are physically challenged, and of various
socioeconomic background s, education al
levels, and work histories. MGC is
not, and_does not seek to be, canonicall y
affiliated with any denomination .
The community' s next major event
will be its 7th annual Religiou s Life
Retreat, to be held May 1-3 at the LaSalette
· Christian Life Center, Attleb oro
Massachusetis. The retrea t speaker will
be Sr. Barbara Fiand, a Sister of Notre
Dame de Namur (SNDdeN) , author of
several book s on religiou s life , who
will develop the theme "Building a Covenanted
Community ." Anyone who
would like to spend a weekend living
and praying with the communit y and
discerning their vocation is welc ome .
The registration deadline is April 10,
1998.
Further information is available on
the community's web site at http ://
mgc.org /mgc. Inquirie s may be
addressed.to: Mercy of God Community ,
Dept. 55, Post Office Box 834 0, New
Orlean s LA 70182 .
Names Makin News
Founders of Shower
of Stoles project
receive 1998
Lazarus Award
MARTHA iUILLERAT and TAMMY
LINDAHL, two Presb yterian mini sters
who found ed the "Shower of Stol es"
projec t recei ved the 1998 Lau'UUS A ward
on Jan. 17 in Pas adena, Calif. The
award is pre sent ed annually by the
Lazarus Project of Wes t Hollywood
Pres byterian Church . The project is a
ministry of reco nci liation betwee n the
Presbyterian Church and its gay and lesbian
members.
Thr ough a fl yer Juill era t and Lindahl
distributed a t the 1995 Genera l Assembly
of the Presby terian Chu rch (USA),
the couple began encouraging Presbyterians
to create litnrgical stoles lo represent
the hw1drcds of iudi\ •iduals who,
because they are "se lf-acknowledged"
gays or lesbians, are being denied ordination
in the PCUSA. The response lo
the flier was overwhelming. They
received 80 stoles from all over the
cowttry in Jess tltan six weeks . By May,
1996, they had over 200 stoles to display
at the More Light Conference in
Rochester, New York. Seven weeks later,
at the Gen er al Assembly in Albuquerque,
there were 350 stoics.
In 1965, aft er 15 years in mini stry,
Juilleral set aside her ordination . Since
this deci sion was based primaril y on her
outra ge over the Presbyterian Church's
treatment of ga y, lesbian, bi sexual and
tran sgendered member s, she wanted to
make it clea r to her Presbytery that the
dec ision was one part of a much larger
stor y of oppr ess ion in tliat denomin ation
. To help make this point visible,
Juill erat and her pa rtner, Lind ahl , begilll
the stoles proj ect. (For in formati on
abo ut Showe r of Stole s, Martha and
Tamm y c an be cont ac ted at 13033
Ridgelake Dr., Minnetonka MN 55305.)
Martha Juillerat, Tammy Lindahl
SECOND STONI:: 21
-
-
-
ly." Gospel According to Matthew or the
Nag Hammadi texts.
Ones implea npenterc ollects
thes ayingos fa nother
When conversation turned to the historical
Jesus, the two decided Mayotte
should produce a book collecting all the
sayings attributed to Jesus by early
Christians - not just those collected in
gospels of Matthew , Mark, Luke and
John.
There's been an explosion of scholarship
about the historical Jesus in the
last half-century. It was given a big
boost with the discovery at Nag Hammadi,
Egypt, in 1945 of a fourth century
library of Gnostic gospels and other
renderings of teachings attributed to
Jesus but not included in the traditional,
or canonicaJ, Bible.
"I wanted people to look at all the
sayings," Mayotte said. "I wanted them
all to have equal weight."
The chapter on "Teachings and Proverbs"
begins with lhe Sermon on the
Mount from Matthew 5:3-12, but
doesn't say in the text that's where it
comes from. To check the reference
requires turning to the appendix for the
Bool<s chapter.
BY DAVID GRAM
SOUTH ROY ALTON, Vt. - Ricky
Alan Mayotte is more than a humble
caq,enter.
His grandmother gave him a King
James Bible when he was 12, and be
read the whole thing in a year. "I said,
'I'm going to investigate this.' And I'm
still doing that today," he said.
The result, so far, is a book, "The
Complete Jesus," which Mayotte ·
designed as a collection of all of Jesus'
sayings - not jnst those handed down in
the four gospels that begin the New
Testament
Mayotte, a 38-year-old Worcester,
Mass., native, was working as a carpenter
and sign painter for Tom Powers,
22 J A N U A R Y • J--E B R U A R Y I 9 9 8
a South Royalton landlord and partner in
Steerforth Press, a small publi shing
house, when the two got talking about a
mutual interest: the history of religion.
One day, when Mayotte was repairing
a porch on one of his buildings, Powers
had a question. "I was curious about the
Talmud," the collection of ancient rabbinical
writings that is the source of
religious authority in Judaism.
"I asked him what is the Talmud,"
Powers continued. "He said that was not
a simple question, and he would have an
answer tomorrow. The next day, he gave
me a three-page, typewritten description
of what the Talmud is."
Powers concluded he had found a diamond
in the rough. "He's an absolute
autodidact, completely self-taught. He
has no formal higher education. His
father's the same way. There's just sort
of a streak of real talent and interest in
intellectual !lungs that runs in his fami-
"The Complete Jesus" is a listing of
sayings translated by other scholars that
is divided up under broad headings, .
including "Commandments,"
"Parables," "Warnings and Admoni tions,"
and several others. Mayotte said
his aim was to begin each chapter witl1
the most familiar sayings - those from
the canonical gospels - and proceed to
the most strange and obscure.
To find out the source for a specific
saying the reader has to go to a series of
appendices at the hack of the book; in
the main part of the text, the sayings
lack labels, and thus are given the same
standing, whether they came from the
gay
esbian
le!" ..... .•
The same chapter contains this on its
last page: "He that believes in me will
also do the works that I do, and will do
greater works than these." A notation
shows it is from "The Epistle of Titus
the Disciple of Paul on lhe State of
Chastity," which was discovered in a
Latin manuscript in 1896.
Mayotte says he was not trying to
prove or disprove anything by reaching
beyond the teachings of Jesus accepted
by most religious authorities. Rather,
he said he sees Jesus as a puzzle and his
book as an attempt to give readers as
many pieces as can be found.
"Although the puzzle may never be
complete," he wrote in the introduction ,
"each new piece brings us one step
closer to understanding the whole." (AP)
'
Musico f
spiritQaJiatyli,v e
In today's contemporaryr
eattty.
- Rev. Elder Troy •
Perry, Founder.
MCC Churches'
Masha Stevens is
on a ron, musicallya nd spiritually
Prophetic, versatile, and appealing
acrossg enerationaanl d theo10g1cat
lines. What a gift!
- Rev.N ancyW ilsonA, uthor# OurT ribe
God'ss pirit movesy ou threug1t1h e
wordsa nd musico f this lesbian
ChristiaAnc tivist.
- Rev.M el WhiteA, uthor,S peaker
assette $10
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Manhas tevensk eepsP IISl'tlntgh e
boundariegs,i vingu s COfflPelling,
comfortinga, ndc hallenging
mpact0~$15 Christianm usic•
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. :
• ·-Rev.S teveP ietersA, IDSA ctivist
As a gift to your heart, you owe it
to yourselft o discoverM a,5118
Stevens!n
- OutS otJndsG, ayM usicG uide
Between gay son and church,
niothers' choiceis clear
gay, lesbian, bisexual or trans gendered,
then what is really -·happening in. this
family is denial.
Silence is not golden when a per son's
sexual orientation is ignored . This leads
to ignoring one elem ent in tl1e makeup
of tl1e whole person . The very creation
families of love and accept ance. As we
face the end of one millennium and the
beginning of another, we have a wonderful
opportunity .
we live in this unique time in history
to unseat fear within our famili es and
work for true love and family values
BY CAROLYN MARTI NEZ GOLOJUCH
DURING A RECENT sermon al St.
Andrew Episcopal Cathedral in Honolulu,
the Rt. Rev. Richard S.O. Chang
a~dre ssed fear in our Jives, referring to
the biblical theme of 'Be Not Afraid .' ·
· As I sat in the pew listening , I
thought of the new year ahead. Could it
be that 1998 will be when everyone in
Hawaii is respect ed and treated with
dignity regardle ss of their sexual orientation?
The night I sat in the Epi scop al
church, I remembered why I wasn't sitting
in the church of my childhood , a
_Roman Catholic cathedral .
A couple of years ago, I chose love
for my gay son over love for the
Ca tl10\ic Chur ch of Honolulu headed by
its current bishop , Francis X. Dilorenzo.
I have no reg rets for choosing my son
over a church that demands that I sacrifice
my son. If I had sacrifi ced him and
my love for him , I would have destroyed ----- SECON D STONE Newspaper, ISSN
No. 1047-3971, is published every
other month by Bailey Communications,
P.O. Box 8340, New Orleans,
LA 70 182, secstone@aol.com. Copyright
1998 by Second Stone, a registered
trademark.
SUBSC RI PTIONS , U.S.A. $19 per
year. Foreign subscribers add $10 for
postage. All payments U. S. currency
only .
ADVERT ISING, For display advertising
information call (504)8 99-
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SECOND STONE, a national ecumenical
and evangelical Christian
newspaper with a specific outreach to
gay. lesbian and bisexual people.
Pt Jnl .l$HRR/EDITOR: Jim Bailey
~every fiber of our family .
In my eyes , I chose love over mies
dictated by men who have lost sight of
tl1e greate st commandment of all, "Love
one another."
I -guess that Catholicism taught me
about love better than it taught me
about hate. For that I am grateful.
I have no regr ets for leaving the
church Bishop Dilorenzo heads. My
family is more important than the
acceptance of a church or a man in vestments.
Later, in the Episcopal service , during
the Prayer s of the. Faithful, I was
touched by the prayer that "there be
peace and ju stice on earth ." TIJ.isp rayer
was speaking to my hopes for many
famili es in our community and around
the world .
Thes e famili es are too many in
number, who are fragmented by trying
to fo llow the dictat es of misguided
churche s and segments · of our soci ety
that m·andat e hatred for gay relative s.
Even when these dogmatic instructions
are encased with sugar-coated words, the
true meaning is hate and non-acceptance.
The old saying that "pr etty is as
pretty does" has much to say when it
comes to the double talk that is currently
pl aying into the family dramas
related to their relation ships with tl1eir ·
gay relatives.
No matter how many times it is said
that they love their relatives, it is meaningless
, if their actions aren' t loving. If
there is silence in the f amities after relatives
share the information that they are
L.f&P.o.n. tius' Puddle ·
■
In my eyes, I chose love over
rules dictated by men who have
lost sight of the greatest
commandment of all,
"Love one another."
process is also being denied .
When families ignore a relative 's sexual
orientation, we free ourselves to not
only deny part of their identity but their
equal rights a~ well. The silen ce surrounding
a person's sexual orient ation
also gives some people the freedom to
discriminat e. Discrimination has noth ing
to do with traditional marri age or
family values.
At the same time that rights are
denied to any minority, we send out tl1e
messag e that they as persons are nonexistent,
not dese rving of our respect,
and thus, we can deny their rights. To
deny rights is to oppress people.
When we consider the oppression of
any minori ty, we are then able to understand
the fear they live in.
Thi s fear can be understood when we
reflect on the closets people are forced to
Ii ve in when fear surrounds them.
The · time that stands in front of us
gives us the opp or tunity to create
■
based on love. The choice is ours.
May Bishop Chang' s words guide
each family struggling with fear to love
each of their relatives and overcome fear
so they can live in lo, 1e . May there be
peace and justice for all in I 998!
Caro lyn Martin ez Go loju ch is the
mother of a gay son and memb er of
PFLAG. This commentary originally
appeared in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
We welcome y.our
_lettersa nd opinions
Write to Second Sro11e. All letters must
be original and signed by the writer.
Clearly indicate if your name is to be
wit/r/reld. We reserve the right to edit.
PO Box 8340, New Orleans LA 70182,
secsto11@e aol.co11, f1 a.x, (5 04)899-4014.
Pl-E~SE, <l,Ot>, ·n:t ~t,lS.(;'OR'"'''°'\
tSA~. tJ IM'TO A KINDER
A.t-lO W\SE~ C.~E~'TCJRE-1 \
NO ~~ ,TE.~ WMA"f rr 'f'AkES,
SECOND STON E 23
-,,
BOOKS/PUBLICATIONS
RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY, a List of
Resources for Gay Men, Lesbians and
Bisexuals. 35-page list include s over 300
book titles, plus directory of religious
organizations and their publications,
other organizations, newslette~ . and journals.
$6 postpaid from GLBTF. Clearinghouse,
c/o Office for Outreach Services ,
American Library Association, 60 East
Huron St., Chicago IL 60611. 2/98
'The Walking Wounded" is a love slory. The
story of love within a family, the story of
love and devotion between two young
men, the story of living and loving during
a time of crisis. Beverly Barbo wrote this
tesiament after her son, Tim, died and
added the epilogue after Tom, her son-in love
(Tim's partner), joined Tim in their
better place ... To order contact Bev Barbo
at I 08 N. Main St., Lindsborg KS,
(785)227 -3276, FAX (785)227-3360 . B
"WONDERFUL DIVERSITY,' ' Hea.rtily
recommended," 'Phi losophica lly intriguing.•
'Excellent.• Why do reviewers
highly esteem CHR ISTIAN*NEW AGE
QUARTERLY? Great articles and lively
columns make this bridge of dialogue between
Chri stians and New Agers as entertaining
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CHRISTIAN*N EW AGE QUARTERLY ,
P.O. 8 011 276, Clifton , NJ 07011-0276 .
ENLARGING THE CIRCLE: Pullen's Holy
Union Process , the inside story of how a
Baptist church in Jesse Helms' hometo wn
decided ns a congre gation to offer .rituals of
blessing for gay and lesb ian couple s. The
chu rch's histor y with gay issues, discu ssion
within the congr e gation. reaction
from out siders, e11pulsion by follow Saptists,
celebrations of cove nant , and consequences
for the church arc shared by lesbian
Pat Long , the only ' out ' deacon during
the process. Send $10 plus $1.25
postage to BOOK. Pullen Memorial Baptist
Chur ch, 1801 Hill sbo rough Street,
Raleigh, NC 27605. TF
GENERAL INTEREST
THE GOAL OF Religious Life is the search
for God; the goal of our Order is the restoration
of people to the image of God
(redemption). The Ecumenic al Order of
Charity blends the best of traditional and
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Explore a voca tion for the
'Sake of the Kingdom.' Write: Brother
Micah. O.C., P.O. Box 257. Des Moines
IA 50301-0257 . 6/98
CANT GET TO CHURCH? We'll come to
you by audio cassette of our weekly worship.
Send request and donation to Holy
Spi rit Fellowship, P.O. Box 91272, Long
Beach, CA 90809. 2/98
FOR PEOPLE WITH HIV / AIDS. If
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21 J ,\ N I I A I~ Y • I· I· B f~ t I A R Y I 'J ') X
thing to have this product. For more information
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KS 57456. Phone: (785)227-3276.
FAX: (785)227-3360. B
CHRISTIAN PILGR IMAGES - Meet new
gay and lesbi an C hristian friends from
acros s the nation as you tour one of the
most sacred places in the world: Christian
Pilg rimage to Israel including a stop in
Amsterdam . Visitors often remark that this
trip to Israel was the journe y of a lifetime!
This 12-day trip through this ancient and
holy land includes a 2-night stop in
delightful Ams terd am. $2,469.00 per person
. Contact Second Stone. P.O. Box
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···Rea.aer· ···;················
toReader·
IIIIIDI IRECT CONNEC ·TI IIIIIIIIIII
A section of profiles of active subscribers who want to meet other gay
and lesbian Christians across town or across the country - To have
your profile publish ed simply send your information to Second Ston e,
P.O. Box 8340, New Orleans , LA 70182 , e-mail to secstone@aol.com,
or FAX to (504)899-4014.
1. State, City _ _ ____ ___ _________ _ _
2. Name __ _ ____________________ _
CIRCLE: 3. Singleo r committed4 .Gay, lesbian,t rans,b i, or straight5 . Male or female
6. Age,__ 7. Religiousa lfiliatio. __ ________ ___ _ _
8. OccupatiO_')_ _ ___ _ ______________ _
NOTE: Select TWO of THREE ways to be contacted: Your mailing address, your e-mail
address, or your telephone number.
9. Contact informatio ------ - --------- --- --
' 10. Contacti nformation ____ ________ _____ _
• • • • • •••••••• • •• ■ •••••• • ■ • ■ •••••• • ••••••••••••••••• ■ •••••• • • --- -- • • • • • •• ••• - -- · ••••• • • • •••••
HOW TO READ R2R: Listings are
in alphabetical order by state, then
by city. If a mailing addr ess is
given in a listing the zip ~ode
appears in the listing.
NNG = No name given. S=single ,
C=committed. G=gay, L=lesbian,
T =transgendered, B=bisexual,
S=straight. M=male, F=fcmal e.
Age, religiou s affiliation, occupation,
contact information.
CALIFORNIA , DOWNEY
THEODOREC RANFORDS, GM,6 7, UFMCC,
RETIRED, PO BOX 1307, 90240-0307, 562-928·
4489.
CALIFORNILAY , NOOOD
JOSEPHE STRAD, ASGM, 37, HOLY SPIRIT
FELLOWSH,I PHOMECARWE ORKE,R PO
BOX5 2, 902625, 62-626-1776.
CALIFORNIAP, ASADENA
BARRYD IXON, SGM,4 0, WORLDWIDCEH UA
GOD, TECHNICAWL RITERd, ec4lh@aol.com
FLORIDA, BRANDON
ROBERTM ORGAN, SGM, 36, PENTECOSTAU
APOSTOLICF, LIGHTA TTENDANT/MINISTER.
2023 CATTLEMAN DR., 33511. 813-651-1505.
FLORIDA, INTERLACHEN
REV. D. RODGER, CLF. 56, NONDENOMINATIONALM.
INISTER, POB OX1 778,
32148.
REV.B ARNIEW ENTWORTHT,F .5 4,N ONDENOMINATION,
A MLINISTE,R POB OX 1778.
32148.
ITALY, NAPOLI
PAOLOL ANNI.S GM.3 9, PENTECOSTA, L
PHYSICIANP.O B OX 11. 80100N APOLI3. 9 81
TT61534
MICHIGALNA, NSING
NNG, SGM, 46, METHODIST , SELF
EMPLOYED , 517-224-2415.
NEWH AMPSHIREM, ANCHESTER
ROD,S GM,4 2, INSURANCUEN DERWRITE, R
hotnho9258 @aol.com.
NEW YORK, ROCHESTER
DAVID, SGM,4 5, EVANGELICACL,O UNSELORP,
OB OX 68005, 14618. 7162-34-0549.
NEWY ORKY, ONKERS
JOHNP RATHERS. GM,7 1, EPISCOPALIA, N
COMPUTERS PECIALIST7, BELLP L., 10701,
914-964-007. 9
OREGON, FLORENCE
JOEN OLANC, BM,6 0, EPISCOPALIANG,A RDENERP.
OB OX2 263,j nolan@winfini.tcyom.
PENNSYLVANISAE, WICKLEY
NNG,S GM,4 7, PROTESTAN, TRELIGIOUS
PROFESSIONAPLO, B OX3 2, 15143.
TEXAS, SAN ANTONIO
Al EISCH, SGM, 53, CATHOLIC, SOCIAL
SERVICES, PO BOX 12754 78212,
MOCHICA@FLASH.NET
VIRGINAI, RICHMOND
ED HARRIS, SGM, 63, CHRISTIAN, RETIRED,
OORK FOR NON-PROFIT. 315 STRAWBERRY
ST, 23220-3412. 804-354-8804.
edbharrisj@juno.com.
MICHAELK EITHH ALL, SGM, 39, BAPTIST,
PROGRAMS UPPORT/SCREENWITERR.2 201
FOURTHA VE. . 23222.
WISCONSIN, MENASHA
RICHARDR OLLERS, GM,6 2, CATHOLIC,
RELIGIOUSB ROTllfR, 522 SECONDS l .
5495? b<hk1ole1r@.lalo.com.