Cheryl L. Burke

THE REV. CHERYL L. BURKE

I was ordained in the PC(USA) on September 30, 1988.  I served as Associate Pastor at Gurnee Community Church in Gurnee, IL, for two years and then moved to West Virginia to do interim ministry work.

Withholding information about being lesbian became more damaging than I was willing to tolerate and difficult for the churches I served as well.

On January 28, 1995, I was given Ordained Ministerial Standing in the United Church of Christ.  I now serve as pastor at the First Congregational Church in Huntington, West Virginia.  My partner and I live in the church parsonage and ministry flourishes where I can be open about all aspects of my life.

This is a stole that I am no longer able to use.  I offer it to you with sorrow for my loss and hope for the future of the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Cheryl Burke is one of many ordained ministers represented in this collection who left the Presbyterian Church for the United Church of Christ, a denomination that supports the ordination of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons.  A skilled and compassionate pastor, Cheryl and her partner have been welcomed by their new church home.

(Note: In early 1996, Cheryl gave us a white Guatemalan stole with the Presbyterian Church's symbol woven into it.  This stole was one of 350 that were worn in a week-long public witness at the 1996 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Albuquerque.  It was badly damaged in a mishap with an automobile there, which greatly upset the person who had been given the honor of wearing it all week.  This individual graciously replaced the stole with the closest match that could be found.  It is identical to the original stole in all ways except that it lacks the Presbyterian Church symbols.)

Martha Juillerat
Founder, Shower of Stoles Project
2006