Newsbriefs

United Church of Christ Casts Majority Vote in Support of Same Gender Marriages

by Doug Gross

The United Church of Christ's rule-making body voted overwhelmingly on July 4th to approve a resolution endorsing same-sex marriage, making it the largest Christian denomination to do so.

After little more than an hour of debate, roughly 80 percent of the members of the church's General Synod voted to approve the resolution. The vote, however, is not binding on individual churches, some of which, it was feared, might choose to disassociate themselves from the denomination.

On July 3rd, a committee gave almost unanimous approval to the resolution. It was also supported by the UCC's president, John H. Thomas.

The denomination has 1.3 million members and is a long-time supporter of gays and lesbians.

The committee also voted against an alternative resolution defining marriage as between one man and one woman. A small group of conservative congregations proposed a resolution defining marriage as being between one man and one woman. Others warned that approval of gay marriage might well lead to the fragmentation of the church..

The church was criticized last year for its television advertising campaign featuring a gay couple, among others, being excluded from a church. CBS and NBC rejected the 30-second ads.

In the early 1970s, the UCC became the first major Christian body to ordain an openly gay minister. Twenty years ago, it declared itself to be "open and affirming" of gays and lesbians.

The resolution was submitted by the Southern California and Nevada Conference. The resolution also specified that bisexual and transgender persons merit the same support and protections as gays and lesbians.

UCC churches are autonomous; General Synod does not create policy for its 5,700 congregations.

There is no definitive data on how many gays and lesbians are members of the UCC. The denomination has 1.3 million members and 10,323 ordained ministers.

[AP]

Province V and VI Ordained Women Meet

by Eizabeth Morris Downie

For fourteen years ordained women from Provinces V and VI have gathered on the Sunday after Mother's Day for three days of learning, leisure, and laughter. The gathering is hosted in rotation by various dioceses, and supported in part by the generosity of several of the bishops. The Chicago area was the site this year, and Iowa was the host diocese, with on-site help from Chicago women.

Each year the host diocese provides a gift or premium for those attending, and these have been varied: sweatshirts, hats, travel mugs, mouse pads, etc. This year tie-dyed tee shirts in brilliant blues, yellows and greens were given, in keeping with the theme for the gathering: Wild Wise Women. They are wild-and were very popular! Members of the staff and the other guests at the retreat center kept asking if they were for sale.

Margaret Rose from the Office of Women's Ministries brought us up to date on the important work going on in her office and at the UN. Paula Jackson, rector of the Church of our Savior in Cincinnati, brilliantly illuminated Hebrew scripture texts with feminist light ("Brave sister Miriam!"), Professor Barbara Newman of Northwestern University spoke about wise medieval women, and Barbara Schlachter performed her own one-woman play on the life of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, complete with costume and props.

Each year the presider at Eucharist is the most recently ordained priest, this year Kate Guistolise from the Diocese of Chicago. We used a Sophia liturgy written by Allison Cheek, with her permission, and sang Sophia hymns by Miriam Therese Winter. Refreshed and renewed by this time apart in the company of women, we returned home, with next year's gathering firmly on our calendars.

Diocese of Eau Claire Installs its First Woman Priest-in-Charge

The Rev. Leigh Waggoner has become the first woman to be named priest-in-sharge of a congregation in Eau Claire.

Waggoner had worked with St. John's in Sparta for about a year before her formal installation. She had helped to enable such programs as a growing Hispanic ministry and expanded Christian education capability.

She is one of three women ordained to the priesthood in Eau Claire since 1999; prior to that time, the diocese did not ordain women.

Women's History Conference Set for September in Dallas

The Episcopal Women's History Project and women who esteem it will celebrate two milestones at the 2005 EWHP Conference in Dallas Sept. 22-24. They will look at the struggle for women's ordination and at the 25 year history of the Episcopal Women's History Project. The dual focus will enable the conference to review women's progress in the church and to highlight some of the stories that have given light and life to women's history.

"Celebrating the Range of Women's History" will bring to Dallas such notables as Dr. Joanna Gillespie, historian and author, the Rev. Lawrence Crumb, researcher and author, Katie Sherrod, nationally known TV and print journalist; Louie Crew, professsor emeritus of English, Rutgers University and Margaret Larom, director of the Episcopal Church's Office of Anglican and Global Relations as well as other authors, historians, scholars working in the field of women's history.

"We are proud to be able to offer such a varied and in-depth look at women's rising roles in the Episcopal Church. This is an important first that brings together aspects of women's contributions to the Church, many of which have been largely overlooked." said the Rev. Bindy Snyder, EWHP president.

Among the topics to be explored are: "Women Priests in Academe, a roundtable discussion; "Daughters of Dallas"; "Lay Women Building Church and Community"; "Many Forms of Ministry--Anglican Nuns"; "The Voices of African American Episcopal Women"; and "Laywomen and Vocation in the 20th Century Episcopal Church."

Men's participation in the program will include "Tracing Women's History"; "The Story of Annie Farthing"; "Twentieth Century Challenges--What Happened in Philadelphia" and "Resources for Researching Episcopal Women's History."

Special events include a trip to the Dallas Women's Museum, one of two such facilities in the U.S., and to St. Matthew's Cathedral, once the site of St. Mary's College, an early and ground-breaking educational program for women. The Rt. Rev. James Stanton, Bishop of Dallas, will greet the participants at a dinner on Thursday night.

Contact: Dr. Katherine L. Ward,
EWHP Treasurer, 10370 Greenview Dr.,
Oakland CA 94605-5017.
revdrklw@aol.com

Diocese of California Open Search for 8th Bishop

On August 1, the Episcopal Diocese of California began accepting nominations of candidates for the 8th Bishop of the Diocese. The diocese encompasses San Francisco, Marin, Alameda, Contra Costa and parts of San Mateo County in California's San Francisco Bay Area. Applicants and other interested parties are encouraged to visit www.bishopsearch.org where they may review additional information.

Diocese of Atlanta Forms Committee to Consider Same-Sex Unions

Atlanta's Bishop Neil Alexander has appointed a study committee to consider samesex unions and the formation of a liturgy to bless such unions. The committee plans to present an Interim Report to the Diocesan Convention in November Alexaner stated that his understand ing of the Canons of the Church does not permit him to authorize such a liturgy for regular use until the General Convention has authorized such liturgies. Both the bishop and the committee recognized and affirmed that pastoral acts of blessing are taking place in various parts of the church--including the Diocese of Atlanta--and that General Convention 2003 had recognized such pastoral blessings as being within the "normal and legitimate" life of the church.

To date, the committee has reviewed the legal meanings of marriage in the state of Georgia and the diverse theological meanings of marriage as understood in the church.

The committee welcomes suggestions, but notes that it is a study committee and cannot enter into debate or dialog with individual correspondents. It affirms that the confidentiality of persons and parishes will be preserved.

Anglican Church in Kenya Rejects US Funds

The Anglican Church of Kenya has refused financial support from the Episcopal Church in the United States because of the consecration of an openly gay bishop in the US, but it says this action will not jeopardize ongoing church activities in the East African country.

"We have said no to the funds from the American church because we believe a church is formed to preach the gospel," Kenyan Anglican Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi told journalists.

"If they are going against the gospel, it means we have to say no to any package they are bringing," Nzimbi said at the end of a three-day synod meeting that endorsed the decision to reject aid from the US Episcopal Church.

The archbishop said his church had cut its links with the US church because of the consecration in 2003 of V. Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire.

"When they decided to consecrate Venerable Gene Robinson, who is a homosexual and who is living in a same sex-union, we said then, we not cannot continue having fellowship and links with them," said Nzimbi.

The Kenyan church also intends to petition the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, to bar Anglican churches that have accepted homosexuality from the 2008 Lambeth Conference.

Kenyan bishops could not specify the exact amount the church had been receiving from its US counterpart. But the provincial secretary, Bishop William Waqo, claimed that assistance was received sporadically and used exclusively for church development projects.

"Its absence will not affect the operations of the church," said Waqo. "The church generates funds for its administration work."

Scientific Body Honors Episcopal Priest for Leadership in Science and Religion

The Episcopal Network for Science, Technology and Faith honored the Rev. Dr. John Keggi when its steering committee met recently in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The citation for the first Genesis Award for Science and Religion recognized Keggi, a priest of the Diocese of Maine now retired in Massachusetts, as a "prophet and pioneering leader" in the field.

Keggi, whose scientific background includes a PhD in organic chemistry, had served as convener of the Episcopal Fellowship of Ordained Scientists and of the of the Episcopal delegation to the Ecumenical Roundtable on Science, Technology and the Church. Dr. Keggi continues as co-convener of the North American Chapter of the Society of Ordained Scientists, an Anglican fellowship that meets annually in Britain to discuss new developments in the field. He also assists with the newsletter and other communication ministries of the Network.

Same-Sex Partnerships, Soon to be Legal in Britain, Will be Available to `Chaste' Clergy

Church of England clergy will be able to enter into same-sex civil partnerships in Britain under national legislation set to come into force on December 5, but they will be told they must remain chaste.

At a media conference in July, the Bishop of Norwich, Graham James, who headed an Anglican working group on the issue, spoke spoke on a pastoral statement by the Anglican House of Bishops on the country's Civil Partnerships law. This allows same sex couples to register a legal commitment to each other and enjoy equal rights and responsibilities on matters such as inheritance, pension and employment benefits.

The House of Bishops is one of the three chambers in the General Synod, the parliament of the Church of England. The other two are the House of Clergy and the House of Laity. The statement noted that the bishops did not regard entering into a civil partnership as intrinsically incompatible with holy orders, provided the person concerned was willing to give assurances to his or her bishop that the relationship met the standards for the clergy set out in the document "Issues in Human Sexuality," which states that homosexual clergy should abstain from sex.

Bishop James said the denomination did not want to exclude gay or lesbian lay people who were unable to accept a life of sexual abstinence. If they had registered a same-sex partnership, they should not be asked to give assurances about the nature of their relationship before being admitted to baptism, confirmation and communion. However clergy would not provide services of blessing for those same-sex couples who registered a civil partnership.

Nine Network Bishops Threathen to Intervene in Connecticut Controversy

Nine bishops affiliated with the conservative Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes have threatened to intervene in an ongoing controversy between Connecticut bishop Andrew Smith and six priests who have refused to accept his authority as diocesan bishop.

A July 27 letter detailing the Network's plans, which included threats of presentation against Smith as well as possible legal action, was released to the Internet before a copy arrived at the Diocese of Connecticut offices in Hartford, according to diocesan officials.

The nine bishops stated that they were "determined to intervene' in the case of St. John's, Bristol, and in the cases of the other five parishes should that become necessary, including the "shaping of a presentment against you for conduct unbecoming a bishop," raising legal and financial support for the six parishes in any future civil suits, providing "episcopal care" to the parishes and "immediate licensing of the Rev. Dr. Mark Hansen [the former rector of St. John's] for functions within any of our dioceses" despite his inhibition by Smith.

According to diocesan officials, the six priests had refused an offer of delegated episcopal pastoral oversight unless the assigned bishop was permitted to oversee future succession of clergy and future candidates for ordination within the parishes. They had also asked for release from the obligation to pay diocesan assessments.