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June 19




ISSUES

2006

MONDAY JUNE 19





For Trustees of the General Seminary, The Consultation asks you to vote for:


Lay Persons                       Rebecca Clark Marjorie Christie


Priests                                  James Kodera Yamily Bass-Choate



For Executive Council, The Consultation asks you to vote for:


Lay Persons

Hisako Beasley Bruce Garner
Anita George Angela Helt
Robert McGhee


Priests

Miguelina Espinal Winnie Varghese



TODAY--

OPEN MEETING

of The Consultation

in Room D242 in the

Convention Center

from 12:30 to 1:30

No food or drink, please!




The Bonds of Affection


In a Consultation Open Meeting, someone said, “I want to affirm the bonds of affection but not to institutionalize them.” It inspired a chain of thought about relationships and listening. Once a relationship has reached the point where everything has to be negotiated, whatever may remain, it is usually the case that affection has gone. More often than not the breakdown actually came some time before when one party stopped listening to the other and giving the loving attention characteristic of affection. The parties may be able to rebuild the relationship and the trust on which affection is based, but that cannot be accomplished by rules and requirements, and even less with ultimatums.


Is this descriptive of the Anglican Communion now? If it is, the question becomes who stopped listening? When?


Ron Miller


Surely the LORD was in this place!

Friday night’s packed, festive Integrity Eucharist at Trinity Church was marked by excellent music and liturgy, by a procession of dozens of vested lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered clergy, by the presence of numerous LGBT Episcopalians and their allies from throughout the Church – and by one other thing – the unmistakable presence of the Holy Spirit.


The Spirit was, in fact, the focus of New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson’s sermon. The Holy Spirit is still speaking to all of us, even to those who have been excluded, to those who told us we were “abomination” and who subjected us to insults and injustice. While we have a responsibility to oppose injustice, and to protest when we are treated unjustly or abused, Bishop Robinson said there is one more thing we must do about those who oppose us – we must “love them anyway.”


Bishop Robinson’s voice cracked with emotion several times, and the congregation was also deeply moved by the sermon and other parts of the service. The overflow crowd made it necessary to offer additional seating with a video feed, and Robinson not only specifically greeted those watching him on video during his sermon, but personally served the bread to each person in the overflow seating. The Rev. Susan Russell was presider, and the Bishop of Southern Ohio, the Rt. Rev. Kenneth L. Price Jr. gave his blessing.

There have been a lot of worship opportunities at General Convention 2006, but this one seemed especially important to those attending. At a time when a few have considered LGBT Episcopalians to be expendable – a readily available sacrifice to appease censorious voices in the Anglican Communion – this large congregation demonstrated through their enthusiastic participation, their applause, their laughter and their not infrequent tears that they have no intention of slipping quietly away or tossing aside the insights gained from thirty years of struggle for full and complete inclusion in the life of the Episcopal Church. There was a sense that we were there not only for ourselves but for the benefit of the rest of the Church.

Some people regard the issues surrounding LGBT participation in the Church simply as questions of civil rights – of things that certain people are asking that the Church “do for” them. Certainly there are things we need from the Church – but the Church needs our witness and our labor and our talents. The Church has always relied on what we have to give, even when it did not acknowledge us for who we are.


But now – in the first part of the 21st Century, we are a good advertisement for the Church in an alienated and unreconciled world. One priest I know found that after he had come out and was known as a gay man, people in spiritual need would seek him out for just that reason – not because they were gay themselves, but because they figured that a Church that would welcome him would welcome them; a Church that could love him could love them.


This is why we testify to what we know, what we ourselves have experienced. As Bishop Robinson said Friday night, we have the mission and the responsibility to share the great gifts we have been given with the world.


Bob Van Keuren

A Gift from Vermont


If you are worried about how The Episcopal Church might look if General Convention authorized the blessing of same sex unions, then the Diocese of Vermont has a resource that will answer your questions and allay your fears.

The Diocese of Vermont is in a unique position to offer such information because in the summer of 2000, a new Vermont civil union law took effect that, for the first time, enabled same sex couples to enter into legal covenants “conferring the rights and responsibilities previously reserved for opposite-gendered couples through marriage.” The law authorized members of the clergy to perform civil unions, and Vermont Episcopalians in same sex relationships immediately looked to their faith community to do so.


Mary Adelia McLeod, then bishop of Vermont, “informed the clergy that those who chose to celebrate and bless civil unions could do so provided that counseling precede the civil union, and that the marriage rite from the Book of Common Prayer not be used.” Bishop McLeod’s successor, Bishop Thomas C. Ely, appointed a task force to help the diocese and the larger church “find a way through this conversation that is affirming of the full inclusion of gay and lesbian persons in the mission and ministry of The Episcopal Church and of their ministries that are already so much a part of who we are as the Episcopal Church here in the Diocese of Vermont and beyond.”


A Report to the Bishop and People of the Episcopal Diocese of Vermont from the Task Force on the Blessing of Persons Living in Same-Gender Relationships was issued in June of 2004.

The Task Force recommended a unified diocesan policy on Holy Matrimony and Holy Unions that required “1. One member of the couple be a baptized person involved in the life of the church; 2. Thorough preparation precede the ceremony; 3. A Declaration of Intention be signed that outlines the church’s expectations regarding the characteristics such unions should exhibit; 4. A marriage or civil union license be obtained for clergy to officiate at a liturgy of Holy Matrimony or Holy Union; and 5. Liturgies or liturgical outlines authorized by the Episcopal Church for Holy Matrimony or those provided in this report for Holy Unions be used.”


The report also carefully outlines the pastoral care for those who have previously been in a marriage or civil union and states that “permission for third or subsequent marriages or unions will be granted only in rare cases” and only after certain rigorous counseling steps have been taken. The most helpful parts of the report are the description of the approach the Task Force took in tackling ‘head, heart and gut” issues, including the “ick” response factor so common in discussions of sexual intimacy; and its approach to theological considerations. The chapter on the way Anglicans “do theology” may be the best and most succinct discussion of the topic I have seen.

So find a member of the Vermont deputation [pages in the House of Deputies can help you do that] and ask how you can get a copy. It offers the perfect prescription for the relief of anxiety – good information based in thorough research and several years of lived experience.


Katie Sherrod


Fair Trade at General Convention


It is getting to be that time of General Convention to look for gifts and items to take home. The following vendors are either members of the Fair Trade Federation or sell products which adopt fair trade practices of just pay for artists and craftspersons, invest in community development in Third World countries and follow fair labor practices.


  • Far East Handicraft (member of the Fair Trade Federation)

  • Shenaini (FTF application in process)

  • The Episcopal Church Women, Diocese of Chicago International Outreach Project

  • Bishop’s Blend Coffee (fair trade coffee) at The Episcopal Bookstore

  • Andino Fibers

  • Colores de Pueblo

  • Colors of Life, Africa

  • Tree of Life imports from Latin America

  • Threads of Hope


Buying fair trade supports the Millennium Development Goals (www.e4gr.org). To find more about the Fair Trade Federation, Google Fair Trade Federation.


Dianne Aids

DeputyJones-problem.GIF
Susan Williams

Does this apply elsewhere?

(editor's note: this testimony was given on Saturday at National & International Concerns on Resolution B012 which included an apology.)


I want to speak to this resolution with reference to the use of the word apology.


When I first went to Palestine/Israel in 1983 I was ignorant about the issues of occupation. At that time the occupation had been in place only 16 years. Now it's 39 years. I can remember a young Palestinian Christian boy being excited about the fact that I was an American and the 18 people that were with me from St. Mark's Cathedral in Seattle WA were Americans. I hear his voice still. He said, “America will be fair and see that a Palestinian state will happen. Americans are people who care and they will help us.”


I have often thought of this young man and his family. Especially now that there is a wall that encircles the entire town of Bethlehem. I want to apologize to him and all those Palestinians who have had faith in us and our church to change the occupation policies of the State of Israel. Why have we not acted upon our church's resolutions over the years that have called for a two-state solution, adherence by the State of Israel to international law and the end of settlements? Why can't we learn that violence begets violence no matter which side uses it?


We need to apologize as a church to the 12,000 families that have had their homes demolished from 1967 until now – in order to build settlements and the wall. We need to apologize to those families that have lost their livelihood because of land confiscation to build the wall and settler highways.


We need to apologize to our Jewish brothers and sisters for being silent as we've allowed and funded them to do unspeakable things we would never approve of in the violation of human rights, assassination tactics, and torture of Palestinians which is legal in the State of Israel.


A painful reality for Palestinians is that they have had to pay and continue to pay for the antisemitism of European Christians.


When we Christians fail to respond to the abuses of its Palestinian citizens by the State of Israel as well as the Palestinians under occupation, we are not friends of our our Jewish brothers and sisters.


The State of Israel will eventually find its security in discovering the humanity of Palestinians citizens and Palestinians citizens and those Palestinians under occupation.


The true security for Israel can only be found as Israelis and Palestinians look at each other and discover themselves.

Richard Toll

Gremlins strike again!


Things going wrong and the editor's problem of monolingualism led to a difficult error in Friday's ISSUES. The Spanish for “This room doesn't need cleaning..” should be corrected as follows:


NO ES NECESARIO COMPONER O LIMPIAR ESTE CUARTO HOY. Gracias!




Lunch Time Speakers

under

The Consultation banner


Today at 1:15 -- Dr. Ian Douglas, Angus Dun Professor of World Mission and Global Christianity at the Episcopal Divinity School


Monday – EPF Young Adult Team with Winnie Verghese


Gentle hints may not be enough!


ISSUES and The Consultation are at Convention to share in the fellowship, to greet old and new friends, and to help the Legislative Houses in their deliberations. None of our constituent groups have deep pockets; they are all dependent on the kindness of friends. ISSUES, particularly, is intended to help our friends see the work of Convention in a different way, and to perhaps shine light on an overlooked aspect of the discussions. There is no angel funding ISSUES, life would be easier if there were. So, we need your contribution, large or small. (Large is preferred, but we don't discriminate by size, either.)


Please drop by The Consultation booth in the Exhibit Hall and tell us what you think; at the same time you can make a contribution; Envelopes are available there. YOUR help will make a difference.


The Editors


ISSUES will be published on Tuesday and Wednesday, Inshallah!