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ISSUES 2006

ISSUES 2006

ISSUES

2006

MONDAY JUNE 26 WRAP UP

Looking to the Future

Since General Convention 2006 has drawn to a close, it is perhaps in order to raise some concerns about how Convention functioned. Aside from larger questions of where and when Convention meets and how it deals with the agenda, there are more immediate improvements we hope can be made before next time.

The question of the voting machines will obviously be studied in the next three years. We hope that all the problems can be resolved and that they can be more “user friendly” in 2009.

There was a major logjam over legislation. Some of this may be due to the critical nature of the Special Committee's task and the difficulty of reaching agreement when such widely divergent positions are held on important questions. We don't know, but ask if they needed more administrative support than was available.

We understand a need to control costs, but we ask whether there were enough people on the Secretariat staff to accomplish effectively their responsibilities. Certainly the Legislative Committees would have benefited from simple things like more readily available copying for drafts and revisions.

This was the Executive Officer's first time out, and it will be interesting to see how the experience strengthens his exercise of this ministry in the future. With a new Presiding Bishop and a new President of the House of Deputies, it will important that the General Convention has adequate and adequately trained staff to make 2009 effective, easy, and, perhaps, even fun.

Ron Miller

Abased to No Purpose

On the last day of General Convention 2006 the House of Deputies caved in -- and not easily -- to the desire of the Presiding Bishop to have some trifle to take to the Anglican Communion. Was it a shameful compromise or a sacrifice to keep the conversation going? I think it contains elements of both. It is beyond me how anyone in the Episcopal Church can take any joy in this vote.

A shameful compromise? The House of Deputies managed to say that it did not believe on Wednesday what it believed on Tuesday. It did so under extraordinary pressure from the Presiding Bishop, who was said to be continually on the phone with Lambeth Palace. On Tuesday the House of Deputies -- voting their own minds and not under any sort of duress -- indicated they did not want to sacrifice LGBT Episcopalians to appease an angry and snarling Anglican Communion. The very next day, following pleas from the Presiding Bishop and the Presiding Bishop-elect, they reversed themselves. It seems clear -- if for no other reason than that the "compromise" will not appease those it sought to appease -- that many deputies are probably already repenting this vote.

A Sacrifice? Oh yes. Gays and lesbians were certainly sacrificed. It might have been different had the LGBT members of the Episcopal Church consented to this sacrifice, but we were sacrificed against our will and without our consent. That is not Calvary; it is more like what went on in the Colosseum. What the deputies saw fit to sacrifice was not theirs to give up, but taken from someone else.

On the surface of it, some things may not change much. In welcoming and nurturing parishes, life will go on as it has. Gay unions will likely continue where they have in the past, and LGBT priests will not have their ordinations reversed. There have been setbacks before, and to think there were never going to be any again was naive.

It might not even further the conversation, such as it is. This too-little, too-late resolution, achieved under pressure, will not suddenly make thinks okay between the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. The predictably anti-gay bishops are not happy with it. The Archbishop of Canterbury is unsure about it -- he’ll have to convene another commission or something. But Archbishop Akinola is quite sure -- nothing less than persecuting our LGBT members as he persecutes his own will placate him. He has criticized Americans for not adopting his own model of criminalizing gay relationships and denying minimal human rights as he is so anxious to do in Nigeria.

Gays and lesbians are not the only ones hurt by this “compromise”. Others will pay as well. Bishop Griswold’s tenure as Presiding Bishop will be defined by his actions at General Convention 2006. Trust between the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies cannot be what it was. Most of all, a lot of bishops and deputies did something they knew was wrong. This is politics, and politics is never completely clean. The human beings involved have left their greasy fingerprints all over it. When was it ever otherwise?

There is a famous scene in Gone With the Wind in which Scarlett dolls herself up and goes to Rhett in jail to get the money to save Tara, but Rhett has no money to give. In the face of her impotent fury, Rhett says “You’ve abased yourself to no purpose.”

I believe we shall all survive, and I truly believe that all manner of things will yet be well. But I do hope the Church will learn from this exercise the truth of what Jesus said -- that one cannot profitably exchange one’s soul for the whole world. Much less for a junket to Lambeth.

Bob Van Keuren

An Economic Justice Convention

General Convention 2006 was more than sexual orientation and the gender of the PB-elect. This was in many ways the most important economic justice convention since 1988. Bishops and deputies passed a number of economic justice resolutions. Here is a partial list.

ENEJ

General Convention approved a C012 (proposed by the Diocese of Newark) supported ENEJ’s work in training congregations in economic justice and cited ENEJ’s new Economic Justice How-To Manual. According to Mike Maloney (ISSUES June 21, 2006) the Manual reflects the evolution of social practice and a much broader array of strategies for notice is encompassed under the heading of economic justice.”

MDGs

Early in the process, General Convention approved Resolution D022 supporting the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Introduced by the Rev. Randolph Dales (New Hampshire) the resolution urges congregations and dioceses to work for their implication. The MDGs have eight goals aimed at eradicating extreme poverty and hunger by 2015.

* Eradicate extreme hunger and poverty
* Achieve universal primary education
* Promote gender equality and empower women
* Reduce child mortality
* Improve maternal health
* Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
* Ensure environmental sustainability
* Develop a global partnership for development.

According to an ENS summary (June 23, 2006) D022 sets these objectives:

* Establishes achieving the MDGs as a stated mission priority of the Episcopal Church for the next three years;
* Urges each diocese, congregation and parishioner to give 0.7 percent toward the MDGs by July 7, 2007; i.e. by 07/07/07;
* Designates the Last Sunday after Pentecost as a special day of prayer, fasting and giving toward global reconciliation and the Millennium Development Goals;
* Calls on every diocese to establish a global reconciliation commission to mobilize Episcopalians to work for achieving the goals of the MDGs;
* Endorses the "ONE Episcopalian" campaign that calls on the U.S. government to spend an additional 1 percent of its budget to combat global poverty; and
* Asks the budget committee to consider a line item equal to 0.7 percent (or roughly $900,000) in the coming three-year budget for work that supports the MDGs.”

Another resolution (A010) affirmed a communiqué presented to the UN by Anglican and other religious leaders in the Consultation of Religious Leaders on global poverty.

During a standing room only hearing Program Budget & Finance (PB&F), around a dozen people spoke on behalf of the MDGs. One of the supporters was Katherine Jefferts Shori, Bishop of Nevada. (A few days later she was elected Presiding Bishop).

As a result PB&F committee chair, Pan Adams (Arkansas) introduced a resolution to make justice and peace one of the church’s top mission priorities and specifically named the MDGs. The final budget document included $924,000 to respond to the MDGs goals and created collaboration among ERD, Jubilee Ministries and the Executive Council

Worker Rights/Employment

Resolution C008 reaffirmed the right of U.S. workers to organize and form unions. C008 lifted up the right of seasonal and migrant workers to organize and commended the work of Interfaith Worker Justice. Although the Diocese of Michigan adopted the topic prior to GC, the Diocese of Newark proposed C008.

According to Mike Maloney (ISSUES, June 14), “C008 reminds us that our baptismal covenant calls us to stand with the least of God’s children and to work for justice for all.”

On a related subject, the Rev. Sandye Wilson (Newark) proposed D047 urging support of union organizing, passage of living wage legislation by cities and states and committing the church to contract solely with union hotels or hotels paying hotel workers a living wage.

To draw attention to the issue, the Rev. Canon Dick Gillett distributed a memo suggesting that convention attendees leave a message to hotel workers to pass on cleaning or making up their hotel rooms. Due to excessive number of rooms required, allowing the workers to skip a room or two lightened the workload.

A125 continues the Task Force to Study Employment Policies and Practices in the Episcopal Church. Included in A125 is a study whether pension benefits to lay employees be compulsory.

A147 endorsed a proposal to conduct a Church-wide Healthcare Feasibility Study of the costs and issues surrounding provision of healthcare benefits to clergy and lay employees.

Immigration

Resolution A017 addressed fundamental immigration principals. Proposed by Anglican and International Peace with Justice, A017 said compassionate immigration reform should include:

* A path to legal residency
* Immigration responding to labor needs
* Family reunification
* Due process (legality)
* Humane immigration and boarder policy.

In addition the resolution calls on the church to undertake a campaign to educate Episcopalians about the plight of refugees, immigrants and migrants, which includes the root causes of immigration.

Dianne Aid’s story in ISSUES (June 17) about “Juan” puts a human face on the immigration issue.

ENEJ’s reaction to General Convention 2006 is summarized in a statement by ENEJ President, Michael Kendall,“This convention has turned into an affirmation of economic justice. The budget priorities were changed to give a higher rank to issues of peace and justice and the MDGs. I am pleased that our manual was so well received and thank those who worked so hard on it. I hope the Episcopal Church is entering a new era of a commitment to end poverty at home and abroad.”

Verna Fausey

EPF's Sayres Award Winner

At the joint EPF/Witness Reception on Saturday, a series of awards were presented. The Rev. Canon Naim Ateek, Director of the Sabeel Institute, Jerusalem received EPF's John Nevin Sayre Award and gave a moving address. When Brian Grieves introduced Ateek, he reported the following incident which lightened the proceedings.

In 2004, the Anglican Peace and Justice Network visited Naim’s boyhood home from which he and his family were forcibly removed after the creation of the state of Israel. That personalized the injustice of the conflict in a compelling and clear way. On the property of Naim’s family home now sits an Israeli bank. And Naim, who somehow through all the oppression over the years, has maintained a great sense of levity, said to us, “when we get our property back, I want to keep the bank.”

Ron Miller

Feeding on the Bread of Anxiety

 At the end, it came down to this. We tried to create a “diverse center” by throwing aside the dignity and ministries of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered sisters and brothers. We tried to build a bridge to Lambeth on the bodies of LGBT Episcopalians. We tried to “create space for healing” by throwing some of our brothers and sisters out of the boat. We tried to become “Windsor compliant” instead of focusing on being Gospel compliant.

And all of this because we were force fed the bread of anxiety and became agents of fear instead of agents of hope. There was way too much talk of “sacrifice” and “crucifixion” and none at all about resurrection.

From Day One, a small number of noisy conservatives were pumping fear into the Convention as hard as they could. English archbishops were flown in from England to add to the pressure. When the British bishops weren’t there in person, they were issuing letters of warning, which were quickly passed around by the conservative minority.

It almost didn’t work. This Convention was very clear that it did not want to go back on human sexuality justice issues. Finally on the last day the presiding bishop used the ugliest kind of coercion and distortion of process to get what he wanted and thought he needed.

In his address to the joint session of the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies, Frank Griswold tried to anger “the center” by telling them that “the fringes” had manipulated them. He made it clear that the “fringes” included LGBT people who are participating fully in the life and ministry of the church and want to continue to do so.

We-have-to-do-this-or-we-won’t-be-invited-to-Lambeth became his ultimatum. Then he brought out his biggest gun of all, Presiding Bishop-elect Katharine Jefferts Schori. Give Katharine what she needs to be at the table was the plea. The bishops caved. And when Jefferts Schori was invited to speak to the House of Deputies, the deputies caved. Fear triumphed over hope, appeasement trumped truth, bullying replaced leadership.

It was spiritual violence – to my LGBT sisters and brothers, to the bishops, to the deputies.

And all for what?

Within minutes, conservative Episcopalians were saying it wasn’t enough. To their credit, they had also said this on the floor of the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies. All along, they’ve said it wasn’t enough. In fact, nothing the General Convention could have done short of stripping Gene Robinson of his office, throwing him and all LGBT people back into the closet and locking the door, and then handing the leadership of the church over to Peter Akinola assisted by Bob Duncan would have satisfied them.

Why are we surprised? Appeasing bullies never works.

We had a chance to say, “We in the Episcopal Church value being part of the Anglican Communion. We love it and wish to remain a vital part of it. However, we are not of one mind on the issues presented in the Windsor Report. We are working out our own consensus on this. Please give us grace and time in which to work this out in the context of our polity. And then let us bring our lived experience in dealing with these painful issues to the Communion as our gift.”

That would have been the truth.

It would have shown respect for the Anglican Communion and for the decisions the bulk of people in this church support. It would have shown respect to the shrinking number of conservatives who are in pain over the direction of The Episcopal Church and it would have shown respect for LGBT people and their allies.

If Katharine Jefferts Schori walks across that bridge to Lambeth, I pray that she will say this to the rest of the Communion. The Episcopal Church’s struggle to extend the life of the church to all the baptized is a gift.

Let us celebrate that struggle, work to live into it, and give witness to it in the larger Anglican Communion.

Katie Sherrod

Heavy Handed Prelatical Manipulation

Members of the House of Deputies are probably too polite to use the phrase, but this observer was distressed by the high-handed way the Presiding Bishop played his cards to force the HOD to approve the moratorium which it had rejected on Wednesday by significant majority. Through the past years Bishop Griswold has shown nobility and leadership as he represented the Episcopal Church to the Anglican Communion. In the face of hostility from some local dioceses and from certain other provinces, he has taken the high road of modesty and speaking softly.

It has become clear to me that the Archbishop of Canterbury has misplayed his office by allowing the rabid conservatives to control the agenda in England, in the Primates meeting, and even, to the extent he had influence, in the Anglican Consultative Council. This comes perhaps from a philosophical conviction that when conflicting positions are allowed to work through their disagreements a new synthesis will evolve. The flaw in this system is that it will work only when both sides are willing to interact, if one side only shouts and lobs rhetorical bombs with no intention of serious dialogue there can be no synthesis.

Now we find that Bishop Griswold has been forced to overplay his hand in the hope of keeping lines of communication open. If those who disagree with our Church will accept nothing but complete surrender, he has ceded the high ground and lost what credibility he has held for so long and in such a noble fashion. This will be a sad stain on his record, as it is a stain on this General Convention. The conservatives are not going to stay, and the progressives are disheartened and dismayed.

Ron Miller

Murders of Church Workers Belies Concordat Excitement

On Monday, June 19, the Episcopal Church and the Philippine Independent Church (PIC) signed an updated Concordat of Full Communion in a happy ceremony headlined by the primates of ECUSA, PIC, and the Episcopal Church in the Philippines. It was an historic moment, and a hopeful sign for the catholicity of the church.

However, on the VERY SAME DAY, TWO CHURCH WORKERS WERE MURDERED in the Philippines. On Monday at 5 p.m. in the Philippines, two Roman Catholic activists and journalists were gunned down by motorcycle killers in the region of North Cotobato. Mazel Vigo, 38, and her husband George, 40, were slain no less than two days after Tito Marata -- the provincial officer of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines and a member of the activist group Farmers for Agrarian Reform Movement -- was shot dead in a similarly heartless crime in Misamis Occidental.

A total of 20 Filipino church workers have been brutally murdered since April 2004 -- just over two years. Likewise, in a 2005 report released by the international Committee to Protect Journalists, the Philippines came out "Number One" on its list of Most Murderous Countries over the previous five years. (Believe it or not, Iraq was second at the time of the report's release.) Almost all of these church workers and journalists were activists working with disenfranchised communities -- farmers, the urban poor, youth, environmental activists, even Muslims.

I traveled to the Philippines in August 2005 for a Muslim-Christian Solidarity Conference on the southern, war-torn island of Mindanao, at the invitation of the National Council of Churches of the Philippines. I learned during the visit about how the "war on terrorism" that our nation is sponsoring has created the space for their government to wreak havoc in impoverished communities. The churches and their Muslim partners desperately need our support.

Most of the slain individuals have been members of the United Church of Christ of the Philippines or Roman Catholics. This very week the national General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, USA, passed a resolution calling on the U.N. General Assembly to investigate the killings of Christian human rights workers in the Philippines. I can't help but think that if these despicable murders had been of Episcopalians or possibly even members of the PIC, our sister church through this Concordat, that ECUSA would rise up in righteous anger. I hope at least that this article will increase awareness about what is happening (visit http://contakphilippines.tripod.com/speaknow/ for more info), and that you will act by calling on the U.S. government to use its considerable influence to pressure President Gloria Arroyo's administration to protect these human rights workers under fire.

Ethan Vesely-Flad

Donation reminder

We do not have angels or deep pockets supporting ISSUES and ask that generous donations be sent to The Consultation, 1430 S. Hanover St, Baltimore, MD 21230. Thank you very much!!
Ron Miller

ISSUES

2006

WEDNESDAY JUNE 21


Thanks to those I can remember

It has been a privilege to look after ISSUES this year. It would not be possible without many people: espeically Mike Shirley, Katie Sherrod, Bob Van Keuren, Mike Maloney, and our new cartoonist, Susan Williams. There were some remarkable young people who submitted pieces which added value.
Ron Miller

Thanks!

The pool of gifted Episcopalians which the Joint Nominating Committee presented for election to assorted boards and councils at this Convention was rich indeed.  The Consultation Steering Committee, as we engaged in our usual process of recommending some candidates for consideration, was hard pressed to choose. We hope very much that those persons not elected to the positions for which they ran will remain in that pool from which the presiding officers make appointments to interim bodies.  You serve this church in so many ways already and we need you! Thank you for offering yourselves and for participating in The Consultation's discernment process.

The Consultation Steering Committee 

Creating a Culture of Justice

Most Episcopalians are members of congregations which subscribe to a culture of charity. Such congregations readily support food pantries and other direct service programs which benefit the poor. Perhaps fewer congregations are engaged in ministries of justice which involve efforts to change those policies and structures which create and maintain poverty.

How can a congregation move to a culture which embraces both charity and justice? ENEJ's new Economic Justice How-To Manual is designed to answer this question. It provides a rich array of material which enable reflection on the role of justice in our faith tradition. This begins with our baptismal covenant's mandate that we "strive for justice and peace for all people" and goes on to cite the prophetic traditions and words of Jesus.

The Economic Justice How-To Manual then goes on to described how various dioceses and congregations are engaged in ministries of advocacy, community organization, community economic development and community investment.

It begins with dialogue says ENEJ Advocacy chair, Dianne Aid. "Help people reflect on such questions as what is a living wage, what is the definition of poverty and what is it like to live on a poverty income? Who gets welfare and what are the challenges they face? Poor people, for example, have to work shifts when no child care is available. How is it that the undocumented are working? Why don't they become American citizens? What are some actions our parish could take to make our community or society more just? For wealthy congregations a good reflection question is "What is socially responsible investing?"

"We have come a long way since the Michigan Plan was adopted by the 1988 General Convention, says ENEJ president Michael Kendall.

ENEJ's new manual reflects the evolution of social practice and a much broader array of strategies for action is encompassed under the heading of economic justice"

Mike Maloney
Si se Puede!ur

Has the Covenant Train already left the Station?

There has been much talk of covenants at this General Convention. As that conversation continues, it behooves us all to remember that there are several kinds of covenants in play.

In addition to the baptismal covenant – which does not resonate in the rest of the Communion the way it does in The Episcopal Church – there are missional covenants, structural or canonical covenants; and creedal or confessional covenants.

There are several groups preparing draft covenants to present at Lambeth 2008. Peter Akinola, the Archbishop of Nigeria, is preparing one; Archbishops Drexel Gomez, primate of the West Indies; and Maurice Sinclair, retired Archbishop of the Southern Cone, are preparing another draft; and the Archbishop of Canterbury has appointed a 10-person working group to prepare a draft.

In addition, a group composed of chancellors and attorneys is reviewing the things by which Anglicans order what we do.

They are reviewing the principles espoused in the canons and constitutions, the prayer books, the rubrics, other rules and resolutions and teachings of all the provinces of the Anglican Communion to articulate to the archbishop of Canterbury and the primates in what areas the provinces are in harmony with one another and in what areas they are not.

The members of this group are chancellors from Hong Kong, the West Indies, Ghana, Seychelles, the United States, Canada, and England; and Canon Gregory Cameron, Director of Ecumenical Affairs and Studies, Anglican Communion Office, and Secretary to the Lambeth Commission; and Professor Norman Doe, Director of the Centre for Law and Religion, Cardiff University, Wales, and member of the Lambeth Commission.

Covenants developed and adopted by only a few privileged people have no legitimacy.

The question of whether the Anglican Communion should even have a covenant is still very much in the air. The adoption of any covenant will change the very nature of Anglicanism in deep fundamental ways.

It already is clear that the idea that Anglicans will develop a covenant is moving quickly toward becoming a given. It also is clear that the process of developing a covenant will be left largely in the hands of male primates and other bishops – although three of the chancellors involved in the group reviewing the laws of the provinces are women.

This should be deeply disturbing to people who love classical Anglicanism, because stopping this train could be very difficult.

Katie Sherrod

Say It With Flowers, Not Nails
(abridged with permission from TheWitness.org)

Monday was the day that the two most controversial resolutions assigned to the Special Committee on the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion finally saw debate on the floor of the House of Deputies. Some of it was informative. A lot of it was passionate. But one point that a large number of those stepping to the microphone made was not helpful at all:

"I think the resolution deserves to be passed without amendment because the Special Committee has worked so very hard on it to craft it carefully."

There are far, far more important questions for those voting on legislation to ask than how hard the committee worked on the proposed resolutions. With respect to the resolutions related to the Windsor Report, I would suggest that these are the central ones:

1) How far can I go and how much can I personally give to create room for and extend grace to those around me and those around the Communion with whom I disagree?

2) What can I not sacrifice without sacrificing my integrity and the integrity of the Good News of Christ as we, however provisionally, perceive it in this context and community?

3) As the Archbishop of York so movingly put it, where do I see the marks of Christ crucified in this legislation?

That last question is absolutely essential. We are indeed called to mutual submission to one another out of reverence for Christ. We are called to proclaim with our lives as well as with our words "Christ and him crucified," as St. Paul says (though one would hope we would not do so without proclaiming also the resurrection life!). But I have heard far too many people of late suggesting that we are walking the way of the Cross as long as someone gets crucified, and far too often the someone who will suffer most will be someone other than the speaker. This is not the language of Christian faith; it is the rhetoric of empire, of the "rulers of the nations" Christ spoke of who use their power to dominate the weak.

As the Rev. Dr. Ruth Myers so movingly testified today in the House of Deputies, it is not the way of Christ crucified and risen if you're the one with the hammer and nails and someone else -- least of all your sister or brother in Christ, your friend, your mother, your daughter or son -- who did not choose your sacrificing them who will be subjected to your will on the matter.

Christ's way of mutual submission for mutual empowerment of discipleship and mission demands that none of us impose on others a price that we will not pay ourselves. That's how we give thanks – to God for Christ's full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice for all of us for all time, and to Christ's disciples (including committee members) striving to discern God's will for us at this General Convention.

Sarah Dylan Breuer

Honor God: Say No to Torture

As the legislative process at General Convention creeps along, a pair of key resolutions calling on the church to speak out for human rights are among the dozens that are in danger of falling into the purgatory of "unfinished business." At least two resolutions from dioceses calling on the Episcopal Church to denounce torture (C-028 and C-033) hung in the balance as of Monday evening, as did a third calling for the closure of the U.S. military prison at Guantánamo Bay (D-028). With torture, the abuse of detainees, and the practice of "extraordinary rendition" all capturing weekly headlines in the international media, it would be a shame for these three to be left unattended.

Fortunately, there are many things that individual churches and dioceses can do this very month whether or not the national church manages to emerge from the Windsor quicksand and speak out on these critical human rights issues. In honor of June 26th, the U.N. International Day in Support of Torture Victims, a series of actions and educational programs will be happening over the next two weeks. The National Religious Coalition Against Torture launched a national campaign on June 13th with a full-page ad in The New York Times, and individual church leaders can sign the petition online at http:\\www.nrcat.org.

If your parish wishes to join in this important campaign, visit http:\\www.signsyourway.com to purchase a 2’ x 6’ banner for less than $70. A number of congregations will be ringing their church bells at noon on June 26th at the precise time when an interfaith group of religious activists are planning to engage in civil disobedience in front of the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. The group of progressive Episcopalians, Catholic Workers, Jews, Muslims and others will call for the closure of the Guantánamo prison and for trials -- if not the release -- of prisoners who have been held without charge, many for years. More information about how you can act to speak out against torture can be found at: http:\\www.witnesstorture.org and http:\\www.SayNoToTorture.org.

Ethan Vesely-Flad

A Truthful Conversation, Not Just A Vote

Perhaps, to the extent the world is concerned at all with General Convention 2006, it is now more focused on the election of the Rt. Rev. Katherine Jefferts Shori than it is on the Windsor Report. By any standard electing a woman Presiding Bishop is an extraordinary event, and brings with it a satisfying symmetry since it has happened just thirty years after authorizing the ordination of women. That could be quite a good thing, since we might now begin to look upon the Episcopal Church’s response to Windsor not so much as a matter to be settled at General Convention as an ongoing process of conversation.

Whatever specific action this General Convention takes or doesn’t take cannot appease those in our province who do not want to be part of the Episcopal Church, nor is it likely to soothe those who want to stay but have not accepted the idea of full participation by all the baptized in the life of the Church. Nor will it suddenly fix problems other churches in the Anglican Communion have with their naughty American cousins.

Whatever happens next will depend on conversation – within the Episcopal Church, and with other Anglican churches. That conversation will have to consist of something better than reports and resolutions rushing past one another. It is no secret that up until now, more of the conversation has taken place within the Episcopal Church than elsewhere in the Anglican Communion. Regardless of the fact that Lambeth conferences and the Windsor Report itself have called for conversation in good faith, the Anglican Communion has quite frequently talked about LGBTs but rarely if ever with them. In one country one Anglican Church is even supporting legislation that would actually criminalize any sort of conversation with or listening to its own lesbian and gay members.

Archbishop Tutu would no doubt advise us that reconciliation requires truth as well as a desire to reconcile. If the past thirty years’ journey for gay and lesbian inclusion has taught the Church anything, it is the importance of telling the truth. People who can’t be honest about who they are cannot participate and contribute fully. Just as parishioners all across our Church cannot be asked to return to the closet to avoid discomfort for others, the Church must be truthful as well. Would clergy, counseling a family in conflict, counsel them to create a “space” based on a false reality? By first acknowledging the truth about one another, parties in conversation can move from talking past one another to genuine communication and understanding.

To put it bluntly, “compliance” with the Windsor Report has been highly selective. Some who fault the Episcopal Church’s response have themselves violated provincial boundaries and neglected pastoral responsibilities towards their own LGBT members. So there is a lot to talk about, more in fact than merely talking about us.

That prospect is not so unlikely as some might imagine. Our new presiding bishop brings experience and insights from serving on the Special Commission on the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. The discussions at this General Convention have not all consisted of heat to the exclusion of light; something has been learned. We should build on what we have learned and restart the conversation – this time a real one, with talking and respectful listening by both sides.

Bob Van Keuren

Just enough space
to ask that additional donations be sent to The Consultation, 1430 S. Hanover St, Baltimore, MD 21230.
Thank you very much!!
Ron Miller

 

ISSUES

2006

TUESDAY JUNE 20


Best Wishes to the new PB

Issues shares in the surprise and joy at the election on Sunday of the Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori as the 26th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. We honestly didn't expect this outcome However, “The wind blows where it chooses . . So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

One of us was reminded of a moderately conservative cleric who, during the Vietnam war, created something of a stir by asking the President, who was in the congregation that morning, some frank questions about the war. The furor that ensued made clear to many people the way in which political leadership, even then, was living in a bubble. It's been suspected that the priest had heard a message from the Holy Spirit and didn't look over his shoulder to see who was talking to him. We commend the House of Bishops for its wisdom and vision.

The Consultation and ISSUES offers the PB-elect its hearty congratulations and best wishes, and they promise support and prayers.

Ron Miller

Three young voices

From a Young Woman

Last week, I turned twenty-one. I have wanted to be a priest at least since I was four. When I was that little, I used to wear a winter scarf like a stole, take a stool up to the bathroom sink, fill it with water, and baptize my stuffed animals in the sink. Needless to say, I ruined plenty of perfectly fine stuffed animals that way.
No one has ever told me that I couldn't be a priest.
I thank you, all you women (and men) who have worked for that change. As I sat in the House of Deputies after the announcement of the Presiding Bishop's election, I looked around. I saw women crying tears of joy, silently thanking Gd with all that they are. You have worked so hard for this change, and I am the one who is blessed to live in a world in which the church I love accepts me as Gd created me, and affirms my calling because of, not despite of, the fact that I am a woman. On Sunday I learned truly for the first time it wasn't always that way. What I have taken for granted has been worked towards for many, many years. The atmosphere was one that must have been like the Israelites coming into the Promised Land for the first time-we came out of Egypt thirty years ago with the ordination of women, and now we have a woman Presiding Bishop. It will not be easy for her, as it wasn't easy for Joshua, but I believe that these words from Gd to Joshua are pertinent: "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your Gd will be with you wherever you go." (Jdgs. 1:9).
I thank all the strong and courageous women who have made it possible for me to partake fully in the wedding feast, to work toward my calling. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Well done, good and faithful servants!

Rebecca A. Zartman

Dear Bishop Duncan,

Six years ago in a small town north of Pittsburgh, you confirmed me. During the sermon, you talked about not knowing what gifts we would receive from the Holy Spirit when you laid your hands on our heads as we committed ourselves to a life of faith as members of the Episcopal Church. You told us that we wouldn’t notice a change right away, but that one day we would know and see the fruits of the spirit in those gifts.

I am here at General Convention knowing that my current gift can be articulated best as a desire to welcome you back into the communion from which you have removed yourself. Bishop Scriven spoke to how much he loves the Anglican Communion while you have warned us of how the Communion will break as a result of our response to the Windsor report. However, this Communion is already partially broken. We all need to share the bread at the altar. When we passed the peace on Saturday morning at the Eucharist, you barely acknowledged me as I extended my hand. You, who with your hands through the Holy Spirit, welcomed me into this Church. Then you did not come to the table with us to partake in the sacrament.

I have spent the past four years at the Chapel of the Cross in Chapel Hill, North Carolina as a student, hearing stories about your time as a chaplain there. I have prayed where you have prayed and walked where you have walked.

Please don’t walk away from us as a result of the response to Windsor. We know what has been foreshadowed to happen at Lambeth in two years, but that is in fact two years from now. We can’t know what might happen in that amount of time.

I don’t want to see you walk away from this communion into which you welcomed me six years ago. Pray with us. Hope with us. Stay.

Please, don’t walk out.

Yours in Christ,

Lisa Shugert Bevevino EPF Young Adult Presence

On The Arab Palestinians in Israel and Israel as a "Jewish and democratic state"

There are six million and three hundred thousand people living in Israel, the majority of them are Jews. I'll give you a short briefing, from my point of view as a citizen of Israel, about some of the acute problems with which the Arab Palestinians who live inside the territory of the state of Israel have. There are one million and three hundred thousand Arab Palestinian living in Israel today. About two hundred thousand of them are Christians, one hundred thousand are Druze and one million are Muslims, and they all have Israeli citizenship; unlike the Arab Palestinian, who live in east Jerusalem, the west bank of the Jordon river and the Gaza strip, and have been living under Israeli occupation since 1967. Both Palestinian Arabs citizens of the state of Israel and the Palestinian Arabs who live under occupation are the indigenous people of greater Palestine before the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. The only difference between an Arab Palestinian who is an Israeli citizen and a Palestinian who lives in Palestine under Israeli occupation, is that the Palestinians who live in Israel hold Israeli citizenship—this citizenship is the only difference. The declaration of independence in 1948 defined Israel as both a Jewish and democratic state, committed to the "ingathering of the exiles", and to guaranteeing equality to all its citizens, yet insofar as Israel defines itself as Jewish, it overrides and compromises the extent to which it can be democratic. Israel as a democratic state has been legally defined as resting on three minimum conditions: where Jews from the majority, where Jews are entitled to especial treatment and where a reciprocal relationship exists between Israel and the Jewish people in the Diaspora. Yet in all these conditions the Palestinian Arab minority is both excluded and hence discriminated against: by privileging Jews, the state treats others as second class citizens. I would like to focus on Israel's basic law, that the state of Israel is a "Jewish and democratic" state, which is upheld by the Supreme Court as having status above other constitutional laws, and explain why this basic law creates discrimination of the Palestinian citizens.

Discrimination in the Israeli law:

Despite Israel's ratification of the ICCPR and its citizens against discrimination, Palestinian Arab citizens in Israel are discriminated against in a variety of forms and denied equal individual rights because of their national belonging. This discrimination offers limited provisions for equality or political participation to members of the Palestinian Arab minority. The law in Israel subjects Palestinians to three types of discrimination: direct discrimination against non-Jews within the law itself, indirect discrimination through "neutral" laws, and criteria which apply principally to through a legal framework that facilitates a systematic pattern of privileges.

Direct discrimination

One example of a law that discriminates against Palestinian Arabs by directly distinguishing between Jews and non-Jews is:

  • Citizenship rights and the law of return: national identity is the main factor in deciding the acquisition of citizenship in Israel. The law of return grants every Jew the right to immigrate to Israel. The nationality law automatically grants citizenship to all Jews who have done so, and also to their spouses, children, grandchildren, and all their spouses, this privilege is for Jews only. Palestinian Arabs can only get citizenship by birth, residence or naturalization.

"Jewish" sounds good, "democratic" sounds good- so give me both "Jewish and democratic". As if to say vanilla ice-cream is good, mocha ice cream is good, so give me vanilla mocha. Maybe it is possible to have one scoop of vanilla and one scoop of mocha, separate from each other, in one ice cream. But "Jewish and democratic" blends two things of different kinds, since democracy is not dedicated to a way of life that's so inclusive and locked to one kind or another, but it safeguards the right of different ways of life. In this equation "Jewish and democratic", the "veto" given to Judaism undermines democracy and vice versa.

In light of all I have spoken about, the demand of the Arab Palestinian citizens of Israel is that the state of Israel should be a secular, democratic state for all its citizens with all the differences of their ethnicity. Religion and the state must be separated in a concise manner to ensure that the Arab Palestinian citizens of Israel enjoy democratic rights in their land. I ask you to join us in this stand for our right to live freely and democratically in our homeland.

Neven abu rahmoun Diocese of Jerusalem Global young adults team

From one of our regular voices



Clouds of Witnesses Rejoice

Saturday night I dreamed that Katharine Jefferts Schori was elected presiding bishop. In my dream I was in a busy newsroom working on the story. People kept interrupting me and my deadline was getting closer and closer and . . . my 6 a.m. wakeup call arrived.

Darn,” I thought. “It was just a dream.”

But the joy of that dream lingered into Sunday and began to inform my day. It drifted after me to the Episcopal Women’s Caucus breakfast, to the Eucharist and tagged along into the House of Deputies.

There, in the place where pragmatism too often shoves grace aside, my dream-generated joy gave birth to a wild little hope that set aside all the pragmatic cautions I’ve heard people express: yes, Jefferts Schori is the best candidate BUT – the church isn’t ready for this; the bishops would never have the courage; they’ll go for a choice that won’t make waves.

But that wild child named Hope kept whispering: “Why not now?” Why not here?”

I realized Hope was standing on the shoulders of generations of visionary women and men who had struggled to bring women and marginalized men fully into the life and ministry of the church.

By the time the announcement was made, hope had prepared me enough that I was not stunned into speechlessness – but just barely. It literally took my breath away, as it did that of the men and women around me. As people tried to maintain a bit of decorum as the process of confirming the election proceeded, giggles kept breaking out. Little spontaneous dances kept happening. I saw two very dignified women bump tummies with each other and then collapse into laughter.

Images of generations of women such as Pamela Chinnis, Sally Bucklee, Marge Christie, the Philadelphia 11 and the Washington 4, Barbara Harris, and thousands of others rose before my eyes and I could not even begin to imagine what this day meant to those who had lived to see it. The Episcopal Women’s Caucus can and should be justifiably proud of their part in this event.

If they had caved in after the 1976 vote to ordain women to priesthood and episcopate when conservatives threatened to split the church, this day would not have happened. If they had caved in after the election of Barbara Harris, which conservatives called “the final crisis,” this day would not have happened.

If the church had caved into the frequent and loud demands of conservatives to repent of those prophetic actions, this day would not have come.

When the new presiding bishop was escorted into the HOD, hope and joy exploded into the room. People were cheering, standing on chairs, waving their arms in the air. Happy pandemonium reigned for at least three full minutes.

I could feel the joy of the clouds of witnesses of all the women and men who had been set aside, told to wait, told that the time wasn’t right for them to be fully included in the life and ministry of the church because of their color, their ethnicity, their gender or their sexual orientation.

My rejoicing at this election is tempered by the knowledge that some in this church are still quite willing to “create space for healing” by throwing my brothers and sisters out of the boat.

They are quite willing to buy unity by sacrificing gay, lesbian, transgendered and bisexual brothers and sisters.

But Integrity won’t cave in. And The Episcopal Women’s Caucus will hold to its vision of the church as a place that honors the ministry of all women. We know that such a church will honor the ministry of all people. All people. May the church also hold fast to that vision.

And we pray that God will hold Katharine close, give her vision, courage, grace, strength, laughter, and, most of all, love. Our prayers are with her.

Katie Sherrod

Lunch Time Speakers
under
The Consultation banner

Today at 1:15 -- EPF Young Adult Team with Winnie Varghese

Gentle hints may not be enough!

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.
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

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

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!


ISSUES

2006

SATURDAY JUNE 17

     ISSUES 2006 may be seen at  http:\\www.theconsultation.org\

Immigration

For the past three months, immigrations have dominated new stories from coast to coast, border to border. The controversy has drawn attention away from the immoral, failing war in Iraq and corruption in the U.S. Government. The victims of this ploy are millions of hard working people dedicated to their families, communities and faith communities including the Episcopal Church.

Economics are the driving force of massive immigration into the U.S. (and other countries), and the U.S. in practice welcomes the immigrant boost to the economy. There are statistics to be tossed about, indignant self-righteousness about “breaking the law,” and with each case of illegal immigration there is a human face.

My home parish was really excited a little over a year ago when we were able to hire a Hispanic/Latino Missioner and Youth Director. Juan is Mexican born and has lived in the U.S. for 20 years (originally coming as an undocumented 14 year old). He was adopted by an Episcopal priest and his wife, an ESL teacher. He graduated from a U.S. college, English became his dominant language and U.S. culture his dominant culture. In the late 90s, Juan gained legal status through a religious worker visa. Due to a paperwork glitch and a lost in the mail application for an extension, Juan’s visa lapsed. Our parish re-petitioned – Juan left in December for his visa interview. Six months and $8,000.00 in attorney fees later, he is stuck in Mexico while U.S. immigration sits on his request for a waiver. Juan is one individual of millions separated from family, his job and community by our broken immigration system.

Compassionate immigration reform should include: