Date: Thu, 17 Feb 94 10:46:20 EST From: "Louie Crew" Reply-To: Louie Crew To: E-Catacomb of Lesbigay Christians Subject: The Samaritans are coming, the Samaritans (Paulene Revere) EPISCOPAL STAND ON GAY RIGHTS RENDS LAITY _The Boston Globe_ February 6, 1994, Pg. 29 By James L. Franklin, Globe Staff When the Episcopal diocese of Massachusetts held its annual convention last November, it urged the national church to bless homosexual couples within the church, and to allow the ordination of gays and lesbians to the priesthood -despite a survey showing only a third of its members supported those ideas. As the diocese opens hearings tomorrow on the election of a new bishop March 12, officials of the church acknowledge the diocese's increasingly liberal stands have cut its financial support from some members, and increased turmoil in a church already at a crossroad about its identity. The Massachusetts diocese - the largest Episcopal diocese in the country -has made a reputation as one of the most liberal in a liberal church. The dean of the local seminary, the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, says its reputation as a liberal stronghold has convinced some dioceses nationally not to send seminary students there. Now the vigorous efforts by clergy and lay leaders to offer gays and lesbians fuller rights within the church are distancing much of the rank and file from diocesan leaders. Here are some of the signs of the strong divisions over the issue within the Massachusetts diocese: - Faculty of the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge openly oppose the national church's rules barring ordination of homosexuals. They characterize church leaders who support the status quo as "the Episcopal version of Pat Buchanan," in the words of Rev. Carter I. Heyward, professor of theology. "I don't think there's much room for dialogue," she said. Rev. William Rankin, the school's new dean, says the seminary's advocacy for gays and lesbians "has hurt enrollment in the sense that some bishops have not wanted to send candidates for ordination to us." But he added, "Other bishops admire our honesty and our integrity." - Last fall the 67-year-old outgoing dean of the Cambridge seminary, Bishop Otis Charles, became the first Episcopal bishop to announce publicly that he was gay. He received warm support from bishops across the country. - A survey last May by the Diocese of Massachusetts that included both church leadership and rank and file members showed the church laity as notably more conservative than church leaders. Some 44 percent of those who responded disagree with blessing same-sex couples, compared with 31 percent who agree, while 40 percent disagree with ordaining gay or lesbian clergy, while 36 percent agree. "The laity in the pews ... who generally don't have much to say, are much more conservative than the leadership - both clergy and lay," said William K. Tinkham, a ninth generation Episcopalian and member of Boston's Church of the Advent. - Since November, Episcopal parishes in Norwood and Melrose have written to the current leader of the diocese, Bishop David E. Johnson, saying they are withholding financial support because of the stands on homosexuality taken by the convention. - More than half its 400 priests have arrived in the diocese within the past seven years, a sign of high turnover and frequent rector- parish conflict, observed Rev. K. Gordon White of St. John's Church in Lowell, a veteran rector and secretary of the Massachusetts Commission on Christian Unity. Twenty-five parishes are currently without rectors, and Bishop David E. Johnson told church leaders in November that he is distressed about the growing incidence of Episcopal rectors forced out of parishes in a power struggle with lay leaders or because of differences with parish members. Yet the Massachusetts diocese, long a leader in the ecumenical movement, is more than the sum of its current problems. With its stately tradition of worship and a balance of power between bishops and congregations, the Episcopal Church remains a bridge between Protestant and Catholic rituals that attracts members from many other churches. The diocese in Massachusetts, which extends west as far as Worcester, includes many wealthy and socially prominent members, and has a strong record in social advocacy. For example, Bishop Johnson has built an organization to foster public support for education, and diocesan officials have also worked hard on child welfare issues and homelessness. For more than a generation, the church here and nationally has risked controversy, first over support for the civil rights, black power and antiwar movements of the 1960s, and later the women's movement of the '70s and '80s. Membership has dropped over the same period, from a national high of about 3.4 million in the mid-1960s to about 2.4 million in 1989. The Massachusetts diocese lost almost 35 percent of its members, from 144,019 in 1966 to 93,821 in 1991. More recently, the diocese has seen membership stabilize at about 95,000. Bishop Johnson says that despite the many controversies, "I don't feel negative about where we're going in this diocese. In fact, I see that we have much stronger efforts toward building community than in the past." Other respected figures in the diocese believe "the church is in crisis," in the words of Rev. Richard T. Loring, rector of St. Luke's Church in Chelsea, who helps review the qualifications of ordination candidates. "It is well known there has been a financial crunch in the diocese, and now conservative people are also upset at the sexuality resolutions." Episcopalians have weathered other divisive controversies, including long fights over women's ordination and changes in the Book of Common Prayer. What drives the current controversy over the homosexuality resolutions is that many did not expect them to be adopted in November. "Many people I know were astonished to find those resolutions had passed," said Joyce Ralph of Reading, the wife of Rev. Lester Ralph, a rector in Somerville for 17 years. "This was presented as an issue of simple inclusiveness when in fact it tries to redefine the sacraments of the church." But for others, the sexuality resolutions, and the prospect of a bishop who would be sympathetic to the motives that inspired them, is just where the church should be. "If a new bishop can show he can fire up the small, isolated churches ... in rural areas or communities of color, or that minister to the gay community, then I think bigger churches will support him," said Ben Strohecker of Marblehead, a member of the committee that nominated candidates for bishop. "But even if it means losing money or closing up some larger churches because the moneybags can't go along, then fine," said Strohecker. "We have to get on with Christ's work." GRAPHIC: PHOTO, Rev. Carter I. Heyward (left) and Rev. William Rankin have leadership roles in what is viewed as the church's most liberal diocese. / GLOBE STAFF PHOTO / JANET KNOTT