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The Newsletter of the Interfaith Working Group
December 2000/January 2001
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Soulforce, Dignity, and EPF at the NCCB
The final
Soulforce
nonviolent resistance direct action
of the year 2000 engaged the
National Conference of Catholic Bishops
(NCCB)
which met in Washington, DC.
The Soulforce direct action was cosponsored by
Dignity/USA
and Equal Partners in Faith. Over
two-hundred and fifty gay, lesbian, bisexual, and
transgender (GLBT) individuals and families, friends and
allies from all over the United States participated.
The action began with a
series of letters
between
Soulforce and Bishop Fiorenza (NCCB president), in
which Soulforce outlined their requests. They are asking
the bishops to allow Dignity/USA to meet on church
property, to celebrate mass for Dignity, to offer an
apology to sexual and gender minorities "for their tragic
treatment by the Roman Catholic Church for the last
twenty centuries," and to "appoint a national blue ribbon
committee of clergy and laity (with openly gay, lesbian,
bisexual, and transgendered Catholics, including those
in loving, committed relationships) to re-examine the
Vatican's teachings against us and to begin a dialogue
with us that will lead to hope and healing for us all."
Bishop Fiorenza denied all of the requests. Participants
in the action "adopted" individual bishops and wrote
introductory letters to them explaining why they were
participating in the action. On Saturday, November 12,
Bishops Joseph A. Galante and A. J. Quinn met with
representatives from Soulforce and Dignity/USA.
On the evening of Monday, November 13, following a
press conference with Arun Gandhi and other speakers,
participants walked quietly across a bridge to the
National
Shrine (the largest Roman Catholic Cathedral in
North America), carrying the names of their adopted
bishops. Lining the sidewalks around the shrine, they
stood in silent vigil as the Bishops and invited
dignitaries arrived for a special mass. As the mass began, the
action participants returned to the
National City Christian
Church for dinner and a rally.
On the morning of Tuesday, November 14, as the
Bishops were meeting across town, action participants
repeated the march across the bridge to the National
Shrine, praying, singing, and blessing the cathedral. Just
over a hundred people were subsequently arrested for
blocking the driveway to the Shrine, fined $50 per
person and released after being processed by the police.
Among those arrested were Maryanne Duddy (executive
director, Dignity/USA) and the Revs. Mel White, Jimmy
Creech, Phil Lawson, and William Sloan Coffin. A silent
vigil continued on the sidewalk outside the hotel where
the bishops were meeting through Thursday, November
16.
The actions were covered by the Washington Post,
Religion News Service, Baptist Press, Associated Press
(AP), Baltimore Sun, Houston Chronicle, Washington
Blade, Gay People's Chronicle, Seattle Gay News,
Chicago Free Press, and more. The Philadelphia
Inquirer published the AP story on the third page, with a
photo of some participants waiting to be arrested,
including the Rev. William Sloan Coffin and 95-year-old
grandmother Fran Taft, both in wheelchairs.
Thoughts on the Soulforce Action
In
an open letter to the Roman Catholic Bishops of
America, Rev. William Sloan Coffin wrote: "I know that
the Roman Catholic Church repudiates violent forms of
homophobia. But to deplore the violence while
continuing to proclaim the ideas that undergird it strikes
thoughtful people as hypocritical. The teaching of the
Church sanctifies the denigration of gays and lesbians. So
instead of looking at gays and lesbians from the
perspective of Catholic theology wouldn't it be better to look at
Catholic theology from the perspective of gays and
lesbians? The picture of Matthew Shepard hanging on a
Wyoming fence burns in my mind and heart."
In a statement to the
NCCB, Bishop Galante
mentioned the meeting with
Soulforce and
Dignity/USA, and
said: "...it is worth our being on record that fidelity to the
Gospel teaching on marriage and sexuality is an essential
part of our discipleship of Christ. As challenging as this
teaching is and has always been, it is not a form of
spiritual violence toward others." He also quoted the
Congregation for the Preservation of the Faith, the Catechism,
and the
letter
to Soulforce from Bishop Fiorenza, noting
that "violent malice in speech or action" against "persons
of homosexual orientation" should be condemned by "the
Church's pastors wherever it occurs;" that the "intrinsic
dignity of each person must always be respected in word,
in action and in law;" that gay, lesbian, and bisexual
people "must be accepted with respect, compassion, and
sensitivity;" and that "Catholics who do not observe this part
of the Church's teaching on homosexuality 'are not in
accord with the mind and heart of the church.'"
The
Traditional Values Coalition
Message to Pastors
and Lay Leaders stated that Mel White's comments "give
us more reason than ever to oppose the passage of pro-homosexual hate
crimes laws."
Catholic League
President William Donohue
said: "It
is the politics of intimidation that Soulforce is now using
to get Catholics and Protestants to recognize the
egitimacy of sodomy." He then argued that sado-masochism
"is what kills gays, not talks on abstinence."
Dignity/USA
President Mary Louise Cervone said:
"One of the most powerful moments of these events was
to see hundreds of people, brought together through the
pain and oppression of our various religious backgrounds
to witness to the love of God for all GLBT people
everywhere. Dignity/USA looks forward to continuing its
relationship with Soulforce and is proud to have stood with
Soulforce in solidarity with our GLBT brothers and
sisters everywhere."
A Christian Statement on Marriage?
A statement
affirming mixed-gender marriage was
signed by Bishop Anthony O'Connell (chairman,
NCCB
Committee on Marriage and Family Life), Dr. Richard
Land (president,
Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission,
Southern Baptist Convention), and Bishop Kevin
Mannoia (president,
National Association of Evangelicals).
The Associated Press (AP) report on the release of
the statement called it a rejection of same-gender marriage,
and mostly covered the
Soulforce-organized
non-violent resistance action at the NCCB. Soulforce was
not reacting to the marriage statement, but the action was
related to it. Rev. Dr. Robert Edgar, general secretary of
the
National Council of Churches (NCC),
was originally
listed as a signer of the statement, but he then posted
a reaction to the statement on the NCC website
in which he urged that it not be interpreted as an anti-gay
statement; then the Southern Voice reported that Rev.
Dr. Edgar objected to the AP characterization of the
marriage statement and offered some disagreement with
the statement he had signed. Finally, the Presbyterian
Church (USA) News Service reported that he had
removed his endorsement entirely from the statement.
The Rev. Mel White (Soulforce
executive director)
said:
"In this dramatic about-face, Dr. Edgar has placed
the National Council of Churches squarely on the side of
lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans."
Dr. Land was quoted in the Baptist Press: "If Dr.
Edgar's and the NCC's price for ecumenical endeavor is
affirmation of same-sex relationships, then the price is,
and always will be, too high and unacceptable."
Arizona State Chaplain
The coming out of Charles Coppinger, chaplain of the
Arizona State Legislature, was reported by
Focus on the Family,
in a story that said state legislators were
"reeling," "stunned," and "feeling betrayed," and which
included a recommended reading list of anti-gay and pro-ex-gay
books, and a suggestion from Focus' Mike Haley
that Coppinger read I Corinthians and the first chapter of
Romans. The article did not mention the inherent entanglement risks of
having a legislative chaplain. Coppinger has been unordained by
Christ's Church of the Valley,
and has joined
Community Church of Hope,
according to the Arizona Republic.
Coppinger also participated in the
Soulforce non-violent resistance action at
the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.
United Methodist Church
The Reconciling Congregations Program
announced
that it has changed its name to Reconciling Ministries
Network (RMN). Noting that over the last decade,
thirty-five percent of United Methodists have repeatedly
voiced support for full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender persons in the church, the RMN board
"recognized the need to connect, support, equip, nurture
and resource the people of this movement....connecting
faith communities, campus ministries, local congregations
and affinity groups such as
United Methodists of Color for a Fully Inclusive Church,
Parents Reconciling Network
and MOSAIC (Methodist Students for an Inclusive Church)....
[and honoring]...the diverse ways people want
to participate in the movement--some through healing
and being in solidarity, others through challenging UMC
policy and practice, and others through creating a
'church of resistance'--a church within a church
committed to developing ministry and resources for
congregations and individuals who feel alienated from the
denomination because of its exclusive policies."
NCCB and Human Reproduction
In a statement entitled
"Abortion and the Supreme
Court: Advancing the Culture of Death," the
NCCB said:
"We recommit ourselves to the long and difficult task of
reversing the Supreme Court's abortion
decisions--Stenberg v. Carhart as well as Roe v. Wade itself, which laid
the foundation for a right to take innocent life. We invite
people of good will to explore with us all avenues for
legal reform, including a constitutional amendment."
In a November 13 statement,
Catholics for a Free Choice
President Francis Kisling criticized the NCCB's
decision to remove a discussion about proposed changes
to the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic
Health Care Services from the agenda of its annual
meeting. Noting that the NCCB had proposed a series of
revisions to the Directives that would close a loophole in
an interpretation of church teaching that allows some
Catholic-affiliated hospitals to provide tubal ligations
(forbidden by the Catholic hierarchy), Kisling said: "We
are distressed by the sudden decision of the NCCB to
remove discussion of this important matter from its
meeting agenda. Some 11 million women in the United States
below age 45 rely on sterilization to prevent pregnancy
and assist in planning their families. This issue is too
important to be left unresolved. The policy that the NCCB
ultimately decides on will have a
major impact on the availability of
women's health services in mergers between Catholic and
non-Catholic hospitals currently under negotiation.
Women, hospitals and the regulatory agencies that govern
hospital mergers have a right to know in a timely matter
what the bishops' policy on sterilization will be."
On November 17, the
Religious Coalition for
Reproductive Choice's
board of directors called on the NCCB
and the Vatican to enter into dialogue to determine how
to continue sterilization in hospitals in the United States
affiliated with and controlled by the Catholic Church, and
called on Protestant and Jewish organizations to protect
sterilization services so that women can make
reproductive health care decisions based on their own religious
beliefs, conscience, and circumstances.
The Miami Herald later reported that the Bishops
were considering a revision of the guidelines in which the
word "evil" had been removed from the description of
sterilization, and contraceptives might be allowed in non-Catholic
partner hospitals.
Welcoming Scouts?
The Providence Journal Bulletin reports that a Boy
Scout Troop and a Cub Scout Pack in Providence, RI
have both declared that they will not follow the gay ban,
and have sent letters to their governing bodies informing
them of that decision.
Second Parent Adoptions in Pennsylvania
On November 1, the Pennsylvania Superior Court
ruled six to three that people in same-gender
relationships cannot adopt a partner's child(ren) in second-parent
adoptions. The
Center for Lesbian
and Gay Civil Rights
explains
that second-parent adoption occurs when
the partner of a legal parent (one who is a parent by
adoption or biology) adopts a child without terminating
the parental rights of the first parent. Second-parent
adoption means that both parents have the same rights
and responsibilities relating to the child and the child has
the same rights with respect to both parents. The judges
ruled that the state's Adoption Act only allows someone
to jointly adopt a partner's child if they are married, and
Pennsylvania law forbids marriages between people of
the same gender. However, courts in fourteen of
Pennsylvania's sixty-seven counties have allowed same-gender
couples to adopt.
Presbyterian Church (USA)
The Permanent Judicial Commission of the Synod of
the Northeast found no irregularities in the selection of
Wayne Osborne as elder of
First Presbyterian Church of
Stamford, CT. Osborne's term expires in May, 2001; the
church court appeals may not be fully exhausted before
then, meaning that he will never have actually served.
According to
"That All May Freely Serve," the
Presbytery of Baltimore passed an overture asking the 2001
General Assembly to delete the rule prohibiting
"spontaneous or planned demonstrations by individuals or
groups...inside the building where the General Assembly meets."
The rule forbids protests only, not celebrations.
The overture calls the current rule "an abandonment of the great
respect dissent has held in the
history of the Reformed tradition." Some believe the rule is
targeted at protests against anti-gay actions.
Help Us Increase Your Visibility
According to a story in the November 25
Philadelphia Inquirer religion section, researchers at the
University of Pennsylvania have released results of their
survey of Philadelphia congregations, indicating that 15
percent self-identified as fundamentalist, 39.5 percent
conservative, 36 percent moderate, and 9.5 percent liberal.
We invite religious organizations, congregations,
and clergy who support equal rights for sexual minorities,
reproductive freedom, and separation of church and state
to be listed on our
letterhead. We also invite congregations
that welcome sexual minorities, their families,
and friends, to request a listing in our
Welcoming Congregations Brochure.
Dr. Laura
Due to low ratings and a dearth of advertisers, the
Dr. Laura
television show has been moved to a late-night
time slot in twelve of the top twenty-five markets
(including the top five and nine of the top ten). Dr. Laura's
corporate-sponsored medical and religious misinformation
and defamation are still being dispensed on the web,
the radio, and in smaller television markets.
GLAAD
executive director Joan M. Garry promised that "GLAAD
will continue to monitor Dr. Laura and educate those
advertisers who associate their brands with the show."
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