Re: Bp Righter trial: Are gays and lesbians *actually* on trial?

[barbara wolf <lupa@biddeford.com>]

At 05:34 PM 3/3/96 -0500, Thom Webster and Robert Rea wrote:
The whole>>controversy seems to center upon the issue of homosexuality. Do
you agree?>

>Feels like it to me too. And it hurts.>

I think it is in part centered on that issue--but I think there is much more
involved.  Episcopalians have always been nervous about authority.  Oh yes,
we like having Bishops, because we cherish the "apostolic" in our heritage
and because we really *do* like order.  But, because we're Americans, we
don't want Bishops to get out of hand, as it were.  (My American Ch. history
is very weak--Tom Rightmyer would know-- but I seem to remember that it was
a matter of considerable debate after the Amer. Revolution as to how the
Anglican Ch. could, so to speak, be American, what with Bps and all.)

There's no doubt that homosexuality and the ordination of lesbians and gays
provides a spark--the ordination of women almost did the same--for what
looks to me like the same struggle all over again.  I note that as long as
everything was nice and quiet, as long as nobody "went public", it was
possible to pretend that there were no problems of episcopal authority at
all.  Each bishop could follow his (by the way, am I correct in saying that
no woman bishop was involved in the Presentment?) own conscience when it
came to ordaining people.  Indeed, we all know of bishops who ordained just
about anybody who would volunteer!

(One might, incidentally, see exactly the same struggle in all the brouhaha
at A&St.A--notice there how easily the "authority"/"conscience" thing plays
out in another arena.  Those of us on the outside may regard that particular
incident as having all the significance of a sand-box war, but I am
sure--judging from the posts I've read here--that there was genuine pain in
the hearts of at least some of the participants.)

The saddest part of this whole mess is that people like Bob and Thom have
been made to feel as if they are *personally* under attack--and that the
Church in which they have found a home seems to have dragged them into a
spotlight they did not seek or want. This is what happens when human beings
make idols out of doctrine.

I hope Bob and Thom understand that they are welcome in this parish--despite
all its shenanigans.  Perhaps if they can save some of the wilder posts for
later, the fun and games will prove to be healing.  I rely on the nonsense,
even when I 'm out of sorts or down or even in a real snit.  It reminds me
that since I have to live simultaneously in the Kingdom and in this
pain-ridden, tragic, foolish world, I need very much to laugh just as much
as I need to weep.
Barbara Wolf

        "But we've got to be careful not to reduce people by cramming
        them in the limits of our understanding, haven't we?"

                                                Reginald Hill