The Vatican is very, very angry at the Episcopal Church for voting last week to add gender identity and expression to the church’s nondiscrimination laws — thus affirming trans people as full members of the church and allowing them to be ordained — and approving a rite of blessing for gay and lesbian unions.
Francis DeBernardo of New Ways Ministry reports that a senior Vatican official has condemned the decision as “a huge obstacle on the path to Christian unity.” The prelate, Bishop Brian Farrell, is Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, the ecumenical branch of the Catholic Church. Farrell told the Catholic News Service that the Episcopal Church’s pro-LGBT progress will adversely impact its ongoing dialogue with the Catholic Church in the United States and that it “jeopardizes the achievements of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission since 1970.”
Responding to the criticism, Rev. Susan Russell of Pasadena, California — a longtime proponent of LGBT inclusion in the Episcopal Church — remarked to the Christian Science Monitor:
“We are not going to be blackmailed into bigotry against our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters in order to maintain a unity that requires uniformity.”
Kudos to Rev. Russell and the Episcopal Church for standing their ground in the face of threats and spiritual bullying from homophobic religious leaders. While I’d like to hope that the Catholic Church wouldn’t be so petty as to allow advances in LGBT rights to impede its relationship with more enlightened religious bodies, I’m not surprised by this latest move, given the fact that the Catholic hierarchy seems intent on taking every possible opportunity to punish LGBT people and those who love, support, embrace, and include them.
Besides, the worst that could possibly happen in this situation is that the hierarchy of the Catholic Church decides to cut off dialogue with the Episcopalians entirely. And as far as I’m concerned, that’s not a bad thing — a dialogue that’s contingent upon the acceptance of malicious anti-LGBT bigotry isn’t really worth continuing at all.
Proud member of TEC! Who cares what those meddlers think! And any dialog with the RCC is really a monolog. They dictate and you listen and obey. Notice the vatican spokesman also used the word ‘progress’ when referring to lgbt folks in the EC. Subconsciously maybe he knows we’re right and they are wrong.
The only “obstacle” to “unity” is that the RC church wasn’t all other Christians to roll over and play dead for the Vatican. That’s the ONLY “unity” in which they are interested.
“Christian unity”???!!!!! As if there ever could be! Don’t make me laugh. The only thing uniting you guys is the shared belief that yours is the only Christian faction not going to hell.
Bonnie: I’m Episcopalian and I don’t believe in hell. I don’t even believe in life after death. I believe in doing good work while I’m here and loving everyone. Including you.
Proud member of TEC here too. I’m sad to report that Bonnie’s little snark would be termed anti-Semitic if she’d said Jewish instead of Christian.
LGBTs who want an end to discrimination shouldn’t engage in the same thing.
God loves the sinner,but hates the sin!
Unity? And just how many sects, splinter groups and cults in Christianity alone, are there?
And then let’s not forget that we have Judaism, Christianity AND Islam with the supposed god of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as their deity of choice; who by the way, is allegedly the same yesterday, today and forever… which opens up another can of worms given what he/she/it allowed an encouraged in the past.
Unity. Sheer utter nonsense.
Can you show me where god said exactly that?
Dan Allen: My God loves everyone and doesn’t consider being LGBT a sin.
Sorry, I know I was too mean there. Obviously not all Christianity is like that. I should have been more specific in criticizing only the my-way-or-Hell nutjobs like the folks at the Vatican.
As if it were a secret that Protestants HATE the Pope! What do you think they were PROTESTING? They are called PROTESTANTS because they HATED the Pope.
Thanks, Bonnie. :)
Not like they really needed it, but if the Episcopal Church ever needed confirmation that they did the right thing, they just got it.
Thanks for the quote and for raising the profile on the issues at hand. We are clearly on a journey toward becoming the human family we were created to be … and I’m grateful to be part of a church working to be a headlight rather than a taillight as we journey into God’s future.
The Reverend Canon Susan Russell
All Saints Church, Pasadena
They really need to mind their own business.
About a third of the Episcopalians I know (and I know hundreds) are former Roman Catholics.
If a Roman Catholic–or anyone else–wants to check out an Episcopal parish close to them, check out http://www.integritynycmetro.org and click the Contact link. We cover NYC, Newark, and Long Island, but are happy to help you find a welcoming Episcopal parish anywhere.
Bumper sticker on my car: i believe in the separation of church and hate.
Good for the TEC. THough not Christian, I have great admiration for the Episcopal Church. The Pope and his minions, however, can take a really long walk off a really short pier.
There was never a unified Christianity (a myth perpetuated by the Vatican) and there never will be. Why should “unity” even be a goal? If diversity of belief is good enough for the Bible, it’s good enough for me.
You can find a LGBT-welcoming Episcopal congregation nationwide at http://bolec.integrityusa.org; we are participants in the Believe Out Loud program (http://www.believeoutoutloud.com) along 14 other denominational partners.
Wellll, so this will seriously damage Anglican and Roman Catholic dialog for reconciliation. Welllll, the Episcopalians adopted the Anglicans for the sake of Communion. The Vatican can have the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Vatican can bow to whomever the reigning monarch of England may be; why should Episcopalians?
Gerald, what are you trying to say? Almost nothing you wrote adds up.
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