Michigan Symposium on Same-sex Unions Meeting Strong Reaction
Episcopal News Service. January 25, 1990 [90021]
A Detroit symposium billed as the first of its kind, on "the theological implications of blessing same-sex couples," has provoked angry response from conservatives and threats of withholding financial support to the Diocese of Michigan.
An estimated 30 to 45 people were witness to some thought-provoking exchanges during the course of the January 13 symposium, which was sponsored by the parish of St. Matthew and St. Joseph, Integrity Detroit, and two diocesan organizations.
In the opening presentation, the Rev. Harvey Guthrie, rector of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Ann Arbor and former dean of the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, said that the Bible teaches marriage is the symbol of the union that God desires with humanity.
Guthrie said some same-sex couples are capable "of signifying, indicating, and sacramentalizing God's loving union with the community and the fulfillment of our humanity as are heterosexual unions and [celibate] monastic communities."
In a later presentation, the Rev. Zalmon Sherwood, a gay Episcopal priest at St. Paul's Church in Jackson, told the group that he has blessed a number of same-sex couples, although he is careful to distinguish between a blessing and a marriage. Episcopal Church rules forbid priests from marrying couples without civil marriage certificates; civil laws prohibit same-sex couples from marriage.
When gay or lesbian couples approach Sherwood for a blessing of their relationship, he said that he encourages them to design their own vows instead of mimicking heterosexual wedding traditions. "I tell them that the church does not in fact marry anyone. People marry each other. The church hears them make their public vows to love each other and to live in a faithful relationship. Then the church adds its blessing," Sherwood said. "The church's only contribution is to convey an ecclesiastical sanction on the relationship."
Sherwood said homosexuals who want his blessing must follow some guidelines: they must live together for at least six months prior to the ceremony, maintain membership in a worship community, participate in as many as six counseling sessions in a period of two to three months, and prepare wills to provide for their mates.
In another presentation, the Rev. Robert Williams, a recently ordained, openly gay priest from the Diocese of Newark, raised the eyebrows and ire of some symposium observers when he challenged the church's traditional teaching on celibacy and monogamy. Drawing a distinction between monogamy and faithfulness, Williams was reported in Detroit newspapers as saying, "I would bless a relationship that doesn't intend to be monogamous, but I would not bless those who intend to be unfaithful."
Williams also shocked some symposium participants when he questioned the legitimacy of celibacy. The Detroit News reported that Williams suggested that "Mother Teresa would be a better person if she were sexually active." According to the News, "The audience froze for a moment. Several people gasped."
Williams's statements were not the only ones that drew strong reaction in the diocese. Sherwood's opinion that the "blessing has the power to challenge the entire social order because it challenges the concept of the nuclear family unity, which no longer seems a viable model" drew angry response. The Rev. Kenneth Bieber of St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Bainbridge said the church "recognizes only one valid expression of sexuality, and that's between a man and a woman who are united in marriage."
An attempt by some angry parishioners to challenge Sherwood's tenure as priest-in-charge of St. Paul's in Jackson fell short when the vestry declined to take action. "My parishioners know how committed I am to all issues of peace and justice, especially issues as they relate to the poor," Sherwood told a local newspaper.
The Rev. Richard Kim of St. John's Episcopal Church in Detroit called same-sex unions an "abomination," "absolute madness." He said he would consider withholding donations to the diocese "until we get a full discussion going and we clear the air." He and other members of the Episcopal Synod of America (ESA), formed last June to oppose what it considers liberal trends in the denomination, held a special meeting to consider a response.
"People are deeply troubled by all of this," said the Rev. Gene Geromel, rector of St. Bartholomew Church in Swartz Creek, and one of the 17 priests who attended the closed-door ESA meeting. "They believe strongly that same-sex unions are unscriptural and cannot continue. Even a discussion of it is sad because Scripture is quite clear that it is wrong," Geromel said.
Geromel reported that the ESA priests "discussed a lot of options," but have not yet decided to withhold financial support of the diocese. "Our goal is to have good relations with our bishop but to remind him that the vast majority of Episcopalians are opposed to same-sex unions," he said. Meanwhile, he said some members of diocesan parishes were expected to draft letters "asking the bishop and all priests to cease and desist from such unions or blessings."
The possibility of an open discussion on the issue has been endorsed by Bishop R. Stewart Wood who went to the symposium as an observer. Wood has said he has received requests for blessings from gay couples and, in some cases, "had no difficulty giving thanks to God for what had been expressed in their relationship." Yet, Wood admitted that a diocesan-wide policy of blessing same-sex unions, which would require the approval of the diocesan convention, may be far off.
In a press conference on January 24 Bishop Wood affirmed "the understanding of Christian marriage contained within the Prayer Book and Constitution and Canons of our church." Yet, he also pointed out that the "1988 General Convention encouraged the church to listen to its gay and lesbian members share their stories and thereby come to appreciate in new ways what it is like for them to seek to be faithful."
Wood said, "The hostility homosexual persons experience in the world makes it all the more important for them to have the opportunity to speak and be heard within the church of which they are members."
Woods said he had "never been asked to officiate or be present at a service in which two homosexual persons have committed themselves to each other and have sought the blessing of the church upon their union." He reported that he has "known homosexual persons who have lived together in fidelity to one another and a commitment to the church," but acknowledged the "inadequacy I feel in responding." Wood said he has only been able to express his "spontaneous blessing" for such persons "in private."
The bishop reiterated his hope that the continuing reaction in the diocese would not end the dialogue sparked by the recent symposium. "Some would like me to bring an end to the discussion and discipline or sanction those who have shared their attempts to be responsive to homosexual persons seeking a blessing from the church. I believe we have not listened enough to the homosexual persons within the church or to one another. I will encourage continued dialogue. It has been the style of my ordained ministry from the beginning," he said.