The embattled bishops and a lesbian priest

[19/07/98 - Clare Garner - Web - http://www.independent.co.uk/sindy/sindy.html]

AN OPENLY lesbian priest who admits that for many Christians she is "a horrifying double vision of all that is wrong with the Church" yesterday called upon the Anglican Church to confront its homophobia. 

As 800 bishops from around the world descended on Canterbury for the 10-yearly Lambeth Conference, Canon Elizabeth Kaeton, from New Jersey, told a press conference in London that her "entire humanity is reduced to an identification with a particular sex act", and that she is known, quite simply, as "the lesbian". Canon Kaeton yesterday celebrated the Eucharist at King's College, London, becoming the first openly lesbian priest to do so in this country. 

Homosexuality is to Lambeth 1998 what the ordination of women was to Lambeth 1988 - a vexed and unavoidable question which threatens to split the conference. The Rev Richard Kirker, general secretary of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement (LGCM), which campaigns for the ordination of gays and the blessing of same-sex couples, believes that the "time has come" for the issue of homosexuality in the church to be tackled head-on. 

"We want to detonate the myths that this issue is of marginal importance," he said on the eve of the conference. "It's about truth, it's about justice - and what is more important than truth and justice in a Christian meeting? Now that the question of the ordination of women is almost resolved, we want the lesbian and gay voice to be heard. 

"The organisers will try their best to make this as marginal an issue as they can decently be seen to be doing, but even if they attempt to ignore us, our opponents don't wish to be ignored - which will help us." 

The topic of homosexuality will be discussed on Thursday in a debate on human sexuality which includes marriage, divorce, cohabitation, polygamy and pornography. However, the background paper acknowledges that homosexuality will be "one of the most sensitive" subjects of the conference. 

This morning campaigners for the ordination of gay and lesbian Christians were due to hold a vigil outside Canterbury Cathedral, where the conference's opening service is being held. Their banner will read: "God Loves Her Gay and Lesbian Clergy." As the service begins, they will proceed to their "Not The Lambeth Conference" service of holy communion, celebrated by Ms Kaeton and a British gay priest, the Rev Malcolm Johnson. 

But many bishops have arrived at the Lambeth Conference with their minds made up. On one side are the liberals - mostly American and led by Jack Spong, bishop of Newark, New Jersey - who insist that Christ loved everyone equally. The Bishop of Edinburgh, the Rt Rev Richard Holloway, a heterosexual, has written one of the "letters" to his brother bishops, claiming that it is un-Christian to exclude homosexuals. 

On the other are the Evangelicals from the Western World and the majority of Third World bishops. The Kuala Lumpur Statement, produced in February 1997, enshrines the thinking of bishops from the southern hemisphere. It states that Biblical teaching on homosexuality is "unambiguous". Same sex relationships are "sinful" and the ordination of practising homo- sexuals "totally unacceptable". 

Bishop Spong yesterday threatened to produce a minority statement signed by 88 Anglican Bishops from the United States declaring sexuality to be ethically neutral, should Lambeth bishops vote in favour of the Kuala Lumpur Statement. 

Mr Kirker maintains that opposition to gay priests has no theological basis. "It is an emotion, a gut reaction," he said. "Just as what really prevented the ordination of women was misogyny, so what we are actually dealing with here is homophobia. The theology is clear: God made everyone equal." 

Mr Kirker estimates that 20 per cent of clergy throughout the Anglican Communion are lesbian or gay, whether practising, non-practising or married. He is delighted with the endorsement of the retired Anglican archbishop Desmond Tutu, who has written the preface to the LGCM's new pamphlet: "Lesbian and Gay Christians Called to Full Humanity: Letters to the Lambeth Bishops," a copy of which awaited every bishop on arrival in Canterbury. "Like the colour of one's skin, sexual orientation is a biological given, over which the individual has no choice," he writes. "Christ has a bias for the poor, the unloved, the marginalised, the vulnerable; society has its own mind about those whom it sees as not 'fitting in'." 

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Carey, who is leading the Lambeth Conference, adopts what he describes as a "traditional" stance, opposing the ordination of practising homosexuals. In November last year, Bishop Spong issued a strongly-worded "Message to the Anglican Communion" about homosexuality. His letter elicited a rebuke from Dr Carey who attacked his "inappropriate" tactics and hectoring tone. Many doubt that Bishop Spong is even a Christian. He recently circulated 12 theses on the internet including the proposition that "theism is dead". Evangelicals lobbied Dr Carey to ban Bishop Spong from the conference, but he declined to do so. 

Meanwhile, Bishop Spong continues his campaign against what he sees as the selective use of the Bible. 

"We've been wrong before, when we quoted the Bible to oppose Galileo and Darwin, and to support slavery," he said. "[This debate] reminds me of the battle we had 100 years ago over left-handedness. We should know better." 

nA new Anglo-Catholic group is being promoted within the Church of England, but traditionalists deny it is aimed at fracturing the church. 

The new organisation is as yet unnamed. It will concentrate on strengthening the Anglo-Catholic message at parish level rather than mounting high profile opposition to women priests.