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The ordainment of “practicing” homosexual priests may lead
the U.S. Episcopal Church to its second trial of heresy
in 300 years
▼
^Picture This’
FRAMING GALLERY
by Bob Roehr
eresy. The word conjures images of
medieval woodcuts, of anguished sin
ners tied to stakes while purifying
tongues of flame lap from stacked
faggots.
So why then is the Episcopal Church, one of the
most progressive mainline denominations, about
to stage only the second heresy trial in its 300-year
history in the United States?
Two words: flaming faggots. Conservatives
within the church are using the ordination of “prac
ticing homosexuals” as a wedge issue against their
opponents.
The Rev. Barry Stopfel is the object conserva
tives would like to smite down. He is pastor of St.
George’s, a prototypical Episcopal-looking stone
church in the New Jersey suburb of Maplewood.
He is not looking for controversy; he just wants to
be a good priest.
A priest’s being gay, in and of itself, isn’t a
problem for the Episcopal Church. A 1976 resolu
tion by the General Conven
tion, a governing body of
the chuch, declared that “all
persons are chi ldren of God.”
Today more than a hundred
openly gay or lesbian people
serve as priests.
No, the problem is that
the middle-aged Stopfel is
presumed to be a "practic
ing” homosexual. He and
Will Leckie have been to
gether since they met in
seminary a decade ago.
Leckie is an ordained minis
ter of the United Church of
Christ.
The Episcopal Church
discourages sex outside of
marriage. The Catch-22 is
that it doesn’t recognize gay
marriages—yet. A group is
studying that question and
may possibly recommend
the blessing of same-sex
unions to the General Convention that meets in
1997.
The conservatives can’t go after Stopfel. His
parish adores him. Within the church hierarchy, he
is accountable only to the bishop of Newark, John
Spong, who is one of the church’s most steadfast
supporters of gay men and lesbians.
So they aimed their wrath at Walter C. Righter,
the retired bishop of Iowa. It was Righter who
ordained Stopfel as a deacon, the preliminary step
to priesthood, in 1990, when he was assistant
bishop in the Diocese of Newark.
Ten traditionalist bishops moved in January
1995. They filed what is called a “presentment”
demanding Righter be tried before the Court for the
Trial of a Bishop for violation of church law.
“Simply put, we are convinced that the Episco
pal Church clearly teaches that it is not lawful or
appropriate to knowingly ordain a practicing ho
mosexual,” wrote William C. Wantland, bishop of
Au Claire, Wis., in his letter for the 10.
The position is eerily reminiscent of “don’t ask,
don’t tell,” the policy which bans gay men and
lesbians from serving openly in the military. Nei
ther objects to theoretical homosexual persons, so
long as they remain celibate and quiet, denying
basic aspects of their humanity.
The traditionalists have called Righter’s ac
tions a “breakdown of authority” and vowed to
“bring to trial all those who have knowingly vio
H
lated the teaching of the church.” That list includes
sitting bishops in Chicago, Washington, Newark
and other large dioceses. The 10 convinced a
quarter of their nearly 300 fellow bishops to sign
on.
Righter sees the charges as “harassment, not of
me, but of the church.” He notes that both the
House of Bishops and the General Convention
rejected motions to censure him over the ordina
tion.
James M. Stanton is bishop of Dallas and
spokesman for those bringing the charges. He
argues that “every Convention in the last 20 years
has passed some kind of resolution reaffirming the
traditional teaching of marriage and marital fidel
ity.”
By that token, he charges, practicing homo
sexuals are in violation of church doctrine and
shouldn’t be ordained.
Kim Byham, spokesman for the Righter fac
tion, disagrees. The former national president of
Integrity, an organization of
gay and lesbian Episcopalians,
points to a canon adopted by
the General Convention in
1994. It prohibits discrimina
tion in the selection process
for ordination and specifically
includes “sexual orientation.”
Furthermore, says Byham,
the 1994 convention consid
ered a moratorium on the or
dination of homosexuals, but
^ rejected that proposal by a 4-
0 1 margin.
R. William Franklin sees
the issue as “very important”
to the church because it has "a
proportionally large gay and
lesbian population,” and
seemingly has had for a long
period of time.
Franklin, professor of
church history at the General
Theological Seminary, the
national seminary of the Epis
copal Church, cites a book published last year,
Boston Bohemiaby Douglass Shand-Tucci. It docu
ments a gay subculture in the Episcopal Church in
Boston in the 1890s.
Then, in the 1950s, began “the much broader
issue of the church absorbing cultural change,”
Franklin explains. Race came first, then ordination
of women and, over the last 20 years, issues sur
rounding sexuality.
“The question now,” Franklin says, “is that gay
and lesbian people would like to live open lives.
Conservatives say that is not possible.”
The very act of seeking the trial came as a shock
to many. The only previous trial for heresy was in
1924, when a retired bishop of Arkansas “con
verted” and began preaching that communism had
superseded Christianity.
The Episcopal Church “tends to work these
issues out through the elective process of conven
tions,” says Franldin. “What this conservative group
has done is try to pre-empt that by forcing a trial,
which is not in our tradition.”
He sees “old-line Episcopalians reacting nega
tively because they see it as not Episcopalian.”
Perhaps the issue will be sorted out somewhat
on Feb. 27, when the court meets in Wilmington,
Del. Six hours of argument are scheduled on church
doctrine. If the body finds that there is in fact a
prohibition on the ordination of “practicing homo
sexuals,” then Righter will go to trial on May 13.
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