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View from the Pew  Mary Adamski |
Homosexuality
Gays, lesbians and transgendered
find solace in services offered
by Old Catholic Church priestsRain roared down, louder than passing Kapahulu Avenue traffic, but the service last Sunday night in the candle-lit sanctuary seemed a serene port in the storm.
The two priests presiding over the service at the altar were gay men, 23 years in a committed relationship.
Many in the congregation were members of Dignity Honolulu, a chapter of a national organization for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered Catholics.
The pastor of the host parish, St. Mark's Episcopal Church, was away, a delegate to the U.S. Episcopal Church's lawmaking conference where the hot issues are acceptance of homosexuals as clergy and church blessing of same-gender unions.
Guest preacher Phyllis Meighen described her denomination's actions at the July United Church of Christ national synod where sexuality issues were also discussed. Members passed resolutions that denounce hate crimes against transgendered people and urge the Boy Scouts of America to change its policy banning gay youths.
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Gene Corpuz hugged a worshipper during the "sign of peace" ritual during Sunday night's service at St. Mark's Episcopal Church.
The service at St. Mark's seemed as Catholic as the congregation. In what Episcopalians describe as "high church," the liturgy was virtually the same as a Catholic Mass, and the church is decorated with a crucifix and statues of saints, stained glass and red sanctuary light.
The weekly service is intended as a haven for homosexual Catholics and other Christians who "may find the church an unwelcoming place," said Jim Slatkavitz, vice president and founder of the Dignity chapter. "We help to get a lot of gay and lesbian people back into the Catholic Church. We are an intermediary, to bring them back into the fold."
"There are parishes where you feel welcomed. We encourage them to attend a service in their local area of the island. They might find a Catholic Mass where they feel comfortable attending."
Slatkavitz said, "Some people feel Rome hates them because of their lifestyle." Four days after the service, the Vatican issued a position paper urging politicians not to legalize same-gender unions. The paper from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is nothing new, Slatkavitz said, and it won't undo the Dignity agenda.
Hawaii Catholic Bishop Francis DiLorenzo and his predecessor have forbidden diocesan priests to officiate at a Mass that is specifically for Dignity Honolulu. So visiting clergy from other denominations often preside, or lay members will lead the 7:30 p.m. service.
Presiding over a liturgy that included consecration of bread and wine was the Right Rev. Jack Isbell, a bishop of the Old Catholic Church. He heads the Napa, Calif., diocese of the denomination, which is based in the Netherlands, having broken with Rome in 1870 over issues of the infallibility of the pope and the immaculate conception of Christ's mother, Mary.
Concelebrating the Mass was the Rev. Nicholas Eyre, a priest at Sts. Francis and Clare Old Catholic Church in Napa.
Isbell said he is watching the Episcopal Church wrestle with sexuality issues this week from a particularly informed yet detached perspective. He was ordained in the Episcopal Church here 30 years ago and served at St. Andrew's Cathedral. He has since moved out of the denomination largely because of his homosexual orientation.
The 1,000 delegates to the Episcopal Church General Convention are faced this weekend with a potentially church-dividing vote on the appointment of an openly gay man as bishop of the New Hampshire Diocese. Also before the triennial conference in Minneapolis is a resolution calling for development of a rite for the blessing of same-sex unions.
Isbell and Eyre met while students at University of Hawaii, and whether or not a marriage ceremony is in their future, "we are a committed couple," Isbell said. They had a 1981 commitment service here and a 1990 renewal of vows in California, attended by their families. Both were in the Metropolitan Community Church, which was specifically organized to provide spiritual support for homosexuals. The couple, social workers with the state of California in addition to their clerical role, joined a mass 1996 civil commitment service at the San Francisco Civic Center to celebrate a law extending domestic partnership benefits to same-gender couples.
"We'll ultimately win our rights in the courts," said Isbell. "We're asking for the legal rights that everyone else has."
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Francis Duran put away the chalices after Sunday's service.
The Dignity Honolulu services do not include blessing of same-sex unions. "It's not something we're involved with," Slatkavitz said. "A lot of people feel a ceremony affirms a relationship, especially for their families." The local chapter gets many telephone calls from prospective visitors who seek a Hawaii ceremony. There are local churches that do commitment services. "We refer callers to individuals we know; I'd rather not release their names," he said.
The theme of the Sunday service was a celebration of St. Mary of Magdala, one of the first followers of Jesus.
"Jesus was being true to form," said Meighen, associate pastor at Nuuanu Congregational Church. "He sought out people who were cast out, who were on the margins."
"When Jesus first met her, she was a social outcast possessed of seven demons and was from a town known for its loose morals. Women in Palestine in those days did not have authority to bear witness."
Meighen said the Gospel story about Christ's resurrection, which Mary Magdalene was the first to discover, took place in "a liminal time, that pivotal time when contrasting forces meet, death and life, body and spirit, darkness and light, when life isn't as it once appeared but we can't yet tell what it's going to be."
She said: "We too are living in liminal times for people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender. The news ... spells out this pivotal time when darkness and light meet."
The Sunday thunder and lightning came to an end the next day. The other storm continues to rage with no end in sight.
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Mary Adamski covers religion for the Star-Bulletin.
Email her at madamski@starbulletin.com.
