jQuery Slider

You are here

ECUSA: Twists And Turns In Sexual Perversion Grows Alarmingly

TWISTS AND TURNS IN SEXUAL PERVERSION GROWS ALARMINGLY IN ECUSA

News Analysis

By David W. Virtue

Never in the history of human sexual perversity has so much sexual energy been expended by so few to achieve so little.

In the case of The Episcopal Church USA the twists and turns in homoerotic behavior in recent weeks has reached the climactic level of reductio ad absurdum, leaving Global South Anglicans weeping in despair, but with a renewed desire to send hundreds of missionaries to these shores to convert Episcopalians who have never been exposed to a clear exposition of the Good News about Jesus.

Consider the following.

A retired 78-year old homoerotic bishop who should be spending his declining years playing with his grand-children and telling them the ageless story of Jesus and His love, instead “marries” a 62-year old four times married man so he can “legally” engage in sodomite acts while his 7-year old grandchild is made to watch this human farce of a “wedding”.

But then it all goes awry.

A stream of ecclesiastical outrage emanates forth, not from ECUSA’s orthodox bishops who have come to expect this sort of thing and are too tired or too busy to respond, but from the Bishop of California, one William Swing, a revisionist bishop himself who has no problem with sodomy really, he has authorized same-sex unions, publicly honored same-sex marriages at City Hall, but now says he never gave approval for the “marriage” of Otis Charles but only approved a “blessing”.

Bishop Swing then revoked Bishop Charles license to officiate in the Diocese of California. His pseudo outrage defies all logic and understanding. According to Swing the "problem" wasn't the event itself, but Charles’ failure to get parish support for the blessing. Swing said the rite must be a one-time, experimental liturgy distinctly different from the marriage rite and approved in advance by the bishop and the liturgy must not attract media attention.

How disingenuous can you be?

Well, California’s Episcopal gay community was so outraged they blasted Swing for his double standards. They wrote, “You have authorized the blessing of same-sex unions on a case-by-case basis for some time now. Blessing same-sex unions is fine, just don't let anyone know about it!" (And don't presume to think that it is the moral or sacramental equivalent of marriage.) This is, at best, a mixed message,” they cried.

Oh me, oh my. The outrage of aggrieved sodomites knows no loyalty. They will brook no opposition even from one like unto Swing who is as pro-gay as they come and who heads a grab bag of religious impulses and spiritual wifters under the banner of the United Religions Initiative.

Episcopal sodomites got so outraged they screamed at Swing, “Shouldn't we feel more than a little shame that our civic leaders have displayed greater courage in this matter than our spiritual leaders?”

Hell hath no fury like an Episcopal sodomite scorned!

While all this is going on in California, Bishop John Chane in the Diocese of Washington is proposing to move way beyond General Convention's resolution on same sex blessings, and says his gay clergy can prepare rites “for couples for whom marriage is not an appropriate or desirable step.” Will he get his knuckles rapped by Frank Griswold for doing this? Will ECUSA’s orthodox bishops file presentment charges? Not a prayer, they know that such actions would not even get outside the Title IV Review Committee.

On the other hand Bishop Jenkins, (Louisiana) the Presiding Bishop’s Council of Advice president would just love to dump a bucket load of charges on the Akron Five bishops for crossing diocesan lines, a minor charge compared to dispensing with the faith altogether on time-honored biblical sexuality.

The American Anglican Council cynically observes that Swing’s action against Charles might have something to do with what happened at GC2003, the worldwide negative reaction that followed Robinson’s consecration and the looming Lambeth (Eames) Commission that could dynamite the whole Anglican Communion.

And in the Diocese of Massachusetts another scenario played itself out this week that is even more cynical and disingenuous than a bunch of naked sodomites trying to practice celibacy in a gay bathhouse.

The bishop, Tom Shaw, who is a great believer in participatory sodomy for his gay and lesbian priests, and who thinks the secular laws in Massachusetts are just great, told his fellow priests that they cannot solemnize same sex “marriages” even though the Massachusetts Judicial Supreme Court has said homosexual couples will have the right to "marry."

The Massachusetts Episcopal Bishop dropped this bombshell to the clergy of the country's third largest diocese who gave as his rationale that while he advocated the full civil rights of gay and lesbian people and their families, he saw a contradiction between what civil laws allow and what the canons and the Book of Common Prayer state, which, he says, is that marriage in the Episcopal Church is between a man and a woman.

And then the decidedly pro-gay bishop goes on to say, gulp, that if anyone signs a marriage license and conducts an actual marriage ceremony, rather than a church "blessing," for a same-sex couples that priest will be breaking church law and subject to defrocking.

Really.

So to test this twist on Episcopal canon law up jumps ECUSA’s leading lesbian ‘theologian’ at Episcopal Divinity School the Rev. I. Carter Heyward, who told the Boston Globe that she plans to defy church law and perform two lesbian unions (marriages) this month.

We can’t wait to see how Shaw will act. A thoroughly pro-gay bishop bringing up a lesbian Episcopal theologian on charges she acted outside the canons. Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola should be greatly impressed as he looks for his barf bag marked “ECUSA HYPOCRISY” to throw up in.

Unofficially, Shaw is a close friend of Dr. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and perhaps he does not want to compromise the already delicate relations the archbishop has with orthodox bishops of the Global South. Williams has never repudiated “The Body’s Grace” a pamphlet extolling the virtues of homoerotic behavior.

Shaw’s action might be viewed by the Anglican Communion as a sop, albeit legalistic and altruistic to prevent the inevitable break up, by adhering to a strict interpretation of the canons at a time the ECUSA has no core doctrine on sexuality issues (see Righter Trial) nor can the majority of its bishops affirm basic doctrine, defeating Resolution B001 at the last General Convention.

"Maybe this is a sop to the people like myself who feel badly as to what's going on and who are splitting from the Episcopal Church," said Gerry Dorman, a board member for the Massachusetts chapter of the American Anglican Council, an Episcopal group that opposes same-sex unions. "They've been ordaining gays and blessing same-sex unions here for a long time. The diocesan directory lists same-sex spouses as well."

The truth is marriage rites and blessings is little more than a distinction without a difference, noted a Virtuosity reader. The dioceses of Delaware, Nevada, Massachusetts and New Hampshire all have official same-sex "blessing" ceremonies. Similar rites for the Dioceses of Long Island, Hawaii and Washington dioceses are being developed.

Episcopal clergy who disobey any orders from their bishop are subject to "inhibition," which means they are not allowed to function as a pastor for a set amount of time, usually six months. If they have not changed their actions, the bishop can then file a "presentment against them in an ecclesiastical court, where they will be defrocked if found guilty."

For The Episcopal Church to really triumph it must repudiate all sex outside of marriage between a man and a woman, and its laity, priests and bishops who diocese by diocese have performed these acts must be called to repentance and faith, that the church might experience renewal and restoration.

NOTE: If you are not receiving this from VIRTUOSITY, the Anglican Communion's largest biblically orthodox Episcopal/Anglican Online News Service, then you may subscribe FREE by going to: www.virtuosityonline.org. Virtuosity's website has been accessed by more than 1.6 million readers in 45 countries on six continents. This story is copyrighted but may be forwarded electronically with reference to VIRTUOSITY and the author. No changes are permitted in the text.

END

Subscribe
Get a bi-weekly summary of Anglican news from around the world.
comments powered by Disqus
Trinity School for Ministry
Go To Top