A new article in the Rocky about goings-on at our parish.
Days before Episcopal Bishop Rob O’Neill acts in the matter, a Denver assistant pastor has written to parishioners to explain the same-sex ritual she participated in with her partner in April.
“I did not intend to deceive or hurt anyone,” the Rev. Bonnie Spencer said in a letter sent this week to members of Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Centennial.
She said Thursday she wanted to explain to her parishioners what happened before they read it in the newspaper. Spencer said she and her partner exchanged rings, “made promises to one another” and read a Psalm.
O’Neill has said he will announce today what sanctions, if any, he intends to take against Spencer.
All of which is true, as far as it goes. It distills a pretty lengthy letter from Bonnie to a few sentences, though not unrepresentative ones. It’s worth noting that the the letter’s issuance was not directly linked (“days before”) to the bishop’s anticipated actions, and, in fact, it was released over a week ago, while the bishop has indicated he’ll have some announcments on it this weekend.
Having met with the bishop this past Monday, with the Vestry, I expect any fireworks will take place after the bishop’s announcement (and that would be the case no matter what his judgment in this matter would be).
(via Stan)
Dave, why let facts get in the way of a good implication…
That’s one of the reasons I forwarded the article to you. I remember hearing talk about the letter prior to Z:ViD.
Yes, well, the timing as presented in the article certainly sounds more dramatic. :-/
And, hey, just noticed the headline, Cleric explains same-sex rite. Which is a bit misleading, since there were no actual “rites,” as described in the letter from Bonnie, in terms of any sort of liturgical event or formal ritual. And very intentionally so.