“… Neither slave nor free …”

This evening we had the honor to see Rev. Bonnie Sarah Spencer installed as Rector of St Paul’s Episcopal Church in Fort Collins.

Bonnie was a deacon at our parish, Good Shepherd Episcopal, when we started attending there. She was ordained to the priesthood while at Good Shepherd — and Katherine was the first child she baptized as a priest.

She left our parish at an ostensibly appropriate time — after our rector left — but her move out of the diocese to back East was a good opportunity for her but driven by a sad reason: the bishop (the “oft accused of being a running-dog ultra-liberal” Rob O’Neill) had decided that openly gay priests could not become rectors (pastors) of churches in the diocese whilst the matter was (all the way back in 2004-2005) so tumultuous and divisive. If Bonnie was to move on to the next rung up the ladder of her clerical career, she had to go elsewhere. So she did. Which was right for her, but Colorado’s loss.

And that, of course, there was all of the fall-out from the brouhaha over Bonnie’s coming out and participating in a private commitment ceremony at our church. Or, at least, that kerfuffle was part of the tensions at the time within the national church in general and the diocese in particular. In a very real sense, the departure of the most fractious conservatives from the diocese (e.g., Rev. Don Armstrong) has opened the door to not having to compromise by placating them. Which, all things considered, is a good thing. (I’ll be interested to see if her installation garners any negative headlines.)

I think it’s worth noting that we were not the only Good Shepherd folks in attendance at Bonnie’s installation. I’m guessing there were at least 40 of us there, a substantial percentage of the attendees. Bonnie seemed very touched to see us, and it was great seeing her — and seeing her back in Colorado (with the Bishop’s blessing) was pretty cool, too.

She’s good people. I’m glad we were able to attend. Mazel tov!