“VirtueOnline” is a conservative religious site (“The Voice for Global Orthodox Anglicanism”) headed up by David Virtue. “Global Orthodox Anglicanism” usually seems to mean “We don’t like the Episcopal Church because they don’t stone gays — oh, and they kinda dabble with having women in the priesthood, too, and most of us don’t like that very much, either.”
Its coverage of recent goings-on in the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado is standard fare for its pages:
In the DIOCESE OF COLORADO, Bishop O’Neill is making good on his policy to punish the orthodox and reward the apostate. While ripping and tearing Grace & St. Stephens apart and trying to jail the Rev. Don Armstrong, …
Actual, Rev. Armstrong did the “ripping and tearing” by strong-arming his parish out of the Episcopal Church, property and all. Rev. Armstrong also managed to set himself up for jail time, based on the indictments the DA has filed against him.
… he announced a new rector, a lesbian, for St. Paul’s in Fort Collins. “The Coloradoan” reported on the new rector Bonnie Sarah Spencer and her partner, Catherine Anderson, who are coming to Fort Collins from Somerset, Massachusetts, where Spencer served as rector at Our Saviour Episcopal Church. She described St. Paul’s styles as “an inclusive church welcoming all people.” Lesbian Integrity leader (the Rev.) Susan Russell wrote at her blog, “Under Bonnie’s leadership, St. Paul’s will continue to be a safe haven for everyone, no matter where they are in their spiritual journey.”
Yes, that’s our Rev. Bonnie, whose installation we attended. I’m surprised Virtue skipped over all her past “notorious” history.
This is not the first time O’Neill has allowed a lesbian into the diocese.
Eek! Katy, bar the door! No, wait, Katy, lock yourself in your room — better let a man bar the door!
In January of this year Mary Catherine Volland, a longtime resident of Colorado and a partnered lesbian, was ordained in St. John’s Cathedral in Denver as the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado ended its moratorium on ordaining gay priests. Volland had been a candidate for ordination by the Diocese of Minnesota. She will serve as an assistant priest at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Denver.
Egads! And … from Minnesota, no less! What next? Lutherans?
Beckett Stokes, a spokeswoman for the Colorado diocese, said Bishop Robert O’Neill had originally suspended gay ordination out of sensitivity to churches that had strongly opposed it. Stokes said O’Neill will now decide the matter on a case-by-case basis. Several Colorado congregations are and have been served by gay and lesbian priests.
Exactly. Bp Rob bent over backward to avoid offending conservatives in the diocese who were uncomfortable with gays, or gay clergy. This didn’t actually make anyone any happier, nor did it keep conservatives who were going to leave from … well … leaving.
So now he’s judging on an individual basis whether gays should be ordained. Sort of like he does with straights. Shocking, I tell you … shocking!
Interpretation. If you are gay or lesbian, you are welcome into the diocese. If you are orthodox in faith and morals, don’t bother applying.
Um … say what? I mean, yeah, gays and lesbians are welcome into the diocese. As far as I know, the “orthodox” are, too. certainly there are “orthodox” folks in our parish.
But, Mr Virtue might ask, how can can the “orthodox” exist side by side with those “gays and lesbians”? Don’t they, like, explode, sort of like godly matter and anti-christ-matter?
Amazingly enough, if you belong to a Christian church and focus on the stuff that Christ actually talked about — y’know, serving rather than ruling, taking care of the poor and feeding the hungry, treating one another with dignity, all that good stuff — you find that it’s possible for lots of people to get along, and even love their neighbors as themselves and all that squishy stuff.
“The Diocese of Colorado is perhaps the most politically and theologically diverse diocese in The Episcopal Church. I am grateful to all in this diocese who faithfully come to the table to offer their many gifts to God’s service, including the gay and lesbian Christians among us who so generously contribute to our common life and ministry,” said O’Neill.
Good heavens! How … how … unorthodox. And un-Virtuous!
Yup, that’s my church. And proud of it.