At one Lutheran church, gay, partnered and preaching

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America congregations aren’t supposed to allow gay people in committed relationships to be pastors. But it’s already happening at one Minneapolis Lutheran church.

ELCA leadership will meet at a national convention this summer in Minneapolis to consider changing the rule. The proposal would allow individual congregations to hire gay, partnered pastors – as long as they can show they’re in a lifelong, committed relationship.

But Calvary Lutheran Church already took that step. Pastor Brad Froslee took over the pulpit there in February, even though he was open about his partner of 5 and a half years.

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Lutherans consider gay clergy

The nation’s largest Lutheran denomination will consider allowing individual congregations to choose whether to allow gays and lesbians in committed relationships to serve as clergy, an attempt to avoid the sort of infighting that has threatened to tear other churches apart.

A task force of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America recommended that course at the end of February in a long-awaited report on ministry standards. The panel, however, said the church needs to clarify a number of questions before overhauling its gay clergy policy.

The report, issued at the same time as a broader church social statement on human sexuality, seeks balance on an issue dividing many Protestant churches. Both documents will be considered in August in Minneapolis at the biannual church convention.

“At this point, there is no consensus in the church,” said the Rev. Peter Strommen of Prior Lake, Minn., chairman of the 15-member task force on sexuality. “The question ends up being, ‘How are we going to live together in that absence of consensus?’ ”

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Concord Monitor

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Illinois Mormons against civil unions?

Gay rights advocates fear that Mormons in Nauvoo might try to undermine civil unions up for debate in Springfield today. They point to the church’s overwhelming financial support of California’s Proposition 8, the successful ballot measure that made it illegal for lesbian and gay couples to marry.

The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, accused the Latter-day Saints of sending a private e-mail to Illinois members, urging them to contact state legislators and voice opposition to the Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act, a bill that would define “civil union” as a legal relationship between two persons, of either the same or opposite sex. It would also entitle both parties of a civil union to the same legal obligations, responsibilities, protections, and benefits afforded to spouses.

The bill has been scheduled for a hearing in the Illinois House of Representatives Youth and Family Committee today. If the bill is voted out of committee, it becomes eligible for a vote before the full Illinois House of Representatives.

But Kim Farah, a spokeswoman for the national church, said the e-mail was not part of a church wide opposition campaign. The church’s engagement with political causes is evaluated on a case-by-case basis. It is unclear if the Illinois legislation would violate church doctrine as interpreted by Latter-day Saints.

“As is widely known, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes in the sanctity of traditional marriage,” she said in a statement. “The Church has not taken a position on any legislation currently being considered by the Illinois State Legislature … An e-mail was sent from a local Illinois Church leader to his congregation – one of 129 congregations in the state — who was free to express his own views.”

The e-mail in question was sent to at least one Mormon ward in Illinois and authorized by Bishop Chris Church of Nauvoo.

The message warns recipients that the legislation would “empower the public schools to begin teaching this lifestyle to our young children regardless of parental requests otherwise.”

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Religious leaders, faith organizations file lawsuit to invalidate Prop 8

Today, the California Council of Churches and other religious leaders and faith organizations representing millions of members filed a petition with the California Supreme Court asking the to invalidate Proposition 8. The petition argues that Proposition 8 poses a severe threat to the guarantee of equal protection for all and was not enacted through the constitutionally required process for such a dramatic change to the California Constitution.

The petition is filed on behalf of the California Council of Churches, the General Synod of the United Church of Christ, two Episocopal bishops (of California and Los Angeles), the Progressive Jewish Alliance, the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations and the Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of California, and the Northern and Southern California Nevada Conferences of the United Church of Christ. The groups are represented by Eric Isaacson, based in San Diego, and by Jon B. Eisenberg of Eisenberg and Hancock, LLP, based in Oakland.

“Proposition 8 poses a grave threat to religious freedom,” said Rev. Rick Schlosser, executive director of the California Council of Churches. “If the Court permits gay men and lesbians to be deprived of equal protection by a simple amjority vote, religious minorities could be denied equal protection as well — a terrible irony in a nation founded by people who emigrated to escape religious persecution. If the Court permits Proposition 8 to take effect, religious discrimination similarly could be written into California’s Consitution.”

For a copy of the brief, visit www.calchurches.org/marriage.

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Gay Episcopal priest to be ordained in Denver, ending ban on gay ordiantions by Episcopal Diocese of Colorado

Ending several years of restraint by the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado in ordaining openly gay and partnered priests, Bishop Robert O’Neill will ordain Mary Catherine Volland, along with three others, to the priesthood at St. John’s Cathedral on Saturday.

Volland, a longtime resident of Colorado and partnered lesbian, was a candidate for ordination in the Diocese of Minnesota, but has been called to serve as an assistant priest at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Denver, said Beckett Stokes, spokeswoman for the 30,000-member Colorado Diocese.

Despite nationwide controversy that has splintered Episcopalians, the church does ordain gay and lesbian priests. The bishop has the option of deploying them to Colorado congregations when it makes sense, Stokes said. Several Colorado congregations are served by gay priests.

O’Neill, who previously had suspended gay ordination out of sensitivity for churc See Gay Episcopal priest to be ordained in Denver Denver Post