On Sunday, Lutherans at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church ordained (reinstated?) seven sexually active (I hate writing “non-celibate) queer pastors known as the “Bay Area Seven” — the first crop since the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America approved the move last summer. Some people are not happy!
While the queer seven have already been openly serving their local ministries, the ceremony inducts them into the national order. And it’s just the sort of trigger other parishes need to quit ELCA, relays the NYT.
Some who opposed it are now poised to leave. The Rev. Mark Chavez, director of Lutheran CORE, a coalition of theologically conservative Lutheran churches, said his group expected to form a new denomination, the North American Lutheran Church, in August. He said of the ceremony on Sunday, “It’s just another steady step taken by the E.L.C.A. to move the denomination further and further away from most Lutheran churches around the world and from the whole Christian church, unfortunately.”
I think he’s just got sour grapes over not being able to wear one of those fabulous robes.
EARLIER
Just In Case You Thought All Lutherans Were Tolerant of the Gays
Lutherans Line Up to Form Awesome New Anti-Gay Church Body
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horus
as long as gays want to be part of this crap it will keep going. i want to see the looks on christian faces when all the gays who attend a Christian church don’t show up(including the clergy). we don’t need these oppressive denominations to give legitimacy to our relationship with god. made us just the way we are. OM Shanti…
horus
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-mcswain/finding-god-after-leaving_b_651148.html
BenR
Jeez, Queerty. Couldn’t stand to do a little real reporting, could you? They were not ordained or reinstated, but welcomed into the ELCA. They were already ordained outside of the ELCA and had never been ELCA pastors so they couldn’t be “reinstated.” Also, they were not the “first crop,” as a number of non-celibate (and yes, that is the most accurate term, because being “non-celibate” doesn’t necessarily mean that someone is sexually active) pastors have already been welcomed or reinstated individually.
Queerty readers who want a little more, ahem, comprehensive and accurate reporting into the story should check out the New York Times article in my signature.
thousandfold
Queerty, you didn’t mention that these pastors are in committed relationships. That makes a world of a difference in the way the story comes across. Please be more careful.
Gary Lee Myers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5sYiUla80s