WESTMINSTER COLLEGE Speakers from 3 denominations tackle gay issues

The church must minister to all, religious leaders say.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. -- As the Episcopal Church prepares for the controversial installation of its first openly gay bishop Sunday, it and other mainline Protestant churches are struggling with their policies on ordaining gay clergy.
The issue was explored by speakers from Pittsburgh area Episcopal, Presbyterian and United Methodist churches, who encouraged appreciation of diversity during a forum on religion and homosexuality Thursday evening at Westminster College.
"It's my hope that we in the United States and the church in the world will, through study and conversation and prayer, be able to find some middle way through this current conflict," said Judith Compher, a member of Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh.
Compher, who favors the consecration of the Rev. V. Gene Robinson, who is homosexual, as the Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire, is a member of Calvary Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh and a 2003 honors graduate of the college. "I believe that human sexuality is a gift from God and that he [Robinson] is living out his sexuality in a fully committed relationship with a single partner," she said.
"Since he was known in his diocese for 30 years as a priest, as a father, as a husband and as a gay person, and they [the leaders of the diocese] elected him, they are saying that he is living his life in such a way that it is a wholesome example for the rest of us," Compher said. "The diocese having made that decision, I can accept their decision," she said.
Official position
Although the bitterly divided national convention of the Episcopal Church ratified the Rev. Mr. Robinson's election as bishop this summer, the Episcopal Church's official position is that openly gay clergy can be ordained, but must commit to celibacy, according to the forum program's background notes. The church authorizes blessings of same-sex unions at the discretion of individual dioceses.
"Our church in East Liberty is very diverse. I feel that my call is to witness the love of Christ to all," regardless of sexual orientation, said Connie Dunn, a Westminster graduate and director of Christian education at East Liberty Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh. She will soon graduate from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.
The Presbyterian Church ordains openly gay clergy if they are celibate and blesses same-sex unions, but not in the same manner as marriage. But, Dunn said church leaders rarely ask candidates for ordination about their sexual behaviors.
"Our congregation will strive to become a broad-based community of faith ministering to all," said the Rev. Dr. Ronald Hoellein, pastor of St. Paul's United Methodist Church in McCandless, Pa. "All means all," he added.
The United Methodist Church won't ordain openly gay clergy and won't bless same-sex unions, but the Rev. Mr. Hoellein said these issues will be hotly debated when the Methodists have their national convention in Pittsburgh next spring.