BREAKING NEWS: Archbishop of Canterbury on David Kato's Murder

released today from the Anglican Communion Office.

Archbishop condemns murder of Ugandan gay human rights activist
Friday 28 January 2011

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, who is currently in Dublin for the Primates' meeting, has made the following statement regarding the murder of the gay human rights activist David Kato Kisulle in Uganda:

"The brutal murder of David Kato Kisule, a gay human rights activist, is profoundly shocking. Our prayers and deep sympathy go out for his family and friends - and for all who live in fear for their lives. Whatever the precise circumstances of his death, which have yet to be determined, we know that David Kato Kisule lived under the threat of violence and death. No one should have to live in such fear because of the bigotry of others. Such violence has been consistently condemned by the Anglican Communion worldwide. This event also makes it all the more urgent for the British Government to secure the safety of LGBT asylum seekers in the UK. This is a moment to take very serious stock and to address those attitudes of mind which endanger the lives of men and women belonging to sexual minorities."

Please take a minute to click here and thank Dr. Williams for this important statement. (It's never the wrong time to do the right thing!)

Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop on the death of Ugandan activist:

“His murder deprives his people of a significant and effective voice”

[January 28, 2011] “His murder deprives his people of a significant and effective voice,” Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said on the death of gay human rights activist David Kato in Uganda.

The Presiding Bishop presently is in Dublin, Ireland, attending the meeting of the Primates of the Anglican Communion.

Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori’s statement:

At this morning’s Eucharist at the Primates Meeting, I offered prayers for the repose of the soul of David Kato. His murder deprives his people of a significant and effective voice, and we pray that the world may learn from his gentle and quiet witness, and begin to receive a heart of flesh in place of a heart of stone. May he rest in peace, and may his work continue to bring justice and dignity for all God’s children.

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The Episcopal Church welcomes all who worship Jesus Christ in 109 dioceses and three regional areas in 16 nations. The Episcopal Church is a member province of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Church of Ireland group urges that Ugandan 'homophobia' be confronted

THE CHURCH of Ireland Changing Attitude group has called on the Taoiseach and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Brian Cowen, and international Anglican primates meeting in Dublin “to confront the problem of homophobia in Uganda”.

It follows the murder there last Wednesday of gay rights campaigner David Kato.

The group said that in recent years “anti-gay feeling in Uganda has been stirred up by religious leaders, a group of USA evangelicals and politicians”.

Senior bishops from Anglican churches worldwide are in Dublin and “needed to assume their responsibilities in tackling homophobia and the churches collusion in it”. MORE @ Irish Times

Dear Ugandan Christians: Stop Torturing Your Citizens

Do you know what's happening to LGBT persons in Uganda? Today, many across the world are mourning the loss of David Kato, an outspoken gay rights advocate in Uganda who was brutally beaten with a hammer and murdered in his home on Wednesday (Jan. 26). As the New York Times reported, local police are not calling this a hate crime, but anyone familiar with the disgusting anti-gay culture in Uganda would rightfully question that claim. MORE @ Huff Post

Brutal Murder of Gay Ugandan Human Rights Defender, David Kato

Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) and the entire Ugandan Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Intersex Community stands together to condemn the killing of David Kato and call for the Ugandan Government, Civil Society, and Local Communities to protect sexual minorities across Uganda.

David was brutally beaten to death in his home today, 26 January 2011, around 2pm. Across the entire country, straight, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex Ugandans mourn the loss of David, a dear friend, colleague, teacher, family member, and human rights defender.

David has been receiving death threats since his face was put on the front page of Rolling Stone Magazine, which called for his death and the death of all homosexuals. David's death comes directly after the Supreme Court of Uganda ruled that people must stop inciting violence against homosexuals and must respect the right to privacy and human dignity.

Sexual Minorities Uganda and the Ugandan Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Intersex Community call on the Police and the Government of Uganda to seriously investigate the circumstances surrounding David's death. We also call on religious leaders, political leaders and media houses to stop demonizing sexual minorities in Uganda since doing so creates a climate of violence against gay persons. Val Kalende, the Chair of the Board at Freedom and Roam Uganda stated that "David's death is a result of the hatred planted in Uganda by U.S Evangelicals in 2009. The Ugandan Government and the so-called U.S Evangelicals must take responsibility for David's blood!"

As United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recently declared, "I understand that sexual orientation and gender identity raise sensitive cultural issues. But cultural practices cannot justify anyviolation of human rights. . . . When our fellow humans are persecuted because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, we must speak out. . . . States bear the primary responsibility to protecthuman rights advocates. I call on all States to ensure the freedom of expression and the freedom of assembly that make their work possible. When the lives of human rights advocates are endangered, we are all less secure. When the voices of human rights advocates are silenced, justice itself is drowned out."

David's life was cut short in a brutal manner. David will be deeply missed by his family and friends, his students, and Human Rights organizations throughout Uganda and around the world. Speaking about what the death of David means in the struggle for equality, Frank Mugisha, the Executive Director of Sexual Minorities Uganda said, "No form of intimidation will stop our cause. The death of David will only be honored when the struggle for justice and equality is won. David is gone and many of us will follow, but the struggle will be won. David wanted to see a Uganda where all people will be treated equally despite their sexual orientation."

Burial arrangements are underway for Friday 28, 2011 at 2PM at his ancestral home in Namataba,Mukono District.

Integrity USA statement on the murder of David Kato

Integrity USA is deeply saddened by the murder of David Kato but we are not surprised. The homophobic atmosphere that prevails in Uganda today where draconian laws are proposed, calling for death and inprisonment of homosexuals, and where a so-called magazine can call for the killing of "homos," has created a climate that was sure provoke violence. All the while, the church has remained silent. It has failed to speak out on behalf of the voiceless victims of homophobia in Uganda and across the Communion. It's time the Archbishop of Canterbury speaks out. We call on all our brothers and sisters in faith --from Canterbury to Kampala to Kalamazoo --to join us and take a stand on behalf of "the least of these". Silence equals death.


"Enough is enough," said Max Niedzwiecki, Executive Director of Integrity USA. "In Uganda and around the world, our brothers and sisters in the Anglican Communion and other churches must insist that all people are treated with decency. All people are members of the human family, and loved by God. David Kato's murder is a wake-up call. Now is the time for church leaders to proclaim that there is no excuse for killing a person simply for being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. Christianity - and the Anglican Communion in particular - must be a force for good in the world, and Integrity calls on all Christian leaders to speak out for peace and justice in the face of violence and hatred."

CALL TO ACTION

Last year our members signed on to a Facebook page calling for the Archbishop of Canterbury to speak out against the activities in Uganda. Imagine how things might be different if he had.


Here's a link to that page.

The time is come to ask again. In a stronger more pointed way. Lives are at stake. Our dear beloved Bishop Christopher Senyonjo was on the list of "homos" to be hanged. Make your voice heard about the need for the church to speak out. Send an email to the Archbiship of Canterbury at: contact@lambethpalace.org.uk and CC us at Integrity by insertinginfo@integrityusa.org.


Here is a sample email:

Dear Archbishop Williams:

I am writing to respectfully request that you use your influence with leaders of the Anglican Communion and and specifically the Anglican Church of Uganda and urge them to proclaim the following statement:


All people are beloved children of God. While we acknowledge that we are not of one mind on issues of human sexuality and gender identity, we state unequivocally that it is absolutely unacceptable for a person to be persecuted or murdered because he or she is lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT), or because a person speaks out in favor of people who are LGBT. Violence that is perpetrated against people simply because they are "different" is against the basic principles of Christianity, and a grave sin.

Sincerely,

Your name & contact info

Take action today!!

Integrity USA applauds Secretary Clinton and her tireless efforts to support the international LGBTQ community

Press Statement

Hillary Rodham Clinton

Secretary of State

Washington, DC

January 27, 2011



We are profoundly saddened by the loss of Ugandan human rights defender David Kato, who was brutally murdered in his home near Kampala yesterday. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends, and colleagues. We urge Ugandan authorities to quickly and thoroughly investigate and prosecute those responsible for this heinous act.

David Kato tirelessly devoted himself to improving the lives of others. As an advocate for the group Sexual Minorities Uganda, he worked to defend the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals. His efforts resulted in groundbreaking recognition for Uganda’s LGBT community, including the Uganda Human Rights Commission’s October 2010 statement on the unconstitutionality of Uganda’s draft “anti-homosexuality bill” and the Ugandan High Court’s January 3 ruling safeguarding all Ugandans’ right to privacy and the preservation of human dignity. His tragic death underscores how critical it is that both the government and the people of Uganda, along with the international community, speak out against the discrimination, harassment, and intimidation of Uganda’s LGBT community, and work together to ensure that all individuals are accorded the same rights and dignity to which each and every person is entitled.

Everywhere I travel on behalf of our country, I make it a point to meet with young people and activists — people like David — who are trying to build a better, stronger future for their societies. I let them know that America stands with them, and that their ideas and commitment are indispensible to achieving the progress we all seek.

This crime is a reminder of the heroic generosity of the people who advocate for and defend human rights on behalf of the rest of us — and the sacrifices they make. And as we reflect on his life, it is also an occasion to reaffirm that human rights apply to everyone, no exceptions, and that the human rights of LGBT individuals cannot be separated from the human rights of all persons.

Our ambassadors and diplomats around the world will continue to advance a comprehensive human rights policy, and to stand with those who, with their courage, make the world a more just place where every person can live up to his or her God-given potential. We honor David’s legacy by continuing the important work to which he devoted his life.

UGANDA: Murder of gay activist "needs urgent investigation"

NAIROBI, 27 January 2011 (PlusNews) - Gay Ugandans say they are living in fear after the murder of David Kato, a prominent gay activist who opposed the Anti-Homosexuality Bill submitted to parliament in 2009.

Police say no suspects have been arrested and the motive for Kato's murder remains unclear; he was hit on the head with a stone at his home in the central Ugandan district of Mukono on the afternoon of 26 January.

The possibility that Kato may have been killed because of his sexuality has made gay people feel very insecure.

"Gay people are all very afraid, especially those who are known to the public; we need the police to urgently investigate this crime and find David's killers," said Pepe Julian Onziema, spokesman for the rights group, Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), who paid tribute to Kato for his dedication to the defence of the rights of sexual minorities in the country.

Kato, an advocacy officer for SMUG, recently won a court case against a local tabloid, The Rolling Stone, which in October 2010 published his photograph and name in an article claiming to identify Ugandan homosexuals. In November, a court ordered The Rolling Stone to cease publishing. Earlier this month, a judge ruled that it had violated their constitutional rights to privacy and ordered compensation.

"He had told me that he was not feeling safe; he was being harassed in bars and when we went to court people would be waiting for him outside, taunting him," Onziema said. MORE

Primates study their roles, outlining common ground and differences, at Dublin meeting

Episcopal News Service] The primates, or lead bishops and archbishops, of the Anglican Communion spent the third day of their meeting in Dublin, Ireland, pondering the role of the primate in the life of their provinces – agreeing on many similarities and outlining a number of differences, according to a release from the Anglican Communion News Service.

The full release follows.

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Anglican Communion News Service
Primates' Meeting – Briefing #2
Day 3

On day three of the meeting, Primates of the Anglican Communion began to more closely consider "primacy." In small groups they discussed their understanding and experience of the theology and practice of primacy in their provinces, at the regional level and at the communion level. The purpose of the morning was to share in plenary the differences and similarities of primacy in the provinces of the communion.

Aspects of primacy shared among all provinces included the Primate having a ministry of reconciliation and peace building; of linking the local with the global and vice-versa; of being a consensus builder, a symbol of unity in the Province and the wider community; of being a pastor to other bishops; and of having a prophetic voice, to interpret the signs of the times in their local context.

"A Primate is the first among equals," one Primate fed back to the meeting, "an apostle, a servant, who is often on the road visiting dioceses, carrying and embodying the vision of the Province, the mission of the church and the values that hold that Province together."

Also many considered a Primate to be someone who represented the voice of his/her province. One Primate explained to the plenary session that in their small group the Primates had agreed that, "none of us are able to or are inclined to speak for ourselves only, but always after consultation with the bishops, with the synods and council." He added that there had also considerable conversation around the Primates' voice as representatives of their province when they went into other councils that were ecumenical, interfaith or political in nature.

There were, however, some clear differences in the responsibilities and scope of the role of Primate between provinces. Some Primates are also diocesan bishop as well as Primate, while others had no diocesan responsibilities. The length of primatial service varies across the communion between two years renewable, and serving until retirement. Some Primates are responsible for a lot of administration, others are not. Whereas in some Provinces the Primate can veto a synodical decision (after consultation with the Council/House of Bishops), in other Provinces the Primate needs permission from the bishop before even travelling to that bishop's diocese. A few Primates have responsibilities of an extra-provincial nature—the example being Cuba where three Primates form the Metropolitan Council that oversees the ministry there.

The question was raised, though not addressed in plenary, about how far Primates had a role in safeguarding the life of the Communion as a whole.

Whatever the similarities or differences between the roles and responsibilities of Primates across the Communion, seeing primacy as a gift rather than a right was a concept expressed by Archbishop Winston of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand & Polynesia as he explained the concept of "Tikanga."

He said the word meant "the place where you stand;" that your position was sacred ground gifted to you by your ancestors, your people, the environment. He said that the position of Primate was gifted to the role-bearer as a responsibility for a time and for the future. "You don't own it," he said, "the place [role] owns you. It's a gift, not a right. It's a privilege."

Primates spent the afternoon sessions sharing their expectations of primates' meetings. Following a request to the Archbishop of Canterbury, he shared with them a short history of the meetings. He explained that, although it had altered over the years, the original purpose of the meeting established in 1978 by the then Archbishop of Canterbury Donald Coggan was an opportunity for "leisurely thought, prayer and deep consultation."

Ugandan LGBT Activist David Kato Murdered in Uganda

Frank Mugisha, head of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), just reported that his colleague in SMUG, David Kato (pictured), has been murdered in Kampala. Kato was also one of the plaintiffs in the Rolling Stone defamation case in Uganda. The Rolling Stone promised to out 100 homosexuals, and had started doing so, when a Ugandan judge halted the tabloid, saying that such efforts violated the rights of the plaintiffs. Kato had expressed fear for his safety after the verdict.

The Human Rights Watch webiste posted this:

Witnesses told police that a man entered Kato's home in Mukono at around 1 p.m. on January 26, 2011, hit him twice in the head and departed in a vehicle. Kato died on his way to Kawolo hospital. Police told Kato's lawyer that they had the registration number of the vehicle and were looking for it.

Kato was the advocacy officer for the organization Sexual Minorities Uganda. He had been a leading voice in the fight against the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which has been before Uganda's parliament since October 15, 2009. While homosexual sex is already illegal in Uganda, the proposed law would criminalize all homosexuality, making it punishable by a fine and life imprisonment. "Repeat offenders" and those who are HIV positive would be subject to the death penalty. The bill would also oblige anyone with knowledge of someone who is or might be a homosexual to report that person to the police within 24 hours.

The bill has been widely condemned internationally, including by US President Barack Obama, who called the bill "odious." Kato had said the bill was "profoundly undemocratic and un-African."

The fight against the bill has also pushed Ugandan activists to the fore, raising concern for their privacy and safety. These deepened in late 2010 when a local tabloid called Rolling Stone, unconnected to the US magazine, published pictures, names, and residence locations of some members of the LGBT community, along with a headline saying, "Hang Them." Kato's photo appeared on the cover, and inside another photo appeared with his name.

Three activists, including Kato, eventually sued the publication and won on January 3. The judge ruled that the publication had violated their constitutional rights to privacy and ordered compensation. He also issued an injunction prohibiting any further publication of the identities and home locations of individuals labeled homosexuals.

"The Anti-Homosexuality bill has already generated hatred before it has even been enacted and it should immediately be withdrawn by its author," Burnett said. "President Yoweri Museveni should categorically reject the hate that lies behind this bill, and instead encourage tolerance of divergent views of sexuality and protect vulnerable minorities."

Integrity USA invites prayers of thanks for David Kato's life, work and witness and we call for an end to violence against LGBT people everywhere.

Primates open Ireland meeting with 'prayer and purpose'

[Episcopal News Service] The 18th Primates Meeting of the Anglican Communion opened in Dublin, Ireland, on the evening of Jan. 25 in "an atmosphere of prayer and purpose," according to a release from the Anglican Communion News Service.

The primates, who are the senior bishops or archbishops of a province of the Anglican family of churches, were invited from all 38 provinces, although not all are present at the meeting. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori is representing the U.S.-based Episcopal Church.

Full text of the release follows.

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Anglican Communion News Service
Primates Meeting
Days 1 and 2

The 18th Primates Meeting of the Anglican Communion opened in Dublin on Tuesday evening in an atmosphere of prayer and purpose. After a welcome and introduction, the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams asked those present to hold in their hearts and prayers those Primates unable to attend. He also pointed out that at least a third of the Primates in Dublin were at their first Primates' Meeting.

Before the Primates attended Night Prayers, Archbishop Rowan gave a short reflection on primatial leadership using the text of Mark 10:35-45.

At the start of Wednesday morning Eucharist, Primates placed, at the foot of the altar, symbols (including photos, food, pictures and other objects) that represented the major missional challenges of their Province. This was so that these local issues are front of mind at any act of worship throughout the week.

Following an official welcome from the Primate of All Ireland Archbishop Alan Harper, he read a letter of welcome from the Taoiseach, Brian Cowen in which Mr. Cowen said that churches have "an important role to play in helping us to understand our current society, and to appreciate the significance of the spiritual and philosophical dimension of the problems and opportunities we face."

The Irish Prime Minister added that Christian churches have an important mission in global dialogue on an interfaith basis, "The message of tolerance and peace must be loudly proclaimed in these troubled times," he said.

The Primates spent the remainder of the day sharing with one another, in small groups and at plenary, first their thoughts on the big issues facing the Communion, and then their responses to what they had heard from one another.

Topics shared in plenary included those of mission-how to best share the gospel with the world; of diversity-how Communion members could hold different positions but still work together; of the implications and expectations brought about by different models of primatial leadership; and of the need for the Communion to better address Provincial matters. These included HIV infection; anti-conversion and blasphemy laws; persecution of minorities and situations of national division, as demonstrated in Korea.

The Gay Adult: Calling Ourselves Into Being - A Day of Inter-generational Dialogue Set for 2/26 in LA

A groundbreaking community-wide event The Gay Adult: Calling Ourselves Into Being - A Day of Inter-generational Dialogue is set for Feb. 26, 2011 in The Renberg Theater at The Village, Ed Gould Plaza, Los Angeles, California.

Sponsored by 100 Gay Men, the session seeks to explore, clarify and expand the role of gay adults to create a more vibrant, consciously empowered community, a primary goal of this event is to reinvigorate gay community involvement across generations by creating fresh opportunities for meaningful community action. Through highly interactive dialogue and collaboration among youth, adults, and elders, the day's activities will focus on re-imagining the role of gay adults as a potent, positive force in the gay community. The event will culminate in a ceremonial initiation into gay adulthood, a unique opportunity for participants to affirm their commitment to this role and bear witness to the community.

Four decades after the Stonewall rebellion in New York and three decades after Harvey Milk made history in San Francisco, today's gay generation is coming together to build on these legacies and redefine "Gay Liberation" for the twenty-first century. While struggles for equality in marriage continue, a "gay generation gap" has recently emerged around issues of HIV/AIDS prevention among youth. In response to these important social challenges, 100 Gay Men is presenting this major community gathering to foster expanded community engagement through inter-generational cooperation. This event builds on an ancient premise: "If tribal elders are lost, adults will be lost; and if tribal adults are lost, youth will be lost," as stated by long-time community activist and psychologist Dr. Don Kilhefner of the Gay Elder Circle.

Featured presenters include gay community leaders Rev. Dr. Neil Thomas,(Senior Pastor, Metropolitan Community Church, Los Angeles); Phill Wilson (Founder and CEO, The Black AIDS Institute Los Angeles); Carlos Sosa (Founder, C.I.T.Y.x1 LGBTQ Youth Group); Elton Naswood, (American Indian Community Council, Los Angeles and APLA's Red Circle Project); Larry Yang (Leadership/Core Meditation Teacher, East Bay Meditation Center, Oakland, California).The event will be moderated by Edward Hansen (former pastor of the Hollywood United Methodist Church) and Roberto Blain (Director of Talent Services, University of Southern California). In addition, the day's activities will be a performance featuring gay hip-hop recording artist Drew Mason.

100 Gay Men is a nonprofit organization located in Los Angeles, California consisting of gay men who have joined together to make a difference by supporting local service projects and grassroots community initiatives. Their mission is to harness the unique talents, resources and energies of adult gay men for the betterment and continuing evolution of diverse LGBT communities. 100 Gay Men's current community work involves providing support to a number of organizations, including Wellness Works (a nonprofit holistic health and education center that provides support and training programs for HIV-positive persons, veterans, and others in need) and Rise Up & Shout! (a nonprofit gay youth mentoring program and performance showcase).

This project is funded in part by a grant from the City of Los Angeles, Department of Cultural Affairs.

Tickets for "The Gay Adult: Calling Ourselves Into Being - A Day of Inter-generational Dialogue" (which includes a catered lunch) may be purchased for $75 per person via www.brownpapertickets.com/event/146394.

A scholarship program is available for those unable to purchase tickets, with a limited number of full and partial scholarships available on a first-come first-serve basis. For more information contact: thegayadult@100gaymen.org.

Anglican Communion primates arrive in Dublin for meeting

[ACNS] Primates from across the Anglican Communion arrived Jan. 25 at the Emmaus Retreat and Conference Centre in Dublin for the first day of their six-day Primates Meeting.

The primates, who are the senior bishops or archbishops of a province of the Anglican family of churches, were invited from all 38 provinces. Archbishop of York John Sentamu also was invited to allow Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams to fulfill his role as president of the meeting.

Several primates, including Archbishop Maurício José Araújo de Andrade of Brazil and bishop of Brasilia, said they were looking forward to a positive meeting.

"It is important that in this meeting dialogue continues between the different parts of the Anglican Communion," he said. "If it is possible to sit together with different ecumenical and interfaith partners, how much more do we need to continue to sit down and dialogue with bishops from other parts of the communion."

The dean of the Province of Central Africa, Bishop Albert Chama, said he believed God would enable the primates to remain in unity and to love one another as the body of Christ.

"My hope is that in this meeting we will be able to continue the conversations that have been happening in terms of pulling the communion together," he said. "It is my hope that our meeting will be fruitful and that we will continue to discuss matters with openness and we will be able to listen to one another."

Barring any last minute changes, 24 primates are able to attend the meeting. As anticipated, some were unable to attend because of health reasons, others for personal reasons and a few because of issues in their provinces, such as the referendum in Sudan.

Seven primates said they were not coming because of recent developments in the Episcopal Church, but in their responses they have reiterated their commitment to the communion and to the archbishop of Canterbury.

The Rev. Canon Kenneth Kearon, secretary general of the Anglican Communion and secretary of the meeting, said, "It is obviously regrettable when a primate is unable attend because it means that that particular perspective is not represented, but it is ultimately the decision of each individual primate in consultation with their province."

Those who are present, on their way or are expected:

• The Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand & Polynesia: The Most Rev. Winston Halapua
• The Anglican Church of Australia: The Most Rev. Phillip John Aspinall
• The Church of Bangladesh: The Rt. Rev. Paul Sishir Sarkar
• Igreja Episcopal Anglicana do Brasil: The Most Rev. Maurício José Araújo de Andrade
• The Episcopal Church of Burundi: The Most Rev. Bernard Ntahoturi
• The Anglican Church of Canada: The Most Rev. Frederick J Hiltz
• The Church of the Province of Central Africa: Represented by the Dean of the Province, The Rt. Rev. Albert Chama
• Iglesia Anglicana de la Region Central de America: The Most Rev. Armando Roman Guerra Soria
• The Church of England: The Most Rev. Rowan Douglas Williams; also represented by The Most Rev. John Sentamu
• Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui: The Most Rev. Paul Kwong
• The Church of Ireland: The Most Rev. Alan Edwin Thomas Harper
• The Nippon Sei Ko Kai (The Anglican Communion in Japan): The Most Rev. Nathaniel Makoto Uematsu
• The Anglican Church of Korea: The Rt. Rev. Paul Keun-Sang Kim
• The Church of the Province of Melanesia: The Most Rev. David Vunagi
• The Church of Pakistan (United): The Rt Rev. Samuel Azariah
• The Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea: The Most Rev. Joseph Kifau Kopapa
• The Episcopal Church in the Philippines: The Rt. Rev. Edward Pacyaya Malecdan
• The Scottish Episcopal Church: The Most Rev. David Robert Chillingworth
• The Church of South India (United): The Most Rev. Suputhrappa Vasantha Kumar
• The Anglican Church of Southern Africa: The Most Rev. Thabo Cecil Makgoba
• The Episcopal Church: The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
• The Church in Wales: The Most Rev. Barry Cennydd Morgan
• The Church in the Province of the West Indies: The Most Rev. John Walder Dunlop Holder

Those who are unable to attend:

For reasons of visa difficulties:

• Province de L'Eglise Anglicane Du Congo: The Most Rev. Henry Kahwa Isingoma

For reasons of health:

• La Iglesia Anglicana de Mexico: The Most Rev. Carlos Touche-Porter
• The Church of the Province of Myanmar (Burma): The Most Rev. Stephen Than Myint Oo

For reasons of diary commitments:

• The Anglican Church of Kenya: The Most Rev. Eliud Wabukala
• The Church of North India (United): The Most Rev. Purely Lyngdoh

For personal reasons:

• The Anglican Church of Tanzania: The Most Rev. Valentino Mokiwa

For reasons of provincial matters:

• The Episcopal Church of the Sudan: The Most Rev. Daniel Deng Bul Yak (the referendum)
• L'Eglise Episcopal au Rwanda: The Most Rev. Onesphore Rwaje (two days after his installation)

Those who have chosen to stay away over recent developments in the Episcopal Church:

• The Church of the Province of the Indian Ocean: The Most Rev. Gerald James (Ian) Ernest
• The Episcopal Church in Jerusalem & The Middle East: The Most Rev. Mouneer Hanna Anis
• The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion): The Most Rev. Nicholas Dikeriehi Okoh
• The Church of the Province of Uganda: The Most Rev. Henry Luke Orombi
• Church of the Province of South East Asia: The Most Rev. John Chew
• Iglesia Anglicana del Cono Sur de America: The Most Rev. Hector Zavala
• The Church of the Province of West Africa: The Most Rev. Justice Ofei Akrofi

Fruitfulness and Mutual Blessing

From the blog of the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music of the Episcopal Church:

The 2009 General Convention of the Episcopal Church directed the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music to collect and develop theological and liturgical resources for blessing same-sex relationships (Resolution C056). The Commission is eager to engage the wider church in theological conversation as one among many sources that will inform our work.

The reflection below was submitted by the Rev. Jay Emerson Johnson, Ph.D., chair of the task group preparing theological resources.

Read more about this project.

# # #

As the theological resources task group continues to hone and refine the theological principles in our work, it would be helpful to hear more specifically about the principles themselves. To begin that conversation, I invite some reflection on two of those principles that are particularly intertwined with each other – the “fruitfulness” of committed relationships and the character of “mutual blessing.” In brief, what we are trying to articulate here is how living in a committed, covenantal relationship enables us to engage in our vocations as Christians in ways that we couldn’t apart from the relationship. Thus, the love shared in such a relationship “spills” over into lives of hospitality and generous service. This in turn makes all such committed relationships a blessing to the wider community. We would appreciate hearing how you might have experienced this in your own faith communities. How have committed relationships been a blessing to you? Where you have seen the “fruits of the Spirit” in such a relationship? Specific examples of these principles will help us refine our work – thank you in advance!

# # #

We invite your participation in this dialogue about blessing same-sex relationships. Your responses and observations here will help inform the work of the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music in our work of developing theological and liturgical resources for such blessings. We hope that this conversation will also be a way to renew and enliven a shared vision of the church’s mission in the world.

To post a comment, your first and last name and email address are required. Your name will be published; your email address will not. The first time you post, a moderator will need to approve your submission; after that, your comments will appear instantly.

Our rules for posting are fairly simple. Express yourself with courtesy, civility, and respect for others, whether or not you agree with them.

Comment here.

“In all we do, we seek to recognize the face of God wherever we turn"

“In all we do, we seek to recognize the face of God wherever we turn, realizing that the body of God’s creation will only be healed when all members of the body of Christ are working together,” Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori noted concerning the upcoming Anglican Communion Primates meeting.

The Primates will gather for a meeting in Dublin, Ireland from January 25 to January 30. The Anglican Primates last met in 2009 in Egypt.

The following is the statement from Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori.

January 24, 2011

I look forward to greeting many old friends at the Primates Meeting in Dublin, and I look forward to meeting those who have been elected in the past two years.

I am deeply grateful that we may begin to focus on issues that are highly significant in local contexts as well as across the breadth of the Anglican Communion. Certainly issues of serving our brothers and sisters, offering good news for body, mind, and spirit, are the central ones in our province.

The Episcopal Church is urgently focused on rebuilding in Haiti, seeking increased ways to bring good news to the poor in indigenous communities, inner cities, and expanding and depopulating rural areas in all the nations in our province.

Across the globe, in partnership with Anglicans and others, we seek to serve the least of these, bringing light in the midst of darkness, peace in the midst of war and violence, and hope in the face of devastating natural disasters and the growing reality of climate change. We own our domestic responsibility to change our habits and ways of life that contribute to environmental damage and destruction.

In all we do, we seek to recognize the face of God wherever we turn, realizing that the body of God’s creation will only be healed when all members of the body of Christ are working together.

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori

Presiding Bishop and Primate

The Episcopal Church

Breaking: Episcopal diocese of Fort Worth wins summary judgement

Judge Grants Episcopal Parties' Motions for Summary Judgment and Orders Surrender of Diocesan Property

On Friday, January 21, 2011, the Hon. John P. Chupp of the 141st District Court, Tarrant County, Texas, granted the Local Episcopal Parties’ and The Episcopal Church’s Motions for Summary Judgments. He denied the Southern Cone parties Motion for a Partial Summary Judgment The orders can be seen here.

The Court orders provide in part that the defendants, including Bishop Jack L. Iker, “surrender all Diocesan property, as well as control of the Diocesan Corporation, to the Diocesan plaintiffs and to provide an accounting of all Diocesan assets within 60 days of this order.” Additionally, “the Court hereby orders the Defendants not to hold themselves out as leaders of the Diocese.”

The parties are ordered “to submit a more detailed declaratory order within ten days of the date of this order” or by January 31.

“We are pleased with this decision as it represents good progress in recovering property and assets of The Episcopal Church for use by Episcopalians in this diocese for ministry and mission,” said the Rt. Rev. C. Wallis Ohl, provisional bishop of Fort Worth.

“The only reason we have gone to court is to protect the assets built up over 170 years in this part of Texas by generations of Episcopalians for the use of The Episcopal Church so they will be available for use by the great-great-grandchildren of those Episcopalians and for generations beyond,” he said.

Bishop Ohl continued, “We know that this litigation has been painful for both sides, and we continue to hold Bishop Iker and all those who chose to leave The Episcopal Church in our prayers. We wish all the best for them.”

In November 2008, former Bishop Jack L. Iker and other diocesan leaders left The Episcopal Church and aligned themselves with another church, the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. Since then they have been using the name and seal of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth and occupying Episcopal Church property. The diocese reorganized in February 2009 at a special meeting of the Diocesan Convention called by the Most Rev. Dr. Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop and primate of The Episcopal Church. The Rt. Rev. Edwin F. [Ted] Gulick Jr. was elected provisional bishop at that convention. Bishop Ohl succeeded him after being elected at the regular meeting of the Diocesan Convention in November 2009.

On April 14, 2009, The Episcopal Church, The Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth and the Corporation of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth filed suit in the 141st District Court seeking to recover property and other assets.

At that time, Bishop Gulick said, “The Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth, heir and steward of the legacy of generations of faithful Episcopalians, has this day brought suit to recover that legacy. We deeply regret that the decisions and actions of former diocesan leaders have brought us to this difficult moment. . . This litigation is designed to move quickly to confirm the historical right of Episcopalians to lead the diocese as stewards of its property as we in humility and hope continue the mission of the Episcopal Church here. . . We bid the prayers of all faithful Episcopalians and other Christians as we protect our legacy and fulfill the trust and dreams of those who have gone before.”

Other suits are pending. A case filed in the 355th District Court of Hood County, Texas, the Hon. Ralph Walton, Jr. presiding, involves the Cynthia Brants Trust and which congregation, the Episcopal St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church or the Southern Cone St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, is the beneficiary of that trust. This case is abated pending resolution of the identity issues in the Tarrant County Case.

A case filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division, the Hon. Terry R. Means presiding. This case invokes the Lanham Act claims for trademark infringement and dilution of the name and seal of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth. This case is stayed pending resolution of the identity issues in the Tarrant County Case.

Additionally, a suit was filed by All Saints Episcopal Church in Fort Worth, styled All Saints’ Episcopal Church v. Jack Leo Iker, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division. This case invokes Lanham Act claims for trademark infringement and dilution of the name “All Saints’ Episcopal Church” by those who left All Saints’ and formed a new Southern Cone congregation worshipping blocks away.

Bishop Ohl said, “From the day the former leaders left The Episcopal Church, Episcopalians across the diocese, including the people who have been displaced from their own parishes and missions, have been actively planning for reconciliation with those who currently worship in those facilities. The Episcopal Church, including its continuing Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth, welcomes everyone, no matter where they are on their spiritual journey. The mission of The Episcopal Church is to reconcile the world to God through Jesus Christ. All persons are welcome to worship in the 55 Episcopal parishes and missions of the continuing Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth. “

Trinity Institute gathers scholars, theologians to consider Bible through others' eyes

Brueggemann see Bible as constantly capable of yielding 'new kind of reality'

[Episcopal News Service] Walter Brueggemann told the opening session of the 41st Trinity Institute Jan. 20 that 21st century Christians need to stop being mired in old quarrels over scriptural interpretation and instead approach the Bible as "an intricate set of symbols and signs and signals that are arranged in a certain imaginative, artistic configuration that yield a new kind of reality."

Brueggemann, an Old Testament scholar and professor emeritus at Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, Georgia, said that such an approach can help Christians engage with the Bible in a way that avoids pre-packaged interpretation. Instead, he said, Christians and the churches to which they belong need to engage with the Bible in a way that gives them a place to stand in their lives and their faith in the midst of "the power of nation states, the reductionisms of scientism and in the capricious power of the marketplace."

The 41st Trinity Institute, sponsored by Trinity Wall Street and titled "Reading Scripture Through Other Eyes," is meant to help participants "become more conscious of what we are looking for when we return to the Bible as a source of inspiration," according to the conference's web pages.

The conference began on the afternoon of Jan. 19 with a meeting of the theological reflection groups in which conference participants are encouraged to engage. Those gatherings were followed by Eucharist in Trinity Church. The conference ends Jan. 21.

Other speakers include U.S. author Mary Gordon (Jan. 21 morning session), Nigerian biblical scholar Teresa Okure (Jan. 20 afternoon session), South African theologian Gerald O. West (Jan. 21 afternoon session) and preacher and panelist Steed V. Davidson.

Other panelists are Eric D. Barreto, Mary Chilton Callaway and Amy E. Meverden.

A number of participants are viewing the sessions at partner sites throughout the United States and Canada, Nigeria, Panama, Sudan and South Africa. Others are attending via live webcast. During a panel discussion after Brueggemann's presentation, questions came in via video conferencing from South Africa, Missouri, Connecticut and Toronto, in addition to those asked by New York participants.

Church Divinity School of the Pacific Dean and President Mark Richardson said in introducing Brueggemann that modern-day skeptics look for an "unfeeling God of the scripture that they find by treating the material of the Bible as if it can be flattened out into facts much as scientific inquiry is about discreet, quantifiable things and processes, and then they attack the God they think they have discovered in scriptures."

Thus, he said, the Bible becomes "a symbol of what is past and what must make for a new spirituality."

Brueggemann suggested that the antidote involves a movement beyond critical examination of the Bible to a "post-critical" stance that engages more deeply with the text itself, rejects traditional methods such as historical criticism in favor of approaches that acknowledge the interpreter's stake in the interpretation and looks at "Jewish modes of interpretation that do not move so quickly to closure."

For instance, he said, historical criticism's approach had resulted in the situation where "we didn't read the Bible much; we just read books about the Bible. It turns out … that the Bible is much more interesting than any of the books about the Bible, such as some of the ones I have written."

Brueggemann said he now prefers to help people come to a stance from which they see the Bible is "thick and layered and conflicted" and reveals a God who is much the same. "And we are made in the image of a God who is thick and layered and conflicted," he said.

In this approach, failed interpreters are those who do not go beyond pre-packaged interpretations while "kingdom scribes" treasure what is old and "offer what is new."

During a panel discussion with Brueggemann, some of the panelists worried that members of their congregations may not be ready for such an approach.

"There is an enormous appetite for an authoritarian approach to the Bible," said Gordon, adding that "a sense of certainty in God" can be lost in the sort of interpretation Brueggemann suggested.

"There's a reason why fundamentalists are doing better than the likes of us," she said.

Brueggemann argued that the sort of stance he advocates "doesn't have to be high-falutin'" but it is "the posing of the kind of accessible questions that let the text come very close to people's experience" and thus help them interpret the pain and joy they experience.

Trinity Institute is a continuing education program for clergy and laity that is part of Trinity Church Wall Street in Lower Manhattan. Founded to provide theological renewal for clergy in the Episcopal Church, the organization broadened its focus to include the work of emerging theologians of divergent thought and from diverse parts of society. Information about past conferences is here.

-- The Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg is national correspondent for the Episcopal News Service.

2010 TAX LEGISLATION: WHAT IT MEANS FOR LGBT COUPLES AND FAMILIES

You are invited to attend 2010 TAX LEGISLATION: WHAT IT MEANS FOR LGBT COUPLES AND FAMILIES. The new year signals many changes - and the tax code is certainly no exception. In this fun and timely informational session, you will find out why it is more important than ever to be sure your accountant understands the new laws and how they affect LGBT people, as well as who should have a current estate plan (Hint - Everyone!) Thursday, January 20, 2011, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. in the Cathedral Wilsey Conference Center 1100 California Street, San Francisco. 6:00 p.m. Reception 7:00 p.m. Presentation, Q&A Welcome by The Very Rev. Dr. Jane Shaw, Dean of Grace Cathedral Grace With the benefits of domestic partnership and marriage come new opportunities for LGBTcouples and families, and more complications. This presentation will help you to takeresponsibility for ensuring that you maximize the opportunities and avoid the potentialundesirable tax and estate consequences of your relationship.

Topics covered will include: New federal income tax reporting requirements for registered domestic partners and LGBT married couples New gift and estate tax exemption levels and how they affect planning The importance of legal status Susan von Herrmann Presented by Susan von Herrmann, a partner at the law firm of Fitzgerald Abbott & Beardsley LLP. Susan focuses on assisting non-traditional families in estate planning, charitable planned giving, trustadministration, probate and trust controversy matters. Sponsored by Grace Cathedral, Horizons Foundation, and Integral Financial Solutions, LLC RSVP Please RSVP by Friday, January 14events@horizonsfoundation.org or 415.398.2333 x115.

Episcopal Public Policy Network urges opposition to health-care reform repeal

[Episcopal News Service] With the U.S. House of Representatives set to vote as early as Jan. 19 on a measure that would repeal health-care reform legislation, the Episcopal Public Policy Network is urging Episcopalians to advocate against such a rollback.

In a policy alert issued Jan. 18, the network said that "now is not the time to remove the benefits and protections upon which hardworking Americans now depend during these difficult economic times."

"During this crucial phase of implementation of the law," the alert said of the law that began going into effect in late 2010, "the American people will not be served well by the uncertainty that repeal would bring to our health care system."

The alert urged Episcopalians to contact their representatives and ask them to vote against repeal, telling them to not "take away new benefits that protect all American families."

EPPN's e-mail letter page is here.

The original law provides health care for all Americans, bars the denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions, prohibits lifetime limits on coverage and allows parents to keep children up to age 26 on their insurance, EPPN said.

During the 76th General Convention in 2009, the Episcopal Church called for (via Resolution C071) elected officials at all levels of government in the United States to "establish a system to provide basic health care to all." The resolution arose out of work done by the bioethics commission of the Diocese of East Tennessee.

The convention also called for passage of federal legislation establishing a "single payer" universal health care program (Resolution D048) and asked (via Resolution D088) Congress to pass, and the president to sign, legislation by the end of 2009 guaranteeing adequate health care and insurance for all citizens.

Any successful vote in the House for Resolution 2, titled "Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act," is expected to be largely symbolic because Democrats still hold the majority in the Senate. President Barack Obama has promised to veto any repeal bill that might come to his desk.

Debate and a subsequent vote on H.R. 2 had been set for last week, but were postponed after the shootings in Tucson, Arizona, killed six people and wounded 14 others, including Democratic Representative Gabrielle Giffords. Giffords had voted for the original so-called "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act" health-care reform bill when it passed in March 2010.

Vigorous and at times vitriolic debate on the bill ensued. Giffords' Tucson office was vandalized just after the vote during a series of such incidents and threats against some representatives who voted for the bill.

Republicans regained the majority in the House during the November 2010 elections, based in part on anger over the reform bill, and made repeal a high priority.

The Republican insistence that the bill will result in lost jobs is reportedly based at least in part on an August 2010 report from the Congressional Budget Office that predicted the bill would reduce the amount of labor in the economy by about 0.5 percent, because more people would choose to retire earlier, thanks to the reduced cost of health insurance. FactCheck.org said Jan. 7 that the claim is misleading.

At least 24 federal lawsuits have been filed by states and private parties, mainly claiming as unconstitutional the law's requirement that all Americans buy health insurance or pay a penalty.

-- The Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg is national correspondent for the Episcopal News Service.

"house of Mercy" In Columbus: "Let me tell you one reason why: because of the Bible, of course"

"[Homosexuality] is not tolerated here at all. Let me tell you one reason why: because of the Bible, of course. And then we have little children," House of Mercy director Bobby Harris told WRBL.

Robert F. Kennedy speech ~ Mindless Menace of Violence

After the shootings in Tucson, it is worth listening once again to the words of Robert F. Kennedy after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:

Cutie tells story of love and faith in new book

[Religion News Service via Episcopal News Service] The Rev. Alberto Cutie saw a lot of things in his 14 years as a Catholic priest while church officials looked the other way: priests who got caught with prostitutes, priests who lived with their gay partners, and men of the cloth who kept one bed in the rectory and another with their mistress.

"In the Roman Catholic Church, a scandal is not really a scandal until it becomes public," Cutie writes in his new book, "Dilemma: A Priest's Struggle with Faith and Love," which hit stores Jan. 4.

Yet when he was caught by paparazzi canoodling with his girlfriend on a Miami beach in 2009, Cutie was booted from his rectory, dropped from his insurance plan and told he would no longer receive a paycheck.

The global television ministry that had earned him the nickname "Father Oprah" and legions of fans across Miami and Latin America, was over, he was told.

Within weeks, the priest whose made-for-Hollywood good looks provided endless tabloid fodder left to become an Episcopal priest. He later married his girlfriend, Ruhama Buni Canellis, and on Dec. 2, the couple announced the birth of their first daughter, Camila Victoria.

As Cutie describes it in his book, his move to the Episcopal Church was not as quick and convenient as it appeared. In fact, he says his dissatisfaction with the Catholic Church had stewed for several years.

The scandal only intensified his disillusionment with a church he now describes as "incompetent," "inhumane," "merciless" and an "ideological dictatorship."

"The church doesn't need my help to tarnish its image," Cutie said in an interview from his new office at the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection near Miami. "The institution has done plenty to tarnish its own image."

The book contains few saucy details about the relationship that blossomed from friendship to romance over nearly a decade. Cutie writes that he was instantly attracted to the shy single mother and was grateful when he was transferred to another parish so he could focus on work.

But as Cutie wrestled with the loneliness and high expectations of the priesthood, he found himself stealing dates with Canellis at quiet restaurants or movie theaters where they would not be seen.

"My life was all about work, but there was something in my life that was missing, a big empty hole: intimacy," he said. "And I would ask whether (celibacy) was really God's rule and what God wants or a man-made rule and what the church wants."

The harsh treatment of priests who were ousted during the clergy abuse scandal that erupted in 2002 only fueled Cutie's disillusionment, and he knew that mandatory celibacy was part of the problem.

"This is one of the real scandals nobody wants to see in the church: good people, mostly good men, who are so lonely on the inside that they are often driven to satisfy basic human emotional and physical needs in all the wrong ways," he writes.

He also struggled with church teaching against homosexuality, divorce, women's ordination and denying Communion to non-Catholics. The priestly fraternity he was promised, he said, was actually a club of lonely ladder-climbers.

While Cutie protects the names of many in the church, he directs his harshest criticism at retired Archbishop John Favalora, who he describes as cold, rigid, arrogant, aloof and "disconnected and uninterested in my life."

"The spiritual fatherhood of a bishop ... was something I experienced through other bishops, but not from you personally," Cutie wrote in a lengthy letter that he never sent to Favalora.

Officials at the Archdiocese of Miami declined to comment about Cutie's book, and referred to a 2009 statement in which Favalora likened Cutie to the Gospel parable of the prodigal son who eventually "came to his senses."

Cutie, 41, actually began talks with the local Episcopal bishop years before the paparazzi pictures forced him out of the church, and said his transition was neither "easy nor quick."

"Yet the more I prayed and thought about the message of Jesus, the more I realized that his is a message of inclusion, not exclusion; a message of love, not rejection; a message of salvation, not condemnation," he writes.

Cutie readily admits that he broke his vow of celibacy, and still wrestles with the disappointment some former parishioners may feel. He says he didn't write the book to settle scores, but out of "deep-rooted disappointment" in an institution that he once believed held all the answers.

"I don't think it's anger," he said. "I think its disappointment, and sadness for the people who believe in an institution that isn't what it proclaims to be."

His new Episcopal flock in Biscayne Park has grown from 28 to about 300 and he's finding his footing in marriage, fatherhood and 3 a.m. feedings for his young daughter.

Marriage, he writes, has made him a better priest because "I feel more connected to humanity," and an infant daughter and teenage stepson have added a new understanding of the term "Father."

"I'm so blessed to be able to experience the gift of fathering a child, knowing that I had convinced myself that I wasn't going to be part of that experience," he said. "To be able to experience it, for me, is a double blessing."

Celebrate Integrity's Patron Saint at Grace Cathedral Eucharist Jan. 12

Eucharist of St. Aelred of Rievaulx

DATE: Wednesday, January 12, 2011

TIME: Ten Minutes past Noon

LOCATION: Grace Cathedral,
1100 California Street,
San Francisco, CA 94108

Jan. 12 is the day we remember St. Ailered of Rievaulx (1110 - 12 January 1167). a medieval English monk who serves as the patron saint of Integrity, the leading LGBT organization in our church. By coincidence Jan. 12 is also the day Oasis President Tom Jackson will serve as nave chaplain in Grace Cathedral and celebrate the Eucharist at ten minutes after noon. His sermon will touch on the good saint and what lies ahead for Oasis, the LGBT ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of California. A dutch treat lunch may follow the service.

Lutheran Bishop Paul Egertson Dies Suddenly

The Diocese of Los Angeles, together with the wider Church, joins in remembering a beloved friend and colleague, retired Bishop Paul Egertson of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, who died suddenly yesterday afternoon at his home in Thousand Oaks, California.

We pray for his wife, Shirley, their six sons, and all the Egertson family, as well as Bishop Dean Nelson and the people of the Southwest California Synod. Funeral arrangements are pending, and services will be announced as soon as further information is available.

Bishop Egertson led the ELCA's Glendale-based Southwest California Synod from 1995 to 2001. An active and esteemed partner in ministry, he shared deeply in ecumenical and interfaith collaboration -- and together with the Bishops of this Diocese, he joined in shaping a vibrant local expression of the full communion between the ELCA and the Episcopal Church.

Full communion between the two denominations was inaugurated 10 years ago today, January 6, 2001, the Feast of the Epiphany, with a widely attended service in Washington National Cathedral.

Bishop Egertson was a regular participant in the life of this Diocese and will be greatly missed. He was a caring pastor, a compelling professor at California Lutheran University, and a tireless advocate for peace and justice, especially the civil rights of LGBT sisters and brothers in the Church and beyond.

Bishop Egertson's bold, prophetic leadership was instrumental in changes of policy enacted by the ELCA General Assembly in 2009 by adoption of the statement "Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust." The Assembly also passed a resolution that changes be made to churchwide policy documents to make it possible for people in publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships to serve as rostered leaders in the ELCA.

Locally this summer, the LGBT ministries of the Synod and this Diocese came together for a street Eucharist in West Hollywood. Bishop Egertson was celebrant, and Bishop Glasspool preached. We could not have known then it was one of the last times we would see our beloved brother bishop.

Paul Egertson was born in 1935. In 1955 he earned a B.A. degree from Pepperdine University, and subsequently received a master's degree in theology from Luther Seminary and a doctorate from the Claremont School of Theology. He served as a pastory in several congregations in addition to his academic work.

Together with Bishop Diane Jardine Bruce and Bishop Mary Glasspool, and with the retired Bishops of this Diocese, please join me in prayers of thanksgiving for the life, ministry and continuing legacy of Bishop Paul Egertson.

Rest eternal grant your servant Paul, O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon him.

Your brother in Christ,

+J. Jon Bruno