Anglican Mainstream

Letters to The Editor, Church of Ireland Gazette, from Changing Attitude Ireland and the Revd Alan Millar

CHANGING Attitude Ireland (CAI) has been saddened to learn of an event held in Belvoir parish church hall by Core Issues, a very controversial organisation which believes that homosexuality is a chosen life-style, caused usually by bad parenting, and that it can be reversed and should be, as homosexuality is a sickness.

We should all know that there is no evidence for any of this, according to the authoritative American and British Medical Associations and the American and Royal Colleges of Psychiatry.

CAI believes that such groups as Core Issues are motivated by social conservatism coupled to biblical fundamentalism – a combination with which we are familiar in Ireland. On 12th June, the BBC’s Sunday Sequence programme quoted the rector as stating that he and the parish was not endorsing Core Issues, but the damage was done: the local community now sees the parish church as lining up with those who think homosexuality is wrong and who fear and possibly abhor gays as socially dangerous.

This is a blow to those of us Church people who reject the contemporary secular dismissal of Churches as bastions of reactionary social thinking.

Those who think that homosexuality is always immoral are entitled to argue their case. What frightens us is that however well- intentioned these groups are, they have left a trail of wreckage behind them; often they end up causing more distress and self-loathing on the part of individuals they want to treat and their families. The international press has run many stories over recent years of the shady dealings of some of these 'ex-gay ministries'. There is more than a whiff of hypocrisy and double-think about them; even some of their long- term practitioners have been revealed not to be ex-gay at l all. There are many instances of unfortunates having been in the hands of these organisations for some years before they broke away from what they now regard as self- delusion.

Our bishops’ short Pastoral Letter in 2003 itemised four different Christian understandings of homosexuality. There are genuine problems about Christians reconciling one another’s views on this topic "as there were about slaves, the welfare state, the role of women, etc." and we need to work on these through dialogue which is respectful on both sides.

CAI with modesty believes that we have contributed to the debate and learning process by our recent pamphlet launched during last month’s General Synod by the Bishop of Cashel, I Think my Son or Daughter is Gay: Guidance for parents … ; this is an eirenic, pastoral, non- polemical document and could not offend upholders of any view of homosexuality. We suggest this is the way forward.

Charles Kenny (Canon)
Secretary CAI

THE LAUNCH of a resource from Changing Attitude Ireland (3rd June) was one of several pieces to appear recently in the Gazette about this organisation. CAI asks the Church of Ireland to affirm, homosexuality as a true expression of God’s created order. Its members seek to establish "equality of opportunity for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people, including the ordination and preferment of partnered lesbian and gay clergy". In 2003, the House of Bishops recognised homosexuality as a complex and sensitive issue, when they published a Pastoral Letter asking that we consider the matter prayerfully, humbly, carefully and generously. Amen to that.

Indeed, this issue divided the United Church of Canada (UCC). At its 1988 General Assembly, the members voted to admit LGBT persons for ordination, despite 72% of the Church disagreeing. The minority view prevailed. Thousands of Christians left the UCC.

How should the Church of Ireland respond to CAI? Who will guide us? Our bishops? The Pastoral Letter from the bishops stated, "God has created all that is", but failed to explain what they meant by this. It also stated that there was "a considerable range of viewpoints among the bishops themselves". Yet another statement made reference to the mind of the Church needing to be discerned in relation to any form of qnew definition or new pastoral practice in relation to the question of ordination, appointments to positions of leadership, or to the blessing of same-sex unions,. The meaning of this is also unclear and – eight years after this letter was written – greater clarification is desperately needed.

Furthermore, the silence from clergy and laity who disagree with the views of CAI is deafening, possibly due to the fear of being labelled a homophobic or bigot – labels frequently used indiscriminately to stifle real debate.

Ordination of practising homosexuals opens the door to more liberal theology and other deviations from Scripture, of which the UCC is testimony. It is, therefore, vital that the issues around homosexuality and the Church are now debated openly and thoroughly.

We must stand firm in the faith of Holy Scripture, our foundation and guide on the matter, but also on its command to love one another. If we have the love of Christ in our hearts and wish to seek the mind of God, then let us use language that reflects this, refraining from bitter rhetoric and attaching labels to those with whom we disagree.

It is time for our bishops to lead the public debate.

Alan W. Millar (The Revd)
 

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