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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, SEPTEMBER 28, 1984
PAGE 15
parishioners, who worship on Sundays after the regular Episcopal
services, have the blessing of Grace's rector..•Judith Upham.
"Metropolitan Community Church is offering an alternative to the
bar scene," said Miss Upham. "It is offering an opportunity for
fidelity and commitment.".••
In July, two parishioners participated in a marriage, which was
conducted
12.Y �
minister "from� mainstream church," said Michael
Royce, a member of the Metropolitan congregation, declining to
identify the minister or the denomination•.•• Several days later,
••• Robert F. Haskell, the rector of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church
across town, sent a letter to Miss Upham, with copies to the
[ local] newspaper and to the local Bishop,.•. [Bishop] O'Kelley
Whitaker. It read in part:
"The organization which you permit to use your church advocates
homosexual conduct as an alternative life style, and its members
admit that they actively engage in homosexual behavior without
acknowledgment that such conduct is against the word of Holy
Scripture. The Scriptures clearly teach that to practice homo
�ual relations is� sin. We are especially concerned that you
are permitting the sanctuary of an Episcopalian Church to be used
to perform 'marriages' of homosexual persons. Marriage is a most
holy sacrament of the church involving a man and a woman."
Miss Upham said she was surprised at the tone of the letter.
"Clearly, it's an issue of different theologies," she said.
"Scripture is certainly the major basis for making decisions.
Then comes the question of how you read Scripture, whether you
take it as a whole or you pick it apart. I don't know any re
spectable theologian that does hunt and peck theology, what we
call proof-texting. It's also important to look at science.
..!.i,
in fact, people� born homosexuals, then we should say, if God
created people that way, we should let them be homosexuals.".••
Then, Bishop Whitaker addressed two specific issues raised by
[rector] Haskell's letter.
"From our perspective [notice: not God's perspective!], there is
no such thing as a 'homosexual marriage.'" But, he added, "it is
my understanding that the Metropolitan Community Church does not
actually speak of 'marriages' between homosexual persons of the
same gender but rather of 'unions.'" Thus, he wrote, it was
"technically incorrect" to characterize the ceremony as a "mar
riage."
As to the broader issue of scriptural sanctions of homosexuality,
Bishop Whitaker cautioned against selective readings of the
Bible. "From time to time, isolated verses of the Bible are used
by Christians to justify condemnation of homosexual activity and
ostracism of homosexual persons," he wrote. "Such� of Scrip
ture is very dangerous."
In the meantime, Miss Upham said she intended to keep Grace Epis
copal Church open to the Metropolitan parishioners. "We need a