The Presbyterian Church (USA) and homosexuality
"Shower of Stoles" project
& "Women of Faith" award
Sponsored link.
In 1995, Martha Juillerat was a Presbyterian minister who had concealed her
lesbian sexual orientation. She resigned her ordination at a
meeting of her fellow pastors in Kansas City, MO. Before resigning, she made a request of
other gay or lesbian ministers and ministerial candidates who have been denied ordination,
been forced to leave the church, or been required to keep their sexual orientation secret
as they remained ministers. She asked them to send her their stole. (A stole is a band of
cloth that ministers wear around their neck). She expected perhaps a dozen. She initially
received 80 stoles. She hang them around the room where she gave her farewell speech.
Maja Beckstrom, author of "Stolen Identities," recorded Martha's comment:
"It
moved people to tears. It made it obvious that we weren't just talking about me. We were
talking about hundreds of folks who are denied the opportunity to openly serve their
church." 1
By 1997, her collection had grown to a "Shower of Stoles", totaling
almost 800 stoles from 13 different denominations. She displays them at annual
and regional meetings of various faith groups, to promote discussion of
the ban on lesbian/gay ordination. She commented:
"Seeing the stoles is like seeing
the Vietnam Memorial or the AIDS quilt. It helps take this issue out of people's heads and
into their hearts. It makes it very real and very human and, to a certain extent,
de-politicizes the issue."
Ms. Juillerat had felt the call to ministry as a teen.
She said:
"The church meant the world
to me. I made a decision to follow the party line and be single and celibate. I guess what
I never anticipated was the terrible oppression of living a double life and of never
having anyone to share it."
She met a woman who would become her partner in 1986
at a support group for women clergy. They dated in secret. They invited only four friends
to their ceremony of holy union. For security, they had to cover the windows of the
church.
Her partner had a serious bicycle accident in 1993 which nearly killed her. The
next day, Ms. Juillerat had to conduct a service without being able to tell anyone about the
incident. She said:
"After that, we decided we just could not stay hidden anymore. We
decided this was a sick way to live...Leaving the ministry was the hardest decision I ever
made in my life. I love to preach and I miss it terribly. But it was like the weight of
the world was being lifted off our shoulders. For my own sanity and peace of mind, I
needed to leave."
She took 340 stoles to a national convention of More Light churches. She took over 300
to the 1996 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA). Almost 400 were
on hand at the 1997 Assembly. There was no place to
hang the display so she asked volunteers to wear them.
She said:
"It became a way for people
to find a voice. I offered the option of people sending them to me anonymously. For those
people especially, it was the one opportunity they had of letting the church know that,
'Hey I'm out here.'"
Rev. Bill Chadwick, co-pastor of St. Luke Presbyterian
Church in St. Paul said:
"It was so moving to see all of them. I went around
looking at them by myself and just sobbed at the heartbreak of those who had received the
same sort of call from God that I did, but were unable to fulfill it."
The Shower of Stoles is now a project of the nonprofit organization, the Institute for Welcoming Resources (IWR). 4 By 2014, they had received over 1,000 stoles and other sacred pieces from LGBT people and their supporters, each with its own individual story.
Sponsored link:
In 1999-APR, three women were
unanimously selected from a field of 59 nominees to receive the 13th annual prestigious
"Women of Faith" award. These awards honor:
"The gifts of
clergywomen, educators, songwriters, poets, campus ministers, theologians, lay pastors and
authors who have witnessed as reformers through the Word."
The 1999 recipients
were Elder Jane Dempsey Douglas, a retired professor at Princeton Theological Seminary,
Elder Letty Russell, a professor at Yale Divinity School in Connecticut and Rev. Jane
Spahr (1942-), a minister at the Downtown Presbyterian Church in Rochester NY. Spahr lead
the "That All May Freely Serve" ministry within the Presbyterian
Church; it seeks equality for gays, bisexuals and transgender people -- in her words: "people who have been hurt and violated."
Although the names of past award recipients had never been
submitted for approval to the National Ministries Division (NMD) of the General
Assembly Council, that committee decided to veto the selection of Jane Spahr.
The committee stated:
"...The action was taken because the committee felt
presenting the award to Dr. Spahr would make it appear that an entity of the General
Assembly was endorsing a position that runs counter to existing General Assembly policy.
Entities of the General Assembly are obligated to uphold the policies of the Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.) and should not be put in the position of appearing to compromise them in
any way. The determination of the Steering Committee was that presenting this award to Dr.
Spahr placed the division in conflict with that obligation."
There was talk of
canceling the traditional annual award breakfast.
The Rev. Cathy Chisholm, chair of the General Assembly Council defended the vetoing of
the selection committee's decision. In a communication to the church-at-large dated
1999-APR-21, she wrote:
"... the choice of a woman who is closely
associated with advocacy for the ordination of gay and lesbian persons was likely to
be interpreted by some as endorsement of that position. To simply proceed with the public
announcement of the awards without consideration of the potential impact would have
been an abuse of the goodwill and trust of the church at large."
On APR-26, the Executive Committee of the General Assembly Council of the church
voted 9 to 2 to overturn the NMD's veto and allow Rev. Spahr's selection to proceed
unhindered. They also voted to
"... establish a task force to review all policies and
procedures regarding the full range of awards currently within the scope of the work of
the General Assembly Council." 2
This decision was
confirmed by the General Assembly Council itself on 1999-JUN, by the narrowest of
votes: 41 to 40 with 6 abstentions. In their pastoral letter, the Council commented:
"We know that many will not agree with our decision, will be hurt and angered by
our action. We acknowledge the disagreement, hurt and anger and regret it. But we also
thank God that we are able to disagree, strongly and vigorously, and still hold on to one
another in Christ. We even dare to believe the Holy Spirit is leading us and
teaching us how to be one body in spite of our differences and conflicts."
3
Webmaster's note: [bias alert]
There appears to be a logical dilemma here. On one hand, the award is given to
those women "...who have witnessed as reformers..." and are
promoting change within
the church. On the other hand, the Rev. Chisholm and the NMD are implying that some church
reformers should not be considered for the award because their selection might be
interpreted as promoting change in the church and giving approval to the reformers'
activities.
I wonder if the program should have been terminated after the 1999 awards are
given.
Its selection process is fundamentally sexist. Every male reformer within the church
is
automatically excluded from receiving the award. Should the church be promoting an award
that gives special privileges to one gender?
2010 Update:
In 2006, Rev. Spahr was charged with misconduct for having married two lesbian couples in 2004 and 2005. The church court ruled that she had acted within her rights as an ordained minister. More details.
On 2010-AUG-27, Rev. Jane Spahr was found guilty of misconduct by another church court. She had officiated at the weddings of 16 same-sex couples during 2008 in California at a time when same-sex marriages were legal. During 2008-MAY, the California Supreme Court had ruled that same-sex marriages were legal. During 2008-NOV, Proposition 8 was passed by the voters and slammed the window shut on new same-sex marriages. Some 36,000 lesbians, gays, and bisexuals in same-sex relationships were married during the approximately 6 month interval. A court later ruled that these marriages were valid.
A regional commission of the Presbyterian Church (USA) ruled 4 to 2 that she had:
"... persisted in a pattern or practice of disobedience."
On a positive note, the tribunal devoted most of it 2.5 page ruling praising Rev. Spahr:
"... for her prophetic ministry [and] faithful compassion."
The commissioners called on the broader church to use her example:
"... to re-examine our own fear and ignorance. ... In the reality in which we live today, marriage can be between same gender as well as opposite gender persons, and we, as a church, need to be able to respond to this reality as Dr. Jane Spahr has done with faithfulness and compassion." 5
- Maja Beckstrom, "Stolen Identities", St. Paul Pioneer Press,
1997-JUL-12
- J. Filiatreau & J. Van Marter, "GAC Executive Committee Allows Women
of Faith Award to the Rev. Jane Spahr to Go Forward", PCUSA NEWS,
1999-APR-27
- PCUSA News release, 1999-JUN-20 #5372.
- "Shower of Stoles Project," Welcoming Resources, 2014, at: http://www.welcomingresources.org/
- Lisa Leff, "Jane Spahr Found Guilty By Church For Marrying Gays," Huffington Post, 2010-AUG-27, at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
Copyright © 1996 to 2014 by Ontario Consultants on
Religious Tolerance.
Latest update 2014-JUN-25
Author: B.A. Robinson
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