Black Episcopalians:
Minority concerns
trump gay ordination
By Dionne Walker, AP
from boston.com on the Web, August 2, 2006
RICHMOND, Va. Aug. 1
--National Episcopal leadership is focusing on the issue of gay ordination at
the cost of addressing minority concerns, and is enlisting African bishops to
fight a battle that's not theirs, speakers told a gathering of black
Episcopalians Tuesday.
The church should look instead at fighting poverty and racism, and address the
conservative versus liberal divide that underlies the gay debate, speakers said
at the 38th annual conference of the Union of Black Episcopalians.
The national group, which represents close to 400,000 black Episcopalians, is
meeting in Richmond all week.
About 500 clergy and parishioners are expected to attend discussions of topics
such as reaching out to young black boys and strengthening the nation's
historically black, Episcopal colleges.
At a luncheon Tuesday, speakers touched on everything from increasing black
leadership in the largely white denomination to breaking down intraracial
barriers between African and African-American Episcopalians.
Reaction was strongest, however, on the ordination of gays -- an issue that
black leaders say has ballooned out of proportion.
"We waste our time trying to figure out who's sleeping with whom, instead of
being about doing the work of mission and ministry," the Rev. Sandye Wilson, the
group's immediate past president, told an applauding crowd. "Don't get
sidetracked."
The issue of gay ordination has been the focus of intense scrutiny in the
Anglican church, of which the Episcopals are a part, since 2003. That's
when American Episcopal leaders elected the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene
Robinson, of New Hampshire.
The controversy has split the denomination, with some saying scriptures condemn
gay relationships and others arguing for a more inclusive church.
Early this week, the Anglican leaders awaited the announcement of an exclusive
overseer for several conservative U.S. dioceses.
Among black Episcopalians, however, the issue takes a backseat to more standard
minority concerns: improving the economy, health care and education,
treasurer John Harris said. Episcopal leaders meet to discuss church
issues at the General Convention every three years.
"The issues that the General Convention have been obsessed with have not been as
important to black Episcopalians sitting in pews," Harris said. "We're
still behind the eight ball."
Top among black Episcopalians' concerns is forming a singular voice that can
share thoughts on racism and poverty with the larger church, Wilson said.
But their experiences haven't gone unnoticed, said Robert Williams, a spokesman
for the Episcopal Church.
"The Union of Black Episcopalians is absolutely correct in identifying that life
and death issues such as the eradication of hunger and poverty must have the
church's full attention," he said. "The Episcopal church's record for
civil rights achievement has been strong."
Wilson linked the debate over gay ordination to the decades-old ordination of
women -- a pill she said conservative leaders never fully swallowed. With
women now incorporated into many churches, she said gays have become a new
scapegoat.
She joined other leaders who said the church enlisted the support of
right-leaning African bishops while overlooking issues facing their continent,
including the HIV crisis.
On Tuesday, she asked black Episcopalians to remember the civil rights era as
she held up a copy of the Windsor Report, a 2004 document that urged U.S.
Episcopal leaders to apologize for dividing the faith.
"As I looked at the Windsor Report, there were echoes of all the oppression that
I've experienced throughout my life as a black woman," she said. "We who
have been oppressed and rejected ... do not need to be a part of rejecting and
oppressing others."
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