The Other News from Last Week — Hate Crimes Bill

In the excitement of last week’s announcement from the Vatican last week, quite  a few folks (me included) failed to mention something really important.

The United States Senate passed legislation making it a crime to assault someone because of their sexual orientation.

This bill, which earlier passed the House of Representatives, is on its way to the President’s desk for signature, which makes it federal law.  Unless I am mistaken, this is the first time that there is any federal law of any sweeping protection over those who are LGBT. Whether you are on the streets on New York, the suburban jungles of Connecticut, the back woods of the deep south, or in the wilds of Montana, it will be a crime to assualt anyone on the basis on their orientation just as it is because of their gender or race.

This is the camel’s nose under the tent. To quote the Arabian proverb in full, “If the camel once gets his nose in the tent, his body will soon follow.” It is a step to full civil equality in the eyes of the federal government.  The question is no longer “Will this happen?” but rather “When will this happen?”  and more importantly, “what can we do to hasten the day?”

Many, if not most, of us probably already live in areas where there are some similar protections or even greater benefits, so it is easy to see why this would have registered as a blip on the radar where we said “oh good!” or “it’s about time!” and moved on.

What did annoy me, though, and moved me to post about this was that I heard or read of some people saying “so what?” or “why do we need hate crimes legislation anyway?”  This is not coming from the usual sources.  I even remember reading a post on Andrew Sullivan’s blog about it … written by Andrew … you know, that conservative HIV-positive, legally married gay man.

This bill is absolutely necessary, and Americans should all rejoice at its passage.  The Episcopal Bishop of Wyoming is even attending the signing ceremony, in no small part because the bill is named for Matthew Shepard, who was beaten and left to die in October 1998.  Matthew, I understand, was a faithful Episcopalian and active in his parish.  Lest we think this bill is just about LGBT folks, I would like to remind you that James Byrd, Jr., an African American, was dragged to death that same year in Texas.

If there are any further doubts why this is necessary, consider this …

As long as racism, sexism, homophobia and heterosexism are still very much alive and well in this world, there will be a need for hate crimes legislation.

Where is the Gospel? (aka the return of the Corkscrew of Anglican Infallibility)

Much has been said about the recent announcement from the Vatican about allowing disaffected Anglicans to become Roman Catholic and still retain much of their spirituality and liturgy.  Under this new “Personal Ordinariate,” this will allow for married Anglican deacons and priests, but not bishops.  Those who have been agonizing over the fact that the Anglican Communion works best on a missional and consensus-driven model rather than a magisterial way of governance will find safe harbour at the Vatican.  Of course, these clergymen (and yes, they will all be men, make no mistake about that!) will have to be re-ordained because the Vatican does not recognize the vaildity of Anglican Holy Orders.

Many questions arise out of this announcement, and the answers will probably be sorted out in the actual Apostolic Constitution document when it comes out over the next few weeks.

Some questions include (most of which have been discussed elsewhere):

• What about bishops who are currently married?  One case in point is a bishop of the Traditional Anglican Communion over in the Philadelphia suburbs.  His commentary on the matter may be found in the NY Times at the link above.  He hopes that the sea of purple can be “grandfathered in” and presumably going forward, once the initial crop of bishops dry off from their swim across the Tiber, the celibacy requirement will be in force.  Regardless, I think the ban on married bishops will prevent many from leaving the Anglican Communion than we might at first be inclined to believe (i.e., I don’t see +Jack Iker of Fort  Worth, or any of our African Bishops running off to Rome any time soon).
• Will this bring up again the taboo topic of discussing whether or not it is a right, good and a joyful thing to require the clergy to be celebate? This has been brought up several times over the past week, recently on NPR’s All Things Considered, which featured interviews with Jim Naughton of Episcopal Cafe; +Robert Duncan of ACNA; and Fr. Thomas Reese, a Jesuit priest in Washington, DC.
• And what about the laity?  In the USA, Canada, and also to an extent the United Kingdom, I believe that lay participation in the councils and structures of the church is rather robust … Is there room in a top-down magisterium for such a group?
• Oh, yes and the property questions, and what to do with their stipends, pensions, etc.

Lots of questions, not a lot of answers …

For those of us in the US, and perhaps Canada also, this will not prove to be such a big deal.  Actually, I think it affects the Anglicans in Europe much more so than here in North America, which tends to be the consensus amongst the Anglican pundits.  The Anglicans in North America who have left TEC and the Anglican Church of Canada are busy forming their own parallel province, so I doubt seriously anyone will want to take advantage of this move … However, one really big question I have is ….

Meet the Breeds!

Last weekend was a dog and cat exposition at the Javits Center called “Meet the Breeds”

SIR and i met up with a work colleague / friend and took in the sights and sounds of 160 different breeds of dogs and about 46 breeds of cat.

They had the usual booths set up for all types of pet products.  We went straight to the arena where the dogs were having relay races and then went to see all the different breeds of dog.

This bloodhound was very friendly and decided he wanted to be my friend … though he is looking at the cup of coffee very intently …

Blessed Michaelmas!

Today is the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels.  I remember one time being at Holy Cross Monastery on this day, where they celebrated the feast with a sung Eucharist and, oh yes, fantastic food and especially dessert!  The biggest treat though, was to hear almost a dozen monks singing a capella in harmony the hymn “Christ the Fair Glory.”  Here’s the first verse:

Christ, the fair glory of the holy angels

Maker of all things, ruler of the nations

Grant of thy mercy unto us thy servants

Steps up to heaven

Everything you ever wanted to know about angels can be found at the Mission of St. Clare, THE ultimate online source for all things in the Daily Office and the greater and lesser feast days.  I use it to say morning prayer (not out loud!) via blackberry on the way to work.  Here’s what the good mission has to say about St. Michael et al

On the Feast of Michael and all Angels, popularly called Michaelmas, we give thanks for the many ways in which God’s loving care watches over us, both directly and indirectly, and we are reminded that the richness and variety of God’s creation far exceeds our knowledge of it.

The Holy Scriptures often speak of created intelligences other than humans who worship God in heaven and act as His messengers and agents on earth. We are not told much about them, and it is not clear how much of what we are told is figurative. Jesus speaks of them as rejoicing over penitent sinners (Lk 15:10). Elsewhere, in a statement that has been variously understood (Mt 18:10), He warns against misleading a child, because their angels behold the face of God. (Acts 12:15 may refer to a related idea.)

You may read more here … and hopefully in the meantime I’ll figure out what happened with the font …

A New Way of Living: Integrity Eucharist, NYC

If anyone is interested, below is the sermon I preached at the Integrity Eucharist in NYC yesterday … After a brief word of welcome, I dived right in …

Text:  Mark 9:30-37; James 3:16 – 4:8

Anyone who has been following the news will note there is quite a rather large power struggle going on within our society.  A sizeable portion of our nation laments that the country they grew up in is not the country they’re living in today.  On many levels, they’re right. The United States today is certainly not the United States from 50s or 60s, or even 70s 80s or 90s!  Change is inevitable as history marches on.  Speaking of change, another sizeable portion of the country is saying that the change they supposedly voted for almost a year ago is not happening.  Depending on how certain bills get through Congress, they could be proven right as well. What these two sides have in common is that, rightly so or wrongly so, they are giving each other a large dose of bad press in no small part because we live in a world of instant communication, tweets, blog posts and a 24 hour news cycle. We live in a world where civil discourse has been thrown out the window, where anything can be said and anything goes.  It seems that any chance of intelligent discussion has been discarded in favor of sound bites, talking points, and over-the-top rhetoric.

The disciples get quite a bit of bad press in the Gospels.  They are shown saying inappropriate things, shooing people away from Jesus, and constantly misunderstand what Jesus is trying to tell them.  Sometimes we can see quite a bit of ourselves in the disciples.  Much too often for our liking, we can be rather slow to get the point of what Jesus is talking about or what he is doing.  The Good News, however is that if we read through to the end of the Gospels, we learn the disciples are restored, redeemed and reclaimed following the Resurrection of Christ.  Reading further into the book of Acts, we witness the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon all sorts of different cultures and tribes and nations.  So then, we shouldn’t lose hope as we look at what is going on in the world.  Consider the place of African Americans, who once were required to sit in balconies during church services so as to be out of site of their white masters.  Consider the place of women, who only gained access to the discernment process and the sacrament of Holy Orders within our lifetime, and could not even vote a century ago.   And now, consider the place of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Christians and the road we are on today.  Slowly but steadily, the Church has expanded its embrace to include everyone who Jesus has already included.  It is a long road, and at times it is a hard road.  Quite frankly, I’m sure many of us have just wanted to give up and get off the road altogether!  But in the end, just like the disciples, we all get caught up in the radical welcome of grace and peace that comes of living in relationship with God.  This is a precious gift, and one that is given freely.  But, like many things worth having, it is a gift that, while it is given freely, does not come cheaply.