+Robinson Presides over Lesbian “Wedding” in New Hampshire

Anathema!

Was he so foolish (or arrogant) as to use the BCP Holy Matrimony rite? If so, charges could be filed, if anyone had the fortitude to do so.

RE: “He recalled that when now-retired Bishop Douglas Theuner met with the parish in 2001 to tell them that he had found them a priest who was prepared to fill its vacant pulpit, he had alerted them to the fact that the Rev. McLaughlin had a life partner — another woman.

“You took a chance on her and loved both of them,” Bishop Robinson marveled. “You learned that God believes in love.”

Well . . . the 25 or so attenders at that parish “took a chance” alright.  The jokes just write themselves.  What a picture of failure that parish chart is.

http://12.0.101.92/reports/PR_ChartsDemo/exports/ParishRPT_172010113232AM.pdf

Apparently the “congregation of well over 100 people” like to spend their typical Sundays elsewhere than St. Barnabas.

Fail.

I don’t see how y’all can not acknowledge what a rousing success St. Barnabas is. The important statistic, plate ‘n pledge income, is up from $25,000 ten years ago to $35,000 last year. That’s an average of 4% growth per year!

What an inspiring success story!

/snark

“You took a chance on her and loved both of them,” Bishop Robinson marveled. “You learned that God believes in love.”

This is disgusting.  To impute “love” like that to God is a horrible, horrible thing.  How blind this man, and all the other men and women like him, have become…

Most likely used the “Blessing of a Civil Marriage” on page 433, with appropriate words like “wife” and “husband” altered for the occasion.  At least he wouldn’t have had to alter the title.

Okay, this just keeps getting better and better: McLaughlin’s replacement at St. Barnabas, Fran Gardner (who is also a lesbian) came to New Hampshire after serving “small (and sometimes very small) congregations” in—wait for it—Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

“Her ministry is grounded in the belief that it is our baptism (and the promises we make or that are made for us) that give each of us ministry.” (I wonder if it was from the KTF “enhanced” Baptism rite.)

Her favorite quote is Micah 6:8, and we have Virginia Theological Seminary to thank for her education.

I dunno Veritas.

RE: “This is disgusting.”

People have been attributing God to all sorts of various kinds of “loves” [sic] for centuries and millennia.  The polyamorous do it.  The incestuous.  The bestial.  The necros . . . the child-abusers . . . it’s just the nature of mankind to attempt to scrabble around and name disorder as “God-given.”

We do that with all sins.

I call it disordered.

And why not?  After all TEC, and it looks like the AC are known as the “homosexual church.”  At least down here in the fundie South it is, but who cares?  Enjoy

So who is the wife and who is the husband? Do they flip a coin? I for one welcome the clarity. This is the reality from the progressive side as is this:
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/fresnobee/obituary.aspx?n=mary-daly&pid=138262217
Please pray for our country…we are in great need.
Intercessor

#7- On a plate and pledge of 35 grand, it almost has to be a mutual ministry type parish.  Heating bills in New Hampshire will eat up a lot of that 35 grand.  Certainly not the sort of place that could have a full time rector on a pension.  Will be seeing a lot of this in the coming years, throughout rural dioceses and small towns.  TEC uses N Michigan as a lab experiment for how to keep churches with 10-50 ASAs open.

unspeakable honor

Either a typographical error (substituting the letter “n” for two letters “r”), or alternatively, the correct adjective but the wrong noun!

Pax et bonum,
Keith Töpfer

From the parish web site: “We take the Bible seriously,...”

(Shouldn’t there be a big pause before the word ‘seriously’, with poorly stifled laughter in the background.)

“...but not literally…”

(Not even the literal portions - much less the figurative.  No minds are checked at the door of this church, because… -ah heck, this is just too easy.)

” - wrestling with the texts each week in Bible Study and sermon.”

(I suppose we can guess as to how many ‘W’s are in the ‘texts’ column - looks to me like quite a few literal verses are caught in a Tonga death grip.

The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, the ninth Bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire, blessed their rings and their Christian marriage at the altar.

As I posted at Susan Russell’s site, you can call this ‘event’ what you want, but it surely NOT a “Christian marriage”.  I can only imagine what the follow-on comments will be over there!

I don’t agree with or support almost everything GVR is or teaches, but he does have great taste in vestments.

He reminded everyone of Christ’s eighth beatitude: “Blessed are they who are persecuted.”

Assuming he is justified in his claims of persecution, let’s all choose a behavior that gets us persecuted so that we can be blessed too.

In his homily, Bishop Robinson explained that when God created “the human thing” in the Garden of Eden, which He called “A-dam” — (which the bishop pronounced with a long “A” and “dame”) — He wanted to make him happy, so He provided him with a helper, a partner, a soul mate.

“It was not right that A-dam should be alone,” Bishop Robinson said, noting that this is nothing new.

This goes beyond standard revisionism into something entirely new.
The man should be disciplined. It won’t happen of course, but it should. Oops, sorry Gene if that sounds like a persecutorial blessing.

#8 You are right Sarah- intrinsically disordered. From the Catechism:
2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity,140 tradition has always declared that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.“141 They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.

In “Defining The Wind,” an interesting book (believe it or not!) about the Beaufort wind scale, author Scott Huler discusses how in olden times people would picnic in spots overlooking especially treacherous ports and stretches of coast to watch the ship wrecks when the gales blew. Following the news from The Episcopal Church is getting to be a little like that…

What? No one has pictures of the shoes? Did VGR wear the magical cons? Inquiring minds want to know!

Interesting picture with the article.  Used to be that weddings represented the future of the church, what with children and all.  Now, with homosexual bishops presiding at churches going on with their second generation of homosexual priests, marrying homosexuals, all of whom are too old to bring forth the next generation, and not inclined to do that either (because they’re homosexuals), this picture is a depiction of the end. Faster, please! Best wishes to the couple, while we’re at it.

These two used to be in the Diocese of WMass; Ms Hess was at least an alternate delegate to GC a few times, and heavily involved in diocesan affairs.  Ms McLaughlin was the rector of a small congregation - which also her plenty of time to buzz about diocesan offices and get put on committees, etc.  (In my occasional interactions with her, I felt that she had all the charm of a buzz saw, but she was talked up a great deal.)

When Bp Scruton was elected, she polished up her resume, and she and Ms Hess headed off for NH not long after, being horrified that such a conservative was now in office.  They, alas, were not as correct in that estimation as I and many others wished.

It’s my understanding that none of the five states that allow same-sex marriage have allowed the people to vote on the issue.  So much for “We the People”.

From the home page of the church:

Our worship is centered in Holy Communion - a sharing of bread and wine - to which all are welcome.”

From the “Sunday Mornings” page:

In the Episcopal Church, all who share in worship with us are invited to share in communion.

Gee, open communion is a violation of canon.  Someone tell the bishop so he can stamp this out.

[3]  Jaff Walton:
Looked at the chart and their ASA.  I’ve seen bigger lines at Wal-Mart. 

If and God is indeed ‘doing a new thing’, in Berlin, NH, He seems to be doing it over here.  A church is its people, Bishop Robinson.

[24] cliffg:
Yeah, funny that you were also drawn to check out Harvest Christian Fellowship. I gave them a call earlier today and briefly asked about their church: planted 11 years ago, with about 150 each Sunday. A radically different trajectory than St. Barnabas.

The annoying thing is that when we point out this discrepancy to revisionists, they just shrug. The response is usually “well, we’re meeting the need of the 25 people that wouldn’t feel comfortable at the more conservative churches in town, and that’s enough”. Because they espouse a universalist theology and see no need for evangelism, most revisionists are comfortable in the role of a small “boutique” church that caters exclusively to the local liberal fringe. At least, until the money runs out.

I’m currently in a deer stand in rural Mississippi, unable to get to the Stand Firm backend. Could one of the hired help please find a link and post that the New Jersey state senate just rejected same-sex marriage?

Greg,

Here’s a link anyways:

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/01/nj_senate_rejects_bill_legaliz.html

Enjoy the hunting in Mississippi.

From St Barnabas web page

In the Episcopal Church, all who share in worship with us are invited to share in communion.

from #25 - “well, we’re meeting the need of the 25 people that wouldn’t feel comfortable at the more conservative churches in town, and that’s enough”.

They are not meeting a need…but a want.

The true needs of the human spirit are not being met at all…in fact, they are being deceived and defiled and possibly destroyed.

Any comment from the ABC?

#30

Any comment from the ABC?

Not to date, but sources near Lambeth Palace are telling me that several furniture repairmen have entered the ABC’s residence in the past couple days.
http://www.standfirminfaith.com/index.php/site/article/14365/

#31 it’s not what you think. They’re installing queen beds for the new ACC visitors.

I want to put in a good word of sorts for Eleanor McLaughlin. Back in 1997, when revisionists were arguing that same-sex blessings were more akin to pet blessings, I wrote a book Two Sexes, One Flesh: Why the Church Cannot Bless Same-Sex Marriage” (now at http://www.stephenswitness.org). The book was sent to all the bishops and delegates to the General Convention as a part of the “sexuality dialogue.” It included the following paragraph:

To test the conclusion that the matter at hand is same-sex marriage, consider the following situation. Suppose the state of Hawaii legalizes same-sex marriage and the Episcopal Church approves rites for committed relationships. A homosexual couple bearing a marriage license from Hawaii approaches a liberationist Episcopal priest and asks the Church’s blessing on their marriage. Imagine the priest saying, “I’m sorry, but you have made a serious category error. Same-sex unions are essentially different relationships from Christian marriage. You should not have gotten married in Hawaii, and I will be unable to recognize you as a married couple in our church. I will perform the religious ‘commitment’ ceremony for you, but I need to make clear that it is totally unrelated to your marriage in Hawaii.” An answer such as this sounds incredible because everyone knows that homosexual couples are seeking marital status.

From among all the recipients, I received only two responses. One was verbal, from the late Bp. Herbert Thompson, who was at that time a candidate for PB. Bp. Thompson took me aside at GC97 and said that he had read my book and agreed with it.

The person who did me the honor of responding in writing was Eleanor McLaughlin, who circulated a xeroxed critique at the Convention. In it she had the decency to present a précis of my case, distorted of course but at least there. I have just fished it out and give this paragraph:

Relationality. Noll explicitly denies relationship as the center of marriage (in favor of procreation), failing to look to our Trinitarian model of Persons-in-Relation, mutual, equilibrated, self-giving. We do need a new theology of marriage which will substitute relationship for genital acts as the focus of our ethical reflections. This requires a renewed anthropology, a fundamental re-vision of what we mean by feminine and masculine, male and female.

Pretty much TEC boiler-plate today (and less subtle than “The Body’s Grace”), but I do respect the fact that she was honest enough actually to enter into the “sexuality dialogue,” which I called for in my book. Now she is obviously living out her convictions.

a renewed anthropology…a fundamental re-vision of what we mean by feminine and masculine?

Come quickly, Lord Jesus!

#28 Gary - That was not true in my former Episcopal Church (now ACNA).  Our Rector ALWAYS said that “all baptized Christians are welcome to join us in Holy Communion”.  He still does.  This was true in some other Episcopal Churches when I visited them as a Faith Alive visitor.  I do understand it is the new trend in TEC, but I don’t believe it is yet “universal”.

Now for my comment:  This is, however, either means the ABC acknowledges it is time to clamp down on TEC, or he will backpedal ONE MORE TIME.  Any bets?

[24] cliffg:
Yeah, funny that you were also drawn to check out Harvest Christian Fellowship. I gave them a call earlier today and briefly asked about their church: planted 11 years ago, with about 150 each Sunday. A radically different trajectory than St. Barnabas.

That reminds me of one of Bishop Spong’s more hilarious statements, which was published, ironically enough, 11 years ago:

“The words of the Apostles’ Creed, and its later expansion known as the Nicene Creed, were fashioned inside a worldview that no longer exists. Indeed, it is quite alien to the world in which I live. The way reality was perceived when the Christian creeds were formulated has been obliterated by the expansion of knowledge. That fact is so obvious that it hardly needs to be spoken. If the God I worship must be identified with these ancient creedal words in any literal sense, God would become for me not just unbelievable, but in fact no longer worthy of being the subject of my devotion. I am not alone in this conclusion. Indeed,I am one of a countless host of modern men and women for whom traditional religious understandings have lost most of their ancient power. We are that silent majority of believers who find it increasingly difficult to remain members of the Church…”
-John Shelby Spong, Why Christianity Must Change or Die, emphasis added

Yes sir! Harvest Christian Fellowship sure has had trouble finding footing, what with its worldview being totally alien to modern world and all. And St. Barnabas sure has proven that the silent majority of believers prefer an updated version of Christianity.

Oh, wait…

“All who share with us in worship are invited to share in communion?”  Even the unbaptized?  Not in my church!

I am puzzled by something in the “news” article:

“...silver wand bearers NN and NN…”

Several unsavory literary references come to mind but I resist suggesting any and earnestly desire illumination.

Greg, Greg, Greg.

I’m currently in a deer stand in rural Mississippi…. Could one of the hired help please ... post that the New Jersey state senate just rejected same-sex marriage?

Greg—Must have been a really slow deer day to be checking the internet rather than putting the glass on that field. But I speak out of envy; our season already ended.

#39 - fairies… or “wand-bearers” (thyrsophoros) in celebration for Dionysos. Among others in the Bacchic mysteries were the “winnowing-basket-bearers” (liknaphoroi), “basket-bearers” (kistaphoroi), “fire-bearers” (pyrphoroi), “phallus-bearer” (phallophoros), and “god-bearers” (theophoroi). Stay tuned.

question - anyone else having problems accessing the St. Barnabas ASA/giving data? Getting a “404 - File/directory not found”. Perhaps someone doesn’t want us seeing that info???

old believers,

Turns out that chart was a temporary link. I’ve saved the PDF here and updated the main post.

I’m getting a 404 as well.

“This requires a renewed anthropology, a fundamental re-vision of what we mean by feminine and masculine, male and female”.

You can renew it all you want but even after you do, “masculine” will still mean penis and “feminine” will still mean vagina, the basis for natural order and procreation. 

If you’re going to attempt making it all “relational”, how do you distinguish between friendship and marriage? 

Then again, I also believe I’ve got a nice “relationship” with my dog…

Forget it, Eleanor, you can try till you’re purple but there really is no way around analysis like Gagnon’s without throwing out the original doctrine; and, if you want to do that, you should be “blessed” in the Unitarian Church.

And, sorry, “renewed anthropology” does not include having stuff lopped off or stuff added on, either. 

#46 - that’s where the “phallus-bearer” enters (no pun intended).

Re:#14 “As I posted at Susan Russell’s site, you can call this ‘event’ what you want, but it surely NOT a “Christian marriage”.  I can only imagine what the follow-on comments will be over there!”
Visited “An inch at a time” to see the follow-up comments but found the comment count stood at 0. What’s going on?

#48: She has posted some of my ‘opposing viewpoints’ before and let her supporters take plenty of pot shots at me.  I’m surprised that she didn’t post ANY comments!

#45:

Forget it, Eleanor, you can try till you’re purple

Is she in the running for bishop?

Could someone explain the numbering system on the graph that Greg linked to? The lowest number is 2000. Surely that doesn’t mean literally 2000 people?? Dave

Hi DavidSh,

Yes.

It appears that in 2008 the Diocese of New Hampshire had a little over 4000 in average Sunday attendance.  That’s for the entire state of New Hampshire.

That’s down from the “heyday” of a little over 5000 in 2001.

Bishop Robinson has lost approximately 1/5 of ASA in the Diocese of NH.

Simply incredible.

Epic Fail.

Thanks Sarah. I thought the numbers were meant for that parish rather than the diocese as a whole. I agree—a 1/5th drop is pretty spectacular! When will the world hear from VGR about this unpleasant fact though?

VGR doesn’t care because he believes he retains the “enlightened” 4/5ths.  He’s happy for the unenlightened 1/5 to go somewhere else. 

Bottom line—at the very least, in Mid-Atlantic or New England, if you don’t want to be taught by the Father of Lies, get yourself to an Eastern Orthodox, RC, or ACNA church. 

Anyone who disagrees gets a ticket to the next TEC DioMass Convention, complete with transgenders in the ordination process, “renewed anthropologies” and Marvin Ellison(“polyamory will produce a more egalitarian society”) as the keynote speaker.

This Could Not Have Happened.  Not if I believe the newsletter I received this week from the Dio of CT, where Bishop Smith assures us that “The bishops in the six states where same-sex marriage is now amatter of law have been in regular conversation .. about the implications and limitations of “pastoral generosity”.  The Bishops agree that the resolution does not give canonical permission for clergy of this Church to officiate at same-sex weddings.”

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain ...