Rev. Bill Carroll's Comments

The Rev. Bill Carroll hit the nail on the head with this comment in re: "pastoral generousity" and C056:

If anyone has been generous these thirty years and more, it has been the LGBT faithful, who have endured from the Church they love a spectrum of pastoral care ranging from spiritual violence and rejection, on the one hand, to ambivalent and fickle tolerance, on the other, with an occasional outbreak of Kingdom hope here and there to sustain them on their wilderness journey.

Gee, ya think?! We have been patient, and kind... even when we've been feeling bruised and battered. Rev. Carroll in his posting on The Lead seems to take the Church to task for this language in C056 about giving generous pastoral care to LGBT faithful couples who seek marriage. Please note that Rev. Carroll currently resides in Akron, OH, and I have no idea if the man has ever lived and worshipped in the southeastern United States. The Church here is not the same as the Church that I grew up in in New Hampshire. And I'm not just talking about the difference between low and super Protestant vs. high and Anglo-Catholic! I read the "generous pastoral care" language as a prompting to those bishops who may be willing to provide shepherding to these "other" sheep if they can do it from the next room, so as to not "get any of it" on them. Again, the real test will be if everyone... laity up to fellow bishops... will have the patience, but determination, to encourage these bishops to a new understanding of the LGBT faithful in the pews, some of whom may emerge to push their D025 buttons by saying they believe they are being called to the ordained ministry. It is the Christian response of those who have been made strong in these resolutions to continually reach out to those who perceive themselves to be weak.

Ah, but then I'm generous! You can read the full article on The Episcopal Cafe by clicking HERE.