As some of you may know, I have another blog called mrontemp. This blog often refers to a blog called Red Stick Rant. However, I didn't anticipate that Clifford would be making an appearance in either of my "Empoprises" blogs, since he lives in Louisiana (which is a long way from the Inland Empire) and, to my knowledge, does not play NTN/Buzztime trivia games.
Even if this blog had existed in February 2008, I couldn't have covered this story, since it was technicaly a Los Angeles story, not an Inland Empire story - although, as I noted, there was a local angle.
Imagine my surprise, then, when a Red Stick Rant post quoted from this comment.
At 5:03 PM, DavidJustinLynch said...
Last night, my wife and I were part of an historic event as we served as acolytes at a truly extraordinary event at St. Pauls Pomona. Our rector, Fr. Mark Halahan, married Jimmy, his long-time partner, in a Nuptial Mass that included two other same-sex couples who also received the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony. The presider was Mo. Karen Macqueen. Sharon (aka: Beeper) and I profusely thank our Lord for the privilege of assisting in this uniquely holy celebration. I am on the vestry, and it is my intention to introduce a resolution at the next meeting that our parish will NOT be part of any moratorium!
This has been a policy at St. Paul's since gay marriages were legalized in California earlier this year.
The board of directors of the Redlands United Church of Christ voted Tuesday night that the couple in the wedding ceremony no longer must be a man and a woman....
Rabbi Douglas Kohn of Congregation Emanu El in San Bernardino said he will marry same-sex couples, as long as both are Jewish or one is and certain conditions are met.
St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Pomona also will marry same-sex couples, said the Rev. Mark Hallahan.
But St. Paul's couples were married much earlier than 2008, as this July 10, 2006 Daily Bulletin article shows:
Warren Nyback and his partner Michael Witmer still wear their $10 silver bands proudly on their ring fingers as a reminder of their 14-year commitment.
Although the couple went out looking to duplicate the rings with gold and platinum, the rings, which they bought the day before exchanging their vows in San Francisco, meant too much.
"There is just something so precious about those rings and the powerfully meaningful event they represent that we couldn't do it," said Nyback, a retired Episcopal priest at St. Paul's Church in Pomona. "Perhaps later on down the road, maybe if the state legalizes it."
Two years after exchanging their vows, Nyback and Witmer's marriage license, like those of thousands of other gay couples, was invalidated by a California appeals court on Monday.
The moratorium referred to by David Justin Lynch, above, is the one noted in the Fourth Draft (which may no longer be available) arising from the Indaba reflection process. As quoted by Susan Russell, it reads as follows:
131. The moratoria cover three separate but related issues: Episcopal ordinations of partnered homosexual people, the blessing of same-sex unions; cross-border incursions by bishops. There is widespread support for the moratoria. This could be the “generous act of love” the communion is looking for.
The reference to "cross-border incursions," incidentally, is targeted at Anglican groups from the Southern Hemisphere who are attracting more conservative Episcopalians.
In the worst-case scenario (or best-case scenario, depending upon how you look at it), the U.S. Episcopal Church will split along doctrinal lines, with one party authorizing gay marriages and another party opposing them. In that instance (and assuming that the conservatives are thrown out of the main body) the conservative congregations would then unite with a non-U.S.-based Anglican body.
Presumably St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Pomona (http://www.saintpaulspomona.org/) would stay with the more liberal body.
I wonder what a Hindu gay wedding is like. Oh...
But if you want to go back a few decades, here's a David Allen Daily Bulletin article about a former worshipper at St. Paul's in Pomona - Jon Provost (i.e., Lassie's "Timmy").
P.S. There are a variety of blogs that are addressing the Lambeth Conference in general, including:
- Lambeth Journal, written by several bishops, mostly from the Episcopal Church
- The aforementioned blog An Inch at a Time, pro-inclusion
- The aforementioend blog Red Stick Rant, pro-Biblical
- Canterbury Tales from the Fringe, Bishop Gene Robinson's blog - pro-inclusion
- Midwest Conservative Journal, pro-Biblical
