What is the Chicago Consultation?
The Chicago Consultation, a group of some 50 bishops, clergy and lay people, supports the full inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered Christians in the Episcopal Church and the worldwide Anglican Communion.
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Our Goals
* To strengthen the movement toward the blessing of same sex relationships.
* To advance the inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Christians in all orders of ministry.
* To strengthen the Anglican Communion’s witness against racism, poverty, sexism, heterosexism, and other interlocking oppressions.
The site provides news, such as:
In advance of next month’s Lambeth Conference, the Chicago Consultation has arranged for every bishop in the Anglican Communion to receive a copy of Other Voices, Other Worlds by Terry Brown, Bishop of Malaita in the Church of the Province of Melanesia and Convenor of the Anglican Way group of the Anglican Primates' Theological Education for the Anglican Communion Task Force.
The book offers essays by faithful Anglicans from around the globe who reflect theologically on human sexuality, an issue causing conflict within the Communion.
A section called Making the Case includes essays such as "Shaking the Foundation" by the Reverend Canon Marilyn McCord Adams. An excerpt:
In any event, ‘homophobia’ is no mere expletive, as if a loaded emotive term with no cognitive content. I use it advisedly, with a rather precise meaning: homophobia is the fear that I cannot exist and flourish as who I really am if others come out of the closet about being LGBT. So understood, homophobia is an instance of the false conviction that I cannot be as big as I really am (cannot stand up to full stature) unless others pretend to be smaller than they really are—a thesis that is ancient, dishonorable, and directly counter to the Gospel!
Further, it includes "The Sex Articles"
—a series of reflections on where we stand by The Rev. Tobias Stanislas Haller Vicar BSG, Saint James Episcopal Church Fordham.
I read the essays as Tobias posted them one by one on his blog, and they are excellent, well worth a read.
The Mulitmedia section includes a clip from the first meeting of the group.
I'm pleased to have this sort of information gathered together on one website. Those of us on the progressive/inclusive side have not always done the best job of making our case. This site should prove quite helpful, especially for people like me, without theological or Scriptural studies expertise.
Thanks to Tobias Haller, a member of the group, for the link.
Thank you, dear Mimi, for the link and the good words. I do hope this will prove a helpful resource.
ReplyDeletegreat minds think alike... I saw this over at the Integrity site and posted it on the Vacation blog.
ReplyDeleteThanks for spotting that the mad one was back. And thanks for all of the help with the vacation blog.
Thanks so much for linking to this important resource.I first heard of Rev. Canon Marilyn McCord Adams via this paper posted at The Episcopal Cafe. I've since heard her speak at EDS - You can view the videos of three lectures here - (Look under The Kellogg Lectures section)
ReplyDeletewww.eds.edu/sec.asp?cat=199&page=189
She is a phenomenal scholar!
This is good. I'm glad to learn of this resource.
ReplyDeleteAnd "our" bishop is on the steering committee --
ReplyDeleteBut today (28 June) the site seems to be down - any news as to why?
ReplyDeleteTobias and Dennis, you're welcome.
ReplyDeleteYankee, I'll have a look those videos.
Ann, you must be proud.
Paul, the site is back up now - at least for me.
Interesting; thanks for the link
ReplyDeleteNannyKim, welcome. I'm pleased that you like the site.
ReplyDelete