Bishop Christopher, Under Threat, Returns to the USA

Below is a message from Albert Ogle, VP of National Affairs for Integrity USA as posted this evening on Walking With Integrity. As you may know, Bishop Senyonjo visited the New York area this past June, speaking at St. Luke in the Fields and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. This article is also of additional interest, as Bishop Sisk of New York has addressed concerns related to Bishop Senyonjo's safety to the Archbishop of Canterbury.

When Bishop Christopher Senyonjo’s picture showed up on the front page of a Ugandan paper under the headline, “100 Top Homos - hang them,” Integrity supporters of the bishop and his work became ever more concerned about the growing climate of homophobia in Uganda.

Other LGBT leaders were also targeted and Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) has been providing emergency counseling and shelter for some of the victims of this latest wave of public violence.

The inflammatory story in “Rolling Stone” (no connection to the USA version) was published just as I returned from a visit to Uganda with Pastor Joseph Tolton of The Fellowship in New York. I quickly made contact with the bishop and his staff. So far, they are all safe and are asking for our prayers. I now try to communicate with him on a daily basis.

Our trip to Uganda was very productive and informative. Organizers in Uganda, including Integrity Uganda, have formed a Civil Society Coalition of 34 partner organizations.. This coalition successfully challenged the “Rolling Stone” in Ugandan courts and it was mandated to close its doors. The coalition will also consider additional legal strategies and will make all legal resources available to stop this latest phase of the anti-gay witch hunt which appears to have support from some American based churches.

Earlier this week the Rt. Rev, Mark Sisk, Bishop of New York, wrote a private letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury expressing his concern that Bishop Senyonjo had been so publically targeted in the newspaper. Sadly, the Archbishop has remained silent on this. Instead, he voiced his concern about the election and consecration of Mary Douglas Glasspool as Bishop Suffragan in the Diocese of Los Angeles. Here's what he had to say:

“The decision of the American Church to go forward, as it has, with the ordination of a lesbian bishop has, I think, set us back. At the moment I'm not certain how we will approach the next primates' meeting, but regrettably some of the progress that I believe we had made has not remained steady. Alongside that, and I think this is important, while the institutions of the Communion struggle, in many ways the mutual life of the Communion, the life of exchange and co-operation between different parts of our Anglican family, is quite strong and perhaps getting stronger. It's a paradox”.

Yes, well, here's what I find as a paradox: that a photograph of heterosexual bishop of the Anglican Church of Uganda appears on the front cover of a magazine with the headline: "Hang Them" without any outrage from his fellow bishops. This story made international news, was reported on CNN, in the UK and in the Washington Post, yet, no-one within Anglican Church leadership circles rose to his defense, except Bishop Sisk.

Regardless of his lack of church support, Bishop Christopher continues to preach an inclusive gospel of a loving God to everyone, including his enemies. Please keep him and his persecuted community in your prayers. Write to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Let him know of your support for Bishop Christopher and ask him to join all of us in respecting the dignity of every human being.

You will also have another opportunity to support the brave bishop and his work. Bishop Christopher will soon return to the United States along with his wife Mary (an equally brave and courageous leader who has watched their beloved Church of Uganda’s behavior towards her family). They will arrive in California on November 14th and will be visiting New Orleans (December 5th at St. Anne’s) Atlanta (St. Bartholomew’s on December 12th) and will have two consultative meetings in New York and Washington DC around immigration and asylum issues for the USA around LGBT people. For more information on his visit and an update on the difficult legal situation he and his friends are facing, stay posted or join his Facebook page.

A Visit by Bishop Christopher Senyonjo

The story below was provided by Paul J. Lane, Diocesan Organizer for Integrity in the Diocese of New York. The photo shows Paul on the left, Bishop Christopher in the center, and Chap James Day [Integrity's Province 2 Coordinator] on the right.

The aroma of the incense hung heavily in the hot, humid air as the Ugandan prelate mounted the steps of the pulpit in the old village church, St. Luke in the Fields, in New York’s Greenwich Village last Sunday [June 6, 2010].

The Right Reverend Christopher Senyonjo, the retired Bishop of the Diocese of West Buganda, Uganda, took as his subject the second reading of the day: Galatians 1:11-24; Paul discussing his conversion from his former life as a persecutor of Christians. The congregation listened in rapt attention as the bishop spoke of his own "conversion" and how, by listening to the stories of LGBT people, he came to believe that LGBT Christians are full members of the body of Christ. He told of how he also has been persecuted and how, if a new bill proposed in the Ugandan Parliament becomes law, he himself may be jailed for his inclusive stance. He also spoke of how, in Uganda, openly LGBT persons are not able to receive any treatment for HIV/AIDS.

The Rev. Mary Foulke, Senior Associate for Pastoral Care and Outreach at St. Luke’s "was delighted to welcome Bp. Christopher to St. Luke’s and to make this connection with those around the world who embrace a critical Biblical theology in support of liberative practices of welcoming and standing up with those on the margins. Bp. Christopher is a wonderful example of many grassroots priests, bishops and lay leaders in the Southern Hemisphere that are doing great work and who don’t get the press or attention that others with more conservative American support seem to attract."

Paul J. Lane, the Chair of the parish’s LGBT Life @ St. Luke’s Committee and Diocesan Organizer for Integrity for the Diocese of New York says that "as a parish, this is only the beginning of our relationship with Bp. Christopher and Integrity Uganda. Our goal is to be able to raise $1000.00 for Bp. Christopher’s ministry and we began that journey today. The stories of our LGBT brothers and sisters around the world must be brought to the attention of those of us who live in more accepting societies." St. Luke’s history as been one of full inclusion as well as support of such organizations such as Integrity USA and Changing Attitude Nigeria, having in the past hosted Mr. Davis Mac-Iyalla, the exiled leader of CA Nigeria.

After the service, Bp. Christopher was an honored guest at the annual parish picnic, where he was able to speak directly to many parish members, including a group of seminarians from his own alma mater, Union Theological Seminary.

Integrity USA, a 35-year-old LGBT advocacy group within The Episcopal Church, is the sponsor of Bishop Christopher visit.

Pride and Shame in the Anglican Communion

A personal reflection from Integrity Province II Coordinator Chap James Day:

I remember when Bishop Robinson received the consent to be bishop at General Convention. I was studying abroad with about two dozen or so students from my college at Corpus Christi College in Oxford. I had followed the newsfeeds through the whole debate at convention, sharing the news with the others, most of whom were Presbyterian (PCUSA) and though sympathetic to my hopes, did not have a dog in the fight. Still they joined me for a pint at one of the pubs to toast what would be one of the first pivotal moments for GLBT Christians in the 21st century. After the pint, we went to evensong at Christ Church Cathedral, and later spoke with some of the clergy who told us how proud they were for the Anglican Church, especially in light of what had happened with Jeffery John just months before. It was a day to be proud to be an Episcopalian and an Anglican, and a newbie openly gay person.

I had heard that this would cause the Church to split—that the Communion would crumble, and I watched for the signs of it. I read of the grumblings of more traditional Anglicans—many of which joined voices with other splinter groups that had left well before Robinson was called to be bishop. I also heard the positive voices and Alleluias from the progressive Anglicans who were taking ownership of this time for the achievement that it was in reclaiming our place at the Table.

As the consecration played out, and the Lambeth Commission was called to review what had happened in the Church, we saw people coming in who had felt disenfranchised and unwanted. We also saw many so obsessed with this one issue leave, and the start of many more battles over property and the very soul of the Church. I was blessed to meet the members of the Lambeth Commission while working at Kanuga. I overheard their conversations as I served them food and drink while they stayed there, and I observed their devotion as they prayed at the Chapel of the Transfiguration each day. I also remember the results of their recommendation in the form of the Windsor Report.

I read the report, and many commentaries trying to explain what it meant, and what the implications of the report were for the GLBT members in the Anglican Communion as well as those traditionalists that felt disenfranchised. I felt shame. The GLBT clergy had begun to “come out” and the greater Communion family just did not want to hear it—they did not want to accept that there was a Gay Son among the Bishops, and they sure as hell did not want any more.

Just like a family, some shunned our new bishop, some accepted, some disowned, and some celebrated. More importantly, some tried to reconcile and to educate on why the family needs to accept. There were family members like those involved in Integrity and CFLAG that knew that our Communion-wide need to accept it’s GLBT sons and daughters was important beyond pious notions of what is a sin or not a sin. It was about restoring life to the outcast and unwanted—saving lives and restoring lives—healing the broken hearted—and strengthening the strained “bonds of affection”.

In Columbus we saw the election of the first female Primate in the Anglican Communion—proof of how the need and push for acceptance and equality shows progress in momentous achievements like that. We also saw one of the more ghastly calls for restraint that made no one happy with regards to the still outcast GLBT members of the Church. It is hard to celebrate the achievements of an oppressed sexual minority with the shadow of continued oppression of another minority.

It was at that point that I joined Integrity. I wanted to join the fight that celebrated the achievements of women in the Church and said “And ALSO now GLBT!” The first hurdle was to deal with the restraints that were asked and later confirmed in New Orleans. One of the most disturbing images of these restraints was our new Presiding Bishop’s image of a Lenten fast on continued consecrations. I had had always heard of the fast as giving up something that was bad for you and taking on something good for the world. That sure did not seem like the case with regards to GLBT Episcopalians.

In Anaheim, we moved forward, pushed by Integrity and the many, many allies that also saw this restraint as antithetical to what it means to be a Christian family—another day to be proud to be an Episcopalian. The legislation that was passed was eyed by the patriarch of the family suspiciously… some of our more distant cousins wished to disown us even further claiming that we had gone our own way to ruin. We had whole dioceses vote to disassociate themselves with the Church, often supported by our cousin provinces.

This week we saw yet another momentous day for GLBT Episcopalians—one that will surely continue to rock the boat—in the consent to the election of Mary Glasspool . Again, it happens legally under the cannons of the Episcopal Church that were strengthened by the legislation in Anaheim last year. Again, it has caused the head patriarch of the family to eye us with suspicion. And Again I am proud—but this time I have a huge amount of Shame.

The shame has nothing to do with the great news of LA, but with the disturbing response of Archbishop Rowan Williams. I do not presume to understand what it is like to be a titular head of a denomination so vastly spread across the world, socio-economic strata, and political and theological spectrums. What I do not hear is the same response at words of hatred against us his GLBT members, or the continued efforts of foreign provinces to usurp property in the Episcopal Church. Most deeply ashamed am I of his restrained responses towards the near holocaust-level hatred that is fueling the “Kill Gays Bill” in Uganda.

One of the signs of the Spirit moving in the Church is that this consent comes on the heels of statements of inclusion and support from a Patriarch so wise that non-believes will turn to listen to him, Archbishop Desmond Tutu. He is like that wise old family member that knows that the love of the God and the true bonds of affection that bind a family together are stronger than sexuality or morality. He understands that it is crucial to our faith to accept GLBT Christians into the fold and to celebrate with Easter joy when one like Mary Glasspool is called to be a Bishop among us. He warns us of the demoralizing and demonic destruction that awaits those who shun the outcast, hate those who differ, and seek legislation to exterminate that which we do not want to understand.

I only wish Archbishop Williams would listen to Archbishop Tutu and realize that we too are God’s loved children, that we too are called by the Spirit to serve and lead the Church, and that we deserve to solemnize our love in the Church’s sacraments. Williams, it seems, does not see this, Uganda does not want to see this…and that should make us all ashamed and outraged.

Tutu sees this—Los Angeles sees this—and those that consented to Mary Glasspool’s election see this, and that should make us all proud and filled with an Easter joy.