lcrew@andromeda.rutgers.edu.rutgers.edu (Louie Crew) (07/02/90)
As the founder of INTEGRITY (the organization of lesbian and gay
Episcopalians) and as a member of the Board of Oasis (The Diocese of Newark's
ministry with lesbians and gays), I have begun an Spiritual Hunger Strike,
here described in a letter which I sent on June 27 the Most Rev. Edmond
Browning, Presiding Bishop, and to Rt. Rev. John Spong, my bishop (Newark):
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In response to my baptismal vow to respect the dignity of every human being,
I will no longer receive Communion until the Episcopal Church makes all
sacraments available to lesbian and gay persons.
A lesbian member of INTEGRITY began her own spiritual hunger strike when I
visited her parish last month. After several weeks of prayer, I feel called
to a similar fast.
Lest I give even the appearance of using any altar as a stage, I will pray at
my pew or quietly ask celebrants for a blessing. I look forward to the time
that General Convention no longer stages exclusion.
I am asking heterosexual Christians throughout our Church to join me in this
diet of locusts and wild honey at such intervals as they feel they can.
General Convention has asked the Church to hear lesbians and gays, but fewer
than one-tenth of one percent of all congregations have done so. Experiencing
the denial of a sacrament--even if just once or twice a year and even if only
voluntarily--heterosexuals will sample the hunger and spiritual malnutrition
which the Church now systematically imposes on all lesbians and gay people.
I urge each of you prayerfully to fast at Holy Communion at least once.
It is extremely important that no one undertake this witness if already
undernourished, for it requires strong faith that neither death nor life, nor
angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor the House of Bishops, nor the
House of Deputies, nor the Council of Advice, nor height, nor depth, nor any
other creature can disassociate us from the love of God which is in Christ
Jesus. I ask your blessing upon the millions of persons whose exclusion the
Church now underwrites, especially those whom our unlove drives to
loneliness, depression, suicide, lethal sex, and all other forms of abuse.
I pray fervently that I won't have to wait until heaven to partake of
Communion again. Please pray for me. Louie
Louie Crew, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ 07102 201-485-4503
kriz@skat.usc.edu (Dennis Kriz) (07/05/90)
Refusing Communion is a powerful symbol. But participating in the Sacraments is done of free-will. I do not know if your reasons for refusal are correct. But I know that God does. If your effort is sincere, I know that you will be rewarded ... and if your effort is just, I know it will surely succeed. dennis kriz@skat.usc.edu