Washington Blade - October 28, 2005

TORONTO, Ontario - One Canadian Roman Catholic priest is in the spotlight after he declared on national television that he is gay and a second has been suspended for supporting the ordination of women clergy, the Globe & Mail reported. Rev. Karl Clemens, who declared on Vision TV's public affairs program 360 Vision, "I'm a Roman Catholic priest. And I'm gay." According to Vision, Clemens is the first Canadian priest to come out as gay. Archbishop Anthony Meagher of Kingston, Clemens' superior, ordered a transcript of the program but made no comment, the Globe & Mail reported. Clemens says he has maintained his celibacy; he lives with a man who has full-blown AIDS and says he is caring for the man. His ministry includes care of gays and HIV/AIDS patients in Toronto. In the other case, Rev. Ed Cachia, 56, was fired as pastor of St. Michael's Parish in Cobourg, east of Toronto, after he wrote an article in a local newspaper urging the church to admit women to the priesthood. Cachia also reportedly told his bishop that he had celebrated mass with female priests in the United States. Rev. Tom Lynch, spokesperson for the Catholic diocese that includes Cobourg, said celebrating mass with women priests is a clear violation of church canon law.

West Virginia Baptists won't quit group over moderate gay stances

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (AP) - West Virginia Baptist delegates voted 391-325 last week to reject a proposal to split from the American Baptist Churches-USA over its stance on homosexuality. The proposal introduced by the West Virginia Baptists for Biblical Truth failed to receive a majority of votes from about 700 delegates at the West Virginia Baptist Convention's annual meeting, said Rev. David Carrico, executive minister of the West Virginia Baptist Convention, who opposed the resolution. "This vote tells us there is a great concern and that is a good thing," Carrico said. "I see it as a message that the homosexual issue deserves careful and continued consideration. It is a deep concern for our denomination."

Catholic agency in Boston helps gays adopt children

BOSTON (AP) - The social services agency of the Archdiocese of Boston has allowed 13 foster children to be adopted by same-sex couples in the past two decades, despite Vatican teachings against homosexuality. Leaders of Catholic Charities of Boston said state regulations prohibit the agency from discriminating based on sexual orientation. "If we could design the system ourselves, we would not participate in adoptions to gay couples, but we can't," Rev. J. Bryan Hehir, the agency's president, told the Boston Globe last week. "We have to balance various goods." The 13 adoptions - a small fraction of the 720 placed by Catholic Charities in that period - took place as part of a contract with the state Department of Social Services. The children placed with gay couples are among the most difficult to place, either because they are older or have physical or emotional problems.

New MCC leader to be installed Saturday in Washington

WASHINGTON - Rev. Nancy L. Wilson is scheduled to installed as the next moderator of the Metropolitan Community Churches, the world's largest predominantly gay Christian denomination, on Saturday at the National Cathedral, according to a news release. The ceremony is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. and is open to the public. Wilson replaces MCC founder Rev. Troy D. Perry. Wilson takes over leadership of a church founded specifically to minister to gay men, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered. It currently lists more than 225,000 in 23 countries. One of Wilson's first acts as the new presiding bishop is to unveil "Focus on the Human Family," a 10-year international program of social and spiritual transformation for gay men, lesbians and others. In 1976, Wilson became the youngest person ever elected to the MCC Board of Elders and has served as an elder since that time. Wilson attended Boston University School of Theology with a Rockefeller Fellowship, also holds an M.Div. from SS. Cyril and Methodius Seminary, served as Vice-Moderator of MCC from 1993 to 2003 and has pastored MCC congregations in Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan and California. She is the former senior pastor of Metropolitan Community Church of Los Angeles, the founding church of the MCC movement. She currently serves as senior pastor of Church of the Trinity MCC in Sarasota, Florida.

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