Conger

A Lesbian priest has been shortlisted for election as Bishop of Chicago. The Dean of Trinity Cathedral in Cleveland, Ohio, the Very Rev. Tracey Lind will stand as one of five candidates for election on Nov 10.

Lesbian and gay activists in the Episcopal Church welcomed the announcement. “Discernment has trumped discrimination in the Diocese of Chicago,” said the president of the gay pressure group Integrity, the Rev. Susan Russell.

At its 2006 General Convention the Episcopal Church endorsed a resolution that called upon the church to refrain from electing bishops whose “manner of life” would be a cause of scandal to the wider Church.

This resolution, “designed to prevent the election of a gay or lesbian bishop, has failed in its attempt to balance the unity of the Anglican Communion on the backs of the [gay] faithful,” has failed, Ms Russell said.

Conservative leaders were disappointed by the announcement, but said they were not surprised, noting that a number of liberal bishops have stated they would not honor the church’s ban on gay bishops or blessings as a matter of “justice.” Dallas Bishop James Stanton remarked the nomination was evidence the Diocese of Chicago did not care what the rest of the Communion had to say on this issue.

In a sermon published in the Witness magazine, Dean Lind stated gay and lesbian clergy would not give up their power within the Episcopal Church.

“If we are going to be God’s agents in ‘the renewal of all things’,” Dean Lind wrote, “then we need to stay at the table in humility, gentleness, and patience with one another, but we also need to shift the conversation to the real issues.”

“It’s not about sex. It’s about the politics of power and inclusion; imperialism and neo-colonialism; race, gender, religion, class and culture; poverty and disease; terrorism and warfare; east vs. west and north vs. south; traditional society intersecting with technology; fundamentalism of all sorts; and how we read and interpret sacred texts written thousands of years ago.”

“The scapegoating of one group of people won’t solve or even address these issues,” she said.