VOLUME II

VOLUME II

NUMBER 11

DECEMBER 1971 - JANUARY 1972

DONATION FIFIY CENTS

IN N ITY A PUBLICATION OF THE UNIVERSAL FELLOWSHIP OF METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY CHURCHES INC. PUBLISHER:

Chapel Press EDITOR:

Pat Rardin ASS'T.

EDITOR

~lton Breedlove

FOUNDER

TREASURER:

Lou Loynes CIRCUlATION:

Rusty

Father in heaven, who hast stooped down to this undeserving and unreceptive world to place in the arms of a mother the gift of Thy Son, we thank The e for Thy ho ly Gift.

We confess that by our sin we mistreat His innocence.

By our unbelief we mock His trust of Thee. By our selfishness we make light of His sacrifice.

By the memory of His birth let Him be born in us anew that we may live in perfect trust in Thee. Let Him rule in our hearts with love and grace that Thy kingdom may be established within us and that we may live with Thee eternally through Him who is our Lord and Savior, world without end.

Amen.

FEATURE WRITERS:

C. Shaum Farrell Pat Rardin GRAPHIC DESIGNERS:

Joan Johnson

Quinn STAFF:

Marty Seneca BOARD OF ELDERS OF UNIVERS.A.L FELLOWSHIP OF METROPOLITAN COMMUNITYCHURCHES:

Reverend Troy D. Perry Reverend John H. Hose Reverend Richard A. Ploen Reverend Louis Loynes CHAIFMAN OF BOARD OF PUBLICATIONS OF THE UNIVERSAL FELLOWSHIP

Lou Loynes

PSALM

133:1

BEHOLD, ho~ good and ho~ p1sasant it is for brsthrs" to d~sll togsther IN UNIT!!

IN UNIlYMAtUIIE O"ICEI

1871.

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REI'RODUCTIOII

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LETTERS

~!LLtVl.I'" I'IETIIOI'OLITAli

BY 11IE U.IYERlAl ADDRESS'

2201

III WHOLE OR PART OR ARTICLES

WILL

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WITHOUT

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AVENUE,

PERMISSION

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COHMUIiITY A.SELES,

I'ROHIBITED.

FOR PUBLICATION.

CHURC"£S. CA.

90007.

AODRESS

EIlTORIAl COPYRI9HT

LFTTERS

TO

in our churches and proclaim, "HE IS BOPJ~, THEHESSIAt.I, THESAVIORIS COME TOALLOF VM1<IND. "

«-,1£5.

. Yours in C0rist,

tJ>~

Rev. Troy D. Perry, Pastor' 11ETROFOLITAN COJvll'1L~ITY CHURCH LOSANGELES, CALIFORNIA

Dear Brothers and Sisters: Greetings 111 the Nameof our Lord, .Jesus Christ.

I vzish to say Herry Christmas and a Happy NewYear to all of you. \-,Ielook back this year and it has been a wonder-ful.time as we draw to the season of this time of the year when we r'enemberagain the celebration of the birth of Christ.

He celebrate the coning of the Christ Child VJhobrought deliverence to the people. This same Jesus whose Birthdav we celebrate in December and call Christ~ mas, nany years later spoke and said, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon He because He has anointed me.

He has sent me to announce good news to the poor, to proclaim release from prisoners and recover the sight for the blind.

To let the broken victims go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

Here ide are as members of t'1etropoli tan COmffiunity Church still doing that that the Lord had corrmandedus to do.

Howlittle people realized almost 200(1 years ago when Christ was born that He would have such an ir~luence on the life of this big, wide wor-Ld; One who came in the name of the Lcrd , one i.·lhocame and said He v7as the Son of God, one who was disbelieved bv some but completely believed in by others~, and as a result of it, a snaIl band of Christians gre'i.J until Christianity encompassed the world.

Dur-ing this December we look to God who also led the Children of Isreal and as a memorial to Him, even today our .Jevri.sh brothers and sisters still celebrate the ~estival of Hannukah, It is vzi.th p;ladness In our hearts that we enter into this Christian Year locking forward again to December'25th, when again we vJill wor-sh'ip

"THIS LASTING WORLD"

Whoever heard of a monkey, , That couldn t t climb a tree, Or a fW'lIlY looking Zebra, That was very very wee.

The elephant has a huge long trunk, Pernicious odor denotes the skunk, A graceful swanglides acroSs the lake, 'The lion crouches his prey to take. ch flower blooms with fragrance so rare, God's loving hands protects with care.

The squirrel prepares for- winter long, While the beaver prepares his dam so strong.

Each tree bears fruit from year to year, The groundhogtells us more winter is here.

Snow flun-ies start towards the earth, 'Thehousehold welcomesa wee new birth.

'Thoughnever ending this world could be, Remember,only Godcan makea tree. ~

JOHNNIE MATHEWS -tl. ~Ril~$

3

is against a landscaped hill of the Freeway.On the Ylest is a short dead-end street.

This may be the answer-to our prayers to help house some of our students. It needs a lot of work and will cost something to put it in shape. But God has helped before and if we all pull together we can make of this something useful and pleasing in God's sight.

God grant us a "will to work".

FROM THE SEMINA.RY CORNER

by Rev. Richard Ploen, Dean After much sweat, and perhaps some tears, the Fall quarter is over.

Classes are out for a winter vacation. And it is a welcome respite for students and faculty alike. vli th the coming of the new year, we have new courses. Rev. Dick Hetz has been added to the faculty and he will be teaching Sermon Preparation.

Rev. Jon Bullock will return to teach Practical Theology and Rev. Rich Ploen will complete the three by teaching The Message of the Pr0phets. Classes are held on Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights for two hours each.

This gives the working people a chance to continue supporting themselves while going to school.

Our new Seminary Library is corningalong. We have two people helping with the cataloging and now the materials that were ordered are here, the books are getting classified and shelved.

It is a long way to go, but we are so grateful to God for the gift of over 1,000 religious books that have made the Library possible.

The Seminary is growing and we have new students that enter each quarter.

But we still have roam for more. Classes are kept small so that the student gets individual attention.

And now for our BIG news! vJe have been offered for almost nothing a large 14 room two story house. We want to use it for the Se~inarv and housing for many of our students who are from out of 'town; It is two blocks from the t'1otherChurch and the back

1-

At Christmas Time good friends ~eaallJ The joys of long ago.

The happYJ kindly ways of allJ The friends they used to know; And though some t~avel fa~ apa~tJ And jou~ey

diffe~ent waysJ

All keep a ao~e~

in their heartJ

For happy yesterdays.

-Edqar A. Guest

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[VIEWPOINT Cl JIIJ\RJKKOE- PANUKKPJ i

by C. Shawn Farrell P.S He enter the Chrisi:r.1as .season, I think: it only fitting and proper that we ray tribute to the many Jewi.shfriends we have in our community. Some are members of our church, some are Friends. They are entering a holiday season which has existed much longer than the Christian observance of Christmas.

This year Chanukkoh begins December 13 and lasts for eight days, ending on December 20. Al.Lof us are familiar with the origin of Christmas, I voul.d like to acquaint you with the origin of Chanukkoh.

Chanukkoh differs fram all other Jewish festivals in one important respect; its origin is not lost in the dimness of ant i.qui.tv ; it stands clear and bold in the lir,htof history. It is a dated festival, one that ccmmemorates great events in the hi.storyof the .Jewi sh people.

In 168 B. C. Palestine was under the rule of Syria whose king was Antiochus IV. Arrt i.ochus tried to convert his ki.ngdcm, consisting of many nationalities, into a universal melting pot of Hellenistic culture. In those days, the national culture of the people was strongly round up with its religion.

So Pntiochus ordered that all the people of his empire serve the Grecian Gods and Leccme Greeks.

Everyone accepted and oteyed the order except the .Iews, Antiochus, therefore, sent an army into Palestine to rout out the followers of the JeYiishGod, and to eliminate the observance of Jewi.shLaws and ways , The Temple service vas halted, and God's house was turned into a Grecian temple.

It was forbidden, under penalty of death, to observe any of the precepts of .Ievzi sh religion.

There wer-emany martyrs, the first martyrs for freedom of conscience known in wor-Lkhistory. The attempt to abolish the .Iewi.shfaith in 167 B. C. broucht on the revolt of .Iudaht1accabee.Jer~salem gained independence in 165 B. C. .

First, Judah tried only to reinstall the Temple service whi.chhad been interrupted for three years.

On the twentyfifth day of the month of Kislev, by the .Jewi.sh calendar, they rededicated the alter in the Temple and decreed that an eight day festival, beginning with that

day, be observed yearly. ~'Jenow know in what period, and through what events, Chanukkoh became a universal festival for Jews.

It usually takes place in December by the Christian calendar.

It is called the Feast of Dedication, and also called the Feast of Lights.

The dedication yJecan understand as history speaks for itself.

The Chanukkoh lights began in an old nature festival that was observed in winter by some Jewish groups.

They had no ancient or sacred tradition.

In order to give the lights a religious meaning, the legend of the flask of oil came into being.

I would venture to say there are those who believe the legend to be a true example of the power of Jehovah, not myth, but miracle. I don't really, nor can I agree with those \'Jho say it is merely legend.

The legend states, that when the Temple was closed to the Jews, the sacred oil stored there had been defiled. \A]henJudah rededicated the Temple, he found only a small flask of oil bearing the seal of the High Priest, enough to light the Menorah for one day.

Instead, the oil lasted for eight days.

There are one or two other theories regarding the Chanukkoh Lights, however, I have used this one because it was told to me by a number of mv Jewish friends, and because I think I like it more than any of the others.

May the light of Chanukkoh fill your hearts and you homes, and the blessings of Chanukkoh abide with you throughout the year.

SHAlDH

C. Shawn Farrell

5

EDITOR'S NOTE: SundaYJ November 14J 1971 was deolared Youth Sunday with our KoolAids (MCC-LA's Youth Group) assisting in the Sunday ServioesJ inoludingJ in our morning eervi ce, tiao of them giving the oongregation sermonettes.

Sometimes our young people oan surprise us with their wisdom and understanding of the world and Christianity.

FolZowing are the sermonettesJ word for wordJ as they were presented to our oongregation.

I by: Al Ojeda During this last week while I was sittiru! at home trving: to think of what to say -this morning, the door bell rang t bringing a stranger to my doorâ&#x20AC;˘ Little did I know that after this man left I would find the answer to myprayers to bring you a meaningful message He left with me a passage from a diary written by a soldier in Viet Nam, I found this passage to be very meaningful and thought provoking and I want to share it with you today.

The passage goes as follot¡Js: "Manyof us loose confidence in prayer because we do not recognize the answer." ~'Jeask for strength and God gives us difficulties, which makes us strong. \hle pray for wi.soom and God sends us problems, the solution of which develops wisdom. He plead for prosperity and God gives us a brain and brawn to work.

He plead for courage and Godgives us dangers to overcome. He ask for favors and Godgives us opportunities.

In our relationship with God as \-lith our relationships with our brothers and sisters, there has to be an equality of give and take.

No one party can do all the giving. t'JhenHe ask God in our prayers for something, He just can't stop praying. Nothing is given to us on a silver platter.

He've got to v.]orkfor it also.

Manytimes we loose confidence in prayer because vIe do not recognize the form in which Godhas chosen to answer us.

He are looking only for the answer' vJe warrt, Godgives us what;He thinks is best for us.

This voul.d involve being able to place our trust in the Lord to make the best

b

decisions for us.

Manytimesour answers return to us in the form of difficulties.

Difficulties Hhich require prayers for strength and endurance.

Tile therefore return once again to prayer for strength to overcomeour trials and to strengthen our confidence in the Lord's way, through each difficul tv that God sends our vlaY, an increase of v.7isdom should fo.LLow defeat of each problem, leaving with us a bank of ex-perience v.7ith whi.ch we can draw upon when further problems arise.

Along v.Jith confidence, strength and vzi.sdom the temporal needs must be taken into account.

Prosperity is a comrron desire amongall men, whe'ther- spiritually or temporally, neither of wh.iohcan be gained vJi thout the Godgiven gifts of a brain to think and analyze the right needs that we desire or the brav.ID to work tmvards our ideals. t1any times we are stopped in our quest for prosperity by dangers to cvercome. The majority of these come in the rona of temptations and obstacles.

Temptations which bog dOt-mour sense of right and wrong and obstacles which are 'thrown up to prevent us from pursuing the natural uses of our brain and brawn.

Then one time more we entreat God, praying for the courage to overcome the dangers laid at our feet.

In our running from danger, we often by-pass the opportunities Godgave us whenwe prayed for prosperity and favors.

Not looking at our path, v.7hichmay be s'trewn with the very favors and opportunities we prayed for.

Stop, look and listen. Godhelps those who help themselves. '.'lorkalong side of God, because with Godall things are possible.

To end I vou.ld like to say a little prayer that goes like this: We".

stubornly eaid, "I".

We".

hesitated

and eaid,

THE BEGINNINGS This In unitY6 being for December and January s~s the beginnings.

December is the month of the birth of OUI" Lord, Jesus Christ and thus the beginning for alZ of us of eternal Ufe. January is the beginning of a nelV year.

A nelV year for each of us and a nelV year for MCC. Let us ehou MCC and the universal FellOlVship lVhat lVe can really do lVith this nelV year. Let us realty make it grOlV. GrOlV spirituaZlY6 grolV in numbers and grOlV in every lVay possible. We can make it grOlV by giving monetarilY6 of OUI" time6 of OUI" talent" and in any lVay that lVe can.

The next: issue lVitt be (February) volume III Number I and it lVitt be a beginning also.

Thanks to Connie Vaughn lVho headS Chapel Press and is the printer6 lVe lVitl truly have a ner.vmagazine" a magazine lVe really can be proud of and a magazine in lVhich lVe lVill be pleased to have OUI" artriolee appear.

I lVill telZ you no more" you lViZZ just have to lVait to see the beginning of OUI" nelV In unity.

Pat Rardin Editor

would account for what is called the 100% homosexual who is never bothered by girls.

He is attracted ccnpletely to his own sex and spends his entire life as a hanosexuaL Tarnowsky maintains that psychiatrists must distinguish between persons with inborn hanosexuali ty and persons t路Jhoengage in gay acts because of environment. He believed that those who learned to engage in homosexuality could be changed into practicing heterosexuals, but those who were ir~rn homosexuals could only be taught to live wi.thin their life stvle.

Studies by Dr. Rado cl~rified these two types. Dr. Rado referred to inborn gays as "reparative homosexuals". Those ~]hoaoqaized homosexuality were called "variational homosexuals."

Fifty years ago the Twins Institute was formed as an elaborate international scientific study.

This institution was formed for the express purpose of studying identical twins who had been separated at birth and raised apart.

These scientists studied Th7inS in many nations. Sexual orientation was one of the many traits reContinued on Page 17

IS HOMOSEXUALITY ACQUIRED?

by Dr. Paul Roberts

~etropolitnn 2201

Medical authorities are divided on whether hanosexuali ty is due to environment or heredity. Socaridies, Ellis and Allen strongly maintain that homosexuality is caused primarily by environment.

To these authorities "gayness" is a learned response.

Equally competent medical authorities such as Kinsey, Kallman, Janiger and Margolese are promoting a non-environmental cause for homosexuality. They believe that homosexual as well as heterosexual drives are of a physical origin and thus present at birth.

A third group, who seldon make the headlines, maintain that a.person who engages in hanosexuali ty does so , either.as a learned response or because of some Innate desire. Dr. D. Tarnowsky of 'St. Peterb~ was one of the first psychiatrists to tak~ this view.

He claims that inborn inversion in its most marked form was chronic and persistent, appearing outwardLv in early puberty, unchanged by environmerrt and lasting through<l.lt life.

This

s.

UNION

aIommunitg

AVE PHONE路

LOS ANGELES. 213

ClIqurdy CALIF.

90007

. 748路0123

Rev. Troy D. Perry, Pastor Rev. John H. Hose, Asst. Pastor Rev. Richard A. Ploen, Minister of Christian Education Rev. Lee Spangenberg, Minister of Vis itation Willie

SUNDAY:

Smith

Minister

of Music

9:00 AM, 11:00 AM, & 7:30 PM WEDNESDAY: 8:00 PM

-----------------7

THE FOPAN CATHOLIC HOMOSEXUAL •••• THE OLD ORDER CHANGE'll!

By Kim Stabinski

~.etropolitan

yielding place to "The old order changeth~ Himself in many ways." neia, and God fulfills Alfred~ Lord Tennyson Idylls of the King

lbe old order -- Raman Catholicism -- is chanz.inz dramatically. \lIehave seen the tend~ncy for some time now. Whether:'Catholic or not, we have been exposed, thanks to our advanced news media, to the facts of mass in the vernacular, meat on Fridays, women with unoovered heads in the Church, and so on down the list.

Catholic or not, we have also been exposed to those areas where the Church seems ~ost reluctant to change. Birth oontrol is r-erhapsthe best example--best in that the battle around the issue has been given such thorough news coverage; best also .iI}that the very basis for the Church's posltlon on birth oontrol is prlina.rily the same basis for the condemnation given to masturbation and to homosexual expression. That basis is referred to as the "natural law".

Catholic homosexuals may bemoan the fact that the changes being made within the structure of Catholicism seem to have little effect on the theological position of homosexuality.

This is not completely true.

And perhaps at this point I should insert an apology. This article will not, cannot, be presented in strict literary form. I am too personally involved in the plight. of the Catholic homosexual to stand aSlde, offering textbook explanations.

I must draw also on my personal experiences and those of mv Catholic homosexual friends, relating them to catechistic teachings.

Before we can see the hope of the changing Church, we must understand the stringen~y of the old Church--and here I use "Old Church" in reference to the Catholic Church of the earlv and mid 1960s, only a few years ago--~ and the Catholic Church as it still is to a large degree.

Catholicism has persistently turned the hanosexual aHay without hope, perhaps to a qreater extent than any other Christian denomination.

It has accomplished this in part through its vJell defined and .well publicized instructions and regulatlons. ~embers of any given Protestant denomination oould likely offer quite different interpretations of their Church's teach-

8

aIommunitu OJqurdy OF PHOENIX

1426 East Maricopa Freeway Phoenix, Arizona 85032 Rev.

Robert J. Cunntngharn, Sunday: 1:00 PM

Pastor

ings and the reasoning behind them, for example, on the majority of issues they might be quizzed about--or tr~y simply would not know what position their Church takes. ~1jt every Catholic has been confronted with the. laws of God AND the laws of the Catholic Church in the form of the catechism.

The Catholic has been warned about the dangers of a faulty oonscience; rather, he has been provided with a list of sins, neatly categorized as "mortal" and "venial".

He has been taught to reason on every other aspect of his life but to accept blindly the Church's teachings on religion. After all, he has a list--a oonvenient list of blacks and whites that only occasionally ackncwledges grey and seldom admits varying shades of grey. And that list ranks overt homosexual expression as a mortal sin-black, not grey. \AJhenI was in my late teens and had had very little oontact with Catholicism, I wondered at times why so many of the Protestant homosexuals I met continued to attend Church while a tremendously greater proportion of the Catholics were non-practicing.

Then, in 1961 I took instructions, joined the Church and learned the answer-,I should say I rushed through instructions ••••memorizing the catechism without really analyzing it ,without considering its implications on secular life.

I did this under firm conviction that it was God's will I should become a nun.

I still believe my entering the convent was definitely His will, but just not for the purpose and duration I interpreted at the time.

And I did learn the answer to my question about those nonpracticing Catholic homosexuals when I tried to apply Catholicism to a life unprotected by convent walls and long black habits. , Continued

on Page 2:5

First Christmas. Reborn in justice, peace, and silence. Yes, each of us must proclaim to the wor-Ld the spirit of love and peace by our actions.

We must never be ashamed of what we are nor should we ever do scmething to make a black mark on our fellow gay brothers and sisters. Yes, my dear friends the spirit of Christmas should radiate in our hearts and actions every day of the year, not just this tiITeof the year.

Let's take a few minutes from our busy schedule of preparing for the holidays to take apart the word "CHRISTMAS"and see W~Bt each letter signified to us.

These are my thoughts, I am sure each of you have many more.

A MEDITATION FOR THE CHRISTMAS SEASON

C - Stands for the Christ Child born on Christmas Day. H - Stands for the Hum; 1 ity and Love this new born babe has for Humanitv and which we should fol.Low in our- daily lives.

R - Stands for the reason He was born and made to die.

That was to open the gates of heaven for each of us.

I - Stands for the Innocents that were slain by orders of King Herod in his search to kill the King of Kings.

This is the same King Herod in our modern day society who goes out in search to destroy the homosexual but who will not succeed because we are united, united till death for a just and holy cause.

S - Stands for Serenity to accept all things as the will of God. T - Stands for the Three vliseMen who came to adore the new born child.

My dear members, friends, and guests of MCC. As the Christmas season comes around the corner we seem to forget the true meaning of what this season is for.

I hope that this little article will inspire each of us to set aside the material thoughts of this great feast and think of the spiritual and most me&~ingful part of this most holy season.

"Silent Night, Holy Night.

All is calm All is bright."

In a manger in a quiet town called Bethlehem on a silent and peaceful hillside a child is born.

Born in the midst of a silent night. This child is the God of Mankind, the Prince of Peace.

There was no busy hospital, no doctors, nurses, interns. Net one was around.

This silent night which took place almost 2000 years ago would rock the world we Continued on Page 22 live in today.

Yes, it-was the First Christmas; such ,~dropo1itan Olommunitv Olqurrq was the silence, such was the peace. What has happened to this silence of the First OF Christmas night? ~~at has happened to the DENVER true meaning of Christmas?

Yes, the giving of gifts to our loved ones, the children waiting for Santa are all a part of Rev. Ron Carnes, Pastor this joyous Holiday, but it seems to me He Sunday: 7: 30 PM fail so often to think of the First ChristMailing: P. O. Box 11303 mas. Yes, Christmas has beccme so CanJTle:i."Denver, Colorado 80211 cialized we fail to prepare for the Birthday of the Babe of Bethlehem, the Birthof the King of Kings.

Services: 1400 LaFayette Street Each of us should take the opportunDenver, Colorado ity of the Chr'Lstrnasseason to renew our Christian intentions and comnitments â&#x20AC;˘ i,'Ie Phone: (303) 355-7079 should be reborn in the spirit of the

9

T,>,7HAT THELORDSPRAYER MEANS TO ME Each Sunday, at .the end of the morning prayer we are asked to repeat "The Izrds Prayer", and I'm afraid that that is just what we do - REPEAT. I've felt this for sonet ime within myself and I've decided to re-examine what the prayer means to me.

For whatever value, the following is my renewed thoughts on "The Lords Prayer".

OUR

not mine nor yours, nor theirs; but OUR, regardless of sex, race, creed, color or sexual preference.

FATHER

not our brother, sister, aunt, uncle, daughter, son, mother, friend or foe, but FATHER.

WHO ART

He is NOH, not something past or future, but He IS.

IN HEAVEN

we know wher-e He is and He knows where we are. Heaven can be within each of us if we but fill our hearts with His Love.

HALLOT,>,lED BE THYNAME

THYKINGDOt1 COME

THYHILL BE DONE

If)

I

remember the word - B~llowed. It used to be just that.

Howsad that for some of us tend to forget that His name is Hallowed and is not to be used lightly or irrevently. our God's Kingdan, not our own 'personal ego trip' where He sometimes tend to put "I" instead of "Thy".

God's Kingdan IS HEFE AND NOH. every mane~t, mistake, success, JOY, sadness, accident, fortune, sunshine or darkness is done because it is God's Hill and that through Faith in

Him everything will be put into its proper spot within our lives.

God knows thdt it is right.

IN EARTH.ASIT His Love and Truth is everywhere.

Remember to judge not lest ye be judged.

GIVE US THIS DAY

each day we have another opportunity to correct the mistakes of the day before and to make a friend where before there Has an enemy.

Let each day be one of praise and glory unto God.

OURDAILY BREAD

we have earthy needs to be filled daily, but we must w::>rkfor them.

How much sweeter the bread will taste if we receive it not as a gift but as a reward for w::>rk"well done".

AND roRGIVE

we all have a tendency to forget what we owe to God and will willingly overextend our bank accounts so that we can go to that "special sale" down the street.

The only real debt we have to fill is to make sure that God's word is heard throughout the land.

AS vJE roRGIVE OURDEBTORS

how many of us can really say that we "forgave".

We must forget also.

If GOD can forgive us, can He not also forgive?

AND LEADUS

sanetimes I feel that we are tempted too easily.

Could it be because we have forgotten what HIS vords reall v mean to us.

Let's one - and all reexamine Hhat the BIBLEis trying to say to us.

NOTINTO TEMPTATION

BUTDELIVER US

the evil that man encounters is oft times that of his own making.

If we follow GODSwav we v]ill be delivered from evil-.--J

FORTHINE IS

"IS" . mearung MORE,ETERNAL.

Continued on Page 20

Nm,] ,

HCC DALlAS

~.etropoJitan

Impressive services ordaining four new deacons to services or MCC-Dallas were held October 24, 1971, Reverend Richard Vincent officiating. This brings to a total of six, the number of deacons serving the Dallas church, two of them female.

The new deacons will have the respon~ sibility for various service committees which are presently being formed as the church expands its activities.

Another highlight of the service was the special music presented by the MCC-Dallas choir.

The quality of music this young group presents each Sunday is highly professional and adds much to the spiritual tone of the services.

Also recognized in the services were three newly elected board members, returning the number of members on the board to six.

On October 29, 1971, MCC-DALLAS took another step forward, A large, beautiful organ was discovered for sale and quick action by the Board of Directors enabled the Dallas church to purchase the organ.

Since the organ requires same IDrk, it is in the home of two of our board members until it is repaired with the aid of the volunteered services of a friend of the church. t\1henit is repaired, we look forward to hearing this beautiful instrument in our services.

Pat McCormick

cflttdrllp ulitau

([ II mmunitu

O:ommunitg Clllyurdt

OF SAN FRANCISCO Rev. James Sandmire, Pastor Rev. Alice Naumoff, Asst. Pastor Sunday: 6:00 PM Mailing:

Services:

P. O. Box 99369 Station "0" San .Francisco, Ca. 94109 Gold Mine Drive at Diamond Heights Blvd.

San Francisco, Ca.

Community Center 150 6th Street San Francisco, Ca. 94103 Open: 9AM - 9PM Daily Phone:

(415) 864-3576

(f Iptrrly

OF DALLAS Rev. Richard Vincent, Sunday: 7:30 PM

Pastor

Mailing: P. O. Box 1344 Dallas, Texas 75221 Services:

4015 Normandy Dallas, Texas

Phone: (214) 946-4354 "You aan't we haven't

already ~

II

TENGOLDEN RULES FORA HAPPyGAYMARRIAGE To all my brothers and sisters who are either happily married in the gay life or who are preparing for this great step as I am. I feel these are the ten golden rules we should follow in order to have a happy and fruitful married life.

For when we enter this most holy step it is not for a while but till the dear Lord calls one of us to our eternal reward, These are the rules I hope to follow the day I take this great step.

1.

Wewill make a premise of mutual love and loyalty a VQT,,1 to God, binding until death.

2. Weshall abstain from the angry word which woundsmore deeply than a sword, 3. I will respect mymate, his personality and will not seek to daninate or tyrannize.

4. I will allow no one to interfere with the running of our hone 5. Weshall abstain frem drink when we realize that alcohol is a danger to our marriage.

If 1.t hurts one of us then both must abstain.

6. \'Je shall have a budget and observe it.

7. Weboth must endeavor not to be petty, nagging, selfish, jealous, or have false pride.

8. Wemust grow in consideration and love each day and share each other's interests, pleasures, and disappointments.

9â&#x20AC;˘ We must strive to always love our neighbors, be good citizens with .a sense orfionor-, tolerance and fair play.

10. Finally and most important we must pray each day not only in themorniDK and evening, but at each meal that Almighty God y]ill bless us and guide us.

When there is prayer within a household no matter what may arise it keeps us together.

0

I personally feel that by following these simple ways, the gay :narriage will be a happy one and will last till the end of time.

/1

God Love You Bob Murphy

mOMTHEASSISTfiNT EDITOR Hello and Greetings.

I have had the honor of being appointed to the above position for this magazine and I am very honored bv it.

I have only been involved with the- department for a little over 8 weeks and I hope as I go along I can becane better at my job Hith the good Lords help.

To tell you a little about myself, I am from the Deep South - Birmingham, Alabama and have only been in Los Angeles for 3 months.

I am presently employed as a dance instructor for a local studio (Ballroom Dancing, that is) which has been my lifes occupation, except for the past 2 and 1/2 years, I was in another field of employment. I met my first and only love while j n the Armvin 1960.

Ttle were both medical corpsmen in Frankfurt , Germany.

Whenwe were discharged in Mayof 1962, we returned to Birmingham and had a ceremony of love (Wedding)the second in Birmingham, Alabama's history and ~~nt into the dance business.

In 1964, I lost my- Mother, and then in 1965, lost my lover through an understanding of his feelings.

Its an old story of the Southland where most everyone is in a closet. He wanted to get married.

(Straight you know).

So be it So it was then that I came out of my close~ and became knownto all that I was gay and proud of it.

So to end this, my first article, I wish to express my thanks to MCC-LAfor all the help that has been given to me. I was a lost soul when I came here and I found friends and people who wanted very sincerely to help me. I wish to especially thank Bill Raines and Karen of CIC. Also Bil v.Jhite for his wonder-fu.l help and Spider and Quinn - Connie and Pat, Marty and Don Hughes. So until next issue, lets keep the faith and we shall go forward with our purpose and carry on God's v70rk in unity for all.

-Milton Breedlove

ters, don't say anything at all."

Remember at times the great motto, "Silence is Golden."

How rich we would be if we kept this motto in mind when we were ready to hurt our neighbor.

-Bob Murphy

NtwYtar

"NOBODY IS PERFECT" Each of us is a mixture of good qualities and perhaps some not so good.

In considering our fellow brothers and sisters we should remember their good qualities and realize that their faults only prove that we are all hunans and subj ect to errors. vIe should always refrain from making a harsh judgement of a individual for we must look at ourselves and judge ourself first before we judge our neighbor e, Let us bear in mind that no man on this earth is perfect.

Our Divine Lord once said, when a group of people were judging one of their own who had commi tted the sin of adul try, "Let he who is wi thout sin cast the first stone."

If we use such great saints like St. Paul, St Augustine, Mary Magdeline, and so many more we will then fully realize that yes we mav have lived in error but it is never too late to turn over that new leaf.

It is never too late to settle down with an individual for life.

To be honest and slncere with this individual and stop running around like a fly looking to prance upon the first person we see. ,We all must realize we are never gettlng younger and that some day we must find our mate and be satisfied in all ways.

Yes, it is easy to look into the daily lives of others and see their faults but we must start to look into our own li ves first.

Hhen we have reached complete perfection, then we can cast the first stone but not until then.

I am sure if each of us just sat down for a few minutes and started to clean out our own back yearp. we will be able to see our own faults and hesitate to find the faults that others have. I']e are always ready to criticize the other person but when the stones are thrown our way we don't like it.

Itle immediately get on the defensive side.

In closing I sav, "If you cannot say anything good about your brcthers or sis-

~

~

Olrttlittgs BOOK - ~'JISE

by Selma "I', Place For Us: ••• By Isabel I-Eller Bleeker Street Press 1969 $2.25

This book has been given the GAYBOOK AWAPD OFTHErTAR by a group of Gay Librarians at the recent Pmerican Library Assn. annual convention.

It is a book vlritten in deceptively simple language that is haunting in its beauty and poetry.

The time is 1816, not long after the American Revolution; the place is the Housatonic Valley, Conn. i,'breenhardly are alloHed to exist apart from their husbands or maLe kinfolk.

Yet here are tHo women , Patience I'Jhite and Sarah Dowling , who dare to fall in love v7ith each other.

Their attempts tOVJardmaking a hone togeth~, thwarted on all sides \'Jith cruelty, paan and lack of understanding are compassionately and Harmly related.

You'feel a kinship \.-lith these young wcmenwho, so long ago, s'rrugg Ied so h~ and loved so sweetLv, The pornographac realish of toeav' s . love scenes is completel v absent; .- instead one feels very keen), v·' the unfo.lcrinr; and fruition of a most beautiful love.

This s+orv yJaS sue~ested by the true life s'torv of the painter, t-1aryAnn v.!illson and her- companion, Hiss Brundidge, who lived and farmed together for manyyears

continued on Page 20

I~

family lived and so on, in order to give you, the reader, a pretty good idea of what; the childhood of Jesus must have been like.

Dr. Slaughter, of course, at no time tries to mystically "know" exactly wn.atthe childby Pat Rardin hood of Jesus \>7aSlike, but simply tells you what it m ight have been like if He grev] up with and as an average child of the TIlE CROh1NAND THE CROSS village of Nazareth.

(SUBTITLE: THE LIFE OF CHRIST) There are descriptions of many of major religious sects of that day so that the reader can understand the religious happenings; the Parisees, who say Israel's First of all vou must remember that domination by Rome as punishMent for all this book was written as a novel.

Histor- their sins.

The Sadducees, who saw Rane ical records were used and the King James rule as purely political and who were New Testament, as puhlished by the vJorld rather liberal in their approach to religPublishing Company, for the words of LT esus ious matters (due partially to please Rome). (put into modern English), but it is still The Zealots (mostly all fram Galilee), who a novel. There are characters in this book believed they could create the Kingdom of who are not in the Bible and may not be in God on earth with their swords. And the the historical records either.

There are Essenes, who retired from the world and incidents that may never have happened. All into the wilderness, there to live strictof this, however, is done to show the read- ly within their 0\>1Dinterpretation of the er what that era was like; how the people Law as given to Hoses. lived then, \>]hatit vas like to live under Roman rule and hOH the Jewish religion was really practiced by the rich and the poor back then.

There is nothing that has been added to the life of Jesus that could detract from Bibical story and, in my opinion, these additions help the story by helping you to understand conditions in those days.

I am quite sure that historically it can be proved that whenever the poorer people moved fram to\>1Dto to\>1Din those long ago days that they took only the clothes on their back and, if they had a trade, the tools of their trade and maybe a blanket.

Things to be used at their new home were not transported because there were too many problems and it was to ex~my was the first Miracle (turing the pensive. water into wine at the wedding feast) perThe Bible states that Mary and Joseph formed when Jesus, obviously, was not 'vet arrived in Bethlehem late, late enough that ready to start his ministry in earnest? the rrarket place was in all probability Dr. Slaughter explains this as he details closed.

If they had blankets with them. ~he whole marriage ceremony and its meanthey would have been large ones, heavy ones lng. and probably of rough Heave.

Huch too big Dr. Slaughter also details the whole and rough for a new born baby.

So this Sabbath Celebration before he has LTesus story of the life of Jesus starts out wi th teaching in a synagogue, so you can undera story of where they got the baby blanket stand everything. He describes the courrtrv (swaddling clothes).

It may not be true, side, the villages and to\>1DSwhere Jesus but it is plausible and it shows how the first taught, including the ;various nationrich, including rich Pharisees, really alities of the people \>lho lived in those practiced and thour,htof their reli~ion. at that time.

The author, Dr. Frank G. 9.aughter, tOV-.7J1S Before Jesus cleanses the first leper, goes into detail on what;Nazareth was like, the custrms of those times, how the average Continued on Page 32

BOOK REVIEW

If

bers said somethinv, to the effect, t~at she had heard that in San Francisco sone people had come to the church only to It's almost Christr:las here ill warm cruise and to ~e piCkups and she hoped sunny southern California (48 degrees and that this was never ever going to happer cloudy), and I am lying here in my heated pool (bathtub, that is) wonder-ing just here at the LA Church.

I路Jell let me tell you there were a lot of people who j umped what to wTite. right in the middle of this statement, T'nis is a very special t irne of year for (this is one of the things I think all of all people. Special in so many ways , some wi.Ll,be making money, Trost of us wi.Ll,be the Churches have or are going through).

I'lell one Brother stood up and a.lmos't spending it, by the carload, and eve~lone blasted her right out of her seat with his will be smiling and wishing each other best wi.shes and happy holidays. reply, he said that as far as he was concerned the church was the best place to I think it's f,reat that people can take time out from being indifferent and ignorcruise that he had ever found, he then verrt on to qualify that remark by saying ing people and events that surround others, to be very nice to each other once a. year. that he had a deep love for Christ and his church and was involved in Hork in difIt's almost like brotherly love on tap --ferent departments within the church and just turn it on once a year like Bock beer he felt that the best place to find s~e(Bock beer is made only in October). one with the same or similar interest was This is the scene -that will be seen time after time for the next few weeks in in church and not in some bar.

This brought manysounds of approval from the the wor-Ldall around us. But for those of others present.

It just goes to shop you us who have been blessed enough by the that there are more places to look for the Lerd to have been LEDto M.C.C. allover right one. these United States,~his brotherhood and But I aTJ1 getting off the track just a bit. love for our fellow man or woman, is an I'Te are speaking about Brother 1v Love everyday - 24-hour feeling. Something that is turned on whenwe enter thru the door and the special spirit that is pre~ent at of the church for the first tine. HOyl many Christmas.

That special something that of you remenber the very first time you seems to go just as fast as it. came. ne,,: entered an M.C.C.??Remernber the welcome Years Day and The Hangover seen to shoot you received?

Somecame out of curiosidoon any remaining love we TClaY harbor for our brothers & sisters. h1ell this year ty the first time, some because we needed things may get a little invclved because help, and others'were just lonely; so for we have church services the day after what ever reason we came to this place vIe Christmas and the day after Ne\'JYears is a had heard about, a place where all were so some of us wi.Ll,have to accepted with no thought as to vlho we wen:>.., Sunday also what He ",'ere or why we came. stretch our love for one more dav, And we found the things we needed; Someof us wi.Ll., those \\'ho are part of counseling, food, temporary housing, jobs, the Universal Fe.Ll.owahi.pof Vetropoli tar. and in some cases, money. vIe found friends, Conmuni, ty Church, will have little or no brothers and sisters who care about us betrouble at all, for we Hill only be doing cause vJe are people. \路,lefound people who the natural or real thing. give and don" t ask for anything other than There is only one 'day I can put this they be allowed to give.

I,路.]e found people and that is, to me it means we have found of all sizes, shapes, colors and religions that not only is it easier, but more reand most important of all, we found a warding for all of us that He have found place where He could love our God in our ve can keep Christmas in our hearts and OvID \.Jay. attitudes all year long.

I'd like to leave you nowHith this Have you ever stopped to think about thought: for everyone of us at pec there vIhere all these people at the church cone are dozens, hundreds even thousands who from? Hell like you they comeout of loneneed what we have found, so we rnust never liness, curiosity, and a need to help and forget that IT IS EOPI BLESSIG TOGIVE-a need for help.

A~l of us at the Church MERRY CHRIST-HAS. (in what ever part of this countrv it may be located) have been you. ..

Yours '路.'ith Christ, In one of our 'ded. nite Prayer I"eetings during testamony, one of our female memP.US~!Carlson CHRISTVAS LOVE

J

I~

• • • From

the Pulpit II

by: Luis Restrepo I VIill try to be as myself as I usually speak good English, but when I have to go in front of so manypeople, it is not so easy or nice.

Mycountry is Columbiain South America. Someof you have seen or TV about Coluribian coffee and that is all we a~ recognized for.

I will tell you a Lit t Ie about the gay life in Co'Iurnb.i.a whi.chis slightly different than the gay life here.

Being gay is not a very good thing doon there because most of the Latin countries and Latin families are veryco~~ servative.

Youare supposed to all fo'l.Lo» the same old rules and especially vIi th the Catholic Church.

You all kno» what the position of the Catholic Church is in respect to us.

In the Church, the Priests and Cardinals all preach against us. So we have a very, very hard 'tirne, Another-problem vzi.th the youths is the feeling of manhood.Youhave to prove that you are a man, go out wi.fh girls and so on.

If you are a Homan you are supposed to go out 'dith men and all that stuff.

If someone happens to knowthat you are gay, v·Jell now you have a problem.

All those butch zuys, not gay, but butch and straight go round kicking you and raaking your life very, very hard and .imposs ib'le , If you really warrt to keep in the school or something, you have to fight for your rights.

I suppose here it is a lot the same, I haven+t dared to go around too much because of the police. I just don't like the police in that sense.

They are very nice people when they are v]i th you, but when they are against you that's not good.

It is a very difficult thing downthere, the gay life.

So I got the chance to comehere to the States and I came to Connecticut. That was not very important as there is nctrring exciting to say about Connecticut. I lived over there seven months and then decided to cone here to California.

I ~vill tell you what happened when I tried to get here to the church.

I didn't have any friends or anything like that, so I felt very lonely. I want to talk with people, I like to meet then and just have fun.

So a fev7 days af'ter- I camehere I was walking on Eoll ywoodBoulevard and I saw those paper taxes, you know where they sell papers, t.he Times and all that stuff. I sat-!a very

,6,

I

attractive picture of a, you know and I' saw the name of the paper.

It said the Advocate. I didn't knowanything about it.

I heard once about a horrosexual church in Hollywoodbut they didn't give anv address or something like that.

I ~av..7the paper, the word horrophile and all those connections and so I just walked around to t~J to see howmuch it costs. People were going around and I feel sort of, you know, afr'a.i.d, Then I saw that it cost 35 cents, so. I tried', to get the right money and go~ng around it I couldn't find the holes to put the coins in. I feel like everyone on Ho'Ll.ywood Boulevard was Look.inz at me and so fmally I p~ck out the paper. Then I did another wrong thing because I went to a restaurant and tried to rest there to read it, but you have seen the paper and it's got a lot of photos and dra~vingsand all that, so every time you open it they are here and here and here.

So then because I ama very shy person at the end of the day I finally got to read it at home.

There was a column asking about friends to try to get involved with people, gay people and they mentioned the church. Then I saw the ad of the church so I decided to come.

That was another hard thing to do, because it said a lot about harrassment and police going after gays and everything like that. You see whenyou're not in your country you feel very, very scared about all those things.

Finally I called and they told me if you want to comeand gave me the address.

I didn't knowwhere this place was so I just took a map and found the place. \·jalking around I saw the church but I didn't dare to come in.

I walked around the block saying to myself, "Should I go, shall I not go, OK, Let's go in". vIell I found my counselor and everywhere ••

0

Continued Next ~age

~dropoHtan

<lIommunitu QI~urt~ OF

WASHING TON D. C. 705 7th Street, S. E. Washington, D. C. 20003 Phone Rev.

(202) 547-6095 Paul Breton, Pastor Sunday: 2:00 PM

very, very nice people. That was about tvo months ago.

Rev. Perry made a ver'\] good remark about it in the sense that he said, "Well if you are a member of the church, you don't know what will happen to you or with you".

Little did I knowthen that I would be here talking to you. At the first service I was over there in the horseshoe (auditorium) and I was ~nazed to see all these peqple coming here and Rev. Perry and when he said praise the Lord and everyone saying "Amen", Then I got involved with the church little by little and nOH I have found a person with Hhich to share my life and my love and I praise the Lord for that.

I got another good thing too that is that I didn't tell my perents, they didn't knowthat I was gay; so I was able to write to them and say that I had to go very far from hometo find myself and to be able to be free and to be able to communicatevJi th people like I can with you.

And not being afraid of that. For that I praise the Lord.

He of the Youth Group want to relate with all of you because howwe really think ,hovJ we really realize howmuchwe have here in this church, for instance, we are not persecuted here because of the color of our skin or because of belonging to any ethnic group or something like that, nor are we refused the love of God or communionand the union with the Holy Lord .:just because' we have that so-called sin of .being gay.

Do we lack a. place to meet friends? ~'lhereto get food, as we do.

To be able to find somebody whomight take care of you or something like that.

Do we lack that? :co you realize that this is the church, our church where we can have fun , where everyone just kind of spreads his wings and everything all around. Everybody is really - well - great.

Everybody wants you to be happy so we should praise the Lord for that P~d we should give something in return. \ve should try to help this church because \--]ewarrt this doctrine of love and peace to go to ever'\] brother of ours. Have we realized there are many, many other people like ourselves in other places , cities in this country and in the world.

They don't have what we do. ill we realize that they are hiding and they are living a very, very sad life; where they cannot express themselves and be free.

He should t,jork towards the expansion of this church; He have seen howmany little dots are getting together in the United States as churches, but He should not aim just

for churches here in the United States, but in the wor-Ld, There are many, rrany brothers who are needing our love and comprehension.

There is one important thine and that is we are not tr'\]~ng to get to other people v. ith hatr;e(i. tilehave seen the other churches, Catholic, Protestant, any other Church, and their main thing is to hate gay people.

So we do the opposite thing, we love the straight people.

Finally there ~vill be a certain moment in which they will understand us, as someof them do now. Then He have to teach not to be understood, but to be loved and that is the important thing.

So He have to preach we have to break all those barriers of prej udice and we have to be proud of our church.

Continued on Paae 22 7

corded. This undertaking provided a simple, logical and scientific way to see if reparative homosexuality was really innate.

The results revealed that in everv case where one of the SUbjects was discov~ to be a reparative homosexual, the tvzin was found to possess the same life style.

Dr. Franz J. KaJ.lman has made studies which also proved that reparative homosexuals are born that way. Dr. Kallman found that identical twins in the NewYork State Psychiatric Institute had identical sexual drives.

More recent studies have added support to Dr. Kallman's earlier f indirigs that reparative homosexual desire was nonenvironmental.

Studies by Dr. Oscar Janiger indicate, for example, that male reparative homosexuals could be dis~inguished from heterosexuals by a breakdownof th( mule hormone, testosterone.

The endocrinologist, Dr. M. SydneyMargolese, reported sirrilar results in the scientific journal, Hormonesand Behavior. Dr. Richard Green, assistant professor of psychiatry atU C L At s Neuropsychiatric Institute is part of a team currently undertaking an even more detailed studv.

Dr. Kar-LIleinrich has vJritten more than any other mar about the inborn homosexual.

His most important wDrkis entitled Memmon Die Geschlechtsnatur des Mannliebende~ Urnings.

It was he thatcoined the word "Urnings" used in Europe as we use the term "homosexual"â&#x20AC;˘ Dr. Ulrich sought to prove that homosexuality was an instinct in a large numberof cases.

Such hanosexuals did not owe their life to acquired habits, to environment or even to will. He showed that such people are incapable of Continued

on Page 20

/7

Phoenix has been no exception.

Vlhere as most churches in the Universal Fe.Hovshi.p have sprung from meetings held in homes, apartments, etc ••• , in this respect only, has Phoenix been like other churches, in that a group of concerned individuals banded together to form the beginning.

In a short period of time, Phcenix requested to be granted a charter, as a complete church, with complete membership into the Universal Fellowship.

The Hother Church reviewed the Phoenix request and granted it, paving the way for Phoenix to be chartered, on September 12, 1970, with approximately 17 members.

For a while, Phoenix held services, at a local bar, using a pool table as an altar.

Needless to say this caused no small amount of talk but the important thing was, the church was working and growing.

DEDICATION SERVICE OFMCC-PEOENIX 11-14-71

"The voice of him thdt: ori etli in the wi Zderness prepare ye the way of the Lord. tiake straight in the deeert , a highway for our God." Muchlike the fabeled Phoenix Bird of Hythology~ Hetropoli tan CommunityChurch has in a sense risen from it's own ashes to become one of Unity and Service.

It seems the Southwestern portion of the 'United States has always enjoyed the reputation of doing a few things in it's ovm way. Metropolitan Cor:rnuni ty Church of

Suddenly, as can happen so often, Phoenix was faced with a big problem.

A fire had destroyed the building in which services wer-e held.

As the congregation had been steadily increasing, no one had room in their home to hold services.

But then, the problem was solved.

Talks with

Rev. William Smith, and the congregation of Crossroads Methodist Church, led to an agreement, whereby MCCcould use the facili ties there.

By this act, and others to follow, Revâ&#x20AC;˘ Smith and his congregation displayed the true meaning of concern,

Talks were entered into with Dr. John Tootle representing the Board of Directors, and the congregation.

AJta' many long hours of work Dr. Toole was able to report the final terms of sale.

The terms were accepted, and on .Jul.y 19, the church went into escrow.

As soon as the papers were signed, the congregation, under the guidence of the building carmittee, werrt to v.x)rk. Walls were painted, ceilings were fixed, sane torn down, electrical and plumbing v.x)rk fixed, floors were tiled and painted, a kitchen was built, and the cottage repaired just to name a few things.

And so today, you will find the sum total. of a great deal of time, love, devot ion , v.x)rkand detennination on the part of a great number of people. Thev now have their church by which their work has now be~ to bri~in new membersand building theJ.r membershJ.pand to help anyone in or out of their communitythat is cold ' hungry , WJ. thout vork, or a place to stay and most of all, without God. ttle of the Mother Church who wittnessed the dedication service Sunday and met the members know that they will not fail for their faith and determination has been shown to us and to everyone that was there.

Wewish them all the success in the world and stand by their every need and keep them ahlays mindful in our daily prayers.

.

love, and brotherhood as taught by Christ: himself.

Concern for their fellowman enabled them,. to see that MCCwas filling a very necessary, and important void in society.

Crossroads Methodist, remained the "unofficial", home of MCC-Phoenixuntil November of 1970, when a building at 401 E. Roosevelt was leased.

This became the first real home for the church.

In February of 1971, Rev. Ken Jones, the first Pastor.of MCC-Phoenix, was recalled to Los Angeles to assume the duties of Minister of Visitation.

At this time an Interum Boar~ of Directors was set up to co-ordinate the religious activities of the church until a regular election could be held. At this time Rev. Robert J. Cunningham was sent by t-1CC-San Diego, to help out in any way he could. Obviously, he has led the congregation to it's greatest accompIisrmerrt , it's own heme.

In July of 1971, at the General Business Meeting of the church, a TItDTIber of important subjects were discussed.

Among them: the calling of a permanent pastor, and that person - Rev. Cunningham;the decision to purchase a permanent home; and the election of a new Board of Directors.

In regard to the purchase of a new home, the members present raised over $600.00 in pledges for the new church.

Mi~reedlove Assistant Editor

/9

change and are neither intellectually, physically nor morally inferior to heterosexuals.

He believed that these homosexuals were simply born that way and that every individual is born with certain natural rights which should be protected by the courts and that suppression of reparative homosexuals endangers freedom in many other spheres.

Dr. Ulrich was also interested in criminal law and did more than any other man to promote the liberal sex laws found in Europe at this time. Dr. Karl Heinrich Ulrich was a hanosexual, he knew first hand what he was talking about.

He should be called the "father of homosexual freedom".

Ulrich studied physiology.

He found that the unborn baby has characteristics of both sexes.

One sex usually becanes predcmi.nerrtand "pushes out" the characteristics of the second sex. The child is usually born vJith adesire for the opposite sex. At times, however, males are born with a sexual proclivity toward men instead of women.

These males are called reparative homosexuals.

Ulrich believed that reparative homosexuality was explained by the evolution of the embryo.

Sanetimes nature differentiated a male with full-formed sexual organs but reversed sexual appetites. He believed that the reparative gay ma.lewas a canplete man, except that his sexual desire was inverted.

A growing number of psychiatrists are accepting the idea that homosexuality is learned by sone individuals and inborn in ethers.

Some medical authorities suggest an even clearer distinction between the two groups of h~sexuals.

They believe that the reparative homosexual is in reality the only genuine hanosexual. They claim that a person who engages in homosexual acts only because of environment is simply a "pseudo-homosexual".

These Psychiatrists feel that their real work is to determine if an individual is either a reparative homosexual or a pseudohcmosexua'l, The pseudo-homosexual can be changed, the reparative (inborn) homosexual can only be shown how to live with his gayness. This view seems to explain the person who is referred to as "bi-sexual". The bisexual is looked upon either as a reparative honosexual.who had learned to engage in certain heterosexual acts or a heterosexual who has learneq to find pleasure in homosexual acts.

This view also accounts for many sexual hangups , A reparative homosexual be-

~O

I

comes neurotic if he tries to go against his inborn nature and act like a heterosexual all the time.

The variational or pseudo-homosexual finds difficulty also, because he is really a heterosexual trying desperatly to enjoy hanosexual acts. These latent sexuals deny their real sexual nature. Because of guilt, shame and social pressures a man often denies his inborn homosexuality and strives to become hete~ sexual.

Very often he becanes a "bedhopper" going from wanan to woman, just so he can prove his manliness. He often seeks out occupations that are totally and completely masculine. He may become a policeman or a professional soldier. He attempts to conquer his suppressed sexual nature.

He may throughout life never engage in hanosexual acts.

He becomes a frustrated person often finding sexual release in the persecution of others.

Such men derive sexual pleasure out of ll humiliating the people .they call "qu;er : A het~rosexual pollceman or soldler 1S never vl0lently excited over an individual with a different life style. A latent homosexual vice officer is a pathetic yet dangerous person.

The medical doctor and the professional counselor often encounter such individuals.

If the psychiatrist is able to identify these latent homosexuals, help can be given.

Psychiatrists who fail to distinguish between reparative (inborn) homosexuals and variational (pseudo) homosexuals find their Hork disappointing. These good doctors seldom examine a reparative homosexual that has openly accepted his gayness.

Most of the doctors' work is with the pseudo-heterosexual or the pseudo-homosexual. All such people are sick and neurotic because they have denied their real inborn nature and have tried to change their sexual life style patterns.

A happy, welladjusted homosexual who has accepted his sexual nature, seldom visits the psychiatrist - and neither does a happy, v..lâ&#x201A;Źll-adj usted hanosexual who has accepted his sexual nature.

Ministers who fail to recognize that reparative homosexuals will never change, can never change and have no desire to change are unable to provide proper religious guidance.

Fortunate indeed is the young man who has a minister or priest that understands. More and more gent Lemen of the cloth are recognizine St. Paul that said: Let every man, where in he is called Continued Next Page

therein

abide ,,,ith God. I Corinthians 7:24 Pore and more ministers are studvina again an overlooked verse in the book of Genesis. God said to Cain concerninrr Abel: ""'. .

If thou doest we l L, shal t thou not be accepted: and if thou doest not we Ll., sinlieth at the door.

And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shal t rule over him.

And Cain talked Hith Abel his brother.

Genesis 4: 7-8 The Eastern text is even plainer. It says "Unto thee shall be thy brother's desire, and thou sha.l t rule over him".

God gave Abel a sexual desire 'towar-dmales, just as God had given a heterosexual desire to Eve: Unto the woman God said ••• thy desire shall be to thy husband and he shall rule over thee.

Genesis 3:16 In the Hebrew language these ~~ passages are practically parallel.

Clerics have no difficulty understanding this scripture, they all agree that this verse concerns a heterosexual desire that Eve rece'ived innately.

Sermons are preached from this text shov,Tinghow natural and right it was for mother Eve to have a sexual attraction toward a man. Fire and brimstone are pronounced upon all who would question for a momentthis natural, God-given desire that Eve had.

Just as surely as God put the sexual nature of Eve in her heart when she was created, so did God put the sexual nature of Abel in his heart when he was born. He was a reparative homosexual. He was attractrd to his brother because this was the way God had made him.

To Cain God promised "unto thee shall be his desire".

Both science and the Bible concur in the truth that God himself gives animals either a heteros~~ual or a homosexual i~ nate desire. Host lower animals are given homosexual desires.

It is the same with the hunan anirra.l , The reparative homosexual is born that way.

For thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

Revelation 4:11 Eeredity determines ooth a physical identi tv and a sexual drive. TIle sexual life style of an individual is controlled by a Divine providence just as surely as the sex of an individual is predestined.

Both attributes are received at birth(See I Corinthians 7: 24, Patthew 19: 12 and Genesis 4: 7) • hlhat each individual does ~lith what; he's got depends upon the individual alene.

j,i

Continued From Page 10 THEKINGDOM the "only" wav to fly.

There's no other trip quite so re~iarding RS GODS trip. \·!ith this Geins for us, who needs any earthly drugs.

AND ThL FOHER faith CPN moverlountains--look at HCC! ANDTI-lE GLORY Oh how great it is to sing praises unto the Lord and to live in his light and love FOREVER. and ever, and FOREVER & EVER and ever, ever; never dying, never tiring, always there when we need HIH. AMEK

if vou I.DVE the yo~ fe.Hovman, say, AJvlEN?

LORD and can you

Yours In Christ and Seasons Greetings, Dick Durc<..nt Social Director, HCC-IP,

Continued From Page 13 on Red Hill Road, Greenville Tm'JJ1, Green County, N. Y., in the early 19th century.

"A Place For Us" is available fraIT'.

Oscar 1'.JildeManorial Bookshop 291 Hercer Street NewYork, N.Y. BOOKS TO\"lATCH FOR: "On Being Different ••••• " hy Her-Le Miller RandomHouse $4.50 "Strange Loves": The HumanAspects of Sexual Deviation. bv Dr. Eustice Chesser Norro~7Eooks (Fall '71) $5.95 "Sappho was a Fight-On VOT7!an: p, Liberated vie,,! of Lesr.i.arri.sn ;" by Sidnev Abbot; and Barbarcl.LI..~'!(> Stein s fay $6.95 ZI

Continued From Page 17

wase, They had no money, lived in One \'Jednesday I came here for a service humble shelters, and were considered and Rev. Van Heck mentioned one thing ignorant, but still went to the manwhich was very, ver'\] sad for me in a "jay. ger in all humilityto give praise to ViII you please excuse the way I will tell the infant wrapped in scaddl.ing clothit because I heard this ~-Jay. He mentioned es, lying in a -manger',yet was and is that he was with some friends and he menthe King of Kings. tioned that he was from }'tCC. Somebody To each of you I wish a Merry Christsaid "Oh, you mean from that crap?' \>1hy mas and a Happy,NewYear. Maythe babe of they say that?

That was the question Rev. Bethlehem bring love, peace, and happiVan Heck asked and I kept wondering vJ!1Y. ness to each of you durung tne canAre we doing something wrong? Are Vie showing year. ing the people a wrong Image? That is a thing we should all think about , He Youth GOdLove You, want to corrnnunicate with all of you, the grown-ups and everybody. But we have to be BobMurphy proud of this church and to be proud of this church is to help it to go in good, good beautiful ways. If v,7e, all together, EAST BAY Hill join being happy and pray for peace, that is the only thing vIe need to do. And ~etropolihlU QIommuuitt1 praise the Lord for that.

I am Catholic and I got a prayer, the OF St. Francis prayer, which I consider very, OAKLAND very beautiful and Vlhich I would love to see somedayto be included in the services Rev. James E. Sandrn ir e , Pastor of the church. It could be like a Bible in the sense of love and friendship.

I want 440 Santa Clara Avenue all of you to pray with me. It says: Oakland, California 94610

OIqurt4

Lord~ make me an instrument of your peace. r.,rhere there is hatred, let me show Love , ~~ere there is injury, pardon, where there is doubt, faith, h~ere there is despair, hope, wnere there is darkness~ light, And where there is eaaneee , .Joy. Grant that I may not: so much seek to be consoled~ as to console, To be understood, as to understand, To be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive, It is in pardoning~ that we are pardoned~ And it i8 in dying that we are born to eternal life.

-Amen Continued From Page 9 M- Stands for Mary, the handmaid chosen to be the Mother of the new torn ba.be.

A - Stands for the Angels who sang, "Glory to God in the Higheft and on Earth peace amongmen of good will.

For this we pray each day.

S - Stands for the Shepherds who had the capacity to love genuinely.

Their hearts as ours should be,Here lined v7ith ~he justice and humanitv_of the

zz

Phone: (415) 832-2581

Continued From Page 8 Consider first the three basic elements involved in creating a mortal sin according to the catechism: (1) the matter of the sin itself must be grievously wrong, (2) we must be aware that it is grievously wrong, and (3) we must freely consent to the s~.

The obvious point here is that hanosexual expression is taught by the Church to be mortal sin and Catholics are obliged to believe the Church's teachings on such matters.

Thus, whether the Catholic hc:mose~ual engaged in love~ng as a onenight stand or as an expression of deep mutual love with his chosen life partner wouldmakeno difference--the Church would still label it as mortal sin.

Whetheror not the Catholic homosexual felt in his heart that the act was sinful would make no difference--the Church's list must prevail.

So, you say, how about confession? How about all those Catholics who live it up on Saturday night, go to confession Sunday morning and receive comnunion, and then live it up Sundaynight?

True, sane do.

But the Church doesn't make it that easy.

Back to the Catechisrnthere are four elements necessary in order to makea confession valid in the Church's eyes: (1) contrition, (2) confession, (3) absolution (spoken by the priest), and (4) reparation (the penitential exercises ~posed by the priest--prayers, good works).

The last three of these we can skip -- the first one is the pitfall for the hanosexuaL The Churchhas been rather definite in what comprises contrition.

Not only does it involve true sorrow for the sin, but it calls for strict avoidance of the "proximate occasion" of the sin and reasonable effort at the avoidance of the "remote occasion" of the sin.

Now let us apply this to the Catholic hanosexual attempting to build a life with a partner of the same sex.

Assune that there is deep mutual love and desire for a truly . lasting marriage.

Because of the nature and intentions of the love, it is likely that the Catholic cannot truly feel in his heart that the physical expression of this love is mortally sinful, no matter howstrong or extended his indoctrination in the RomanChurch.

Yet, if he goes to confession, he must confess all such physical expressions of his love (or even the real desire for them) as mortal sins.

To deliberately ani t confessing sanething the Church calls mortal

Continued Nezt Page

~.etr op nl itan <Lllmmuniil1

OJhur r ly

GOOD SHEPHARD PARISH OF CHICAGO Mailing: P. O. Box 285 Chicago, Illinois 60690 Services:

3342 N. Broadway Chicago, Ill ino i s

Phone: (312) 248-1525 Rev. Arthur Green, Pastor Sunday: 7:00 PM

,,_ I I f.~ I~ i~~~d~ I~)~.~~ BE

.~ ~ , ~

STILL

In quie tness and confidence ~ Shall be thy strength; ~~~ Be still and iaai i ; just rest7!"

In ezpectation.

Quiet thy busy tih ouqh t e , , And lis ten uJith thy he av t , ~ And in.the e t-i l l.nee e , Hear> H'Z-s vo'Z-ce.

~.etropo1itan

C110mmunitv OIlyurdt OF MIAMI

Mailing: P. O. Box 5077 Miami. Florida 33101 Services:

920 Alton Road Miami, Florida

Phone: (305) 854- 5992 Rev. Brad Wilson. Pastor Sunday: 11:30 AM &: 7:30 PM

OF HONOLULU Mailing:

P. H

Mailing:

P. O. Box 1116 Kaneohe, Hawaii

Services:

Phone: Rev.

O. Box 1116

2500 Pali Honolulu,

Highway Hawaii

(808) 247-2738 Ron Hanson, Pastor Sunday: 7:30 PM

~.etrllpoJitan

(fiommunitt!

ClIqurdr

HARMONY CONGREGA TION

OF SACRAMENTO 902 "J" Street Sa c r arn errto , California Phone: Rev.

~gl 2t

I

95814

(916) 443-5575 Joseph H. Gilbert, Sunday: 5:00 PM

Pastor

sin (even if one does not feel it sinful) invalidates the confession; in addition, it adds the sin of sacrilege to the unconfessed sins in the eyes of Holy Mother Church.

He must confess to believe these acts to be mortal sins, which means he must either devalue his love to the status of gross sex, or else he must make a farce of the confessional by stating his actions to be sinful while not believing them to be so.

If he is to have what the Church considers a valid confession, he must detest the physical expression of his love since the Church calls it sin.

In his determination not to repeat it, he must break all contact with his partner AND with all othe~ homosexual friends and acquaintances (the "proximate occasion" factor.

He must be resolved to lead a heterosexual life or else a life of celibacy if he possesses the necessary determination not to repeat his "sin" of hanosexual expression.

So confession becomes much more than a rutualistic exercise for the Catholic homosexual.

It becomes -- if done validly and seriously in accordance with the Church's standards -- about as feasible as changing one's hei~ht or eve coloration through prayer.

And without confession after the commission of a mortal sin, canmunion is denied

by Church law, along with all other sacraments.

And if the Catholic does not go to confession and receive communion at least once a year (in order to fulfill his "Easter duty"), then he is automatically excommunicated.

Earlier I mentioned the natural law as the primary basis for the Church's listing birth control, masturbation and hanosexual fulfillment as mortal sins. The natural lavJ is a firmly drawn teaching based on vaguely drawn conclusions. As it is stated briefly

by Msgr. Philip Hughes in The Catholic Faith in Practice: "The first and basic reason:Eor which the differentiation of sex exi~t~ is reproduction.

To use sex powers in a way that makes reproduction impossible is therefore to misuse sex completely, and to misuse completely a thing meant for such mighty ends cannot but be seriously wrong.

Hence the grave prohibitions of individual sex actions and also of the practices known as birth control".

It might be mentioned that Msgr. Hughes' 276-page hand100k of the faith makes not the slightest reference even to the mere existence of homosexuailty.

D.F .J'vliller, C.SS.R., goes a little deeper in a pamphlet put out by The Fedemptorist Fathers: ."It is obvious, from even a brief study of human nature, that the power'sof sex with Hhich human beings are endowed by their Creator, and the pleasures connected to their use, are related to, and intended to serve, a most necessary purpose in God's plan.

That purpose is the procreation of children, which is the guarantee of the continuation of the human race.

"Th~ connection between the powers of sex and this necessary purpose is the basis for the all but universal acceptance of the fact that the use of the sex powers, and the enjoyment of the pleasures connected with that use, are lawful only in marriage.

If the primary purpose of sex is children, then the use of sex must be limited to a state in which children can be born, properly reared and prepared for their O\Am adult tasks in life. The onlv such state is monogamous marriage, that i~, the marriage of one man to one woman till death sep~ ates them".

After several paragraphs about the glories of husband and wife cooperating \Ali th God in populating the wor-Ld, during which we supposedly forget that "all but universal acceptance," we continue: "God's law is strict even for the married in that it forbids any deliberate interference with the primary purpose, usually called birth-prevention or contraception, has also logically been called a form of mutual self-abuse on the part of husband and wife.

"It is from these basic concepts and principles that we draH a knowledge of the natural law forbidding any deliberate indulgence in sex pleasure ,outside of marriage, whether alone or with others, and any deliberate frustration or destruction of the purpose of sex in marriage."

~etrnpnlitau

ClInntntuuitg ClIqurtq MISSION OF

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA (MISSION OF SAN FRANCISCO

Contact

MCC San Francisco

CHURCH)

A full page fo.l.Lcws Li.s't ing various :mortal sins in the sexual realm, including attendance at lascivious plays or movies, I before the section quoted from is vound UD "These principles ••••f'Lowd.ir-ect Iv I with: from the established premise that sex actions and sex pleasure must never be deliberately separated frcrn the suhlime primary purpose for which God designed them, a purpose that even in marriage must never be destroyed or frustrated.

And there you have it--the "natural Law'' which is an "established premise" that has found "all but universal acceptance".

>

~.etrl1poIitan

ClIqurtq

OF TAMPA Mailing:

Services:

Phone: Rev.

P. O. Box 1063 Tampa, Florida

33602

2904 Concordia Tampa, Florida (813) 839-0150

Lee J.

Carlton,

Pastor

))ev'el' a. ~1'{8tma8 )n01'l'\,\n.9

)leVel' tbe 011 a Yea" ~a6 )utSomeolle- tbtll\§ of bomeone

01aJ)a~s,Ola1[mes, Old %,rnds -----

I

([llmmUlliit!

2.5

It is interesting that Catholicism still clings to the natural law, even in days cfo!I.etrop nlitan ClIommunitu ClIqurtq when the ecological crisis and the awareness cf it are ever increasing, when this MISSION natural law is a man-made conclusion with scant Scriptural backing ; while at the same OF time the Church is dropping other rules TUSCON, ARIZONA with much more Biblical lcgic (i.e., head (Mission of Phoenix Church) coverings for w~en in the church ••• I Corinthians 11:5-6 and 13).

The vagueness of the natural lay7 is Contact MCC Phoenix apparent ~- the Church is saying that since procreation is the primary reason for Deacon A. Mr o s , Missionary sexual union, it is therefore the only lawful reason. Perhaps the primary reason for God's creating water was for drinking--does this rrake it wrong to use Hater for bathing? ~.etropoIitan ClIommunitu ClIqurtq I've also wondered vJhy Catholicism doesn't apply the natural lay]to the Lower-arrirra.IsELYSIAN FIELDS PARISH after all, God intended them to procreate to preserve their species too -- yet good MISSION Catholics seem to think nothin~ of having OF their cats or dogs spayed or their bulls NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANNA castrated.

(MISSION OF SAN DIEGO CHURCH) A strictly personal belief of mine (which may be entirely groundless) is that one of Mailing: P. O. Box 50081 the Church's main reasons for tenaciouslv New Orleans, La. 70150 clinging to the natural Iaw in the current birth-control crisis is fear of other imServices: 604 Iberville Street plications if birth control should be sancNew Orleans, La. tioned for narried couples. To permit birth control Vlouldbe to repeal the natural laH. To discard the natural law would be to Rev. David E. Solomon, Missionary leave the Church without sufficient grounds to support its stand on homosexuality and Speculation on the birth control issue masturbation. runs high. v.!hat--andYlhen--Rome\.d.lldecide is a prediction I won't make, other than to say at the present rate of consideration nothing vriLl, likely be done before this article reaches print some months from now. ~.etropoIitnn aIommunifu ClIqurtq One certaintv: the sanction of birth PRINCE OF PEACE PARISH control, i{ and when it comes, will be a boon to the Catholic homosexual in its MISSION effect on related theological principles.

OF But aside from the birth control issue, the changing Church shows sane rays of new hope for the homosexual.

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN John J. Kane, in the Claretan Publicat(MISSION OF CHICAGO CHURCH) ions "Understanding Homosexuality" published in 1966, gave evidence of a n60Jer approach to understanding on the part of Services: 2024 W. Highland Ave. the Church. A few random quotes reflect this awakening: Rev. Paul W. Sydman, Pastor "Confessors ••••• should tell a smcere homosexual penitent that his condition, in itself, cannot be imputed to him, and that therefore the condition itself is not sinful."

"Hanosexual acts, objectively speaking, are seriously wrong, since they involve persons of the same sex and defeat the natural purposes of sexuality."

"But for the particular individual concerned the degree of guilt may vary Hith any given act.

It is impossible to establish a rule-of-thumb guide for judging the morality of these acts. It is therefore not wise for anyone to speculate about the s~ jective guilt of an individual homosexual, let alone homosexuals in general.

One can neither accuse them of mortal guilt, nor can one free them for responsibility for their acts; for to kno» anything about the true nature of the allegedly irresponsible impulses of the homosexual one should knOH all he possibly can about his total personality.

~.etropolitan

QIl1mmunit~ ClIlrurdf OF SAN DIEGO

Mailing:

P. O. Box 8205 San Diego, Ca. 92102

Services:

Weichel Hall 906 N. 47h

Services:

Weichel Hall 906 N. 47th Street San Diego, Ca.

Phone:

(714) 264-7351

"Put a little differently, this means that the individual, generally speaking, is not Rev. John H. Hose, Pastor responsible for his homosexual tendencies •• Deacon Howard Williams, Asst.

Pastor the moral culpability rests in the. fact Sunday: 7: 30 PM that the individual voluntarily gives y]ay to such temptations. But the degree of his freedom in this matter must be carefully evaluated."

"It is not quite accurate to infonn the homosexual that he is just as capable of restraining his desires as a heterosexual.

He simply cannot isolate himself from persons of his own sex • Neither is he protected by the various social conventions surrounding the association of men and Homen.

Men and women do not share the same locker roons , they do not swim nude together.

If unmarried, they do not nonnally share the sam.ebedrocm.

So the temptations of the true homosexual are considerably more frequent and stronger than the heterosexual because of these circumstantial factors."

"But the fact that homosexuality, morally speaking, is abnormal does not rob the homosexual of all responsibility for his behavior •••• The difficulty is that homosexuality is primarily a psychiatric "There certainly is a lot of nudity on the stage lately." problem, and secqndarily a moral_ probl.er," From here the pamphlet goes on to advise psychiatric help in addition to spiritual 2fR.etropolihlll (([ommullii~ (([lrurr~ counseling, and a few further quotes specify the limitations of the new awakening: MISSION "It must be recalled that such persons are OF emotionally disturbed and not infrequently neurotic.

A~ility to cooperate Hith God's ATLANTA, GEORGIA grace may, therefore, be impaired.

But (MISSION OF MIAMI CHURCH) through a combination of psychiatric assistance, divine Grace and the Sacraments, the P. O. Box 54763 hom9sexual may learn to inhibit such overt Atlanta, Georgia 30308 activity."

1-7

I

"No doubt the most overwhe lrrring problem of persons who are homosexual is there does not exist any morally legitlinatemethod of sat.i.sfv inz their desires. For most heterosexual~ b~ened VIithsex temptations,there is always the possibility of marriage. For the true homosexual, marriage to a person of the opposite sex is usually not desired, and any type of so-called marriage between homosexuals is not only morally wrong, but on the practical level, impossible."

To the non-Catholic, the stem monitions cited above VIillbe much more striking than the recognition of homosexuals as individuals who may range in the greys rather than being all black. To the Catholic of years' standing, however, this reference Hill be recognized as a definite step forward in 1966.

The new Dutch Catechism, whi.chis being followed in some scattered U.S. parishes (including mine, thank God!) in spite of the furor currently stirring up between Dutch Catholics and Pome , makes some interesting comnents: "The very sharp strictures of Scripture on homosexual practice (Gen. 19; Rom. 1) must be read in their context. Their aim is not to pillory the fact that some people experience this perversion inculpably. They denounce a homosexuality which had become the prevalent fashion and had spread to many who were really quite capable of nonnal sexual sentiments."

Hore important than a few rays. of hope in the p~lished form is the hope in the Changing attitudes'of some priests, notably those recently out of the seminary. A warning -- sane young priests are conservative traditionalists given less to progressive thought and ideas than sane older priests VIithyounger ideas.

After all, priests are hunan -- and as they vary as individuals, so, to some extent, does their ministry vary. This may be evidenced in the number of priests who rushed to the ve~ nacular v7hil,eothers clung to Latin right to deadline for the change--the number who turned their altars to face the people during mass when it was first suggested, while others procrastinated until it appeared the Pope himself woul.dhave to cane over to point them tOvJardtheir flocks--the number who rushed to the very recent changes in the text of the mass, VIhileothers apologized to the parishioners up to the last minute about having to ·incorporate the changes.

?..ca

I

jf

they GIVE us the licens., who , ••.• to be the brid.l

~.etropo1itan

(fiommuniil!

OIqurdf

MISSION

OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA (MISSION OF WASHINGTON D. C. P.O. Box 1921 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Phone (215) 561-3881

Comes Christmastime, Renewing

19103

the oJd year ends,

ties and thoughts

of friends,

Here I digress into same of the points made thus far as they applied--and apply-to 1I'\Y life. I do this not through any vain desire to be autobiographical, but rather because I know there are many other Catholic homosexuals who have experienced or are experiencing the same agonies and who may find hope in the hope I recently found.

The first year I was out of the convent I did make my "F.asterduty". Long before the next Easter I had realized I could not honestly make what the Church YX:>uldconsider a valid confession.

There were too many things I simply could not make myself believe. One very basic problem was that I don't believe Mary was assumed into heavenyet this is a dogma, an "article of faith" which Catholics are obliged to believe under pain of mortal sin. How does one confess disbelief of a principle and promise believe it in the future?

Yet, until I could make myself believe this dogma., I could not meet the Church's strict requirements for a valid confession.

So, I werrtthe route of others I'd known -automatic excommunication.

For almost seven years I struggled with Catholicism, trying alternately to reinstate myself or to break the ties canpletely.

I started back to instructions several times--several abortive attempts that didn't get much further tran the assumption of Nary.

I¡tried other Churches--particularly the Greek Orthodox and Anglicans with occasional side trips back to the Methodists -- but these visits were always interspersed with the mass.

Once I did manage to stay away from the Ranans for almost six months--but Catholicism had too great a hold on me for me to let go -- and too loose a hold for me to come back with blind acceptance.

So I sat in mass Sunday after Sunday, watching--often with tears--others receive the sacraments denied me.

I watched my Catholic hanosexual friends -- the ones vlho had given up completely and never attended mass -- the ones who scraped in one furtive confession a year around Easter and avoided thinking of the shut door the rest of the time--the ones who, like me, kept going but were strangers in their own Church.

Then there were the few who were apparently good practicing Catholics, attending Church regularly and receiving the sacraments while continuing to live in the homosexual world.

Notable in this group were two women who were very "married" and had been for a good many years.I never discussed religion with those in the latter group-

I

~drnplllihttt

QIllmmltttit~

aIqurtlr

MISSION OF FRESNO CAI:..IFORNIA (MISSION OF LA (;HURCH) 1362 "N" Street Fresno, California Deacon Tom Purcell, Worship Coordinator

they had something I warrted, envied; and I didn't want to risk confusing them.

In every case they were Catholics fram birth, Catholics who were fed the catechism at tender ages when much of its stringent doctrine is lost in games of skipping .rope or playing with dolls -- at an age when so many of the dire warnings are distant and meaningless, fading into sane all but forgotten corner of the memory byi the time age would make them applicable.

Pitualistic confession was a life-long pattern with them; it was quite a different thing than confession for a convert who has heard those aninous warnings after reaching young adulthood.

In this latter group but distinctly different were a few who attended mass and received communion regularly without confession--a real anathema in the Church's eyes.

I didn't talk religion with these either.

They had managed to rationalize in their own hearts their defiance of the legalistic Church but acceptance of the sacraments Christ intended them to have, even though these sacraments were caning through a Church that said they Pad no right to them.

I envied them too -- I envied their courage to trust in God's love alone, to defy the Church that said they were "eating their condemnation" by receiving communion "unwor-thi.I Vâ&#x20AC;˘" I envied them even more than the ones wl10 went through the motions blindly, mentally blocking the legalistic doctrines.

But they were shakier in their position than the blind acceptors.

During this period of excommunication I did not consider myself any less Christian because I was less Catholic. I confessed my sins -- but to God Himself rather than to a priest.

I felt secure in my relationship with Pim -- but I had no dialogue with the Church I wanted to call my own. Al, though I l..Cf

believed God would understand my receiving communion, I could not bring myself to do it in a Church that was Emphatically, authoritatively telling me "No••••not until •••" And I missed the sacraments -- longed for communion--but not at the price of sacrificing my God-given ability to think, to reason, for myself.

Then, in November of 1969, I made what I knew would be my last attEmpt at reconciliation with Roman Catholicism. I sought out the priest in the parish I'd attended the past year and a half, told him I'd been an excommunicated Catholic for longer than a practicing one, and set up a schedule for counseling.

My choosing this particular priest was not convenienge in that he was a priest in my Church; rather, perhaps, I'd gone to this particular Church all along because of him (plus, admittedly, the fact that I've become completely spoiled to folk mass and his Church was the closest one offering this warm diversion from ritualism). \..

7hat a large proportion of priests are unfortunately content with parrot - like recitations of canonical law for sermons.

Not Father--his sermons are always sincere, pertinent examinations of modern situations.

So many priests can be categorized as instant replays of some Vatican council. Not Father.

He's a real live person, alive in 1970 and aware it is 1970.

I already knew this much about him before I sought his counsel, yet I still went with fear and trembling, knowing the limitations imposed on even a real-person priest by 'his Church.

At our first session I told Father my vastly-opposed-to-Catholic views on homosexual expression in a real love relationship.

I described the emotional relationship I shared with my beloved (a Catholic, by the way , of the non-confession weeklycommunion clan), explaining that neither of us "x:>ulddegrade our love via confession-but that I wanted desperately to overcome my own mental block on the legalistic Church and be able to receive communion with her. I gave Father a copy of the June .Iu.lv 1969 The Ladder ~,]ith mv article verbalizing my religious belief~, as he stated he wanted to discuss me with a couple of other priests just out of seminary and more versed on the newer trends in theology.

Father and I touched on many othen areas of concern, and I found him a happy change from a number of other priests I'd kno~n-above all a priest, but still a person -- a ~erson capable of understanding, of relatlng as a person rather than as a robot with

60

a tape recorder inside (with a tape bearing the Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur,of course.)

Several weeks later, after circulating The Ladder and soliciting the counsel of other priests, Father gave me the glad tidings -- fran that day on, my relationship with mv beloved was not a matrter- for confessio~. He stressed to me that this is an individual pronouncement ONLY -- that it in no way reflects a blanket exemption for other homosexuals, as each person must be taken on an individual basis in such matters (what a breakthrough in Catholicism!). Nor is this a blanket e~emption for me -- should I ever, God forbid, fall into temptation and be unfaithful to Im) "better half", then that would be a matter for confession.

That night, right there in Father's study, sitting on the couch under full lights and looking him in the eye, rather than in a little dimly lighted cubbyhole confessional box, I made my first confession in seven years. I confessed those things I believed to be sinful. I did not confess my love.

And when my love came to pick me up, I motioned her to park the car and eagerly led her inside where Father was waiting.

She had been very anxious about these sessions, fearing they might adversely affect our marriage or (and more likely) my personal feeling of security I;:lith my God. It was about 9:30 on the night of Nov. 18 when the three of us together entered the deserted sanctuary, darkened except for myriad flickering votive lights and the outside lights playing through the stainedglass windows.

My love and I knelt in silent, grateful prayer as Father made the necessary preparations, then approaching the altar where we received our Lord in holy communion--together for the first time.

Later we walked down the aisle hand in hand, fo.Howed by a priest smiling the smile of on who knows he has helped --really helped -- draw a soul nearer to God. Outside he placed a hand on each of our shoulders. None of us spoke--YJOrdswere so inadequate when we shared such a tremendous and obviously mutual joy. Then he said, simply and eloquently, "Shalom". (Shalom is a Hebrew YJOrd coming more and more into popular usage now.

Literally it means "peace"--but it carries a far richer, deepler concept than the literal translation).

My love and I talked later of how this

++~~~

thri~inta~ ehttr to All!

experience was almost like being married in the Church, so rich was its depth and feeling -of togetherness \07i th Godand Hith each other. Our first reaction to the pronouncement that our love is no longer a matter for confessiorl Has that it meant the Church recognized our marriage. Later it dawnedon us that perhaps the tribunal of priests had rather decided we Here far too emotionally disturbed to be able to cooperate Hith God's grace and therefore could not be held responsible. \'Jedidn't ask Father about that, though! \!Je're content as is!

We approve wholeheartedly of those Churches ministering to predominantly homosexual congregations--they reach out to so manyof us whoare beyond the reach of most Churches, either as a result of having had too manydoors shut in our faces or because these other ChULrches aren't trying to reach very far.

Weapprove -- yet somehowwe are thankful our experience was in a heterosexually - orientated Church -- a Roman Catholic Church, our Church, rather than someother rite or denomination.

The Church is changing. There is hope for us, as homosexuals, even within the confines of ritualism and legalism which will fade only slowly into the pages of Roman Catholic history.

Let us pray earnestly that the Church continues to change -- perhaps accelerates the pace of change, listening to the pleas of her people. As Fr. James Kavanaughputs it in the introduction to his beautiful, profound expression of concern and love for the Church: "It (his bcok) is the story of a suffering people witnessed in confession and private consultation.

It is the story of a suffering Church which often reflects a dishonest theology far more than a divine imperative.

It is the soul-searching plea of a Christian for an evaluation of what is Christian, and what is simply tired and imperious tradition.

I want to be a Christian, but I Hill not be terrorized into believing that the present structure of the Church is an adequate representation on the Christ of Gospel and history.

"I Hill not give up my faith.

Nor will I accept the travesty, born of another age, whi.ch caricatures the Christian ideal.

Catholicism offers so muchthat is good and true that its faithful adherents cannot sit by passively and Hatch it settle into structured idealism.

It has so muchto say, so muchto offer, if only it can recognize the growing and positive drive for personalism in the world. A religion which expects men

I

to march in identical step and to chant a univocal doctrine ceases to draw the atomic man to the holy God." A few \o70rdshere about Fr. Kavanaup.;h' s book -- I feel sure it must have been condemnedby the Church, but frankly I've not bothered to find out.

In doing some research for this article I reviewed a few points in same dust-covered volumes in the public library concerning the list of censored books; I'd forgotten that one can be excommunicatedfor publishing, selling, lending or keeping any of the forbidden books!

The same source told me anv book critical of the Catholic faith is to be considered condemned, even though it might not officially be on "the list" vet.

In fact, perhaps the legalistic end of the Church has already excommunicatedme again for the "crime" of "publishing vlithout permission notes and comments on the Holv Scriptures" (Primer on Reman Catholicism for Protestants, page- 103), even if it overlooks myHell-worn copy of Fr. Kavanaugh's classic work!

A ModernPriest Looks at his Outdated ChUrchshould, in my opinion, be required reading for Catholics. I YlOuldparticularly recommendit to Catholic homosexuals struggling , as I, vJi th the legalism in the Church Hhich blocks the love hidden behind. canons.

I t is the kind of book that is so poignant, so close to my OHnbeliefs, that I wept that I had not ~Titten it.

Fr. Kavanaugh's closing paragraph is far better than anything I could say: "I shall be a Catholic, a vocal and honest one, even if my superiors forbid me to be a priest. I shall be a Catholic who follows his conscience, demandsmeaning and relevance from his Church, and will not pennit his Godto be reduced to empty ritual and all-ahsorbing law.

I shall be a Catholic until one day, perhaps sooner than I 'trrink , I shall return to ashes and to God. He will judge me as He must, but I can say to Himas honestlv as I say to you: 'I have tried to be ia rnanl !"

Shalom

.3/

BIBLIOGFAPHY IIHomosexualityllNew Catholic Encyclopedia.

New York: McGraw-Hill BOOk Co., 967 Hughes, Msgr. Phillip The Catholic Faith in Practice vlilkes-Barre, Pa.: Dimension Books, Inc., 1965.

Kane, John J. Understanding Homosexuality Chicago: Claretian PUblications, 1966.

Kavanaugh, Fr. James A Modern Priest Looks at his Outdated Church New Yorl<: Trident Press, 1967.

Miller, D.F., C.SS.R. How to Conquer the Most Corrmon Sin of Impurity Liguori, MO: Liguorian Pamphiets,Redemptorist Fathers, 1959.

A New Catechism (Authorized edition of the DUtch Catechism) New York, Hender and Hender, 1967.

Stuber, Stanley I. Primer on Roman Catholicism for Protestants New York, ASsociation Press, 1953.

Various catechisms Reprinted from the December 1970 January 1971 issue of !l:!!!. Ladder, P.o.

Bo% 5025, Reno, Nevada 89503, ~th permission.

QIhrist QlQapl'l cfIldropoIitan

(lIommunitlJ arIrurr~ OF COSTA MESA

Mailing:

Services:

Phone: Rev.

584 Hamilton

Street

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Ca.92626

Mesa,

1259 Victoria Costa Mesa,

Street Ca. 92626

(714) 548-6868 Rodger Harrison, Pastor Sunday: 7:00 PM

Continued From Page 14 Dr. Slaughter tells of the life that they ~ust have led and their religious duties In order to be accepted back into societv after they have been cleansed (cured).

He tells a little of the familv background of Martha, Hary and l.a.zaru~. He also describes the funeral of Lazarus, including the fact that it was a large funeral with many people attending, Thus showing how many vIi tnesses there were to the fact that he was dead.

Dr. Slaughter ignores the Gospel of John when it comes to where Jesus overturns the money changing tables and the releasing of the animals at the temple.

This is done because John has this happening at a much earlier date than the Gospels of Hark, Matthev.1 and Luke.

But on the other hand, he follows the Gospel of John (the only Gospel where this is mentioned) in that he has Jesus wash the feet of all the apostles.

The raising of Lazarus from the dead also comes fram the, Gospel of John.

As everyone knows, there are differences in the Gospels, but Dr. Slaughter does not t~J to cover everything in each Gospel.

He picks and chooses and here historical records probably helped him to decide which Gospel to use when.

I believe that Dr. Slaughter, in his acknowlegments at the end of the book sums up the book much better than I ever could.

Rather than trying to paraphrase him, I shall simply quote him as follows: ":I: also wish to express my gratitude to the World Publishing Company for asking me to retell this the most wonderful of all stories. Though it begins in a manger in Bethlehem nearly 2000 years ago, it has never ended but has grown more thrilling as the years have passed and men l~ve sought to understand more fully the meaning of the crown of thorns which identified Jesus of Nazareth then and now as the King of all who .Love God, and the meaning of the cross upon which he gave his life for the sins of mankind."

Merry Christmas!

To you, to all the people of the earth we send the greeting.

With you, with all the people of the earth we rejoice as the words take on new power and new meaning.

To all the world we are broadcasting this greeting in the name of the joyous Christ.

His joyous presence is with you now. He is the honored guest of heaven and, of earth.

He is your guest, the perfect guest. His joyous presence is with you now, in your heart and in your home.

The supreme joy of Jesus Christ, who is indeed the radiant , active source and Spirit of Christmas, is that His "joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full."

WhenHis joy is made full in your heart and :in your envirorunent, there is merri-

mer;tâ&#x20AC;˘ .The sound of laughter and happy voaces 1S heard, the gladness of His love an~ ~oy is felt the glorious gifts of His Sp1r1t, prepared by Himfor you, permeate and penetrate the tangible gifts that vou have prepared for others and that others may have prepared for you. ~istmas is, as it should be, a day of merrumerrt, when laughter and gladness replace negation and gloom. History reveals that Christmas is a day of manymiracles, miracles of forgiveness, miracles of love and generous kindness, miracles of healing miracles of joy, miracles of merriment:" Christmas is a day when laughter is heard throughout the land, and children sing and dance ~rom she:r happiness, and young and old alike thr1ll to the love of the infinite Christ.

33

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