Statement from the Chairperson – Canon Kevin O’Brien on the recent visit of Bishop Bonnie A. Perry to Dublin.
The visit of Bishop Bonnie Perry to Dublin Pride, to lead worship and a workshop at Christ Church Cathedral from Friday 13 June to Sunday 15 June was a milestone in the life of Changing Attitude Ireland, the cause of the LGBTQIA+ community within the Church of Ireland, and we believe the wider future of the Church of Ireland and this country.
We owe an enormous debt of gratitude to the Very Revd. Dermot Dunne, Dean of Christ Church Cathedral, its staff and the Community of St Laurence.
Following her consecration in February 2020, +Bonnie made history as the first woman and first openly lesbian priest elected as an Episcopal bishop in Michigan. She is a tireless advocate on key issues which include gun control, racial equity and LGBTQ+ rights. As such she has a wealth of experience of campaigning both within the church and wider society, sometimes against seemingly intractable opposition, but in the end, prevailing.
Her message was one of hope, compassion, respect, kindness and fairness – all virtues that one might presume to find in abundance within the church, but which are tragically all too often lacking, within certain quarters, towards certain fellow Christians.
Bishop Bonnie’s visit was joyful, emotional and challenging, delineating as she did, just how far we have come, but also the challenge that is still before us, the hearts and minds that have yet to be changed, the perspectives of intolerance, prejudice and homophobia that have yet to be transcended.
Over the weekend, we were reminded that whilst the voices of opposition may be powerfully raised, they are in fact not expressions of strength but of fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of uncertainty, fear of the new, fear of ambiguity, fear of diversity of opinion, and above all, fear that our world and this human challenge of living are simply more complex, more nuanced and more uncertain than they need and choose to believe.
So often the expression ‘speaking the truth in love’ is employed by those expressing opinions critical of the work of Changing Attitude Ireland and the Christian LGBTQIA+ community, whereas the tone and content are often so very far from loving, revealing thinly disguised animosity, anger and prejudice, sentiments that have taken a terrible toll in terms of trauma, suicide and even murder of those victimised. It is sad and shocking that some within the Church of Ireland, even at the highest levels of our church, find fellow feeling with those across our world who still advocate for the criminalisation and imprisonment of LGBTQIA+ people, simply for being as God made them.
As for ‘truth’, it is a bold yet futile claim for any of us to make, that we have a monopoly on the ‘truth’. All of us see through the glass darkly, all of us must seek to interpret scripture, for in its poetry, storytelling, symbolism, allegory and testimony it does not issue a set of clearly defined regulations, rather it offers guidance, inspiration, challenge and holy wisdom, embedded within specific times and cultural contexts, that must be re-expressed and re-interpreted in each generation as best we can. All of us interpret and construe according to our own contexts and prior experience, regardless of claims to faithfully and strictly adhere to biblical principles.
Indeed, none of us are biblical literalists, for none of us would consider selling our daughter into slavery (Exodus 21.7), banning cross breeding or combining different crops or poly-cotton clergy shirts (Leviticus 19.19), or prohibiting disabled clergy from officiating (Leviticus 21.17-23), neither does anyone in the Church of Ireland, one hopes, call for the death penalty for working on Sunday (Exodus 35.2), adultery (Leviticus 20.10), spiritualism (Leviticus 20.10), sex before marriage, but only for women, (Deuteronomy 22) or excessive drinking (Deuteronomy 21.18-21), and the list goes on and on.
None of us espouse the forementioned cultural taboos and prejudices of ancient times, instead a choice has been made, an interpretation has been decided upon, to no longer apply a whole range of ‘biblical principles’ as no longer relevant and acceptable to modern society – which begs the question why do some perpetuate the prejudice against LGBTQIA+ people, based on so few scriptural references, what Baptist pastor Steve Chalke called the ‘six bullets in the gun’, why this cultural prejudice, why these people, why now?
And so, we must return to the notion of fear. For some this issue has become a line in the sand in a world that is changing so fast, and becoming so complex that they need to impose, however inappropriately, what they see as much needed order and structure, to put on the brakes, in what some might consider the modern ‘culture wars’ but which are in fact merely the natural process of social, cultural and theological evolution, albeit at a quickened pace compared to yesteryear.
For some of our opponents, a sense of ‘us and them’, ‘we’ and the ‘other’ is actually comforting and reassuring, whatever harm and cruelty might be inflicted on ‘out groups’ – they will, in their own estimation still consider themselves a compassionate and agreeable person, because those on the ‘outside’, those who are ‘other’, are simply less worthy of consideration.
In all humility some of those who advocate so vehemently against us, including at the highest levels of our church, might reflect that they are expressing a personal opinion, a personal choice, a personal interpretation, that does not reflect the unanimous view of those who they suppose themselves to represent; our church, and all parts of our church are simply too diverse for that. They might also reflect that in the past slavery was condoned, and discrimination against women advocated within the Church, but in the end all, or certainly most, accepted that change must come.
At Changing Attitude Ireland we advocate for more than equal treatment and consideration for LGBTQIA+ people, however much a vital imperative that remains, for we also advocate for a church and a world in which all are equally loved, valued and respected, where the two great commandments to love God the source of all that is, and our neighbour, are widely, inclusively and fully expressed. Despite the pain that must be endured on the way, that remains not only a hope, but also the destination to which the development of our society and our church is pointing; for God is love, and those who live in love, live in God, and God lives in them.
Canon Kevin O’Brien
Chair of Changing Attitude Ireland
