Just Shut Up, Archbishop Jensen

He is at it again.
It is reported in the Sydney Morning Herald that last night on TV he said
'As far as I can see … the lifespan of practising gays is significantly shorter than the ordinary so-called heterosexual man … what we need to do is to look at why this may be the case and we need to do it in a compassionate and objective way.''

I hate the way he says  "compassionate".  He is one of the least compassionate people I have ever had the misfortune to meet. The look on his face as he says such a thing makes me want to spew up.

One of the reasons gay men I knew have died is that they committed suicide as they could not reconcile their evangelical upbringing with their gay feelings. They did not even have to be "practising" to die that way.

I will name one.

Rev John Turner was my Rector when I was worshipping at St Thomas, Kingsgrove from about 1966 to 1970.  He was a wonderful holy man but left the parish after being admitted to hospital with a nervous breakdown. That hospital specialised in dealing with problems arising from same sex orientation.  It was largely due to this that I realised that ministry in the Sydney diocese was not for me.  Years later he committed suicide. You could say being a minister in the Sydney Diocese was not good for his health .

I personally know 2 other men who were Anglican and in the Sydney University Evangelical Union with me in the early 60's. They later committed suicide due to the pressure of trying to reconcile their gay feelings with their evangelical teachings.
Yet still today the Rev David Booth who has some role, not clear, at St Matthews in Dunedin uses outdated studies to claim we choose to be homosexual. That is a blatant lie. St Matthews is obviously one church in Dunedin I do not and will never visit and I was even horrified to see an advert for their youth group in our church bulletin.

Fortunately our Diocese is led by a much much wiser bishop and the majority of parishes are inclusive. Bishop Kelvin has a link to my blog from his and is well aware of my views.  My only complaint is that he is more careful in his public statements now that he has become bishop than when he was vicar.

A few months ago I was having coffee after the ordination as deacon of a lady in our church. As I looked across the room to the bishop with whom I had just shaken hands, I shocked some around me by saying that if he was one of the Sydney bishops and walked in that door I would walk out the other door.  I have complete and utter contempt for them and their "compassionate" views.

Jensen, I am only a year younger than you and thank God am reasonably healthy. My major health concern is skin cancers. Now surfing when I was young, that was a health hazard.