Women Bishops in Australia

At last Australia can have a woman bishop but the Sydney contingent have pushed for alternative oversight "a man on standby for those unable to accept the woman".
Can I have someone on standby because I have no respect at all for the current Archbishop of Sydney and would happily replace him?

Dr Muriel Porter

Three cheers for this wonderful woman. She has organised for the stories of 4 gay clergy to be read to General Synod Anglicans 'fearful' on gays
The Sydney delegates must have blocked their ears at evidence of such sinfulness.
Sad these people could not speak for themselves.
From discussion with friends in the United States, it seems gay people are more visible in the church there but almost completely hidden in politics and public life. In Australia we do have Bob Brown and Justice Michael Kirby and a few in State parliaments while Dorothy McCrae-McMahon is the only name I know in church life.
When Dr Porter preached at St James over a year ago, I had the opportunity to personally thank her for her defence of gay men in the Diocese of Sydney. Unfortunately I was in Queensland when she returned this year and gave the Cable lecture. Her book "The New Puritans" with its outline of all that is wrong with the Sydney Anglican Diocese is a very important part of my library.

Deborah Kerr

Just heard the news of her death, and read the following
"What has happened in 50 years? How did we go from Deborah Kerr, Vivian Lee, Merle Oberon to disasters like Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and Britney Spears? American cinema and entertainment is a bad joke."
How True.
and
"Man how times have changed with actors & actresses. Ah, the good old days with Tracy, Hepburn, Gable, Davis, Harlow, Garbo, Grable and others. Wish we could have them back. Rest in peace Deborah Kerr. May God bless you in the palm of his hand. From here to eternity it's now off to eternity. He is waiting for you."
My sentiments too.

Television Programs

In the last 2 weeks there have been 2 programs on TV which have interviewed gay persons. How I wish there could have been such programs when I was young but then homosexuality was never mentioned in polite circles.
Anyway, on Sunday the Australian 60 minutes had a section on
Dads Coming Out
One guy is now happily partnered and still is friends with his ex-wife and accepted by his teenage children. He is very lucky but he talks about being brought up in a homophobic family and society which was the pressure on him to get married. His father's view was
'Gays, poofters, just should not be allowed to live — they should be wiped off the face of the earth'. 'All poofters should be put on a boat, dragged out to sea and sunk'. That is what I lived with my entire life.
Since he has come out his father no longer speaks to him.

What a contrast to the interview on Talking heads
with Jonathon Welch an Australian tenor and choirmaster who has become well known due to a program "the Choir of Hard Knocks" which created a choir out of homeless persons.

He came out to his family at the age of 18. He related:
'I can remember it was a Christmas Day, and I said, "I think I'm gay." And my sister said, "I've known that for years." And I went, "Oh. Well, why didn't you tell me," you know? But my family has been wonderful, you know. They've just loved me and accepted me for who I am. I'm very loved. Very fortunate.'

How much misery is caused by homophobia. How different it could all be.

Gay Students at school

What a wonderful article written by a young gay student
We're here, we're queer, we're still in high school
So different from when I was at school , there was no internet and homosexuality was never discussed and unfortunately it is even different today from some church schools which are suppose to provide a caring environment judging from some of the comments.
In my occasional work at state schools, I have seen openly gay teachers chatting about their situation with their students. Of course anti-discrimination and support is the official stance in state schools and the teachers' union but I am not sure if it is always the case in practice. I was able to be completely open in a senior Catholic school in the 80's but it was difficult. However I still receive some messages of thanks from gay students of that time. Some I knew and could counsel, others remained hidden and only now are able to speak openly of their situation.
The comments are also interesting. Only a few show anti-gay prejudice.

Lutheran Pastors in Chicago

Thanks Davis for recommending Father Jake's Blog and through (encouraged by Davis' comments on another forum) there I was led to the stand being made by Gay Lutheran pastors this week. Please read their stories at A Place Within My Walls.
I can only pray for my Diocese as one of the pastors prays
"I pray fervently for the day when we will be fully welcomed and embraced by the Church for the gifts we are and for the gifts we bring."
Sadly I believe that will be a long time in the Anglican Diocese of Sydney.

Meanwhile the bishops of my own Anglican Diocese continue their stand against homosexuality by snubbing the Archbishop of Canterbury
Sydney bishops snub Anglican chief in gay row

It is very difficult to worship in a diocese which rejects people like me. Thank God for St James, King Street and its policy of acceptance for all

Moving article in Herald today
Ninety years to forget, but his bloody war lives on

We visited Ypres in May so it is fresh in my mind

"His membership of that steadily dwindling band of veterans of the war to end all wars has earned him audiences with the Queen and the French Legion d'honneur. A few years ago he was taken to meet a German veteran who had fought opposite him in Flanders. "Nice old chap. A pacifist. Same as me. Why did they suffer, those millions of men?"

The afternoon is wearing on and Patch is tired. He pauses to listen to the children playing. What does it feel like to be the last of those millions, that army of ghosts? "I don't like it," he says. "I sit there and think. And some nights I dream - of that first battle. I can't forget it.
"I fell in a trench. There was a fella there. He must have been about our age. He was ripped shoulder to waist with shrapnel. I held his hand for the last 60 seconds of his life. He only said one word: 'Mother'. I didn't see her, but she was there. No doubt about it. He passed from this life into the next, and it felt as if I was in God's presence.

"I've never got over it. You never forget it. Never."

Also a comment in the movie :”History Boys” seen this week that all the memorials to the dead of the First World War were to salve the consciences of those who started that dreadful unnecessary war. Pity some of our politicians today still do not understand that war solves nothing.

Anglican Covenant?

Three cheers for the Dean of Southwark who concludes an article in the Guardian

Will the Anglican communion fall apart without a covenant? The communion is voluntary - let the independent provinces choose to belong, or not; but let none of us dictate terms to one another and determine who's in and who's out; let the church be as mature as the Commonwealth and accommodate differences of opinion in something more durable than toleration: love.

· The Very Rev Colin Slee is Dean of Southwark

Cardinal Pell and Catholic Schools

From the Sydney Morning Herald "Pell plans fidelity oath for principals" especially worth viewing for the cartoon. Principals will have to publicly commit to a "vow of fidelity" by adhering to church teaching on homosexuality, birth control and women's ordination.
In the 80's I was a teacher in a Senior Catholic Boys' College within the Sydney Archdiocese and my sexuality was common knowledge.
 A very few boys approached me for counselling , a lot made life difficult, 
a few stated they had formed different views of homosexuality as a result of being 
in my class, the Principals at the time (religious Brothers) were probably uncomfortable but supported me.
Occasionally I receive an email such as the following from an ex-student (now with a PhD) 
"although not apparent as a young guy it was important to have people like you in the school. Made life a little easier.
Anyway won’t go on, just wanted to say hi and let you know that there are people out here who appreciated knowing you." 
Eventually I moved to a different school with younger children
and decided life would be easier if I was more discreet. 
It makes me angry to think that young people struggling with their self identification are still prevented from observing role 
models. Fortunately I have been in State schools and heard Gay teachers 
being quite open with their senior students. I can inform Pell that it will not stop young men discovering 
and hopefully accepting their homosexuality. 
Just from looking at class photos of the 70's I can 
list many young men I later met in gay bars. Not many of them, however, would still be found attending the church despite attending Catholic schools
for their whole primary and secondary education .. 

testing

This site will not work with my old version of Safari. I need a new computer (coming) before I can upgrade Safari. Have been using Netscape but it now crashes continually so I am testing Opera. Not much use blogging if I cannot link so if this does not work, then my blogging will have to wait until new computer arrives.  
I really feel for people my age without the finances to upgrade their technology.
My favourite newspaper is the Sydney Morning Herald