"Lucile and I never went through the agony that most PFLAG parents went through. We knew immediately that if John was gay, the stereotypes must be false...We wouldn't feel comfortable being anywhere John wouldn't be welcome." Bishop Melvin Wheatley
The Reconciling Movement remembers the life and work of Bishop Melvin Wheatley who died at the age of 93. A memorial service will be held March 22 at Westwood United Methodist Church in Los Angeles. Wheatley served this church for 18 years before his election as bishop.
In addition to his wife, Lucile, and son, James, of Kauai, Hawaii, he is also survived by another son, Paul, of Valley Center, Calif. Memorials may be made to the Reconciling Ministries Network, 3801 North Keeler Avenue Chicago, IL 60641 and to Westwood United Methodist Church, 10497 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, Calif. 90024.
Bishop Wheatley was the first voice to stand apart from the Council of Bishops in solidarity with lesbian and gay United Methodists. Bishop Wheatley spoke at the first national convocation of Reconciling Congregations in 1987 on "Lesbian/Gay Issues in the United Methodist Church: Past and Future."
Bishop Melvin E. Wheatley Jr., a champion of gay rights in The United Methodist Church, died March 1 after a prolonged illness.
Wheatley, 93, retired, of Laguna Woods, Calif., had been residing in a private board and care residence in Mission Viejo, Calif.
He received an award of appreciation in 1984 from Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. “Arrogant judgmentalism as some have experienced by society, even religious institutions, is too great a price for society to be able to continue to pay,” he said at that time.
The Wheatleys also received a human rights award from an international Christian denomination that serves gay members. In a speech accepting the award, he said that his son John -- who died in 1984 of cancer -- was gay.
In 1982, Wheatley came under fire for appointing a self-avowed practicing homosexual to a Denver church. Churches in Colorado and Georgia charged that Wheatley's stance undermined the authority of Holy Scripture and called for public censure. They also demanded that he revise his homosexuality stance to conform to scripture or retire or resign from the episcopacy.
An investigative committee said in its final report that it found no "reasonable grounds" for accusing the bishop. The panel found that the bishop should not be tried on charges of heresy and disobedience.
His advocacy on gay and lesbian issues, and dissatisfaction with the denomination’s policy, led him to become one of 15 bishops to release a joint statement at the 1996 General Conference expressing their pain over the proscriptions in the Book of Discipline. Those bishops also affirmed their commitment to uphold the Discipline of the church...
Bishop Melvin E. Wheatley Jr., who was dedicated to the rights of gays in the United Methodist Church, died in Mission Viejo, Calif., on March 1. He was 93.
A service will be March 22 at Westwood United Methodist Church in Los Angeles, where he had served as pastor.
Wheatley was a regional bishop of the church in the 1980s in Denver. Around that time, he forced the denomination to face the issue of homosexuality when he defended an openly gay man, the Rev. Julian Rush.
His controversial stand made national news as liberals supported Wheatley and others pushed for Wheatley to resign or be censured, with some accusing him of heresy.
Wheatley's "courageous . . . acceptance of homosexuals was the only reason I remained a United Methodist minister rather than being thrown under the bus like so many others," said Rush, who lives in Sun City West, Ariz.
"He was a man of great intellect, courage and compassion who challenged the United Methodist Church when most were silent and fearful and prejudiced," said the Rev. Donald Messer, former president of Denver's Iliff School of Theology.
"He had a vision of inclusiveness. He wasn't about to be persuaded by those who believed in narrowness and exclusiveness that dehumanizes others," Messer said this week.
...It had been more than a decade since John had come out to his parents. But, Mel says, "Lucile and I never went through the agony that most PFLAG parents went through. We knew immediately that if John was gay, the stereotypes must be false." They also knew, he says, "We wouldn't feel comfortable being anywhere John wouldn't be welcome."
The seeds of Wheatley's break with denominational orthodoxy were sown in 1978, when he and Lucile hosted a Colorado meeting of the United Methodist Council of Bishops. The agenda included a motion that the council reaffirm its support for a statement on homosexuality in the church's governing law. The statement was clear and damning: "[W]e do not condone the practice of homosexuality and consider it incompatible with Christian teaching."
This is The New Yorker article that put Bishop Melvin Wheatley in the national spotlight on lesbian and gay issues in The United Methodist Church. You can download the entire article for $4.99.
New Reconciling Community in Warwick and Providence, RI
The Open Table of Christ United Methodist Church, Warwick and Providence, Rhode Island “Let's work together for the expansion of God's kingdom of love, justice, mercy, and peace in our lives and the world that God loves so much.”
The Open Table of Christ UMC was formed on the principle of radical inclusivity. Its membership is committed to social justice and to welcoming all of God’s people to grow as disciples in the community of Jesus Christ. There are two Sunday worship services in two different communities ~ 9:30 am in Providence and 4:30 pm in Warwick. They offer a Youth Service every first Sunday morning and a Healing Service each third Sunday afternoon.
A series of open meetings and informational sessions were held during the months preceding their annual charge conference. The process of becoming a reconciling congregation was shepherded by both lay and clergy involvement. On January 25, 2009 the congregation of Open Table of Christ passed a proposal to join the Reconciling Ministries Network. They say:
WE SEEK TO REPRESENT GOD’S KINGDOM:
We are a multicultural, multiethnic, and multigenerational church, open to all who are spiritually or physically hungry, who are seeking the Way of Christ, regardless of race, immigration status, sexual orientation, gender identity, economic or social standing, abilities, or past. Here we all come to the common table of God’s love, acceptance, and power for change. Our membership draws from all those who seek to live a life committed to Christ and to each other in mutual, disciplined love.
Open Table of Christ UMC is proud to add our voices, hands and feet to the Reconciling Ministries Network.
The 2009 Convocation: Experience Worship at 7,800 Feet
GOOGLE EARTH THE CONVO
Reason #648 to come to Convo: Experience worship at 7,800 feet. As you can see from this terrain map of the YMCA of the Rockies, we'll be celebrating Justice & Joy at 7,800 feet.
The 2009 Convocation, Justice & Joy, meets over Labor Day Weekend, from Friday, September 4 through Monday, September 7 at the beautiful YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park, Colorado.
Gather with hundreds of Reconciling United Methodists in the wonder of God's creation in the Rocky Mountains.
RMN is enlisting nine persons to assist with managing logistics for The 2009 Convocation. The responsibilities of these assistant positions are listed below. The positions are part-time so the persons will be able to participate in much of the convocation as well. As compensation RMN will cover the costs of registration, meals and lodging at the convocation. The persons will responsible for their travel to/from the convocation.
To apply for one of these assistant positions, send a resume along with a brief letter outlining your qualifications and interests for the particular position you seek to rmnconvo@comcast.net. The deadline is April 30, 2009.
Airport Shuttle Hosts (2 persons) will staff hospitality table at Denver International Airport throughout day on September 3 & 4 and direct arriving convocation participants to connect with shuttle to Estes Park. Coordinate bus schedule with shuttle company for returning to airport on September 7th.
Office Assistant will help staff registration table all day on September 3rd and work in RMN office onsite for a five-hour shift each other convo day, assisting with answering questions for participants as well as carrying out routine office and communication tasks.
Newsletter Editor will gather convocation announcements and news for newsletter and create/design/produce each daily edition for four days: September 4, 5, 6 & 7. Preferred to do preliminary work on design and mockups before convocation.
Plenary Stage Manager will assist worship and plenary coordinators in planning for setup of auditorium stage for each plenary session and direct flow of persons on and off stage during sessions. Also works in coordination with the site’s auditorium staff.
Plenary Audio-Visual Assistant will prepare projection slides for worship and plenary sessions and serve as liaison with the site’s sound and projection technicians.
Resource Center Assistants (2 persons) will assist with setup of Resource Center on September 3rd and packup on September 7th. Will staff the Resource Center for up to four hours on other convocation days.
Site Assistant will assist Convocation Coordinator in overseeing lodging and meal services at the YMCA of the Rockies. Also may occasionally serve as liaison with YMCA in other ways.
If you would like to apply for a scholarship to Convo, you will need to download the scholarship application and mail or fax it to Sue Laurie at Reconciling Ministries Network. If you receive a scholarship, Sue Laurie will provide you with a scholarship code you can use during registration that will automatically deduct your scholarship amount. Evaluation of applications and notification to recipients will be the 10th of each month beginning March 10. Early application helps us with our planning and keeps you eligible for the lower rates.
HILTON AWARD NOMINATIONS - back Marlene Crowder, Steering Committee, PRN
The first CONVO I attended with RMN/PRN was 2005 at Lake Junaluska! Everything was new and exciting. The scenery, the worship, the workshops, the music, the fellowship and sense of community was uplifting and encouraging. One of the Joys was meeting Bruce and Virginia “Ginny” Hilton (see photo). They were so inspiring just being in their presence. I felt like they were long time friends. So it is with great pleasure that I accepted the role to serve on the committee to select a parent to honor with the Hilton Award. Bruce and Virginia were very loving, caring, activists! They have a long history of working to make “justice roll down like a river”. From the civil rights workers in Mississippi in the mid 60’s, to the United Methodist Church since 1980 they diligently worked for justice issues.
The Parent’s Reconciling Network will award the Fourth Hilton Award at CONVO during Labor Day weekend, 2009, at Estes Park, Colorado. We need your help! We know there are many out there that deserve this award, and you can help us identify them. You know those who are making a difference in your church, community and conference. Please help us find, “those parents of LGBTQ children, who through outstanding compassionate witness and work, give significant support to other parents and increased hope for a more inclusive denomination”.
Please use the form below to make your nomination. ALL nominations should be submitted by July 1, 2009. Thanking you in advance for your help on this project.
Reconciling Ministries Network is accepting Nominations for the 2009 Convocation Justice Awards.
The Voice in the Wilderness award is for taking risks, despite isolation in a wilderness, to proclaim the rightness of inclusion for all people in the church, and for standing against injustice despite that lack of support.
The Cup of Justice award is given for taking bold action to invoke justice where injustice, oppression and exclusion exist.
News about Reconciling Ministries Network national initiatives including staff travel schedules and events at the Jurisdictional and Annual Conference level. You may post local events on the RMN Facebook Page.
Reconciling Ministries Network's Strategic Plan for 2009 to 2011 was approved at the board meeting in Phoenix, Arizona last month. The Strategic Plan includes RMN's new Mission Statement:
Reconciling Ministries Network mobilizes United Methodists of all sexual orientations and gender identities to transform our Church and world into the full expression of Christ’s inclusive love.
RMN recently mailed Katalyst, our quarterly newsletter. If you receive Katalyst by mail and would like to help us go green, please ask to be switched to the electronic version of Katalyst by emailing rmn@rmnetwork.org.
Burrill, Melany, All God's Children: Teaching Children About Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, [Fort Wayne, IN: LifeQuest, 2009; 20 pp., ISBN 1-893270-48-0].
All God’s Children is an essential guide to open and caring conversations with young children about gender and sexual orientation. You’ll find that this small, user-friendly book addresses your concerns, your questions, and your search for just the right words; it also suggests ideas for sermons and classroom activities. As you read, you’ll learn to model openness, respect, and the affirming belief that everyone, regardless of sexual orientation or gender difference, is a beloved child of God. Anyone who has a loving relationship with young children—parents, family, friends, pastors, Sunday School teachers—will benefit from reading and discussing All God’s Children.
All God's Children is available at Reconciling Ministries Network for $7 plus shipping or by calling (773) 736-5526. Bulk of 10 or more is $4.50.
Called to Witness is a five-year strategic plan to equip, encourage and empower Reconciling volunteers across Annual Conferences as they build relationships across ideological and theological divides. Called to Witness is predicated on the understanding that people don’t change their minds, until they know people’s stories. If you are in these Annual Conferences, you can still attend Called to Witness training:
Arkansas Annual Conference
California Nevada Annual Conference
California Pacific Annual Conference
Iowa Annual Conference
Kansas West Annual Conference
New England Annual Conference
New Jersey Annual Conference
West Michigan Annual Conference
For more information and details about specific trainings, please visit RMNwitness.org.
The Called to Witness team consists of Tiffany Steinwert, Sean Delmore, Troy Plummer, Sue Laurie, Laura Young, Audrey Krumbach, and Laura Rossbert.
Women's History Month: The Trial of Susan B. Anthony
"Susan B. Anthony is not on trial; the United States is on trial."
Matilda Joslyn Gage
On November 5, 1872, Susan B. Anthony cast her vote. She was put on trial. The trial for illegal voting that followed would create an opportunity for Anthony to spread her arguments for women suffrage to a wider audience than ever before.
In this video, Actor Christina Kirk (with Wallace Shawn) reads the words of Susan B. Anthony as she addressed the court at her appeal for the conviction of knowingly voting without lawfully having the right to vote. This is part of a reading from Voices of a People's History of the United States (Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove) at the Small Press Book Fair, December 5, 2004 in New York, New York.
"I shall go to Chicago & visit my new lover — dear Mrs. [Emily] Gross
— en route to Kansas. So with new hope & new life..."
Susan B. Anthony
As a leader in the women's suffrage movement, Susan B. Anthony is mentioned in Lillian Faderman's bookTo Believe in Women: What Lesbians Have Done for America - A History. This landmark work of lesbian history focuses on how certain late-nineteenth-century and twentieth-century women whose lives can be described as lesbian were in the forefront of the battle to secure the rights and privileges that large numbers of Americans enjoy today. Lillian Faderman persuasively argues that their lesbianism may in fact have facilitated their accomplishments.
From its inception, women's fight for the vote was largely led by women who loved other women. It was a grueling battle. As Carrie Chapman Catt, the leading spokesperson at the time the Nineteenth Amendment was passed, summed it up, success was won only after 56 state referendum campaigns, 480 legislative campaigns for state suffrage amendments, 47 state constitutional conventional campaigns, 277 state party convention campaigns to get suffrage planks in the party platforms, and so forth and so on. What Catt did not say in her dry summation was how many female couples (including herself and her partner, Mollie Hay) were in the forefront of the struggle, and how their intimate relations helped them endure and stay focused on their elusive goal through years of discouragement.
Women's History Month: Women Clergy Break Stained Glass Ceiling
More than 50 years after receiving full clergy rights in The United Methodist Church, more and more women are breaking through the stained glass ceiling. Here are two articles exploring the progress of women clergy in The United Methodist Church.
On her first Sunday as lead pastor of a 1,300-member United Methodist congregation in Hyattsville, Md., the Rev. Joan Carter-Rimbach stood before a packed congregation where "everyone had come to see the woman pastor."
Carter-Rimbach told the congregation that she realized it "never had somebody in the pulpit who dresses like me or looks like me."
Four years later, she acknowledged that, between staffing issues and team challenges, "it has been hard serving the church where the norm has been a male as the senior pastor." However, she has earned the respect of the staff and congregation through her nurturing leadership style.
More than 50 years after receiving full clergy rights in The United Methodist Church, more and more women like Carter-Rimbach are breaking through the stained glass ceiling that, for the most part, has kept clergywomen in small-membership churches or as assistants in larger congregations.
Today, there are 85 United Methodist clergywomen serving as lead pastors in one of the denomination's 1,172 U.S. churches with 1,000 or more members. In all, there are 7,073 active clergywomen serving one of the 34,398 United Methodist churches in the United States and another 1,819 clergywomen serving in other settings across the country...
Bishop Deborah Kiesey celebrates communion during a service at a United Methodist Church gathering of female pastors in Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 16.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The United Methodist Church, which boasts a history of ordaining women clergy, is seeking to shatter the so-called "stained-glass ceiling" blocking female pastors from its largest pulpits.
The nation's second largest Protestant denomination has launched a new initiative, the Lead Women Pastor Project, to examine barriers to women being appointed pastors to Methodist churches with more than 1,000 members.
The Nashville-based United Methodist Church has a total of 44,842 clergy, and about 10,000 are female — or 23%. Yet just 85 women lead those largest churches, compared to 1,082 men in those positions.
The project aims to research leadership styles of women who head these large churches and encourage more female leaders by building a mentoring program for women with potential to serve large congregations...
Sunday, March 22 is One Great Hour of Sharing. You and your congregation can join United Methodists worldwide by making a special offering through One Great Hour of Sharing to support humanitarian aid through United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). You can be assured that when catastrophes cause suffering, your church, impelled by Jesus' love and compassion, will be in the lead to ease the pain. Gifts to this offering underwrite UMCOR's "costs of doing business."
That helps us keep our promise that 100 percent of every other gift you make to a specific UMCOR project can be spent on that project—not on home office costs.
Visit the One Great Hour of Sharing page to watch the video, download Church Bulletin Inserts and most importantly, to give.
Reconciling Movement News Roundup brings together news about the Reconciling Movement and societal events that positively impact the progress of the Reconciling Movement. If you would like to submit news, please send it to rmnetworknews@gmail.com.
Reconciling Ministries Network mobilizes United Methodists of all sexual orientations and gender identities to transform our Church and world into the full expression of Christ’s inclusive love. Founded in 1984, RMN consists of 295 congregations, 36 campus ministries, 84 reconciling communities. Extension ministries include the Parents' Reconciling Network, Reconciling Ministries Clergy, United Methodists of Color for a Fully Inclusive Church, and RMN's student movement, MOSAIC.
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Bishop Melvin Wheatley Dies at 93
"Lucile and I never went through the agony that most PFLAG parents went through. We knew immediately that if John was gay, the stereotypes must be false...We wouldn't feel comfortable being anywhere John wouldn't be welcome." Bishop Melvin Wheatley
The first CONVO I attended with RMN/PRN was 2005 at Lake Junaluska! Everything was new and exciting. The scenery, the worship, the workshops, the music, the fellowship and sense of community was uplifting and encouraging. One of the Joys was meeting Bruce and Virginia “Ginny” Hilton (see photo). They were so inspiring just being in their presence. I felt like they were long time friends. So it is with great pleasure that I accepted the role to serve on the committee to select a parent to honor with the Hilton Award. Bruce and Virginia were very loving, caring, activists! They have a long history of working to make “justice roll down like a river”. From the civil rights workers in Mississippi in the mid 60’s, to the United Methodist Church since 1980 they diligently worked for justice issues.
Burrill, Melany, All God's Children: Teaching Children About Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, [Fort Wayne, IN: LifeQuest, 2009; 20 pp., ISBN 1-893270-48-0].
As a leader in the women's suffrage movement, Susan B. Anthony is mentioned in Lillian Faderman's book 
Sunday, March 22 is 
