Posted on 05/31/2019 5:10:40 PM PDT by lightman
A chapel named for retired Episcopal Church Bishop Gene Robinson was dedicated Thursday as part of the consecration of a newly redeveloped Washington, D.C. church building.
St. Thomas’ Episcopal Parish chose to honor the former New Hampshire bishop who was the first openly partnered gay man to be consecrated a bishop in the Episcopal Church and the wider Anglican Communion. The chapel is envisioned as a pilgrimage site for youth who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT). Robinson’s 2003 consecration as bishop was one of several contested actions fueling a broader Anglican realignment in North America and beyond.
The May 30 consecration service was led by Robinson, Episcopal Diocese of Washington Bishop Maryann Budde, and St. Thomas Priest-in-Charge Alex Dyer. Backed by twin windows of rainbow-hued stained glass and a metal Celtic cross, Robinson prayed “deliver your servants, when they draw near to you in this place, from coldness of heart and wanderings of mind, that with steadfast thoughts and kindled affections, they may worship you in spirit and in truth, through Jesus Christ, our Lord.”
Robinson, now divorced, resides in Washington and serves as bishop-in-residence at St. Thomas. He also serves as a senior fellow with the liberal think tank Center for American Progress.
Redevelopment of the St. Thomas parish church has been long in the making. Once regularly attended by President Franklin D. Roosevelt (who served on the church vestry while Assistant Secretary of the Navy in the Wilson Administration), the church was heavily damaged by arson in 1970, its main sanctuary destroyed. The parish, located in the Dupont Circle neighborhood, became closely associated with the LGBT community, still reflected today in its membership.
St. Thomas has declined precipitously in the past decade, shrinking from 350 to 140 members (-60%) and from a weekly attendance of 150 down to 50 (-66%). In 2018 Dyer cited the ongoing construction of the new church sanctuary and a purge of the parish membership rolls as contributing factors to the congregation’s diminished size. Asked about the decline in attendance, Dyer commented via Twitter “ASA is one measure. @StThomasDC is one of the most best parishes I have served. Check back in 5 years and the story will be different.”
The seven-story project was largely funded by an agreement with a property developer who turned the valuable urban parcel of land into residential units alongside the redeveloped church. The Dupont Circle Citizens Association and other neighborhood critics fiercely opposed the project, which was delayed by a court stop-work order. Dyer was briefly notable in 2017 on social media for wrapping banners around construction fences at St. Thomas in which an image of a face-palming Jesus was accompanied by political messages including the tagline “a progressive church for a progressive city.”
Despite the small size of its congregation, St. Thomas has had outsized influence upon the Washington Diocese. In 2018 Dyer submitted resolutions to diocesan convention to encourage all parishes to make “all gender-specific facilities and activities fully accessible, regardless of gender identity and expression” and “…eliminate, when possible, all gendered references to God and to replace them with gender neutral language.” Versions of both resolutions were adopted.
Alcoholic and wife abandoned for love interest.
Therefore:
Lutheran (EL C S*A) Ping!
* as of August 19, AD 2009, a liberal protestant SECT, not part of the holy, catholic and apostolic CHURCH.
Christ is Risen!
The new chapel only has back doors.
Homosexual Synagogue of Satan
As Groucho Marx would say, "that was close but no cigar."
I much prefer the Prayer of the Cherubic Hymn of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom:
PRIEST: (quietly) No one who is bound with the desires and pleasures of the flesh is worthy to approach or draw nigh or to serve thee, O King of Glory: for to serve thee is a great and terrible thing even to the Heavenly Powers. Nevertheless, through thine unspeakable and boundless love toward mankind thou didst become man, yet without change or alteration, and as Lord of all didst take the name of our High Priest, and deliver unto us the ministry of this liturgic and unbloody sacrifice. For thou alone, O Lord our God, rulest over those in heaven and on earth; who art borne on the throne of the Cherubim; who art Lord of the Seraphim and King of Israel, who alone art holy and restest in thy Holy Place.
Wherefore I implore thee who alone art good and art ready to listen: Look down upon me, a sinner, and thine unprofitable servant, and cleanse my soul and my heart from an evil conscience; and by the power of thy Holy Spirit enable me, who am endued with the grace of the priesthood, to stand before this thy Holy Table, and perform the sacred Mystery of thy holy and immaculate Body and precious Blood. For I draw near unto thee, and bowing my neck I pray thee: turn not thy face from me, neither cast me out from among thy servants; but vouchsafe that these gifts may be offered unto thee by me, thy sinful and unworthy servant: for thou thyself are he that offers and is offered, that accepts and is distributed, O Christ our God: and unto thee we ascribe glory, together with thy Father who is from everlasting, and thine all-holy, and good, and life-giving Spirit: now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.
We who mystically represent the Cherubim, and sing to the life-giving Trinity the thrice-holy hymn, let us now lay aside all earthly care: that we may receive the King of all, who comes invisibly upborne by the Angelic Hosts. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
Like handing first place in the Indy 500 to a NASCAR driver without arms or legs.
And without a car!
Well he represents what a heroic figure is today. The Washington National Cathedral removed the stained glass window the UDC had given depicting R. E. Lee. Maybe ‘Bishop Gene’ can be so commemorated with his own window.
It will include a wet bar.
At first I thought this was about that phony Eugene Robinson from Morning Jo....ke..
The Episcopal church stole the buildings from its congregants. Now they’re cashing in to give themselves fat salaries and benefits even while the people who built those buildings with their treasure sweat and tears flee them in droves.
And now divorced from the dude for whom he jettisoned his wife! LOSER!
Well, isn’t that special.
Is it me or is every Episcopalian Church a post-modern, gay community center?
Everyone one I see flies the rainbow flag, among the many virtue-signaling slogans they like to show the world.
Check back in 5 years and the parish will be gone.
Thanks for that. How did the gay, post-modernists seemingly all wind up with the best old church buildings?
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