Episcopal Bishop, Right Rev. Sean W. Rowe, Has A Change Of Heart On Anti-LGBT Bigotry & Discrimination

The Right Reverend Sean W. Rowe, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania, recently published an article in the Erie Times-News about the enlightening of attitudes toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

While this advancement in Rowe's thinking is welcome, it must be noted that when he was Rector of St. John's Episcopal Church in Franklin, Pa., he was also a member of the Franklin Area School District Board, the same school board that sat in silence, cast a blind-eye, even protected a high school administrator who was well-known in the community for the racist and homophobic ways in which he targeted and abused students.

Rowe has yet to account for his silence, let alone make amends for the suffering that he and his school board colleagues enabled in the Franklin Area School District.

Here is his current "reflection" on the issues:

Welcome LGBT People as Children of God

Right Rev. Sean W. Rowe - Erie Times-News - July 20, 2013:

Last week, Attorney General Kathleen Kane announced that she will not defend the state in a suit that challenges the constitutionality of Pennsylvania's ban on same-sex marriage.

Her decision, resulting from the recent Supreme Court decision that the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional, is just the latest indication that our society's thinking about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their unions is changing rapidly.

Thirteen states and the District of Columbia recognize same-sex marriage, and more than a quarter of Americans live in those jurisdictions. According to a June ABC News/Washington Post poll, 58 percent of Americans support marriage equality. That number climbs to 70 percent when Americans born after 1980 are surveyed, according to the Pew Research Center.

Civil marriage and religious marriage are distinct institutions, but our attitudes toward one influence our thinking about the other. So for many people of faith, these headlines about civil same-sex marriage equality require us to look at sacred traditions and texts with fresh eyes.

Many of us remember when issues of human sexuality were off-limits for discussion in our congregations. And sadly, far too many of us are familiar with the discrimination, fear and violence that LGBT people have suffered while people of faith turned a blind eye or, worse yet, acted as perpetrators.

Today it is possible for us to view same-sex relationships differently. Across our communities, we see the goodness and holiness of same-sex couples in committed, lifelong relationships. Same-sex couples and their families are blessings to their communities, their churches, mosques, synagogues and temples, and to their neighbors and friends. Just like opposite-sex couples, their love for one another draws them more clearly into fidelity and service to the world and allows all of us who know them to see the boundless love of God more clearly.

We can also see that our civic life benefits when same-sex couples have the dignity and legal protection that opposite-sex couples have always enjoyed. Same-sex couples, just like their opposite-sex friends and neighbors, work hard, raise children, volunteer for good causes and pay taxes. Erie would be poorer without its LGBT residents, and we need to stand against discrimination that makes their lives less safe or secure.

For too long, same-sex couples have had to live without the acknowledgment -- from their civic communities or religious congregations -- that they are both productive citizens and signs of the goodness of God's creation and love for the world. Now the growing civil acceptance of marriage equality can help people of faith to tear the scales from our eyes, testify to what we see, and fully welcome LGBT people as children of God and sisters and brothers in faith.

Reflections is a column by religious leaders in the region. The Right Rev. Sean W. Rowe is bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania, 145 W. Sixth St.

Episcopal Diocese Of Northwestern Pennsylvania To Allow Blessing Of Same-Sex Unions

The Rev. Sean Rowe was a member of the Franklin Area School District Board during the making of "Out In The Silence," a documentary film chronicling the challenges faced by LGBT residents of Venango County. One of the stories in the film follows the courageous struggle of a gay teen and his mom who had the courage to stand up to a climate of extreme anti-gay bullying in Franklin High School. Sean Rowe's silence at the time made him an accomplice to the violence many students experienced.

As reported in this article, he is progressing ever-so-slowly in his practice of Christianity as Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania.

But still a long, long way to go ... 

from Erie Times-News:

Same-sex couples will be able to have their unions blessed in the Episcopal Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania.

The Right Rev. Sean Rowe (right), bishop of the Erie-based 13-county diocese, announced Thursday that he will allow clergy to conduct the blessings.

However, priests and congregations won't be forced to offer it. Churches that want to use the trial liturgical rite, which was approved by the Episcopal Church's General Convention in July, will go through a process of study, reflection and conversation before receiving permission from the bishop.

"I support blessing same-sex unions, but some of my faithful fellow Episcopalians do not," Rowe said in a statement. "The Episcopal Church in northwestern Pennsylvania is a place where people of good conscience can disagree charitably about such matters. We respect and love each other, and we are united in the hope and healing of Jesus Christ."

Rowe said there are people in the diocese with strong opinions on both sides but they're willing to continue to "live together and discern God's will together."

He and the Rev. John Downey, dean of Erie's Episcopal Cathedral of St. Paul, said Episcopalians have spent 30 years taking a careful, deliberate and prayerful approach to understanding same-sex relationships.

"We've been considering this for so many years, it's really not a surprise we've come to this point," Downey said.

Any of the diocese's congregations can choose to hold a conversation about blessing the unions, officials said. If a congregation's priest and governing board of laypeople decide they want to offer the service at their church, they will go to Rowe for permission.

He said he expects some to begin the process immediately, others to do it in the future and some not to participate at all.

Downey anticipated that his congregation would be conducting those conversations in the first part of 2013. He said he thinks the liturgical rite for same-sex blessings will be supported at the downtown cathedral.

Downey said, however, that there's no rush to be the first in the diocese to hold the service, which he said is similar to a marriage liturgy. No St. Paul members had asked for the blessing yet, he said Thursday.

At least one half of a couple seeking it must be a communicant in good standing of a congregation of the diocese, which has about 4,700 Episcopalians.

The provisional rite was approved by the Episcopal Church in July but a blessing couldn't be given until the first Sunday of Advent, which was Dec. 2, and the start of the church year.

Some dioceses, including Erie, weren't quite ready by that date. Rowe said the local policy didn't go out until Wednesday.

It can be viewed on the diocese's website at www.dionwpa.org under resources for clergy.

Some church members and leaders had already been talking about adding the blessing to their ministry.

"I'm wholeheartedly for it," Joyce Gieza, a member of St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Lawrence Park Township, said.

"We're an inclusive church, which is why I'm there," she said. "I don't want to exclude anybody." The Rev. Shawn Clerkin, vicar of St. Mary's, said his congregation has begun the process of discernment and is ready to seek Rowe's permission to offer the blessing there.

Clerkin said it is a way to be welcoming to same-sex couples but at the same time the church doesn't want to isolate people who oppose the liturgy.

An opponent of the blessing couldn't be reached for comment.

Episcopalians tend to be very respectful of one another's point of view and it's important for them to continue to show one another the same love and appreciation even if they disagree on this issue, Clerkin said.

He and Rowe said they've heard from couples appreciative of the new blessing but none is in the works to receive it yet. Rowe said the first isn't likely to occur for a month or so.

"We have many faithful gay and lesbian Christians living in faithful monogamous relationships that are seeking the blessing of the church," Rowe said. "We've had a fair number express interest."

Mike Mahler, the editor of Erie Gay News and a local pagan, said acceptance of gays and lesbians varies by congregation, but it was good to see the local Episcopal diocese offering this blessing.

"That is a wonderful thing," he said.