wfn.org | AT ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION, BROWNING PRAISES OASIS' MINIS

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TITLE:AT ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION, BROWNIN
June 26, 1996
Episcopal News Service
James Solheim, Director
(212) 922-5385
ens@ecunet.org

96-1505
AT ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION, BROWNING PRAISES OASIS' MINISTRY TO HOMOSEXUALS

BY JAMES H. THRALL
           (ENS) Joining in an exuberant celebration of the seventh
anniversary of Oasis, a ministry of the Diocese of Newark to gays and
lesbians, Presiding Bishop Edmond Browning praised the organization for
offering "living water" to those struggling in the "difficult and
dangerous desert."
           "Oasis. The name is about shelter, about nurture, about drawing
aside from the dusty and dangerous road for refreshment, for
rest and cool water," Browning said in his sermon at the service, June 4, at
All Saints Parish, Hoboken. "The name `Oasis' speaks volumes
about what the larger culture feels like to many gay and lesbian brothers and
sisters."
           The ministry has "saved peoples' sanity and, in some cases, you
have even saved peoples' lives," he said. Browning urged the
congregation not to stay in the shelter of the "oasis," but to use the support
they found to help the ministry's effects reach beyond the limits
of the homosexual community. "I see that God is at work here, transforming the
church through your witness, until the entire desert
bloom," he said.
           A colorful procession up one of Hoboken's main streets, led by a
troupe of African drummers, opened the service and included
banners from many of the more than three dozens parishes that sponsor the
ministry. 
           Browning and Bishop John Spong of Newark were joined by Bishop
Catherine Roskam, suffragan bishop of New York; Bishop
Walter Righter, retired bishop of Iowa, who faced ecclesiastical charges for
ordaining a non-celibate homosexual as a deacon; and Bishop
Otis Charles, retired bishop of Utah. Charles, the only Episcopal bishop to
have publicly identified himself as a homosexual, now heads
Oasis West in San Francisco, the first of what Spong said could be other
national and international offshoots of the ministry. 
           Spong praised Browning as a leader who has worked to the make the
church a welcoming place for homosexuals while holding
"this faith community together," at times "at incredible pain to himself."
Browning, in turn, had Spong stand to receive his accolades,
earning the congregation's laughter when he joked that he has had more cause
to ask the outspoken Spong to sit down.
            "I could not leave here without saying how deeply I love him, and
how grateful I am for his ministry to the life of this church
and not just to this church but to Christendom," Browning said. "I am grateful
to be a part of the same church."

ECCLESIASTICAL COURT RULING WELCOMED
           Speaking shortly after a church court had dismissed the charges
against Righter, Browning spoke of his relief to "not have to bear
the burden of representing a church that views its own longstanding practice
of ordaining homosexual Christians as a violation of its
doctrine." And he welcomed a recent Supreme Court decision that ruled a
Colorado ban on homosexual rights legislation unconstitutional. 
           He warned against the disruptive effects of using "legislation and
litigation" to shape "a culture's spiritual and moral journey,"
saying there was "no need for lay or court decision" in the household of God.
           "Let us not believe that these struggles are over because a court
decision has been rendered," he cautioned. "The political and
legislative process does not complete the struggle for hearts and minds."
           The efforts of homosexuals to win acceptance in the church and
society is a basic element in the "struggle for human dignity,"
Browning said. "Never let anyone tell you that this cause is a `special
interest,'" he said. "The struggle for human dignity is not a special
interest. Christians are diminished when even one is objectified and
marginalized. Gay and lesbian Christians are not a part of the division
of the church, but a building block of its unity."

--JAMES H. THRALL IS DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF NEW AND INFORMATION FOR THE EPISCOPAL
CHURCH.