wfn.org | Corrected Version--Interfaith Assembly Gives First

[CAROL_FOUKE.parti@ecunet.org (CAROL FOUKE)]

Leadership and Courage Award to Paul H. Sherry

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA
Email: news@ncccusa.org  Web: www.ncccusa.org

Contact: NCC News, 212-870-2227
NCC11/11/99  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CORRECTED VERSION--FIRST LEADERSHIP AND COURAGE AWARD TO 
PAUL H. DR. SHERRY

Nov. 11, 1999, CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The "Dr. Paul H. Sherry 
Leadership and Courage Award" will be an annual event at 
General Assemblies of the National Council of Churches 
(NCC).  Sponsored by the Interfaith Assembly of Lesbian, 
Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Caucuses and Affirming 
Organizations, the award honors a heterosexual religious 
leader who has taken a risk by defending sexual minorities. 
The first recipient is the individual in whose honor the 
award was named: retired United Church of Christ President 
Dr. Paul H. Sherry.
 
"But really," Dr. Sherry said at the Interfaith Assembly's 
Nov. 11 prayer breakfast, as his eyes filled with tears, 
"this award should be given to you. I know the exclusion and 
pain you have felt. But I truly believe that through your 
efforts God's purpose will be fulfilled."
 
"God's purpose," Dr. Sherry said, is the inclusion of 
lesbian and gay Christians in the church. The Assembly-which 
represents LGBT caucuses in more than 30 denominations-says 
that one of its hopes for the new millennium is that the NCC 
will "welcome into membership any communion which confesses 
Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, including those communions 
whose members are primarily LGBT persons."

The Interfaith Assembly meets annually in conjunction with 
the NCC General Assembly.  The Rev. Alice O'Donovan of 
Tolland, Conn., moderated the Interfaith Assembly during the 
past year.  She is Pastoral Care Coordinator, Visiting Nurse 
Association, East Hospice Care.  The 1999 breakfast was 
chaired by the Rev. Dr. Gwynne M. Guibord, National 
Ecumenical Officer of the Universal Fellowship of 
Metropolitan Community Churches, Los Angeles, Calif.
 
One of the gifts LGBT Christians bring to the church is 
"persistence and commitment," said the Rev. Tricia Dykers 
Koenig at the breakfast. The Rev. Dykers Koenig, a minister 
in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), is moderator of Ohio's 
Western Reserve Presbytery.

"Your commitment to the church is proven because you stay 
and refuse to leave. Why do you put up with us, while we're 
agonizing over membership decline and at the same time doing 
our best to shut you out? The fact you want so much to 
remain with us is a sign of hope: maybe the church really 
does have a lot to offer."

On the panel along with the Rev. Dykers Koenig was Dr. Lo 
Sprague, Chair of the Center for Sexuality and Christian 
Life at Claremont School of Theology.  Dr. Sprague's 
comments provided a perspective on the special gifts that 
gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons bring to the 
church today.  The Rev. David Bahr, a United Church of 
Christ pastor who is openly gay, also participated in the 
panel.  His church, once a diminishing congregation of 30 
persons, has grown to nearly 200 households, gay and 
straight, with multicultural diversity.

Two of the NCC's new leaders-Ambassador Andrew Young and the 
Rev. Robert Edgar-spoke at the prayer breakfast.  "I feel 
proud to be associated with Dr. Paul Sherry," Ambassador 
Young said.

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