Diocesan
Life Columns
Bishop Paul V. Marshall
Bishop Paul's writes a monthly column for the Diocesan Newspaper, Diocesan
Life, edited by Communication
Minister, Bill Lewellis.
For more features from the life of our diocese, check Diocesanlife....ONLINE; and Bethlehem
News.
The
Color Purple
Accepting the consequences... just like I tell the kids.
By Bishop Paul V. Marshall
Diocesan Life, June 1999
I was walking on New Street in Bethlehem one afternoon and three young
people wearing Lehigh University sweatshirts approached me. One said to the
other in a voice I was meant to hear, "O God, purple - a faggot who is proud
of it."-
When I visit parishes, I usually have a talk with the children before the
sermon. We sit on chancel steps together and talk rather informally. My goal
is that they understand that the bishop is a person who is a friend and who
is interested in them and their faith.
No great teaching happens, but something I almost always manage to work in
is that following Jesus means doing what he did. Specifically, I usually mention
family relationships or the very difficult task of befriending those whom schoolmates
reject as geeks, weirdos, or hopeless nerds.
I mention always that this will almost surely get them in trouble with some
of their friends, but that it will nonetheless bring them closer to Jesus,
and help them understand what the cross means.
My conscience caught up with me in two ways recently about practicing what
I preach.
I really do not like purple shirts. They annoy Protestants, and they tempt
the workers in Roman Catholic shops to the sins of arrogance and rudeness.
As a devout introvert, I don't like to be conspicuous, anyway. So as my purple
shirts age, I have been considering replacing them with black. But then something
happened.
I was walking on New Street in Bethlehem one afternoon and three young people
wearing Lehigh University sweatshirts approached me. One said to the other
in a voice I was meant to hear, "O God, purple - a faggot who is proud of it."
There are a variety of views on homosexuality, but no Christian believes that
anyone should be publicly humiliated. But I realized then that as long as this
kind of behavior exists in Bethlehem, I have no privilege to hide from it,
and the next time it happens, I need to confront it. So Wippell's got an order
for more purple shirts.
My actions regarding the color of my shirt may be entirely inconsequential,
but if I mean what I say to the kids, I don't have much choice in the matter.
This attitude has effected another decision I have taken. Elsewhere in this
paper you will read a letter I
sent to the clergy, a letter which, contrary to my original intentions, has
received national attention. In it I explain why, among other things, I am
allowing bishops affiliated with the Episcopal Synod of America to come to
this diocese, and to preside at services that will be attended by conservative
Episcopalians from at least three Pennsylvania dioceses.
There is no group in the Episcopal Church so routinely despised, persecuted,
and spoken of with general contempt as are the clergy and churches who have
not accepted the radical changes that have taken place in our church, especially
regarding the ordination of women and the use of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer
and some of its supplements.
Because I enthusiastically support the ordination of women and love the 1979
prayer book, and like much of what has been added to supplement it, I enjoy
a position that is respected and protected in the Church. Those who do not
agree, especially among bishops, have taken on something of leper status in
our church.
In several places there is active repression of parishes who wish to believe
and worship essentially as Anglicans have for the bulk of our history. The
burden is on us who have made the changes to respect and care for those whose
consciences cannot accept them. I therefore publicly repent of voting for a
resolution at the Philadelphia Convention that is in fact a bill of attainder
against three bishops of this church.
Accordingly, I have said to those on the right that they are welcome to come
here and do whatever it is that they want to do. Nothing is being done on my
behalf; they are functioning under my protection, not under my authority.
They and their bishops will have to work out their disagreements at home as
well as they can. Here, however, they can have their children confirmed, hear
the Word preached in terms they recognize, and celebrate the sacraments according
to patterns familiar to them.
This effectively puts an end to my chances for any elective office in the
Episcopal Church.
The abusive letters and phone calls from the far right and the far left have
already started. I do not feel like a martyr about that, nor am I asking for
sympathy. Instead, I feel like I am doing my job and accepting the consequences.
Just like I tell the kids.
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