A

Homosexually Oriented Churches

★2588★

Ancient British Church in North America (The Autocephalous Glastonbury Rite in Diaspora)

9-47 Marion St.
Toronto, ON, Canada M6R 1E6

The Ancient British Church in North America is a small western rite Orthodox body founded by Bishop Jonathan V. Zotique (Mar Zotikos), its presiding bishop. Mar Zotikos was a Franciscan monk who received consecration through Old Catholic sources. The church's ministry, which is built around a small group of independent Franciscans, both priests and lay brothers, is directed to the sexual minorities of Toronto (homosexuals, transsexuals, transvestites, prostitutes) and others (drug addicts) who feel rejected by the Eastern Orthodox Communions and the Roman Catholic Church. As independent Franciscans, the group sees itself as being "for, of, and by gay-Christians holding hope that in good faith we can touch the charity of the Church of Christ as a whole."

The clergy of the church are self-employed, and ministers are worker-clerics. Both men and women are accepted for ordination to the priesthood. The church is headed by its presiding bishop and a governing synod. Those affiliated with the church in the ordered life are organized as the Celtic-Catholic Culdee Community of Orthodox Monks, Hermits, Missionaries, and Evangelists of the Old Church of the Blessed Virgin, St Mary of Glastonbury (Our Lady of Avalon), in Diaspora. Future plans call for the establishment of a rural retreat center (Avalon Abbey) for meditationcontemplation retreats.

Membership: Not reported.

★2589★

Brotherhood of Mithras

Box 94
Uniontown, OH 44685-0094

Alternate Address: International headquarters: 11 Ellswood Ct., Lovelace Rd., Surbiton, Surrey, London, KT6 6NQ, UK.

The Brotherhood of Mithras was founded in 1980 in Surrey, suburban London, by a group of men who wished to reconstruct and revive the ancient religion of Mithras. It is their belief that Mithras was a real person who lived some 3,500 years ago in Persia and that the Gods decided to make him a God like unto themselves. What is commonly known is that the religion of Mithras spread through the Roman Empire and competed for many centuries with Christianity. Statues of Mithras have been found throughout Roman ruins, many of which included Mithraic worship centers. The God is often pictured nude and entwined with a snake or in the act of plunging a knife into a bull. The latter statue, called a Tauroctonous, graces the intersanctum of Mithraic temples.

According to the story, Mithras was sent a task by the Gods to prove his worthiness. A respecter of nature and animals, he was sent a messenger in the form of a raven who told him to slay a bull. After meditating on the instructions, he herded a bull into a cave and there slew it with his knife. In this act Mithras became an object of worship for his bravery, virility, and manliness.

The brotherhood has attempted to reconstruct the worship of Mithras in the context of phallic worship and the contemporary revival of sex magic. Worship takes place in the nude in a temple which, like the original cave, is void of any natural source of light. It is believed that during the sex act, men create more energy than women. Thus it is felt that an all-male circle will create more energy than a mixed group. The energy thus raised is used for various worthy ends.

The brotherhood is open to all men over the age of 21. Initiation is an arduous ordeal which includes corporeal punishment and during which both humiliation and subjection are experienced. Individual limits are respected, but it is to be expected that they are to be extended and a new level of experience reached.

Membership: Not reported. There are centers in England and the United States.

Sources:

Speidel, M. P. Mithras-Orion: Greek Hero and Roman Army God. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 1984.

★2590★

Catholic Church of the Americas

℅ Office of the Presiding Bishop
1201 W. Esplanade Ave., Ste. 1709
Kenner, LA 70065

The Catholic Church of the Americas was founded in 1996 by a group of clergy, many with Roman Catholic backgrounds. Its purpose was to find a community of faith that was open to all people without regard to race, color, gender, sexual orientation or preference, nationality, or socioeconomic status. This goal sets them apart from the Roman Catholic Church which condemns homosexuality and does not admit women to the ministry. Founders included Fr. Benjamin Evans, Deacon Daniel Little, Bishop Denis Martel, Bishop John Reeves, and Fr. Jerry Wood. Bishop Martel was named the first presiding bishop, a position he continues to maintain.

The church continues the sacramental worship of the western Catholic tradition. It affirms the centrality of the seven sacraments (as redefined in the post-Vatican II context). It affirms the need of apostolic succession and its bishops have been consecrated in several lineages currently available in independent Catholic circles, though it emphasizes its lineage from Bishop Carlos Duarte Costa (1888-1961) and the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church. It dissents from Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, though holding to the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The church differs from the Roman Catholic Church in that it has opened the sacrament of marriage to all adults and thus is willing to oversee same gender unions. In addition, it sanctions the remarriage of individuals who had a previous marriage otherwise legally dissolved. Divorce is also not seen as preventing one from receiving the sacraments. As with the reception of the Eucharist, the church does not view either gender, sexuality, or present marital status as barriers to receiving any of the sacraments, including ordination. The church will sanction the ordination to the priesthood of any otherwise qualified candidates who are female, married, or self-identified as a sexual minority. In its sacramental liturgy, the church seeks to use inclusive language.

The church is headed by its Synod of Bishops and the National Synod of clergy and laity. It is the desire of the church, however, that decisions be made in consensus rather than by any part of the church, including the bishops, acting unilaterally.

Membership: Not reported. One or more congregations are found in Louisiana, Florida, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Illinois, and Iowa.

Sources:

Catholic Church of the Americas. http://www.catholicchurchamericas.com/. 20 March 2002.

★2591★

Christianbrunn Brotherhood

The Hermitage
RR1, Box 149
Pitman, PA 17964

The Christianbrunn (Christianspring) Brotherhood is a gay spiritual community that asserts as its purpose the worship of life. It is an all-male ordered community that existed in the eighteenth century in the Moravian Church. Most especially they look to Christian Renatus Graf von Zinzendorf (1827-1752), the homosexual son of Count Nicolas Ludwig von Zinzendorf, the Moravian leader whose efforts had led to the community's revival. As early as 1728, a group of 26 unmarried men moved into a common household. During the last eight years of his life, Christian Renatus had been in charge of the single Brother's Choirs of the Moravian Brethren.

In 1749 in the American colonies, the Moravians established Christainspring, a community west of Nazareth, Pennsylvania. It was occupied entirely by unmarried men for the next 50 years. However, by the end of the century it was caught up in the larger changes in the church and early in the nineteenth century merged into the community at Nazareth.

The attempt to reestablished Christianbrunn as an openly gay community began in 1987 with the founding of an ordered community. Brother Johannes Renatus Zinzendorf is the chief councilman.

To the Brotherhood that means: 1) Life is all there is–there is nothing else before, beyond, or after this life. All morality, aesthetics, and ethics derive from that fact. 2) Stewardship is critical–the Earth is finite so the Brotherhood assumes the role of caretakers for wise management of its limited resources to meet basic needs of food, shelter, education, and freedom for all. 3) As gay men, they look upon semen as the essence of life and the erect phallus as the giver of semen.

The Brotherhood called themselves Spiritual Atheists because they embrace the mystery of life without a belief in a higher power. Good works, which enhance and respect all life forms, is the spiritual value that raises consciousness into a god-like form and can make the doers stewards and the guiding force on the planet. They can also reveal ways in which individuals are all parts of one great wholeness rather than isolated entities.

These attributes are incorporated into the Hermitage, a working farm and retreat center where people come for limited periods of time to contemplate the meaning of their existence. These summer residences are free in exchange for a limited amount of daily work, which is part of the stewardship. The Brotherhood describes the Hermitage as one of the few places for such contemplation, free of theological and ideological conformity. The purpose is to allow freedom of inquiry into one's nature and the meaning of life itself.

As a working farm, the Hermitage stresses self-reliance and is sustained by crafts, livestock, and the raising of crops, in addition to donations. The Christianbrunn Brotherhood's Internet site is http://www.ic.org/thehermitage/.

Membership: In 2002 the community had 100 associates and two full-time residence members.

Periodicals: The Flaming Faggot.

Sources:

Hamilton, J. Taylor, and Kenneth G. Hamilton. History of the Moravian Church. Bethlehem, PA: Interprovincial Board of Christian Education, Moravian Church in America, 1967.

★2592★

Church of Universal Love (Washington)

PO Box 1620
Stanwood, WA 98292

The Church of Universal Love (Washington) was founded in the mid-1980s by Rev. Barbara Allen as a New Age fellowship. While open to all, it has a special mission within the homosexual community of the Pacific Northwest. The church considers itself omni-denominational. It has no creed and draws inspiration from all the master teachers, especially Jesus and Buddha. It sponsors workshops on metaphysics, parapsychology, world religions, and holistic healing techniques, as well as retreats on a variety of subjects. On most Sundays the church sponsors a circle of love meeting that includes guided meditation, group sharing at an intensive level, Sufi dancing, and a potluck supper.

The Church welcomes people from different spiritual paths and believes that each individual must develop his/her own individual way. The church attempts to assist the individual in their spiritual search and avoids proselytization to a particular view. Interaction between members is based upon the Golden Rule, nonjudgmental attitudes, and unconditional love.

Church activities are held throughout the Puget Sound area at various locations led by Allen and her associates. It sponsors an annual New Year's retreat.

Membership: Not reported.

Remarks: The Church of Universal Love is not connected with a church of the same name headquartered in El Paso, Texas.

★2593★

Church of Zeus and Ganymede (CZG)

Current address not obtained for this edition.

The Church of Zeus and Ganymede (CZG) takes its name from the ancient Greek tale of Ganymede, a prince of the house of Troy, who was so loved by Zeus that the mighty deity changed himself into a great eagle, took the youth away, and made him immortal. Ganymede became his cup bearer. While believing that there is only one religion, striving to come into greater harmony with the Almighty (Zeus, Yahweh, God, Allah, or any of the other names used by various groups over the centuries) and to achieve a greater knowledge of creation, the church particularly celebrates loving relationships in this model. That is to say, it sanctions and promotes man-boy sexual relationships.

The CZG describes itself as more of a disorganization than an organization, in that it has no hierarchy, no property, no bank accounts, and no schedule of meetings (as most of the activities it values are illegal in the countries of North America and Europe). Thus the church is somewhat diffuse and ephemeral. It exists to provide spiritual support for its members. Its basic principle and rule is love, which is defined as a deep caring for the happiness and well-being of someone else. The CZG also asserts that loving relationships (sexual or otherwise) between males, regardless of ages, are a gift of the Almighty.

Out of realization of the social disapproval shown the primary idea behind the church, the CZG has articulated a Boylove Code of Ethics drawing upon the nature of the practice in ancient Greece. Noting that the sexual aspect is a part of most man/boy relationships, it calls for participants to deal with the issue of sex "in a mature and responsible way." While attempting to take the exploitive and manipulative elements from such relationships, the code does not deal with the dominant cultural analysis that boylove relationships are by their very nature manipulative and exploitive of the younger party who because of his age cannot deal with the relationship in a mature manner.

Though the church has an Internet presence, it is unlikely that it will find a more visible and structured presence given the nature of its beliefs and practices.

Membership: Not reported.

Sources:

http://www.fortunecity.com/culdee/.

★2594★

Community of the Love of Christ (Evangelical Catholic)

Current address not obtained for this edition.

Among the oldest of the church organizations which have developed a specific ministry to the homosexual community and openly identified with its concerns is the Community of the Love of Christ (Evangelical Catholic), founded in 1959 as the Primitive Catholic Church (Evangelical Catholic) by Mikhail (Michael) Francis Itkin. Itkin began his work as a minister in the gay community in 1955 when he was licensed by George A. Hyde, later presiding bishop of the Orthodox Catholic Church in America. Hyde had founded the Eucharistic Catholic Church in the 1940s as a church for homosexuals. Itkin was ordained in 1957 and continued to work with Hyde and the Eucharistic Catholic Church for two more years. He left Hyde in 1959 (at the same time Hyde was moving his work into the American Holy Orthodox Catholic Apostolic Eastern Church). Itkin accused Hyde of backing away from an openly gay ministry and "moving back into the closet."

Itkin gathered those members who agreed with him and for more than a year led them as an episcopal administrator until he could be consecrated by Archbishop Christopher Maria Stanley in November 1960. Stanley had orders to consecrate Itkin from Hugh George de Willmott Newman of the Catholicate of the West, which carried a variety of lines of episcopal succession. Among those lines was that of the Syro-Chaldean succession of the Church of the East brought to the West by Ulric Vernon Herford (Mar Jacobus), founder of the Evangelical Catholic Communion.

The new church first chose the name Primitive Catholic Church (Evangelical Catholic), but the name was changed after Itkin's consecration to Gnostic Catholic Church (Evangelical Catholic). The new name led to confusion, as some thought the church emulated the gnostic heretics. Then the members called themselves "Free Catholics" but learned of a British Fascist group using that designation. Again the church adopted a new name–Western Orthodox Catholic (Anglican Orthodox). During this period, the church members became aware of Ulrich Vernon Herford and the Evangelical Catholic Communion. They began to see Herford's lineage as the primary line of the historical episcopate received from Stanley. Itkin began to correspond with some European bishops who were attempting to carry on Herford's work, and from them he received permission to reformulate the Evangelical Catholic Communion in the United States. In 1978, Mar Anthony (W. Martin Andrew), the British successor to Herford, recognized Itkin's work in America as "the sole jurisdiction actually carrying on the work of Mar Jacobus and the original Evangelical Catholic Communion."

A short time after the development of the Evangelical Catholic Communion, Itkin and Stanley broke communion due in large part to the strong social activism advocated by Itkin. Among Itkin's first actions as a bishop was the consecration of a woman to the priest-hood. Stanley, while open to female deacons, was opposed to their admission to the priesthood. In 1963 the Communion underwent an internal reorganization, transforming itself into a religious order that originally called itself the Brotherhood of the Love of Christ: Evangelical Catholic Communion. That name was changed in 1970 to the Community of the Love of Christ (Evangelical Catholic), its present name, to eliminate the sexist connotations of the word "brotherhood."

During the 1960s the church attracted a number of able leaders such as John Perry-Hooker, a psychologist working with a youth ministry in Boston. It became deeply involved in civil rights and anti-war crusades. Itkin, heralding what would be termed liberation theology in the 1970s, articulated a revolutionary Christian theology which emphasized pacifism, freedom from oppression, and civil rights for minorities. He advocated gay liberation and the role of Christianity as a means for the creation of a universal and rogynous community. The work, however, suffered a severe setback in 1968 when more conservative elements in the church, including those who rejected female priests, split the communion and took most of the property with them. They reorganized as the Evangelical Catholic Communion, the name under which they continue. Itkin and his followers have continued their efforts as the Community of the Love of Christ.

In the late 1980s, it became known that Itkin was suffering from AIDS. He passed away in 1991 and was succeeded by Bp. Marcia Herndon whom he had consecrated in 1985.

The Community has adopted a distinct position of those within the Syro-Chaldean tradition, as it also considers itself as part of the Mennonite-Radical Reformation heritage. From the Church of the East, it draws an apostolic liturgical heritage. It accepts only the first three Ecumenical Councils, which includes an acceptance of the Nicene Creed. However, because of its Radical reformation heritage, it takes a "low church" approach to the sacraments. Only three, not seven, are acknowledged. The church also accepts, for historical purposes only, the December 1903 Pastoral Letter to the Syro-Chaldean Christians in India authored by Herford.

Following its own statement of faith which acknowledges Christ as Sovereign and Liberator, the Community is fully committed to a liberation theological praxis that includes a struggle against sexism, heterosexism, racism, classism, imperialism, and violence. It strongly supports and works for Christian gay/lesbian liberation, feminism, racial integration, civil rights, economic mutuality, democracy, universal citizenship, and nonviolence. The community does not consider itself a gay or homosexual church, but rather "a Christian covenant-community for all people, preaching the inclusive love of God to everyone." "Everyone" includes, specifically, gay and lesbian individuals.

Membership: Not reported. As a matter of policy, the Community does not issue statistics on membership. The Community is estimated to be small and largely confined to the San Francisco Bay area.

Remarks: For a period of time beginning in the 1971, Itkin held joint membership in the Metropolitan Community Church. He saw MCC as committed to his own belief of "unity in diversity," but concluded by 1984 that such was not the case. He withdrew his affiliation with MCC as a member, though retaining status as a "friend."

In this author's The Old Catholic Sourcebook, co-authored with Karl Pruter, Bishop Itkin was confused with another bishop who had also taken the ecclesiastical title, Mar Mikhail and who resides in the San Francisco Bay area. The other Mar Mikhail is the leader of the Holy Apostolic-Catholic Church of the East (Syro-Chaldean).

Sources:

Faith and Practice of the Brotherhood of the Love of Christ. New York: Pax Christi Press, 1966.

Itkin, Michael Francis. The Hymn of Jesus. New York: Pax Christi Press, n.d.

Itkin, Michael Francis Augustine. The Spiritual Heritage of Port-Royal. New York: Pax Christi Press, 1966.

Itkin, Mikhail. The Radical Jesus & Gay Consciousness. Hollywood, CA: Communiversity West, 1972.

★2595★

Ecumenical Catholic Church

20 Lincoln
Irvine, CA 92604-1947

The Ecumenical Catholic Church was founded by Mark Steven Shirilau. Shirilau was born in 1955 as Mark Steven Shirey. In 1984 he "married" Jeffery Michael Lau, and both assumed the last name Shirilau. The church is a liturgical body that draws upon Catholic, Episcopal, and Lutheran traditions, but is distinguished by its direct and open ministry to the gay and lesbian community as well as women, the divorced, and others disentranchised by the mainline church. Shirilau was raised a Lutheran, but joined the Episcopal Church. He was consecrated to the episcopacy by Bishop Donald Lawrence Jolly of the Independent Catholic Church International on Pentecost in 1991. Shirilau is one of the more educated Independent Catholic leaders, having graduated from both the Episcopal Theological School at Claremont (Bloy House) and the School of Theology at Claremont and having earned his Ph.D. from the University of California at Irvine.

The church's Internet site is at http://www.ecchurch.org.

Membership: In 2002, the church reported 1,000 members in 12 churches in the United States and Australia.

Educational Facilities: Holy Apostles Seminary, Irvine, California (correspondence seminary).

Periodicals: The Tablet.

Sources:

Shirilau, Mark Steven. History and Overview of the Ecumenical Catholic Church: The First Ten Years: 1985–95. Ville Grand, CA: Healing Spirit Press, 1995.

★2596★

Eucharistic Catholic Church

Current address not obtained for this edition.

The very first ministry to the homosexual community was begun in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1946 by the Rev. George A. Hyde. Eleven years later, Hyde was consecrated by Archbishop Cyril John Clement Sherwood and began to move his ministry into Sherwood's American Holy Orthodox Catholic Apostolic Eastern Church. As he worked under Sherwood, he moved to Washington, D.C., a prelude to his forming the Orthodox Catholic Church of America in 1960. He backed away from an identification of his new church with the homosexual community, but continued an interest in ministering to gay people.

One ministry authorized by Hyde was a new Eucharistic Catholic parish in New York City's Greenwich Village, begun in 1970 by Fr. Robert Clement. Clement stayed with Hyde for several years while seeing ordination in an apostolic liturgical church outside of independent Old Catholic circles. Unable to locate a bishop who would accept his gay congregation, he turned finally in 1974 to Archbishop Richard A. Marchenna (d. 1984), then head of the Old Roman Catholic Church (Marchenna), who consecrated him. Clement reorganized his work as a separate episcopal jurisdiction independent of the Orthodox Catholic Church of America.

Membership: There is one congregation of several hundred members.

★2597★

Gay and Lesbian Atheists (GALA)

Current address not obtained for this edition.

The Gay Atheist League of America (GALA) was formed in 1978 as the Gay Atheist League of America by Daniel Curzon and Tom Rolfsen, both former members of the Roman Catholic Church. Both had come to feel that there is a direct relationship between the doctrines of religion and social discrimination against homosexuals. The formation of GALA was occasioned by an exchange of letters between Rolfsen and John Raphael Quinn, the Catholic archbishop in San Francisco. Rolfsen concluded that the church had developed a tradition of persecuting homosexuals. Curzon had come to feel that all religion was oppressive, especially Catholicism, born-again Protestantism, and Orthodox Judaism. The new organization also rejected the attempts of gay religious organizations to seek accomodation with the church.

Gay and Lesbian Atheists teach that each person must discover the moral basis of life, without reference to what it considers self-appointed religious experts. They also support separation of church and state and oppose attempts by religionists to impress their anti-gay moral codes on legislation. They also believe that churches should be taxed, i.e., treated as businesses. GALA has assumed an activist role, demonstrating in opposition to anti-gay legislation.

Membership: In 1988 there were over 700 members and chapters in San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Sacramento, and Los Angeles.

Periodicals: Gala Review.

Sources:

Curzon, David. Something You Do in the Dark. New York: Putnam, 1971.

★2598★

Gay Buddhist Fellowship

2261 Market St., Ste. 422
San Francisco, CA 94114

The Gay Buddhist Fellowship, like similar groups in other cities, exists to support Buddhist practice in the San Francisco gay community. Membership includes practitioners who identify with all of the various Buddhist traditions and a broad program is conducted to accommodate a spectrum of needs and desires. Offered on a regular basis are Dharma talks, classes, time for sitting meditation, retreats, and a variety of workshops and classes on topics of interest to the gay community from personal relationships to HIV to social action.

The fellowship, founded in 1990, a single center operating out of rented facilities in San Francisco, has analogous structures elsewhere, such as the Lesbian Buddhist Group and the Gay Zen Group, both of which are semiautonomous groups sponsored by the International Buddhist Meditation Center in Los Angeles. On the other hand, Buddhism has expressed no particular animus toward homosexuality similar to that found in many Christian and Jewish circles, and thus the actual number of explicitly gay and/or lesbian structures is relatively small.

Membership: Not reported.

Periodicals: Gay Buddhist Fellowship Newsletter.

Sources:

Morreale, Don. The complete Guide to Buddhist America. Boston: Shambhala, 1998.

★2599★

Hermetic Order of the Silver Sword

2483 Gerrard St. E.
Scarborough, ON, Canada M1N 1W7

The Hermetic Order of the Silver Sword was founded in 1982 in Toronto. It is a ceremonial magical order whose rituals are based upon those of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The Silver Sword attempts to unify elements of Cabbalistic, Rosicrucian, and Pagan traditions into a workable magical system, a modern science of mental power and self-knowledge. The order sees magic as utilizing ceremonial acts and images deeply rooted in the human consciousness. Ritual actions and the manipulation of symbols produce changes in the magician that affect the world.

The order promotes communication among groups attempting to revive and explore Western spiritual and magical traditions and sees itself as working toward the healing of the Earth through enlightenment and friendship. The order is currently headed by Ian Young and Sandy Busby. Membership is by invitation.

Membership: Not reported.

★2600★

National Catholic Church of America

℅ Priory of St. Martin de Porres
166 Jay St.
Albany, NY 12210-1806

The National Catholic Church of America traces its history to 1994 and the founding of the Order of Saint John the Divine, an order religious community that accepted both men and women into a life of prayer and apostolic service in the world. The order was founded by then Fr. Richard G. Roy, and was distinctive in its admitting otherwise qualified candidates to membership and to Holy Orders without reference to their gender, marital status, sexual orientation, race, or any physical disabilities. Roy believed that an inclusive spirituality would be the keynote of the Catholic Christian community in the third millennium.

In 1997, Roy, who had served as abbot of the Order of Saint John the Divine, was consecrated as a bishop. He received several of the lines of apostolic succession available in the independent Catholic world at present, but primarily acknowledges that from former Brazilian Roman catholic bishop Carlos Duarte Costa, and the independent Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church. Several months later, on New Years Day 1998, he led in the founding of the National Catholic Church of America. Previously, he had been active in the ministry to people with AIDS. Roy resides in Albany, New York where he lives with Brother Stephen K. Peterson, OSJD, his life partner since 1975.

The church follows the faith and practice of the Western Catholic tradition but draws a line between the essential teachings of the faith (as summarized by the seven Ecumenical Councils and the Nicene creed) and various matters of church discipline and its historic development and application. The church affirms the equal role of women in the life of the church and will ordain otherwise qualified females to the priesthood. It also celebrates "the love which can exist between persons of the same gender and advocate justice and equality before the law for those who are gay or lesbian."

Membership: In 2002, the church reported two parishes, one in Albany, New York, and one in Troy, Ohio. There is a priory in West Park, New York.

Sources:

National Catholic Church of America. http://members.aol.com/NatCathCh/who. 20 March 2002.

★2601★

The National Gay Pentecostal Alliance (NGPA)

(Defunct)

The National Gay Pentecostal Alliance (NGPA) was an Apostolic Pentecostal church with a special outreach to the gay/lesbian community. It was founded July 28, 1980, in the city of Schenectady, New York, by William Carey and Sister Schwarz. Carey, a 22-year-old ministerial student in the United Pentecostal Church International, was forced out when his homosexuality became public. A woman from the same congregation in which he worshipped in Schenectady, Sister Schwarz, left with him. Unable to locate a Pentecostal church that did not oppose gay and lesbian sexual orientations, they formed the Gay Pentecostal Alliance.

In the spring of 1981, a second similar congregation was founded in Omaha, Nebraska, occasioning the addition of the word "national" to the church's name. The first ordination occurred in August of 1981 in Omaha. Carey, E. Samuel Stafford, and Frances Cervantes were the first ordained ministers.

NGPA's belief was similar to that of the United Pentecostal Church. It believed that the Bible in its original languages was the inspired word of God and affirmed that there was only one God, the God of Israel, who took on human form and was born of the virgin Mary, to save sinful humanity. Salvation was available through repentance, water baptism by immersion in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins, and receiving the Holy Ghost, evidenced by speaking in tongues. It extols the nine Gifts of the Spirit (I Cor. 12:8-10) and the living of a holy and moral life. It expected the imminent return of Jesus to claim His church. Thus, like the United Pentecostal Church, the alliance did not accept the doctrine of the Trinity as traditionally held within Christianity, and had a second significant divergence in its belief that homosexuality was not sinful. It accepted the view, common to all of the churches serving the homosexual community, that the scriptures fail to condemn homosexuality.

In 1990, a presbyterial form of church government was instituted. The church was now led by two presbyters, appointed by district elders. The two presbyters were Carey and Sister LaDonna C. Briggs. Lighthouse Ministries served as the outreach and evangelism department of the alliance and was responsible for the printing and distribution of literature and cassette tapes. The Home Missions Department, operating out of Niagara Falls, New York, oversaw the founding of new congregations in the United States, and the Foreign Missions Department performed the same function elsewhere. Home Missions also operateed a Division of Prison Ministries, centered in West Monroe, Louisiana.

Membership: Not reported.

Educational Facilities: Pentecostal Bible Institute, Schenectady, New York.

Periodicals: The Apostolic Voice.

★2602★

Orthodox Episcopal Church of God

Box 1528
San Francisco, CA 94101

The Rev. Ray Broshears (d. 1982), founder of the Orthodox Episcopal Church of God, was one of the most controversial of all gay ministers of the 1970s. Headquartered in that section of San Francisco popularly called the Tenderloin, the residence of the largest gay community in the United States, he became a national figure through his radical activism on behalf of civil rights for gay people. He opened and operated the Helping Hands Gay Community Service Center for political action on behalf of pro-gay politicians, legal counseling and assistance, drug rehabilitation, and other gay-oriented activities. He ran for Congress, unsuccessfully, on several occasions. Possibly his most controversial activity was starting the Lavender Panthers, a group he formed to prevent youth gangs from invading the Tenderloin and beating up gay people. The members were trained in judo and karate.

Broshears was reared in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church but became a Pentecostal at an early age. He attended school at the White Wing College (of the Church of God of Prophecy) at Cleveland, Tennessee. He left the Pentecostal movement and in 1966 founded the Orthodox Episcopal Church of God. It was not until 1969 that he and the church began involvement in the gay community.

The Orthodox Episcopal Church is eclectic, combining elements of traditional Catholicism with liberation theology and psychic/New Age thinking. Its program is mainly expressed in social activism. Congregations are centered in the gay communities of California (Los Angeles and San Jose) and El Paso, Texas. Broshears edited several Gay Alliance periodicals, including Gay Pride Quarterly and the Gay Crusader.

Membership: Not reported.

Periodicals: The Light of Understanding.

★2603★

Pride Church International

Current address not obtained for this edition.

Pride Church International emerged in 2001 from the remnants of the American Orthodox Catholic and Apostolic Church, Holy Synod of the Americas, formerly the Diocese of Florida of the American Catholic Church. After becoming independent, the Synod had adopted an eastern Orthodox theology and liturgy, but retained the American Catholic Church's inclusive stance toward women and gay and lesbian people, which were welcomed into all areas of church life and leadership. However, on December 31, 2000, Metropolitan Archbishop Vladimir Sergius II (b. 1946), the Synod's primate resigned, dissolved the corporation, and in 2001 reorganized his own ministry as the Pride Church International with a primary relationship to the gay/lesbian/bisexual/ transgendered (GLBT) community. Bishop John Columba has continued the former Holy Synod as the Orthodox Christian Fellowship of Mercy.

The church is Orthodox in faith and practice. It has chosen to use the Divine Liturgy of Bishop Serapion, a mid fourth-century Egyptian liturgy, as the standard liturgy of the new Church, though the primate has made some alterations to adapt it to Orthodox demands. It has added "Holy Union" of gay/lesbian couples to its list of seven sacraments beside marriage of heterosexual couples. A list of GLBT "saints" has been added to the church calendar for annual commemoration. As the only national Eastern orthodox church openly identified with the GBLT community, the church has grown rapidly and continues to experience a period of growth as GBLT people with Orthodox backgrounds discover its existence. The church is actively recruiting Orthodox clergy. As of 2002, there are four bishops assisting the primate.

Membership: Not reported.

Remarks: Pride Church International has cordial relations with the Russian Orthodox Church in America (not to be confused with either of the large Russian Orthodox jurisdictions, the Orthodox Church in America or the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia).

Sources:

Pride Church International. http://pridechurch.faithweb.com/index.html. 10 May 2002.

★2604★

Sarum Episcopal (Old Catholic) Church

1757 North D St.
San Bernardino, CA 92405-4015

The Sarum Episcopal Church was founded in 1989 in Riverside, California, by two priests ordained as independent Old Catholics. The church exists to provide a sacramental ministry to gay men and lesbians. The first parish, St. Aelred'S, originated in a private home but soon moved to its present facilities in San Bernadino, California. There the church operates a coffee house (no alcoholic beverages served) and houses a number of services for the homosexual community in the area, and has a special ministry for people with AIDS.

The church took its name for Sarum, the old name of Salisbury, a city in England which, prior to the Reformation of the sixteenth century, served as an important center of English Catholicism. The liturgy used throughout England took its name from this city and was called the "Sarum Rite."

At present, the church is collectively headed by its priests, as the jurisdiction has not yet designated a bishop. The church has annually hosted a conference of independent Catholic bishops, priests, and laity for a day of discussions and worship.

Membership: As of 1995 there is one parish of 68 members.

Sources:

Breton, J. E. Paul. Papers Presented at the First Annual Gathering of Independent Catholic Christians, September 15, 1990. San Bernadino, CA: Sarum Episcopal Church, 1991.

Daily and Sunday Eucharist from the Book of Common Prayer of the Sarum Episcopal Church. San Bernadino, CA: Sarum Episcopal Church, 1990.

★2605★

Tayu Fellowship

(Defunct)

The Tayu Fellowship was organized in the 1970s by Daniel Inesse and others and is open to gay men and women who wish to follow and teach the Path of Truth, a spiritual life based upon the wisdom of the ancient Greeks. According to the fellowship, the gods of Greece began as the Guides to humanity. Each deity represents a basic personality facet of the universe and as such are keys to the inner life of humankind. A Tayu (true human) is one who has first understood an initial Guide, who symbolized the basic theme of his/her life, and moved on to integrate eleven other perspectives to a point that he/she becomes complete.

According to the fellowship, history evolves in cycles or aeons of 2120 years each. Each aeon is under one of the Guides. The last aeon was under Poseidon. The present aeon, begun in mid-1987, is under Athene, the Guide of Openness, symbolized astrologically by the constellation Aquarius, the water bearer. The name of the water bearer is Ganymede, the most beautiful of mortal youths, taken as a favorite lover by the god Zeus.

Members of the fellowship are expected to follow six precepts which admonish them, among other things, to seek understanding, create a fulfilling existence, harm nothing, and love themselves and others. Membership is concentrated in the San Francisco Bay area, with other members scattered along the Pacific coast. A correspondence program in Tayu Wisdom allows the fellowship a larger outreach. During the late 1970s, the fellowship operated a center in San Francisco, the Tayu Institute. A Grand Council meets in the summer at the time of the solstice. The solstices and the equinoxes are major days for gatherings and ceremonies. The fellowship, though organized in the 1970s, considers itself to possess "roots dating back thousands of years."

Membership: Not reported.

Periodicals: Ganymede.

Sources:

Wright, Ezekiel, and Daniel Inesse. God Is Gay. Santa Rosa, CA: Tayu Press, 1982.

★2606★

Temple of Priapus

PO Box 1164, Stn. H
Montreal, PQ, Canada H3G 2N1

Priapus was a Greek god of Dionysus and Aphrodite, guardian deity of gardens, vineyards, and herbs. Worship of Priapus spread to Greece during the time of Alexander. He personified male procreative power. Groups devoted to his worship, and similar groups in other cultures (including Southern Asia), have had a significant presence in the life of people, including those in such areas as northern Germany and the Slavic and Scandinavian lands. Evidence of groups involved in erotic worship practices, often times in the nude, in which ritual intercourse was part of the worship experience, survived throughout Europe, never having been completely suppressed nor dying out. The practice reappeared from time to time when a need presented itself.

Priapus worship reemerged in North America in the 1970s due to the efforts of a Reverend Jackson who had been ordained during a visit to Italy and subsequently in 1973 incorporated the church in California. The year before, a dentist in Calgary, Alberta, had incorporated the church in Canada. He remains as a high priest.

The affairs of the Temple of Priapus (also known as the Church of St. Priapus) are administered by the Governing Council, which meets every four years. In 1984, D. Francis Cassidy was elected the new Pontifex, a position he has held since. Membership in the temple consists primarily of gay and bisexual men though some temples have heterosexual gatherings. A greater variance can be found among temples in Europe, some of which (such as those in Switzerland) include families. There are four levels of membership in the temple.

Members acknowledge the power and beauty of the phallus and see it as their path to truth and wisdom; a source of joy and pleasure whose power can destroy evil. Sex is a vital part of the services, which may also involve sex magick and other forms of magick (candle, ceremonial, etc.) Semen is regarded with reverence and is considered a Sacrament of the Most Holy Seed. High Priests are ordained following the rites of Mary Magdalen in the West and similar rites in the East.

The church has formed an alliance with the American Gnostic Church.

Membership: Not reported. In 1997 there were six temples in Canada and 11 in the United States.

Periodicals: Cock.

★2607★

United Order of the Family of Christ

Current address not obtained for this edition.

The United Order of the Family of Christ was founded in 1966 by David-Edward Desmond of Denver, Colorado, as a Mormon-inspired communal group whose membership was entirely gay men. All of the members had been raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, known for its strong stand against homosexual practice. The order accepted the basic beliefs and practices of the Latter-day Saints, but rejects its leadership and their stance on self-affirming the gay life.

The Order was organized as a commune in which all the members' assets were held in common in an order savings and checking account. At the time of its founding, membership consisted of young males between the ages of 18 and 30. Officers, termed Keys, led the group. One of their number is designated the First Key, a position initially led by Desmond. The Keys obtain guidance from holding council with the Heavenly Father and attempt to direct the group, thought of as a family, in such a way that it will bring union and peace among the members and with the Father.

Desmond has performed a prophetic role within the group. It is believed that he has a special communion with God the Father and members report seeing a golden halo around his head as he teaches.

Membership: Not reported. Contact with the group has been lost in recent years and it may have dissolved.

Sources:

Shields, Steven L. Divergent Paths of the Restoration. Los Angeles: Restoration Press, 1990. 336 pp.

★2608★

Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches

8704 Santa Monica Blvd., 2nd Fl.
Los Angeles, CA 90069

Alternate Address: MCC of Toronto, 115 Simpson Ave., Toronto, ON M4K 1A1

The largest of the several churches serving the homosexual community is the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, founded in 1968 in Los Angeles by Pentecostal minister Troy Perry. In his popular autobiography, The Lord Is My Shepherd and He Knows I'm Gay, Perry recounts the story of his early religious and sexual awakening. After discovering his homosexual tendencies, he repressed them and became a relatively happy married father, and the pastor of a Church of God of Prophecy congregation in Santa Ana, California. Certain events, however, led to the revelation of his homosexual life, and he left the ministry. He then began the Metropolitan Community Church with a few friends and an ad placed in The Advocate, a popular gay periodical.

Perry carried his Pentecostalism into the Metropolitan Community Church. But as the church grew, primarily by the addition of other ministers who acknowledged their homosexual orientation and subsequently joined the church, a wide variety of worship and belief emerged. The church has developed a theology of love in which the central affirmation is God's acceptance of all people, including homosexuals. The church's theology treats the Apostle Paul's statements about homosexuality in the Bible as cultural accretions much as his statements against women speaking in church. In line with this theology, Perry has blessed the union of gay couples living in a "married" relationship.

Growth has continued in spite of continued resistance to gay concerns in the general population, the burning of several congregational buildings (four in 1973 alone), and the death of several members. It is headed by a seven-person Board of Elders elected by the General Conference, which meets annually. In 1973 the first woman, Freda Smith, was elected to the board. In 1984 a majority of the board were women.

In 1985, as the AIDS crisis was beginning, the Metropolitan Community Churches began a programmed response that included a major education program and attempted to focus attention on the problem within the larger religious community. In 1987 they began a new newsletter, Alert, aimed at keeping the church informed on the ongoing crises and providing resources for those affected.

The Church is currently organized into 17 regions/districts, eight of which are located outside the United States and oversee churches in Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Great Britain, Denmark, Canada, Mexico, and the Philippines.

Membership: In 1987 the churches reported 86 chartered churches, 1707 commissioned churches (including study groups and missions), and 37 new and special works. Forty-five of these church and study groups are located in foreign countries: Nigeria, Denmark, France, England, Australia, Indonesia, Canada, Mexico, and Costa Rica.

Educational Facilities: Samaritan College, Los Angeles, California.

Periodicals: Journey. • Alert.

Sources:

Enroth, Ronald M., and Gerald E. Jamison. The Gay Church. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 1974.

Perry, Troy D. The Lord Is My Shepherd and He Knows I'm Gay. New York: Bantam Books, 1978.