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News in the Subjunctive Mood
Abstract: Why did the New York Times report that Pr. Katrina Foster might "lose her collar"?
We were surprised to find an article on the New York Times web site about Pr. Katrina D. Foster. (We didn't see the article in our local edition of the Times.) Pr. Foster has been pastor of Fordham Evangelical Lutheran Church, an ELCA congregation in the Bronx, since 1994.
The Times' article was not about the Dr. Richard L. Peterman Good Steward Award which Pr. Foster received this year.
Nor was the article about her advocacy for the homeless, her work on behalf of the working poor, her church's redevelopment project which will create more than 70 new affordable apartments, her testimony on the impact of "stop and frisk" law enforcement policies that target African-American and Latino men in the Fordham community, or her participation in a panel that will interview Presidential candidates in an upcoming debate.
No, the Times article ( "Gay Pastor in the Bronx Could Lose Her Collar" by Tim Murphy) was about the possibility that Pr. Foster could be defrocked because she lives in a committed, same-sex relationship with her long-time partner Pamela Kallimanis.
We think it's an odd time to focus on this possibility, and we wonder what's up.
Pr. Foster has been out to her congregation since 2002 and was among the LGBT clergy who made a public statement at the 2007 Churchwide Assembly in Chicago.
Her bishop, the Rev. Stephen P. Bouman of the Metro New York Synod speaks highly of her:
"She is someone whose faith is genuine and she lives it in a very bold and inclusive way. She's not afraid to tell people that she loves God and that God loves them."
And even though Bishop Bouman will leave the synod at the end of 2007 to become Director of the Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Ministry Unit of the ELCA, we wonder how likely it is that his successor would start disciplinary proceedings since the most recent churchwide assembly encouraged bishops and synods to refrain from discipline in situations like Pr. Foster's.
Who knows, maybe subjunctive reporting sells more newspapers than stories in the declarative or indicative moods.
