Warning: Illegal string offset 'itemurl' in /home/lutheran/www/www/admin/global_functions.inc on line 257
Time and the Man
Abstract: The ELCIC's talking point...
Right man, wrong time is the "spin" being attributed to ELCIC Presiding Bishop Susan Johnson (pictured) and Eastern Synod Bishop Michael Pryse concerning on Canada's first extra ordinem ordination.
None of the bishops has called into question Pr. Ketola's talent for ministry. Instead they focus on the acceptability to the church of ordaining a gay man. In Bishop Pryse's words:
Most members of our church aren't going to be happy about this. I think people have come a whole long way, and I think people who are really out front on [this issue] ... sometimes they lose sight of that.
In her remarks during the ordination service, Emily Eastwood, Executive Director for Lutherans Concerned North America, recalled the 30-year struggle of LGBT people for acceptance in Canada's Lutheran church and responded, "Right man, right time. Right now."
A different perspective emerged in a forum topic (Sigh...) at the American Lutheran Pubilicity Bureau (ALPB), and while we might disagree with some of the commentary, we believe an important question is raised there: how would anyone know when the "right" time has arrived?
Pr. Sophie knows what you're thinking, and she says shame on you for all those "when it's someone else's responsibility" thoughts.
