Episcopal Bishop Defends Lesbian Priest Ordination

Washington’s Episcopal bishop, who ordained a lesbian seminary graduate as a priest amid protests this week, brushed aside objections to the priest’s sexual preference, calling Elizabeth L. Carl, 44, “an able candidate” for the ministry.

“In all her discussions with diocesan representatives, the candidate has been clear and candid about her sexuality and lifestyle,” said Bishop Ronald Haines. “She has handled herself well in this connection, being forthright about herself, yet sensitive to the differing views of others.”

Haines acknowledged that Carl “has for a number of years openly lived in a loving and intimate relationship with another woman.”

The ceremony Wednesday night at the Church of the Epiphany in downtown Washington came a month before Episcopalians, meeting at their triennial General Convention in Phoenix, will debate whether bishops should have the local option to ordain open homosexuals or whether church law should expressly prohibit such ordinations.

In previous years, an openly gay man was ordained a priest in the Newark, N.J., diocese and an openly lesbian priest was ordained in the New York diocese. An undetermined number of other priests have said they are homosexual years after their ordinations.

Carl has served as a church choir member, lay reader and lay minister and entered the ordination process in 1985. She graduated from the Union Theological Seminary in New York last year and began her job as assistant minister of the Church of the Epiphany in Washington last month.

The Wednesday ordination rites were disrupted for several minutes while parishioners voiced their complaints. Five members of the congregation approached the altar when Bishop Haines asked if there were any “impediment or crime” that should block Carl’s ordination.

“We believe this is a problem which obstructs a total commitment to Jesus,” the Rev. James West, a retired priest, said of Carl’s sexual orientation. “We feel it is necessary to object to ordination since it is a known fact she is a lesbian.” Several signs posted outside the church read, “This ordainment is sinful.”

After hearing the objections, Haines permitted the service to continue because he said the complaints did not differ from those raised by a standing committee of the church.

“Will you do your best to pattern your life and that of your household in accordance with the teachings of Christ, so that you may be a wholesome example to your people?” Haines asked Carl.

“I will,” replied Carl, a Methodist-reared native of Houston who worked for the Library of Congress for 16 years before entering seminary.

Nearly 30 priests from across the nation placed their hands on Carl as part of the ceremony.

Upon receiving the red stole of the priesthood, she turned to face a two-minute round of applause from the congregation.

After celebrating the Eucharist this weekend, she will spend much of her part-time priesthood counseling the elderly and visiting sick Episcopalians at area hospitals, a church spokesman said.

In his statement, the bishop said Carl would not use her ministry “as a public platform to advance any perceived cause relating to human sexuality.”