The Episcopal Church has consecrated its first Lesbian leader even though her ascension has caused the denomination great pain for at least 14 years, dividing congregations over the topic of flaunting homosexuality in the church.
“The Michigan diocese of the Episcopal Church has its first female and openly lesbian bishop. The Rev. Bonnie A. Perry was consecrated and ordained Feb 7th during a ceremony in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn,” the AP reported.
In 2006, the Chicago Tribune reported about her, “Perry, 44, stands at the edge of a global controversy threatening to split her church. Church leaders in Africa and South America have severed ties with the Anglican Communion since their American counterpart, the Episcopal Church, consecrated a gay bishop, New Hampshire’s V. Gene Robinson, in 2003.”
Perry describes her prior position in Chicago as the leader of a “progressive congregation filled with young people who are mildly embarrassed to be encountering God in the institutional church”.
The Episcopal denomination is known for it’s defense of embracing homosexuality by claiming that Jesus did not directly mention homosexuality, however, Perry doesn’t seem to embrace the Bible at all.
According to the Huffington Post, Perry also refers to God as “her”, showing her well-known brand of social justice focused sermons, which is a direct challenge to the Bible and teachings of Jesus and his “Father”.
Perry claims to welcome all.
An ordination will be held Saturday in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn for the Rev. Bonnie A. Perry, who said Friday in Detroit that "anyone that's on the margin needs to be welcomed."https://t.co/GABMTl4AWR
— WWMT-TV (@wwmtnews) February 7, 2020
But she may well just be signaling to a what former Pope XVI called a “Homosexual Clique”, blaming them for the rampant child sexual abuse scandals in the church.
Reported in April 2019, Pope Benedict XVI wrote, breaking a six-year long silence:
“Why did pedophilia reach such proportions?” Benedict said in his expansive, 6000-word letter.
“Ultimately, the reason is the absence of God,” he wrote, and he later went on to talk about the dangers of “homosexual cliques”.
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI wrote about "homosexual cliques" being established in various seminaries.
If you're wondering where the men who were participating in those cliques are today, you need look no further than episcopal sees such as Innsbruck. pic.twitter.com/CRQe5TZ3cI
— Radical Catholic (@RadicalCath) April 12, 2019
Western Journal wrote about Perry:
“Church leaders are supposed to keep Christians on the path to God, but Perry’s ordination is further evidence of church leaders kowtowing to the culture and leading their sheep down the road to perdition.
When leaders ignore the message of the Bible to advocate for their favorite sin, they are preying on their own flock.
“In various seminaries, homosexual cliques were established, which acted more or less openly and significantly changed the climate in the seminaries. In one seminary” seminarians and lay people lived together, it could not provide support for preparation to the priestly vocation,” Benedict said.
At the same time the prevalence of homosexuality flows through the Episcopalian Church, the Catholic Church has been beleaguered by claims that the homosexual clique Benedict referred to is responsible for Catholic leaders covering for each other as the sex abuse scandal reached the upper echelons of Rome.
Their response has been to blame homophobia.
Fr. Peter Daly assailed the claim that a group of gay priests sought to command the Catholic church. Rather, he points to what he sees as rampant homophobia.
“Some archconservative Catholics in the U.S. are saying that [Cardinal Theodore] McCarrick was protected by some sort of ‘gay clique’ in the hierarchy. This is utter nonsense,” Daly wrote.
“Both McCarrick and O’Brien hid behind public homophobia. In their public lives, they were vocal opponents of gay rights and gay marriage. McCarrick opposed gay marriage in Maryland and the District of Columbia. He also opposed giving health insurance to gay couples employed by the archdiocese. Like O’Brien, he may have felt that his anti-gay public positions insulated him from rumors about his private life,” Daly said.
Pope Benedict, a leader who was seemingly intent on maintaining Christian orthodoxy, is no longer at the helm of the Catholic Church.
The Episcopal Church continues its move away from orthodox Christianity.
The Anglican Church of Canada consecrated as Bishop of York-Scarborough an openly gay and partnered priest, Kevin Robertson in 2017.
National File will continue to cover these developments in the Christian Church in America and around the world.
