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The Oasis Celebrates Its 10th Anniversary

Episcopal News Service. June 30, 1999 [99-102]

Elizabeth Kaeton

(ENS) The temperature hovered in the high nineties on Tuesday evening, June 1, as the Rev. Bill Gannon's Dixieland band led the procession down the main street of Hoboken, New Jersey, with its rendition of "What a Friend We Have in Jesus." They joined the rest of the congregation at All Saints' Church for the celebration of the 10th anniversary of The Oasis, the mission and ministry of the Diocese of Newark with all those who experience prejudice and oppression because of their sexual orientation.

The celebration was bittersweet, however, as it also marked the last time Bishop John Shelby Spong, who is to retire next January, would be with the congregation as diocesan bishop. As preacher, Spong noted the record over the past 10 years: Openly lesbian women and gay men now make up 16 percent of the clergy of the Diocese of Newark, two-thirds of the lay diocesan staff, and half the lay membership of the Standing Committee.

Slightly more than 40 percent of the congregations in the diocese are sponsoring congregations of The Oasis, and lesbian and gay people actively serve in their congregations as lay leaders. Many of these leaders found their way back into the church because of the witness and evangelism of The Oasis.

The Oasis has developed curricula to promote congregational discussion of homophobia, has developed a bible study of homosexuality and is currently providing diversity training and education for faith-based communities that examine the connections between prejudice based on sexuality, race, sex, and physical ability. A curriculum to raise awareness about the specifics of sexism in the church is due to be completed this fall.

Spong said that there is still a long way to go, however. "Institutions are not changed by rhetoric. Hearts are not converted by study groups," he declared. "The church has never thought its way into new ways of acting. It has always acted its way into new ways of thinking. The work of The Oasis will not be complete," he said, "until there is justice across the land for every one of God's lesbian and gay people."

The bishop and his wife, Christine, were honored for their courageous love and worldwide evangelism on behalf of the lesbian and gay community. A special award was given to Michael Rehill, diocesan chancellor and chief respondent in the presentment charge against Bishop Walter Righter, who was charged with heresy after ordaining an openly gay man to the diaconate in the Diocese of Newark.

The proclamation with Rehill's award stated that he "settled once and for all the canonical question of the ordination of lesbian and gay people, freeing the people of God to wrestle with the issue in their hearts and souls."