Rebuilding in Mission and Ministry
SCOTLAND: Tutu gets standing ovation from Church of Scotland after addressing gay issue
May 28, 2009 [Ecumenical News International]
During an address to the Church of Scotland General Assembly in Edinburgh, Archbishop Desmond Tutu said that homosexuals have a place in the church.
Decisions made during the general assembly of the Kirk, as the Presbyterian Church of Scotland is known, have left the denomination deeply divided on the issue of gay clergy.
Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and the retired primate of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, received a standing ovation.
"I would find it impossible to stand by when people are being persecuted for something about which they can do nothing -- their sexual orientation," Tutu told delegates on the last day of their 2009 meeting. "In this family there are no outsiders. All are insiders -- lesbian, gay, so-called straight -- we are family."
Tutu's May 27 speech was the day after a decision by the Kirk to impose a two-year ban on open debate about the ordination of non-celibate gay people after the Kirk announced the appointment of a commission to investigate the issue and to report back by 2011.
The decision came as 121 ministers and members of the Kirk expressed their disapproval about an earlier decision to allow Scott Rennie, a gay man living openly with his partner, to be appointed to a ministry in Aberdeen, Scotland.
Tutu stated that he knew about the debate on the appointment of the homosexual minister.
"For my part, I was involved in the struggle against a system that penalized people for something about which they could do nothing -- their race," Tutu said.
"For quite a while our church did not ordain women to the priesthood. I joined the struggle and this is a non-issue in our church now," the archbishop said of the Church of Southern Africa. "We haven't yet consecrated a woman bishop, but we've called our first woman dean and any number of women are archdeacons."
Tutu was later awarded an honorary degree from Edinburgh University.
During an address to the Church of Scotland General Assembly in Edinburgh, Archbishop Desmond Tutu said that homosexuals have a place in the church.
Decisions made during the general assembly of the Kirk, as the Presbyterian Church of Scotland is known, have left the denomination deeply divided on the issue of gay clergy.
Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and the retired primate of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, received a standing ovation.
"I would find it impossible to stand by when people are being persecuted for something about which they can do nothing -- their sexual orientation," Tutu told delegates on the last day of their 2009 meeting. "In this family there are no outsiders. All are insiders -- lesbian, gay, so-called straight -- we are family."
Tutu's May 27 speech was the day after a decision by the Kirk to impose a two-year ban on open debate about the ordination of non-celibate gay people after the Kirk announced the appointment of a commission to investigate the issue and to report back by 2011.
The decision came as 121 ministers and members of the Kirk expressed their disapproval about an earlier decision to allow Scott Rennie, a gay man living openly with his partner, to be appointed to a ministry in Aberdeen, Scotland.
Tutu stated that he knew about the debate on the appointment of the homosexual minister.
"For my part, I was involved in the struggle against a system that penalized people for something about which they could do nothing -- their race," Tutu said.
"For quite a while our church did not ordain women to the priesthood. I joined the struggle and this is a non-issue in our church now," the archbishop said of the Church of Southern Africa. "We haven't yet consecrated a woman bishop, but we've called our first woman dean and any number of women are archdeacons."
Tutu was later awarded an honorary degree from Edinburgh University.
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