Not surprising; I figured this day would eventually come.
In a historic vote, the United Church of Canada has elected its first openly gay moderator.
After six ballots and nearly eight hours of voting at the church’s 41st general council in Ottawa Thursday, Rev. Gary Paterson emerged from a record field of 15 candidates to win the top job at Canada’s largest Protestant church. He is thought to be the first openly gay person to head any mainstream Christian denomination.
The 350 voting commissioners at the general council greeted the announcement with cheers and a prolonged standing ovation, and quickly voted to make Paterson’s election unanimous.
He wasn’t the only homo running, either:
Paterson was only one of three openly gay candidates for the moderator’s job.The other two were eliminated early, as was Rev. Tom Sherwood, an Ottawa minister who served as Carleton University’s ecumenical chaplain from 1999 to 2009.
And his ‘husband’ was the first openly gay ‘minister’ in the UCC, two decades back:
In 1992, the United Church ordained Tim Stevenson, currently a Vancouver city councillor, as its first openly gay minister. Today, the church boasts many gay and lesbian ministers, and the issue is no longer contentious for most United Church members.
Paterson is married to Stevenson, who has been his partner for 30 years. After the election results were announced, Stevenson joined Paterson on the Dias and the two embraced as attendees cheered and applauded.
Paterson, who has been an ordained minister for 35 years, also has three daughters from his first marriage, now all in their 30s.
They really should rename their denomination ‘Sodomites and Feminists ‘R’ Us’, because every UCC minister one comes across seems to be either a woman or a queer, these days…
Other matters of importance at this year’s general council included taking a stand against an oil pipeline, a proposal to boycott Israeli goods, and a proposed resolution on condemning gossip. {Yawn} I haven’t seen any word in the media on what they decided about the boycott or gossip, but it’s not like it really matters, anyway…
IOW, the United Church continues its slide into irrelevance, ignoring its impending collapse, ignoring the huge decline in membership, just like other mainline Protestant denominations…
And with this decision, they will only exacerbate their problems.
Good, I say! They have a deathwish; let it come upon them, and soon.