SF Most Holy Redeemer parish invites “First bishop to wed his same-sex partner” to lead Vespers

November 22, 2011

Most Holy Redeemer Church, San Francisco’s notoriously ‘gay-friendly’ parish, has invited a retired Episcopalian bishop who left his wife and family to ‘marry’ a man as guest speaker at a Nov. 30 Advent Vespers Service.

The invited guest is Episcopal Bishop Otis Charles, who in 2005 provided a biographical statement to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Religious Archives Network, which said in part: “Since 1979 he has been among a growing number of bishops who have spoken out for full and complete inclusion of gay and lesbian people in the church without restriction, recognizing their calling to ministry and rejecting the notion that a baptized homosexual must live a celibate life. Whether in an informal gathering or the pulpit, he characteristically begins, ‘I am a gay man, an Episcopal (Anglican) bishop, a queer who only just mustered the courage to publicly acknowledge the truth of my life.’"

Not included in the statement is that Charles divorced his wife of 42 years, and has five children. It also does not include the fact that, on April 24, 2004, he “married” a man named Felipe Sanchez Paris in a ceremony at St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco.

The event was covered in the San Francisco Chronicle as “the world's first bishop to wed his same-sex partner in church.” The Chronicle also reported that, following the “marriage,” the Right Rev. William Swing, then Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of California, severed ties with Bishop Charles: "No longer is he an assisting bishop, and no longer is he licensed to celebrate the Sacraments here."

Pro-homosexuality Vespers speakers are not unusual at Most Holy Redeemer. In 2010 such speakers included Episcopal Rev. Jay Emerson Johnson, a staff member at the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley. His biographical page on the CLGS website says, “His current research and writing interests involve the intersections of queer theory and Christian traditions.” the rest