My computer is being up-graded so I’m borrowing my wife’s to make a swift response to some comments about my last blog.
A few weeks ago I was chided by a conservative blogger because, he suggested erroneously -there were only 90 members in the parish I serve. Ergo I must be a failure and thus not qualified to comment on much at all. Now a liberal suggests that I would be a terrible pastor to gays. Well I may be a terrible pastor to everyone, but its an equal opportunity terribleness. To my knowledge I have never treated gay parishioners in any different manner than anyone else. I haven’t had any complaints yet and I’ve been in the ministry for over 40 years.
It used to be common to hear the view that Roman Catholic priests couldn’t speak about marriage because they were single. It is suggested that I can’t speak about self-sacrifice to my gay friends, the common mission of all Christian service, because I am not gay. I have no time for the Archbishop of Nigeria or the Nigerian government’s proposed legislation and anyone who reads this blog knows that full well.
What I am saying is that I believe that the methods and tactics of secular government have so thoroughly informed the manner in which we seek justice, that the inevitable “mercy” component has disappeared and thus, if anything, we have become less tolerant of each other rather than more so. The posted comments, and their mirror image retorts from some conservatives, suggest that I may not be far wrong.
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Anglican Thoughts 
Tony,
In this crazy day and age you are one of the fairest bloggers on the Internet. Really trying to find a middle way in all this mess that the Episocpal/Anglican Church seem to be in. Just keep on writing what you are writing. I love your writings, reflections, and perspective.
AMEN to everything John said. Fr. Tony, yours is one of the few sane and sensible voices in the Anglican blogosphere.
Have a happy Epiphany.
Fr. Clavier,
Your previous post strikes me as an exercise in nostalgia that probably bears little resemblance to reality. I know from pastoral experience that lesbian & gay people are, on the whole, far better of in the church of today than in the church of fifty years ago. And I know from pastoral experience that many gay and lesbian Christians still experience a great deal of suffering at the hands of both “tolerant” and “intolerant” Christians.
I must point out that many people, gay and straight, have sacrificed a lot to make such progress as has been made in our being “tolerated.” We are no strangers to sacrifice. I fear, however, that you have mistaken scapegoating for sacrifice. The question is not what gay people should sacrifice for straight people, or vice-versa. The question is what the Church is being asked to sacrifice for the sake of the Gospel.
But perhaps ours is simply a difference in the hierarchy of values: I place honesty ahead of unity. The closet afforded the church unity, but at the cost of honesty. That is a price I’m not willing to pay. I don’t believe it is a price you desire to exact from me, either.
BTW, what was the point of your comment about what Louie held in the palm of his hand?