I would recommend that folks read Debra Wagner's article (cited at the end of the above piece) and write a response to her paper. She offers a very interesting view on what "True" Episcopalians believe and I think she's just plain wrong.

The link was a letter to the editor rather than an article or a column specifically designated as an op-ed.

It's not always easy to see the distinction on-line in the same way one might when reading the newspaper.

Heidi Shott

Well, this sounds a good bit like the fictitious "silent majority" of years gone by. Substitute "some" for "true" and you might have it on the spot, Debra. Fortunately, the tide is turning, and not only in the church but in the state [some] people are slowly realizing that the old "truth" was simply an old prejudice.

My husband and I have met Debra and her husband Beau Wagner, who was ordained a few years ago in the Diocese of Albany and graduated from the Alliance Theological Seminary in New York. Neither she nor her husband told us they thought we are living in sin.

Her husband is in charge of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Lisbon, Maine. The church website has no links to the Episcopal Diocese of Maine, whereas the Episcopal Diocese of Maine website has links to Saint Matthew.

Given the seminary and the Bishop who ordained Beau, as well as the lack of links to the Episcopal Church on the website, they are not mainstream Episcopalians.

Gary Paul Gilbert

A response I sent today to the Portland paper.

Much of what Debra Wagner wrote about the Episcopal Church is correct.

She, however, leaves out much of the story. The Episcopal Church has not yet changed

the prayerbook marriage service. The Episcopal Church has spent more

than thirty years discussing homosexuality and has come a long way

toward becoming truly welcoming and inclusive. During its General

Convention this summer (where I represented Maine), it said orientation

would not be a block to the ordination process and committed to study

rites of blessing for same-sex couples and the theology of marriage

itself. It also empowered bishops in places where marriage and/or civil

unions are legal to offer pastoral generosity, a statement that many

believe allows those services to take place in our congregations. Yes,

the Episcopal Church is struggling openly and honestly about these

issues. Yes, our respect for reason and individual decision-making means

that not all will agree. Note also that legislation in the church moves

slowly which means that decisions the church makes tend to reflect

rather than create the new things that God is doing in the world.

Question one, however, is not about the church. It says nothing about

what churches can or cannot do or what Christians can or cannot believe.

Question one is about civil marriage and civil rights. It is about

finding Christ in all persons, loving our neighbor as ourself, striving

for justice and respecting, the dignity of every human being and giving

all people the hope that is embodied in the Kingdom of God that Jesus

proclaimed and Jesus lived. These are the things the Episcopal church is

about and it is from this faith that I have already voted no on one and

will continue to work in my church and my state toward the goal of

providing civil rights for all.