"Gay Church" holds service in Catholic chapel during WCC Meeting

"In the 9th assembly of the World Council of Churches, a gay Church celebrates service in the Chapel of PUCRS [Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul]." Feb. 21, 2006 - News from the newspaper Zero Hora (Porto Alegre, Brazil)

by Itamar Melo

A church [sic] whose bishops [sic] , ministers, and faithful are homosexual celebrated a service yesterday [February 20, 2006] in Porto Alegre [Brazil] during the 9th assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC). Founded in 1968 in the United States and with a parish [sic] in Rio since 2004, the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) plans to open a church in the Capital [Porto Alegre].

The service happened in the morning in the chapel of the PUCRS [the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, a Catholic university of Pontifical right and status, owned by the Marists], where the religious forum takes place. Three foreign female bishops [sic] as well as Gelson Piber, the minister responsible for the Brazilian parish [sic], participated in the celebration. The homosexual aspect of the service was visible in some details: the lilac color of the altar cloth, the rainbow-colored stole of one of the female bishops [sic], and in the prayers for the memory of gays and lesbians.

-Our message is that God does not discriminate anyone. Prejudice against homosexuality is based in equivocal interpretations of the Bible -- said bishop [sic] Darlene Garner, MCC's woman in charge for Latin America.

The institution was founded by Troy Perry, a minister who was expelled from a Pentecostal church when his homosexuality was discovered. Today, the MCC is present in 26 countries, 20 of them in Latin America. The church's delegation at the WCC assembly, where it participates as an observer, is composed of 15 people. Its members are usually people who went through discrimination, healing attempts, and guilt crises in other denominations. In the MCC churches, gays are baptized, receive the eucharist [sic] , and may get married [sic].

Links to the WCC Assembly, the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, its Chapel (actually, the "University Church Christ the Master" of the "Pastoral Center" -- where one may check that it is the exact same place), the Marists, and the original report (which is available for free only today, with a complex registration, but which we have saved just in case). The Catholic Church was an observer in the WCC Assembly.

Saint Marcellin Champagnat, founder of the Marist School Brothers, would be proud of this, right?

Thanks to our South American reader who sent us this.