Intersex, Women Bishops, and the Body of Christ

The story of Rev. Sally / Selwyn Gross neatly encapsulates the challenges of intersex people to Roman Catholic rules on the ordination of women. Male-identified at birth, Selwyn was raised as male, and became a Catholic priest. When medical tests revealed that internal biology was primarily female, Sally transitioned - and was forced out of the priesthood.

In the Anglican church, there is no problem with the ordination of intersex people, as there is no bar to women's ordination in the first place, nor are there barriers to promotion - up to the rank of bishop. Then the stained - glass ceiling is struck, for intersex people and for women. We know from science that the intersex phenomenon is entirely natural and complex, including a small but significant proportion of the human population. The absolute division of us into a neat two-part binary, is simplistic and a dangerous ground on which to base rules for ordination (or for marriage, for that matter).

The theologian Dr Susannah Cornwall has specialised in the intersex challenge to theology, notably in her book "Sex and Uncertainty in the Body of Christ" . In a new paper, reported on in the Church Times, she applies these considerations to the debate raging in the English Church over women bishops.   The trigger for her intervention came in a paper by those opposed to women bishops,"The Church, Women Bishops and Provision"which argued “When we stop receiving Christ in his essential maleness, his humanity becomes obscured".

Essentially male?

Intersex conditions undermine the assumptions about the clear delineation between male and female which underpin the theology of Christians that oppose women bishops.

Dr Cornwall says that many contemporary theological accounts of sex, gender, and sexuality take too little heed to the existence of physical intersex conditions.

“The important question is what definition of maleness the authors of The Church, Women Bishops and Provision are using, and what it is in which they believe that maleness inheres,” she writes. “Intersex dis­turbs the discreteness of maleness and femaleness, and might therefore also disturb the gendered roles which are pinned to them.”

Dr Cornwall believes that “very little” has been written about the impact of such conditions on theology and the Church’s ministry.

“Generally, there has been a growing awareness that intersex exists but not specifically theological reflection,” she said. “The pastoral concern is the big impetus for my project, but I don’t think it’s possible to do that without thinking about the theological considerations.”

 - full report at Church Times 

A fundamental problem with the argument that women bishops obscure Christ's "essential maleness" - is that it is by no means certain that Christ was in fact essentially male: he may in fact have been intersex.  The Church Times avoids reporting on this aspect of Cornwall's argument, but there is a summary at the Telegraph.

In her paper “Intersex & Ontology, A Response to The Church, Women Bishops and Provision”, she argues that it is not possible to know “with any certainty” that Jesus did not suffer from an intersex condition, with both male and female organs.
In an extraordinary paper she says: “It is not possible to assert with any degree of certainty that Jesus was male as we now define maleness.
“There is no way of knowing for sure that Jesus did not have one of the intersex conditions which would give him a body which appeared externally to be unremarkably male, but which might nonetheless have had some “hidden” female physical features.”
Dr Cornwall argues that the fact that Jesus is not recorded to have had children made his gender status “even more uncertain”.
She continues: “We cannot know for sure that Jesus was male – since we do not have a body to examine and analyse – it can only be that Jesus’ masculine gender role, rather than his male sex, is having to bear the weight of all this authority.”

-Telegraph

Recommended Books:

Cornwall, Susannah: Sex and Uncertainty in the Body of Christ: Intersex Conditions and Christian Theology (Gender, Theology and Spirituality)

Cornwall, Susannah: Controversies In Queer Theology (Controversies in Contextual Theology Series)

Mollenkott, Virginia Ramey: Omnigender: A Trans-Religious Approach

Thatcher, Adrian: God, Sex, and Gender: An Introduction

Related articles

• Beyond Male and Female: Gender Trouble, Biology Trouble.
• How a Woman Became a Dominican Priest, and Teacher of Moral Theology.
• LGBT History Month: Queer Icons, in Faith – Jesus Christ.
• “T and Conversation”: Beyond Binary Pronouns

• Jesus 'May Have Been Hermaphrodite', Says Researcher (ibtimes.com)
• Orchids sheds light on the secrecy surrounding intersex (kallmannssyndrome.wordpress.com)
• Gender Character and Intersex Conditions (socyberty.com)
• Women bishops and the February General Synod (thinkinganglicans.org.uk)
• Jesus may have been a hermaphrodite, claims academic (telegraph.co.uk)

English Bishop Backs Gay Marriage: Queer Ferment in the Anglican Church.

For years, the major focus of controversy in the Church of England has been over the appointment of women bishops. That debate has now been all but settled (even the opponents agree that change is inevitable). Issues around full LGBT inclusion in church will now move to centre stage.

One sign of this is a bishop who has spoken out publicly in favour of gay marriage:

The new Bishop of Salisbury, The Rt Revd Nick Holtam, has spoken out in support of gay marriage.

Bishop Holtam made the comments in an interview with the Times today ahead of the meeting of the General Synod next week, where civil partnerships in churches and equal marriage are to be discussed.

He said: “We are living in a different society. If there’s a gay couple in The Archers, if there’s that form of public recognition in popular soaps, we are dealing with something which has got common currency. All of us have friends, families, relatives, neighbours who are, or who know someone, in same-sex partnerships.”

He said he was “no longer convinced” marriage should be between a man and a woman.

He continued: “I think same-sex couples that I know who have formed a partnership have in many respects a relationship which is similar to a marriage and which I now think of as marriage.

Bishop of Salisbury Backs Gay Marriage - Pink News

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Lesbian priests marry, Boston cathedral, 1/1/2010"][/caption]

He is not alone. The Times interview, in which he was speaking about full marriage, followed an earlier report that over 100 Anglican clergy from the diocese of London have signed a petition asking that the synod next week agree to allow local discretion on conducting civil partnership ceremonies on church. The background is that parliament last year changed the civil partnership legislation, which previously prohibited these from being conducted on religious premises, to permit such premises where church authorities give explicit approval. Up to now, the public stance of the Church of England has been that permission will not be granted. Next week's synod will show that there is significant opposition to that stance.

Dr Jeffrey John to sue the Church of England for discrimination?

Dr Jeffrey John, the dean of St Albans, has good reason to be unhappy with his treatment by the Church of England. Not once, but twice, he has been nominated as a bishop - and then passed over, in spite of widespread agreement that he is superbly well qualified, and the best man for the job. On both occasions, the sole reason was that he is gay, and partnered. On both occasions, the handling of the affair was grossly embarrassing and offensive.

Anglican rules on gay or lesbian clergy are a mess, confused and contradictory. Technically, all are welcome to the priesthood - but only if they are married, or celibate. The celibacy requirement though, is widely perceived to be a fig-leaf. Nobody believes it is widely observed for ordinary priests  - but is seen to be a major barrier to promotion. Adding to the complexity, two recent legal opinions have reached contradictory conclusions on the validity of the rules. Now, it seems that Dr John is about to test the rules, in court.

Gay priest 'considers suing Church of England for discrimination'

The Church of England's most senior openly gay cleric is understood to be considering suing his employers for discrimination unless he is made a bishop.

Dr Jeffrey John, the dean of St Albans, was forced to stand down by the archbishop of Canterbury after being appointed suffragan bishop of Reading in 2003 following objections from conservative evangelicals.

Two years ago, John – a celibate priest who is in a longstanding civil partnership with another cleric – was prevented from becoming the bishop of Southwark after the archbishops of Canterbury and York stepped in.

Reports on Sunday suggested John had become so exasperated at his treatment that he had hired Alison Downie, an employment and discrimination law specialist and partner at the law firm Goodman Derrick, to fight his case under equality law. Four years ago, Downie successfully represented a gay youth worker who was found to have been discriminated against by the bishop of Hereford because of his sexuality.

It is thought John's case could hinge on a damning memorandum written by a former dean of Southwark Cathedral, which lays bare the divisions over sexuality at the very top of the church.

In the leaked memo, the late Very Rev Colin Slee described how both the archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, and the archbishop of York, John Sentamu "behaved very badly" at a meeting to choose the bishop of Southwark in 2010, and "were intent on wrecking both Jeffrey John and [another candidate] Nick Holtam equally".

via  The Guardian.

Related articles

• The gay churchman and an unholy row (independent.co.uk)
• Gay priest 'considers suing Church of England for discrimination' (guardian.co.uk)

Church of England women bishop plan passes key threshold

The proposal to approve women bishops for the Church of England has just passed a key threshold: of the 44 diocesan synods, 28 have already approved the proposal - comfortably more than the half of the total (i.e. 22) that were required, with 14 votes still to come.

While approval at this stage may well have been expected, there are two features that particularly interest me. One is the sheer scale of support, and the other the very clear rejection of a compromise motion, to assuage the male hardliners who simply cannot countenance serving under a woman.

The sheer scale of the support thus far is impressive: 28 synods have voted in favour, and just 2 against. In most of these, support has come from all three houses of bishops, clergy and laity, and frequently by huge margins. The dire warnings of a seriously divided church, and the probability of a serious schism, are unfounded. The dissenting voices are few. When they see the scale of their defeat, most will learn to adapt. Some no doubt will choose to leave, or seek allegiance to an alternative hierarchical  structure - but they will be few.

The compromise motion, recognizing the inevitable victory for the proposal, aimed to sugar the pill for conservative male clergy by providing for alternative structures whereby dissenting male clergy could avoid reporting to female bishops, by working instead with a parallel structure consisting exclusively of men. This is obviously insulting to women, and has been roundly rejected. Just 6 of the 30 votes so far have supported the compromise. That is, 24 have rejected it - already more than half. The compromise cannot reach the minimum of 22 required.

Although it is clearly supported by a majority of the dioceses, this was just one (important) landmark along the way. The proposal still has some way to go. Next, it will have to be approved by the full national synod, with parallel votes in favour required from each of the three houses - of bishops, clergy and laity. The scale of support at diocesan level, coming generally from all three houses, should make passage at this next level pretty  much a formality. Thereafter, it will have to go before the British parliament.

Legislation to introduce women bishops into the Church of England has moved a step closer, according to supporters.

So far 28 out of 30 of the Church's regional councils, the diocesan synods, have voted to endorse the legislation.

Having been backed by most of the 44 diocesan synods, the measure will return to the General Synod next year.

A further motion with extra concessions for Anglicans who cannot accept women bishops has been supported by just six diocesan synods.

The Church's national assembly, the General Synod, may vote finally on the legislation next July.

-BBC News 

Related articles

• Support for women bishops plan (independent.co.uk)
• Women bishops get clergy blessing (queertheology.blogspot.com)
• Lichfield Diocesan Synod approves women bishops plan (queertheology.blogspot.com)
• C.of E. Diocesan Synods - Latest Results on O.o.W. Bishops (kiwianglo.wordpress.com)

Women bishops law in Anglican Church makes progress

"This month the campaign to allow women bishops in the Church of England could clear another hurdle.

Supporters are surprised and encouraged by the backing it has been getting in the Church's regional councils, or synods.

"We were expecting positive votes but the overwhelming majorities have been more encouraging than we expected," says Helena Jenkins, a parishioner of St Luke's church in Sevenoaks, Kent.

"I like to think it's the Holy Spirit moving, because I just feel so strongly that this is the right way for the Church to go," says Ms Jenkins, a member of the campaign group Women and the Church.

"And I think even some people who have difficulty with the idea of women in ministry have been listening perhaps more than they were."

The measure needs the approval of half the synods of the Church's 44 dioceses before it returns to the General Synod, which could take a final vote on the measure next July.

So far all the 17 diocesan synods which have voted have backed the legislation."

-BBC News

Transgendered in Faith: A Review of Progress

I am astonished that much as the religious right waxes apoplectic at the idea of lesbian or gay inclusion in church, or secular equality in marriage, family or employment law, what really gets them going is the notion of the trans community being met with basic human dignity. Their pretence that this is based on "religious" principle is beyond my comprehension: from the story of Philip the Ethiopian eunuch in the Acts of the Apostles, the lesson is unambiguous and explicit: for the Christian, "All are welcome". 

My post last week on Genesis emphasised that a primary point of the Creation story is a celebration of diversity, which includes gender, sexual and orientation diversity. By grand serendipity (I didn't plan it that way), today marks the start of Transgendered in Faith Awareness Week. to mark this week, I will continue reflecting on the celebration of gender diversity, with reposts of some previously published material, and fresh thoughts, on some transsexual and transgender surprises in the animal kingdom, a look at some books, trans themes in Scripture, and some personal stories. 

To start the week, I simply draw your attention to a Guardian report by Becky Garrison which says that

Trans clergy are finally gaining greater acceptance

Blessing Same Sex Unions in Toronto

There is no longer any doubt in my mind that widepread, formal recognition by Christian churches of same-sex unions, by liturgical rites in church, is on the way - one small step at a time.

One of these small steps is in the diocese of Toronto, where the local archbishop has given pastoral guidelines for blessing same sex unions. Technically, the impact will be only local, in his own archdiocese, and limited to a simple blessing, not full marriage. Effectively, though, this one of those small steps that makes subsequent strides that much easier. Civil marriage for same sex couples is already a well-established fact of life in Canada. Church blessings in Toronto will soon spread across the nation, just as civil marriage did after a purely local introduction. From country-wide blessing of civil unions, to blessing civil marriages, to full church weddings, will be easy steps. Sweden already has gay and lesbian church weddings in the Lutheran church, with which Anglicans and Episcopalians are in communion. Other Scandinavian churches will soon follow suit - as will Canadian Anglicans, just a little later.

Archbishop Johnson with Queen Elizabeth, 2010