ELCA NEWS SERVICE

March 23, 2004

ELCA Studies on Sexuality Considers Options, Reparative Therapy
04-047-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The task force coordinating studies in the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) regarding issues of
human sexuality met here March 19-21 to consider the range of
possible recommendations it could provide the church in 2005.  It
also heard a presentation on reparative therapy -- a counseling
approach to assist those who want to change their sexual
orientation.
     Dr. Warren E. Throckmorton, professor of psychology, Grove
City College, Grove City, Pa., told the task force that
reparative therapy is one method of reorientation counseling that
hopes to repair a person's relationship with his or her same-sex
parent.  The therapy is based on a theory that homosexual
relationships grow from needs for affirmation and emotional
intimacy that are lacking in the parent-child relationship, he
said.
     Throckmorton said "personal choice is absolutely required"
and reparative therapy is not confrontational.  "I don't see the
counseling hour as the place for coercion," he said.  Instead, he
described his counseling method as one of listening and of
providing a safe place for a person to work toward reorientation.
     "Sexuality is a lot more fluid than many people give it
credit to be," Throckmorton said.  Homosexuality is not
"genetically hard-wired" into a person, he said.
     Noe Gutierrez Jr. told the task force that spiritual growth
and not therapy helped him deal with "conflicts" that convinced
him he was a gay teen-ager.  He attributes a stronger
relationship with God for his change in orientation from
homosexual to heterosexual at age 24.
     In conversation with the task force, both Gutierrez and
Throckmorton argued against the possibility of the ELCA blessing
same-gender relationships from the position that it may
discourage some who are struggling with their sexuality from
seeking help.
     Reparative therapy is "a very wide and varied discipline,"
said the Rev. Margaret G. Payne, chair of the 14-member task
force and bishop of the ELCA New England Synod, Worcester, Mass.
"I learned a lot more about it," she said, "when it's done well
and what are some of the problems around it and what are some of
the myths."
     "It takes time to process what we've learned," Payne said.
"This is a cumulative process.  I find our accumulated wisdom and
trust is growing, so no one thing makes a difference but rather
it all contributes to our 'faithful journey together,'" she said.
     "Journey Together Faithfully" is the title the task force
has given much of its work for the ELCA Studies on Sexuality.  It
compiled the 49-page study guide "Journey Together Faithfully,
Part Two: The Church and Homosexuality" to facilitate study in
congregations across the United States and Caribbean.
     The ELCA's chief legislative body is the churchwide
assembly, which meets every other year; the next assembly will be
Aug. 8-14, 2005, in Orlando, Fla.  The 2001 assembly mandated a
study in preparation for decisions the 2005 assembly is to make
regarding the blessing of committed same-gender relationships and
the ministries of people in such relationships.  In addition, the
study is to develop a proposed social statement on human
sexuality for the assembly to consider in 2007.
     Current ELCA policy expects ministers to refrain from all
sexual relations outside marriage.  The church has no official
policy on blessing same-gender relationships.  The ELCA
Conference of Bishops, an advisory body of the church, stated it
does not approve of such ceremonies.
     At this particular task force meeting, "we really turned a
corner and began to think about the recommendations that we are
called to present for the churchwide assembly in 2005.  We began
that discussion and began to think about options and how they
will be shaped and how we will go about that task," Payne said.
     She said some of the options were presented in the study
guide -- including variations between "neither bless same-sex
unions nor ordain, commission or consecrate people in such
relationships" and "bless same-sex unions and ordain, commission
and consecrate people in such unions."
     Some of the options mentioned during the task force meeting
included "exceptions on an individual basis," various forms of
"local option" and possible rewording of ELCA governing
documents.
     At two points in the meeting, the task force went into
"background" sessions that excused visitors from their
deliberations.  On one occasion, "we were looking at a first
analysis of early responses to the study materials," said the
Rev. James M. Childs Jr., director for the ELCA Studies on
Sexuality.
     "The danger of having those results cited is that people
might want to discern a pattern, and it's too early to discern a
pattern," Childs said.  "We need to be able to discuss how the
material is being presented and how we are to understand and
interpret it.  These things are easily misconstrued outside the
conversation among task force members," he said.
     Childs said the early responses represent a diversity of
views.  "We are beginning to learn how to get the most out of the
response data that will be coming in much larger volume" as the
Nov. 1 deadline for responses approaches, he said.
     The other background session was for task force members to
discuss their experiences while participating in studies that
involved the study guide.  "Rather than have specific opinions
attributed to individual task force members at this point in the
discussion, we have to recognize that their responses are a first
step in a dialogue that will keep going," Childs said.
     Topics the task force discussed in that closed session
included: a "third way" rather than "both sides" of the issues,
ambiguity, biblical material, Christian unity, church history,
commonalities, constants, essentials of the Christian faith,
family ideals, God's calling, good order in the church, health
risks, idolatry, inclusivity, inconclusive science, individual
responsibilities, love, Luther's catechisms, marriage, new
options (pros and cons), personal observations, spiritual
discernment, tradition and treatment of "neighbors."
     Members of the task force will be involved in hearings
across the church this year "to give opportunity for the people
of the ELCA to hear one another and for representatives of the
task force to hear what people are saying," Payne said.  "This
whole process is very much an interactive process with people
throughout the ELCA.  I cannot overestimate the importance of
people being willing to step forward and contribute their opinion
and know that it will be heard," she said.
     The task force plans to hold its next meeting here Oct. 1-3.
-- -- --
     Information about the Studies on Sexuality is at
http://www.elca.org/faithfuljourney/ on the ELCA Web site.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask]
http://www.elca.org/news