Quest

Simply Divine - A retreat for gay & bisexual men with Urs Mattmann & Ray Andrews

14 – 17 June 2012

This special week of recreation and retreat in wonderful Dorset offers the opportunity to discover where we are as gay and bisexual men on our journey as spiritual beings in this world. We will connect with and re-discover our potential as people who are loved and capable of loving others with a special contribution to make to society. We will also focus on the integration of your sexual identity and your spiritual self. During the retreat we explore together this essential question: What does it mean for gay and bisexual men to live a sacred life?

Group discussions, lectures, guided visualisations, meditations, liturgies and worship services will help our understanding of ourselves, the others, the world and God. Ray and Urs will be working from a gay affirming and open Christian perspective that acknowledges the existence of the divine in each of us, no matter our spiritual beliefs

The retreat will be at the The Othona Community, Coast Road, Burton Bradstock, Bridport, Dorset DT6 4RN UK Tel. 01308 897130
Email: mail@othona-bb.org.uk
www.othona-bb-org.uk
Cost for retreat and full board: £ 260 (Conc. £ 215)

RETREAT LEADERS

Urs Mattmann, qualified Social worker and a Psychosynthesis therapist with further training in theology and a background in meditation. Living with his partner in London, both are members of a Christian community. Since 1997 leading retreats for gay men and lesbians. Wild Goose Publications has published his book Coming In – Gays and Lesbians reclaiming the spiritual journey. (www.ionaboks.com – www.urs.mattmann.com )

Rev. Ray Andrews, for years member of a monastic Benedictine community , now Anglican priest in a Central London Parish. He also is a qualified Social worker with much experience in Mental Health and Addiction. He has a ministry in Spiritual Direction and conducts retreats. Appeared in BBC documentary “Father Ray Comes Out”.

PDF flyer

Background

The coalition government at Westminsterannounced in 2011 that it is to launch a consultation in the spring of 2012 on proposals to change the law in Englandand Walesto allow gay marriage by 2015. Meanwhile, the Scottish Government began its own process of consultation in 2011 calling upon interested bodies and organisations to submit their comments, etc by 9^th December 2011. Reaction from the Catholic bishops on both sides of the border was immediate and critical of the proposals.

Catholic doctrine of marriage

The most common argument against the proposals is that same-sex marriage redefines the meaning of marriage, i.e. a social institution under which a man and a woman freely consent to live as husband and wife by making a public, legal commitment. The Catholic Church expands this bald definition, teaching that marriage is divinely ordained and is a permanent, exclusive and indissoluble bond between a man and a woman who complement one another, and that procreation is the specific and intrinsic perfection of marriage. Marriage is regarded as sacramental when both parties are baptised Christians. Underpinning the sacramental theology of marriage is the image of the Church as the Bride of Christ drawn from the writings of St Paul (Ephesians 5); an image originating with the prophets to describe God’s relationship with his unfaithful people.

The marriage of baptised Catholics in a civil ceremony is considered invalid or non-sacramental by the Church because it lacks canonical form, i.e. it was undertaken without the permission of the Catholic authorities and not according to an authorised Catholic rite.  Marriages to be officiated by a non-Catholic minister require a dispensation from canonical form. It follows that baptised gay Christians who undertake a civil marriage are not confecting a sacramental or valid marriage, not only because they are have failed to obtain the necessary dispensation but because the ‘accidents’ or ‘symbols’ are wrong, i.e. they are not of the opposite sex. Read more…

The Committee, the Local Group Convenors, and all who provide Quest’s services, are keen for you to receive what you want from Quest. To help us plan and provide this, we would be grateful if you could answer the questions in the questionnaire attached. The information you provide will be treated as anonymous, and any names will be kept confidential. Your replies to these questions will help us to understand your needs and views, and enable us to provide the services, and the direction for Quest, that you want.

You can also submit this questionnaire online.

As a thank you for your participation in this survey, you will be able to enter a draw to win one of three copies of James Alison’s latest book and a free Quest T-shirt will be offered to a further ten others drawn at random. You can enter the draw by supplying your name and email address on the tear-off slip below. This will be detached by the secretary on receipt so your answers will NOT be linked to your name or email. If you submit the questionnaire online, please advise by email to secretary@questgaycatholic.org.uk – your answers and email will NOT be linked.

Thank you in advance for your time and feedback.

The Quest Committee

Quest is currently carrying out a survey of members and supporters. Those who prefer to complete the survey online may do so by clicking on the link below which will take you to surveymonkey.com. The survey is anonymous and confidential. If you wish to be entered into a prize draw, you just need to email secretary@questgaycatholic.org.uk to confirm that you submitted a survey but your answers and email will not be linked in any way.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/T75LQNF

‘Love Free or Die’ is the inspirational story of the first openly gay and partnered Bishop in Christendom, Bishop Gene Robinson, as he documents his travels between small-town and big city US churches to London’s Lambeth Palace, dedicating his courageous ministry to developing the Church’s relationship to its LGBT members.

Bishop Gene Robinson is a thorn in the side of the Church. Banned from attending the Lambeth Conference in 2008, the first openly gay and partnered bishop in Christendom, he has been a standard bearer for LGBT Christians. This film explores his problematic relationship to the Church with an account of his life as a husband, a father, a priest, and a lover. Some within the Episcopalian Church see his creation as a Bishop in 2003 as an abomination. Selected for this year’s Sundance Film Festival, the film follows Gene Robinson’s courageous ministry in the face of many obstacles and documents his struggle. This is a close-up portrait of a man who has taken on the Church hierarchy and is relentless in his need to stand up and be counted. By turns both disheartening and inspiring, this is a developing story of the Church’s relationship to its LGBT members.
Brian Robinson

Saturday, 24 March 2012, 1.50pm

Students/Concession   £6.75
16-18 year olds              £4
Adults                             £10

For tickets, visit bfi.org.uk/llgff or call BFI Southbank Box Office on 020 7928 3232.

John Ashman

Robinson, J. Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church: Reclaiming the Spirit of Jesus. The Columba Press. ISBN 9781856076605.

Six years ago on the recommendation of a friend I read Rabbi Jesus, an Intimate Biography by Bruce Chilton, an American Episcopalian (i.e. Anglican) priest and professor. Drawing on recent archaeological discoveries, new translations and interpretations of ancient texts, Chilton makes some astonishing claims about the life, influences, and teachings of Jesus. Had those claims been made in earlier centuries Chilton would almost certainly have been condemned as a heretic and thus suffered the consequences, possibly even leading to his execution. It was one of the books that I could not put down as it rewards the reader with a refreshing, revolutionary and, indeed, shocking portrait of Jesus’ ideas and beliefs that certainly challenge – many would say, undermine – the Church’s understanding of the identity of the central figure of the Christian faith.

Fortunately I suffered no ill effects, no lightning strikes, or loss of faith as a result of reading Rabbi Jesus, but I was left wondering whether the Jesus we seek to serve and follow has been masked, even distorted, by the present structures, historic teachings and doctrines that have accumulated over two millennia. We are entitled to ask, as the disciples once did, ‘If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly’. The present Pope has contributed volumes to increase our understanding of Jesus, including his remarkable two volume work, Jesus of Nazareth, but he has done so from within the rarefied atmospheres of, first, academia and, latterly, the Vatican. Bishop Geoffrey Robinson, who was auxiliary Bishop in the archdiocese of Sydney from 1984 to 2004, is exceptional in that he dares to say that one of the ugliest events to emerge from the Catholic Church, namely the sexual abuse of minors and the concealment of that abuse by church authorities, stands in complete contradiction of everything that Jesus lived and taught. In Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church he speaks not only as a bishop who, in 1994, was elected by his fellow Australian bishops to head the National Committee for Professional Standards, coordinating the response of the Church in Australia to revelations of sexual abuse, but, he confesses he was himself the victim of sexual abuse when he was a child, albeit the abuser was not a priest or religious. Read more…

Queering the Church is This is a brilliant blog – thoughtful, optimistic and clear. In fact, it’s one of the best blogs in its field. And its author, Terry Weldon, will be a speaker at this year Quest conference. Book it now! The early bird discount will be available for the next three weeks.

Quest is a founding member of the European Forum of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Christian Groups. Here is a promo video of the Forum telling about the nature of this organisation. If you can’t see the embedded player, you can watch the video at http://youtu.be/DO3-D98C_DQ.

John Ashman

Of Gods and Men (2010, in Arabic and French with English subtitles)

On the night of 26-27 March 1996, seven Trappist monks from the monastery at Tibhirine in Algeria were kidnapped by Islamist militants during the Algerian Civil War. Two months later, on 23 May, their kidnappers reported in a communiqué that the monks had been killed on 21 May. On 31 May the Algerian government announced that the monks’ heads had been discovered but their bodies were never found. Ever since, controversy has raged about the kidnappings and killings. The Armed Islamic Group (GIA) claimed responsibility for both, but the then French Military Attaché reported that the monks had been accidentally killed by an Algerian army helicopter during an attack on a guerrilla position, then beheaded after their death to make it appear as though the GIA had killed them. It has also been claimed by conspiracy theorists that the GIA cell responsible had been infiltrated by the Algerian secret service.

Whatever the truth behind this appalling tragedy, what lies at the heart of this film is the rhythm and witness of this contemplative community in an Islamic country, 34 years after independence from France, in the increasingly tense final months before the murders. The names of the monks are real and, while the screenplay draws on documents, including the journal of the prior, Christian de Chergé, the characterisations of necessity are fictional.

Having spent a few weeks ten years ago living with a community of Trappist monks, I can say that the film captures with astonishing accuracy the austerity of their way of life. At times I felt that I was watching a documentary. Overall there was a serenity permeating this film arising from the community’s prayer life and its closeness to the villagers among whom they live and for whom they provide an outpatients’ clinic. And yet, paradoxically, this serenity is mixed with an underlying tension; we, the audience, know how this is going to end. Read more…

Quest Bulletin reported in the Spring 2011 issue that the coalition Government at Westminster had launched a consultation on civil partnerships on religious premises. In effect, following the introduction of the Equality Act 2010, the Government seeks to remove the ban on civil partnerships being held on religious premises. The consultation document issued in March 2011 made it clear that faith groups would be given the freedom to act as they wish in relation to registering civil partnerships on their premises and thus enable religious same-sex couples to formalise their relationship in a place of worship.

The then Chair, Peter Rodgers, asked Guy Torrance to draft a response on behalf of Quest. The summary of our response stated that the scope of the consultation and its proposals were too narrow in that faith groups might be protected from legal challenge in choosing not to allow their buildings to be used for civil partnerships but that government might itself be open to such challenge. The Quest response made clear its concern that Government may be seen to be legitimising discrimination by faith groups whilst those groups are fulfilling state functions (whether as to premises or persons). Currently the Catholic Church fulfils a state function when it registers marriages in its churches. Read more…