Bishop Says "No" to License Request from Lesbian Clergy

The Right Reverend Michael Smith, Bishop of the Diocese of North Dakota has denied faculties to a practicing lesbian who had been ordained to the priesthood. Reverend Gayle Baldwin, ordained in 1980, has sent an open letter to the Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefforts Schori and all the bishops in The Episcopal Church, blasting Bishop Smith.

WASHINGTON (Catholic Online) - Reverend Gayle Baldwin is an associate professor of Religion at the University of North Dakota and is an ordained Episcopal Priest. She is also an openly practicing lesbian, coming out ten years ago during her canonical residence in the Diocese of Wyoming.

Baldwin took the position at UND in 2000 and recently sought to receive faculties to offer the sacraments in the Diocese of North Dakota. The Right Reverend Michael Smith, bishop of the diocese, refused to license her.

In an open letter to the Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefforts Schori and all the bishops in The Episcopal Church, she blasted Bishop Smith saying that he had refused to grant her a license to fulfill her ordination vows in the state of North Dakota.

"His reason is that my life partner, whom God has given me to love and cherish, is a woman and not a man," Baldwin stated. "He has stated that he will only grant a license to a priest who is celibate or married."

According to Anglican observer and commentator David Virtue, of Virtue Online, Smith responded by writing, "I have been clear from the beginning what my expectations are, that is fidelity in marriage and abstinence for those not called to marriage."

In a letter Virtue Online obtained, the bishop stated that this is "a confused time, for the Episcopal Church as the issue is debated." He is upholding what the church always has taught. He stated that he is following a policy set out in the 2004 Windsor Report.

This report was sent to The Episcopal Church USA by leaders in the Anglican Communion as a ultimatum concerning the liberties taken by TEC concerning homosexual ordinations and consecrations. The report called for a truce until the matter is settled. It also asked Episcopal bishops not to ordain gays and lesbians or to hold gay marriage ceremonies.

In her complaint to the bishops, Baldwin stated, "I am writing all of you as a response to the recent refusal of Bp. Michael Smith to grant me a license to fulfill my ordination vows in the state of North Dakota. The reason he has refused me has nothing to do with my character, nor my skills and gifts of ministry. His reason is that my life partner, whom God has given me to love and cherish is a woman and not a man.

"He has stated that he will only grant a license to a priest who is celibate or married. Since we cannot be formally married, our family is not considered legitimate by the church... If a bishop can do this to one, then anyone is potentially at risk."

"This is why I am writing this open letter to all so that we might begin a dialogical conversation over this matter," she wrote, saying the bishop "needs to be challenged, on the issue of denying me a license to do what God called and what the church already has ordained me to do."

According to those versed in Episcopal Canon Law, Bishop Smith is fully within his rights as the Ordinary to deny her faculties. This issue is, however, far from over with Baldwin attempting to build support from within the House of Bishops to force a different resolution.

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