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Mixed on Gay Clergy

ALATT AREA

By Alma Kaufman

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A program describing discrimination encountered by homosexuals was received with sympathy by the Cleveland Presbytery of the United Presbyterian Church.

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But a random sampling of members there indicates the church organization is not ready to back a separate ministry for homosexuals.

"We are still undecided whether to recommend this ministry to the presbytery,' said the Rev. Albert L. Jeandheur, chairman of the ministerial relations committee. "We will continue to study the matter."

He said that before the Rev. Robert Hamilton can get definite consideration of a ministry to homosexuals, he will need a job offer from a group prepared to pay

him.

The Rev. Mr. Hamilton, 27, a Presbyterian clergyman who describes himself as bisexual, is trying to set up such a ministry.

HOMOSEXUALITY IS a new issue about which many have had very little information, said the Rev. Mr. Jeandheur.

The program was presented at about 10 p.m. at the end of the monthly presbytery meeting Tuesday. Most of the 200 presbytery members remained to hear it.

"I was impressed more with the predicament of the homosexual in our society than ever before," said the Rev. Roger S. Shoup, pastor of Calvary Presbyterian Church, 2020 E. 79th Street.

"At the same time I'm just not convinced that homosexuality is consistent with what Scripture requires of the Christian. It's a subject for further study and investigation for me at any rate."

The Calvary pastor dislikes the idea of a separate ministry for any group.

"I THINK THAT THE church has to be

challenged to be inclusive," he said, and called avoiding inclusiveness a "terrible sin."

"If a pastor has people in his church, he probably has homosexuals, and he should minister to them," said the Rev. said the Rev. Robert E. Burkhardt, associate pastor of Bay Presbyterian Church. He admitted this appears to have been “rather a botched-up job" in the past..

"I am for a ministry to people who are homosexuals but that is different from supporting a separate congregation of homosexuals," was the opinion of the Rev.

Martin Abraham, pastor of Beachland

Presbyterian Church.

An eastern suburban pastor, who asked not to be identified by name, said he favored a ministry, but would rate many other problems higher.

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He also said he believes the Bible lists homosexuality as a sin. He favors a ministry that will help homosexuals to change.

GERALD HANAWALT, a lay member of the Presbytery from East Cleveland, said his reaction to the need for a homosexual ministry was "pretty positive."

"The information Tuesday night was good, but it was my first,” he said.

That program was presented by the Rev. Mr. Hamilton and two other members of the gay community, a systems analyst and a teacher. They were assisted by Dr. Richard Bennett, an Akron gynecologist, and the Rev. C. Fred Jenkins, ombudsman at Cuyahoga Community College.

took to the woods" when a gay group on campus sought a faculty adviser.

Dr. Bennett, director of the Akron Forum, a center for sexuality training for doctors, lawyers and clergy, said homosexuals aro despised for something they really aren't able to control.

HOW PEOPLE BECOME homosexual whether it is physical or psychological is not relevant for those who are, said the physician. They have to deal with where they are, be said.

The systems analyst, who is a member of the Community of Celebration, the interfaith worship group organized by the Rev. Mr. Hamilton, asked the Presbytery's forbearance for people they may not be able to approve of.

He said the community is a serious group of Christians and Jews, both gay and straight.

"Probably the only difference is that when a person comes to our congregation their sexuality is not questioned."

THE GAY TEACHER, Delores Noll, is on the English faculty at Kent State University. She said she hid her homosexuality for 20 years and at one time was engaged to a Methodist minister.

When she helped organize a gay group on campus her life was threatened by homosexuals afraid of exposure, she said. A hot line the group set up at Kent had to be discontinued because 300 calls were received in one week, said Miss Noll, stressing the size of the homosexual problem.

She also attempted to quiet fears of leading others into homosexuality.

"I have never tried to persuade anyone to be a homosexual: I have rever tried to persuade anyone to be a heterosexual. It is

The ombudsman said faculty at CCC not for me to decide.”