4 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE January 27, 2012 • www.GayPeoplesChronicle.com

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Aquatic team takes firsts at Hammerhead

GAY PEOPLE'S

Chronicle

Publishing the News of Ohio's LGBT Community since 1985

Volume 27, Issue 16

ISSN 1070-177X

Managing Editor: Patti Harris

by Todd Urban

Todd Urban, left, and Scott Campea.

Ft. Lauderdale-The Cleveland Aquatic Team was well represented in Ft. Lauderdale at the Hammerhead Invitational over the Martin Luther King weekend January 13-16. Swimmers

Scott Campea and Todd Urban participated in the one-day event hosted by the LGBT and ally Hammerhead Swim Team.

Urban was first in the 100and 200-

A new St. Barnabas beckons

by Richard Oldrieve

Bay Village—Last Sunday, I volunteered to read the Old Testament lesson from First Samuel. The story was about Samuel being called by God to become a prophet. Three times he thought it was Eli calling him, and each time Samuel went to wake up Eli. The third time, Eli finally figured out that it was God who was calling Samuel. Thus, Eli instructed Samuel to return to bed, and that the next time he heard the voice call "Samuel,” he should respond to the voice with "Here I am, Lord!" (instead of waking Eli up for the fourth time and saying "Here I am, Eli!"). Then he should listen for God's message and recount it to him in the morning.

Anyway, my main call in life came after my freshman year in college. Going against the wishes of my parents, I decided to do what I could to help urban students learn readin', writin', and 'rithmetic. Along the way, I've heeded several other calls-for example back in the mid-1990's I made a four-year foray into politics and political action. Between 1994 and 1998, I wrote several columns in this space about Stonewall Cleveland pairing with Buck Harris his Gay '90s radio program to host candidates' forums at the Pilgrim United Church of Christ.

My latest calling came Saturday, November 12. My wife Susan and I were attending a meeting of the St. Barnabas bridge club. Nothing unusual about that since we've been playing with the group for about 25 years. What we were shocked to hear was that the bridge group was going to have to change its name, because the Episcopal Church had won its court battle and the Anglicans were going to have their church "stolen" from them as well as the name St. Barnabas.

"Stolen" was a rather strange wording, since I had been confirmed in St. Barnabas, my sister was married in St. Barnabas, and my niece was baptized in St. Barnabas. Yet, some 22 years ago, my wife and I got married in St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Lakewood, and we've been members of Christ Episcopal Church Oberlin for close to 20 years. The wording was even stranger, since several members of the bridge group had also moved on to St. Peter's and several others had

moved on to the pearly gates manned by St. Peter.

Thus, those who joined the diaspora from St. Barnabas could argue that the church had been stolen from those whose theology most closely resembled the national church. Yet somehow, the bridge group had muddled on with members from both factions, plus a few Roman Catholics and assorted other non-affiliateds, and on that night there seemed to be no point in arguing what had been stolen from whom.

Instead, my wife and I recognized our true calling was to attend the re-opening of St. Barnabas Episcopal Church the following Sunday. Waiting for the start of the service, we diligently filled in a questionnaire with little checkboxes for us to list our gifts. I put down a few and wrote down in the comment section that I was interested in maintaining my membership out in Oberlin while also rejoining St. Barnabas. My wife put down something akin to "just looking." Halfway through the sermon my wife heard a louder call (i.e. Rev. Alan Jame's sermon), picked up her little sheet, scribbled to switch her allegiance back to St. B., checked off that she wanted to teach in the children's Sunday school, and indicated she would consider restarting the youth group we had once taken on a fateful trip to Kissing Bridge Ski Resort.

Me, I was a bit more reluctant since I didn't want to abandon our Oberlin congregation so quickly, and I really didn't want to refight the battles with a whole bunch of reconverted Anglicans who loved the "building" and “architecture" of St. Barnabas, but who didn't really know the theological differences that caused the divide in the first place.

To the credit of the members of the Christ Church West Shore, so far, none of them have rejoined St. Barnabas because they liked the building so much that they'd abandon their minister and his flock. To his credit, in a Plain Dealer article the Reverend Gene Sherman succinctly summed up the theological differences between the Anglicans and Episcopalians: "We believe Jesus is the way; They believe Jesus a way."

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meter backstroke, and also finished second in the 50M backstroke, while Campea finished first in the 500M freestyle, 200M Individual Medley and the 100M breast stroke. As the first competitors to arrive at the pool, they were surprised by the cool 50 degreeplus temperature outside, considering the meet was run in an outdoor pool. Fortunately, the water was warm and between races competitors huddled under sleeping bags and in long parkas.

After the meet, the team hosted a lunch at the nearby Zona Fresca restaurant to celebrate the competitors, which included former Olympians and swimmers up to age 80!

The Cleveland Aquatic Team practices on Tuesday nights at Cleveland State University. For more information contact Todd Urban at 216-973-4547 or at Toddrurban@aol.com

Todd Urban is the founder of the Cleveland Aquatic Team.

to all

The reason for me writing this column is that as many readers of the Gay People's Chronicle have learned firsthand, "the way" usually does not include gays, lesbians, bisexuals or transgendered individuals. Heck, there is subfaction of Anglicans who want to go back even further and get rid of women priests. In contrast, St. Barnabas Episcopal Church has been posting yard signs declaring that all are welcome "regardless." Which is why even though no LGBT couples have walked in the door as of yet, and only a few LGBT individuals have, it has been both heartening and heart-rending to listen to the stories of older heterosexual couples, who have recounted to my wife and myself, how they had joined the diaspora when their LGBT son or daughter had been kicked out by their pastor.

Officially, St. Barnabas is a mission church. That means the Episcopal diocese will be doing all the hiring, and making sure the theology remains Episcopal and the church remains welcoming to all. Yet I am writing this invitation, knowing full well Bay Village, Rocky River, Westlake, Avon, and Avon Lake are not exactly liberal bastions. Way back when, a Bay Village school authority openly mocked one of my older cross-country teammates for driving around in a powder blue Mustang, and then three years later, it was my turn when he introduced me to his brother by telling his brother, "This is 'Mo,' and you do know what a 'Mo' is don't you?"

Yet I also recognize the world's a-changing. Not immediately. More like the 40 years in the wilderness where the road is long and winding.

At St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, the musical aptitude of the congregation has been rather limited, the average age of the returnees would be between 60 and 70, and the norm would be awkwardness on politically correct issues. Nonetheless, several young families have been attracted by the "regardless" signs and have stuck around because the Sunday school program has been so inviting.

So if you happen to live out near the far western Cuyahoga County line, you like a little bit of high church liturgy, 10 am Sunday fits your schedule, and you and possibly your partner and your kids want to help ensure that a "family-oriented" church welcomes all members of God's family, please stop by St. Barnabas Episcopal Church on the corner of Bradley and Wolf Roads in Bay Village. For more information, go to www.stbarnabasbv.org or call 440871-6200.

Richard Oldrieve is once again a member of St. Barnabas.

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