Christmas 2002 Newsletter on this page... Jerry Cleator is new exec dir J.C. Michael Allen is new board member News from Tom Hanks in Buenos Aires John Doner attends LLEGO conference Jerry Cleater speaks on panel at Madrid conference Helminiak's book to be published in Spanish Other Sheep projects in Latin America |
Other Sheep News Christmas 2002 -- From the Other Sheep Team -- CHRISTMAS GREETINGS! We wish you the joy of the knowledge of the "redemption of the world through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the means of grace and hope of glory..." and pray that we may act to reflect the love of God for ALL our brothers and sisters JERRY CLEATOR, NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, TAKES CHARGE
executive director. Jerry is a Dominican Catholic priest, ordained in 1965. He has master´s degrees in philosophy, theology and communication theory. He has taught homiletics at Aquinas Institute of Theology, was co-founder of The Dominican Evangelical Preaching Team, was provincial superior in the Dominican Order, has been pastor of St. Pius Parish Community in Chicago and worked in Bolivia in the formation program of the Dominican students there. He has been working with Other Sheep in Mexico City since 1996. "I got involved in ministry to the gay community while I was in Bolivia," Jerry writes. "It was common there to see graffiti on the walls saying, ‘Death to homosexuals’ and a man could be arrested on a morals charge simply because he looked effeminate as he walked down the street. I didn't’t see the Church doing anything to confront this situation, so I decided I had better get involved." One of Jerry’s first objectives will be to make Other Sheep better known. "We have done some wonderful things to open the doors of the Christian churches to the homosexual community, and to let men and women of different sexual expressions know that they are loved by God. But we have only scratched the surface. I am hoping that as we make ourselves better known others will want to join us in this holy adventure." Jerry will also be working hard at raising the funds which will allow us to continue growing. Jerry will continue in Mexico City expanding the ministry there. For the moment Other Sheep does not have the money to support a full-time executive director. That is one of the lacks which he and the board of directors hope to rectify. Mark Pickering, our executive director for the past two years, has moved to a new job in Florida and is unable to continue with Other Sheep for the time being. OS WELCOMES NEW BOARD MEMBER – THE VERY REV. J. C. MICHAEL ALLEN, DD
Yale and Dean of Christ Church Cathedral, St. Louis. Dean Allen has a long record of service in justice ministries - Vietnam, women's issues, aids, glbts. Now, he and his wife, the Rev. Priscilla Allen, are deeply involved in the Oasis project in the Diocese of Missouri (Episcopal) establishing open and affirming congregations. HIGHLIGHTS FROM TOM HANKS, OS FOUNDER
finish the first (Spanish) draft of my new book, The Subversive Hebrew Bible, a follow-up to my 2000 Pilgrim Press work, The Subversive Gospel. Each focuses, book by book on the poor, women and sexual minorities (more than 30 of them). Much editing work remains, plus the translation into English. 2. The translation into Spanish of a pro-gay lecture by Rowan Williams, the new Archbishop of Canterbury, was completed and put on our web site. 3. We are translating Robert Goss’s new book, Queering Christ: Beyond Jesus Acted Up, due out this month in English from Pilgrim Press. 4. I have been giving three Bible courses each week, the best attended being the one in the MCC, where one woman in the course, an ex-nun with many years of theological study, hopes to become MCC clergy. 5. I am in the process of purchasing an additional apartment in the building where I am, since we need more space for the documentation-resource center and hospitality for those who use it. A Lutheran seminarian came for a week this year and was able to research then publish a brief book in Portuguese. 6. In January we hope to establish a foundation in Buenos Aires which will facilitate our growth and ministry, perhaps including a focus on working with older LGBTT’s as well as other projects, book translation and publications. 7. The MCC where I give a Bible course and where we help financially with rent has been growing in its new space, with attendance multiplying, now up to around 30 the Sunday I left. About half who attend are women, a new development in what was previously an almost all male congregation. 8. We are planning the 2nd conference for Christian LGBTT groups in the Southern Cone during Holy Week of 2003 in Montevideo, Uruguay (the first was this year in Buenos Aires). A lot of interest is developing but many will need scholarships to cover transportation, since economies have collapsed in Argentina and Uruguay, and Paraguay has always been very poor. --Tom Hanks LATIN AMERICA COORDINATOR REPRESENTS OS AT LLEGÓ CONFERENCE
Otras Ovejas (Other Sheep) information table. "Is this something religious?", she asked. "I’m not interested in religion, all the churches have done so much against us." "Yes," I replied, "but our message is that the Bible does not condemn homosexuality." "Oh!", and a 180- degree attitudinal change became apparent. Then I explained Other Sheep’s project to send the video "De Colores" to 60 lgbtt documentation centers in Latin America, and she wrote a check! Later she gave a keynote address to the conference, and I discovered that she is Cuban-American, a lesbian and a national vice president of a major women’s organization. Her reaction is so typical of many lgbtt – if you’re Christian, you’re against homosexuals. The setting was the 9th Encuentro (Encounter) and 3rd International Congress of LLEGÓ (National Latina/o Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Organization), which was held in Miami from October 10-14, 2002. We felt it was important for Other Sheep to be visible at the LLEGÓ meeting. LLEGÓ has become involved with AIDS organizations in several Latin American countries, especially Guatemala and Honduras, including several of the documentation centers we work with. Also, many of the people involved in Hispanic lgbtt organizations in the United States are first-generation immigrants from Latin America and are potential supporters of Other Sheep’s work in those countries. Other Sheep has joined LLEGÓ as an organizational member, and I attended the conference as our representative. We had an information table with our materials in Spanish and a large map of the Americas indicating the location of the different lgbtt Christian ministries in Latin America. We also had a full-page ad in the program booklet (at the ¼-page price!).
1,000 they told me in advance would be attending. But there were about 30 from Latin America, resulting in some very good contacts. However, contacts with Latino organizations in the U. S. were disappointing, and we need to devise a strategy to reach them. The next LLEGÓ conference will be in Seattle in October 2004, and we hope to have a workshop on homosexuality and Christian faith at that conference. -- John Doner JERRY CLEATOR ATTENDS "WE ARE CHURCH" CONFERENCE IN MADRID
Madrid, Spain. This is a grass roots movement for renewal within the Roman Catholic Church. With the theme, "Another Church Is Possible" over 500 participants came from all over Europe, the United States and every country in Latin America I was invited to speak on a panel regarding homosexuality and Christianity. I spoke about my ministry and the reactions were encouraging. One ex-seminarian stood up crying and asked for forgiveness for the way he had mocked gay seminarians when he had been among them. A television producer decided to dedicate an hour’s program to the topic of gay Christians. A priest from Latin America asked me for help in starting a ministry in his country. A young Chilean theologian was part of the panel and asked for dialogue with us in developing a gay theology. The organizers of this workshop were pleased enough with my presentation that they have invited me to speak at their convention next year in Valencia, Spain. Whether I go or not will depend on whether I can raise the money for travel expenses.
had never met got up and praised the work of Other Sheep. She gave it as a sign of hope that the doors of the Christian churches were opening. She especially praised it for its ecumenical dimension. So we are sometimes having an impact where we don’t even know it. -- Jerry Cleator GAY BEST-SELLER BEING PUBLISHED IN SPANISH
Homosexuality" by Daniel Helminiak, is about to be published in Spanish by Egales, a gay publisher in Barcelona, Spain. The book, now with more than 65,000 copies in English, was translated to Spanish by Patricio Camacho, a gay man from Bogotá, Colombia now living in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. John Doner, Other Sheep's coordinator for Latin America in Mexico City, worked closely with Patricio and the author to produce as good a translation as possible. Plans are for the book to be published in January 2003, and it should be available in the United States and Latin America in February. John hopes to work with the publisher to achieve the widest-possible distribution in Latin America. For information about obtaining the book, please contact John at jpdoner@infosel.net.mx. CURRENT AND RECENT OS PROJECTS IN LATIN AMERICA
and Central America for December 27 – 29, 2003. One of the problems which ministers encounter is that they are isolated and without resources. Some cities have only one or two people working in the field (while most cities have none!). We are bringing together between 30 and 40 of these leaders, and potential leaders, to dialogue, to get some help resolving their practical problems and to form a network of mutual support. There will be representatives here from Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Texas and Mexico. This is the first time anyone has sponsored such a meeting, and we are quite excited about it. We would appreciate your prayers. As part of its continuing support of the documentation centers in Latin America, Other Sheep is sending them copies of the video "De Colores". This is a bi-lingual 28 minute documentary which, through moving personal stories, teaches how Latino families in the United States are replacing the deep roots of homophobia with the even deeper roots of love and tolerance. The video was produced by Peter Barbosa (EyeBite Productions), who is an active member of the United Church of Christ and part of the planning team for WOW 2003. We are purchasing 60 copies at the discount price of $15.00. If anyone would like to donate toward this project, we would be grateful. We have published our third Spanish language pamphlet in our series concerning Christianity and homosexuality. This one, Amiga Lesbiana (To My Lesbian Friend), was written by Alvaro Olvera and is a letter which he indeed wrote to a lesbian friend of his who was thrown out of her church because of her orientation. It talks to her of God’s love for her. The other pamphlets available are Salir del Closet (Coming Out of the Closet) and ¿Existe Homosexualidad en la Biblia? (Does Homosexuality Exist in the Bible?). All three pamphlets are available for $1.50 each. NEW ST. LOUIS, USA ADDRESS
OTHER SHEEP 16768 OLD JAMESTOWN ROAD FLORISSANT, MO 63034-1409 TEL: (314) 355-2060 (also serves Herzog & Kanter LLP) FAX: (314) 653-0657 osworldwide@aol.com www.othersheep.org HELP, WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT!
need to plan for growth will require some permanent paid staff. We need funds to continue and funds to get a base that will permit growth. PLEASE FORWARD YOUR CONTRIBUTION to our new office address: 16768 Old Jamestown Rd., Florissant, MO 63034-1409 |
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| Other Sheep News Christmas 2002 -- From the Other Sheep Team -- CHRISTMAS GREETINGS! We wish you the joy of the knowledge of the "redemption of the world through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the means of grace and hope of glory..." and pray that we may act to reflect the love of God for ALL our brothers and sisters |