WHEN Mike Hercock, a Baptist pastor, put out a call for Christian clergy who wanted to make a public apology to gays and lesbians, he was knocked over in the rush. But when the time came for the priests and pastors to march at this year's Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, some of the so-called "100 Revs" lost their nerve.
"A few days before the march, I started getting phone calls," said Mr Hercock, a pastor with the Hope Street community project in Darlinghurst. "The harder calls were the ones saying, 'The dog ate my homework and I can't make it on Saturday to march.' "
The apology should have been big news. But as word spread that the 100 Revs would issue a statement condemning the church for being "profoundly unloving" to gays and lesbians, church leaders flew into action.
The Baptist Union sent a one-page letter to its members warning them that it did not support the apology. Catholic priests and Uniting Church ministers were discreetly told not to get involved.
A preacher at a Pentecostal church received hate mail.
In the end, only 30 ministers marched. Even those who did not worried about their jobs.
Mr Hercock said signing the apology was a career-defining move for many of the 100 Revs. "For a lot of people it was always going to be a tough call," he said. "It can affect your ordination; it can affect your call to ministry. I don't know of one person who signed without going through some kind of internal process. They had to go through what the cost was to them, professionally and personally."
The struggle to match one's actions to their convictions is often a difficult one, even (sometimes especially) for leaders in the church.
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Thanks to "A Life of Unlearning" for the link.
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