The day after Annie Britton married another woman, she went to church.It was not just any church, but a church in Southeastern Massachusetts that she had been leading in worship while preparing for ordination in the United Methodist Church, a denomination that does not allow noncelibate gays and lesbians to be ordained.
So Britton and her wife made an uncomfortable decision: They removed their wedding rings and stuck them in a box so no one would know.
But the marriage set in motion events that led to a ceremony held earlier this month by a group opposed to the United Methodist Church's ban on gay clergy. During that ceremony, held Oct. 19 in Baltimore, the group declared Britton to be a minister "in the Methodist tradition," although not in the United Methodist Church.
The ceremony, held by a group called the Church within the Church, is the latest example of resistance by some Christians to restrictions on who can be ordained clergy in many denominations. In 1974, in the Episcopal Church, 11 women were irregularly ordained as priests; two years later, the denomination agreed to ordain women.
More recently, the Episcopal Church in the United States agreed to consecrate a gay priest as bishop of New Hampshire, triggering a rift in the global Anglican Communion. And in the Catholic Church, an organization is staging what it calls ordination ceremonies of women in multiple cities, including Boston, despite the fact that the Catholic Church restricts its priesthood to men.
Britton's trip to unsanctioned ordination began in 2006, when she told her congregation, Myricks United Methodist Church in Berkley, Mass., that she was married to a woman.
"It was when I told the truth that all the trouble began," said Britton, 54, who grew up in Bridgewater and now lives in Johnston, R.I. "As soon as I spoke publicly in the church, I was removed from my appointment."
Of course, Britton knew that would happen. In fact, she turned herself in.
"I never thought I shouldn't get married, nor did I ever think I shouldn't be ordained, and I knew that being married could potentially interfere with the ordination," she said. "I contemplated leaving the church and leaving it quietly, but I did not want to just disappear, as so many others have."
Britton - who said, "I've been called to ministry since I was a child" - was baptized in a nondenominational church, raised in the United Church of Christ, and joined the United Methodist Church a decade ago. She has been studying for the ministry at Boston University School of Theology, which is affiliated with the United Methodist Church.
After her ordination process was ended by the revelation of her sexuality, Britton met the Rev. Susan Morrison, pastor of Holy Trinity United Methodist Church in Danvers, who told her about the Church within a Church, which says it is attempting "to model what the United Methodist Church can be."
"We have other progressive organizations working to reform the denomination, and it became our vision that we would be the church that we wanted to be," Morrison said. "We would not leave the denomination or try to change it, but be the change."
So Church within the Church held what it called the "extraordinary ordination" ceremony in Baltimore at which it says it ordained Britton, as well as a heterosexual woman, Jenna Zirbel, who could not be ordained in the United Methodist Church because she refused to say she supports the church's position on sexuality. The ordination ceremony was ecumenical, featuring two retired United Methodist bishops, as well other Christian clergy.
The women's status is up for debate. Britton says she is a United Methodist, worshiping at the Mathewson Street United Methodist Church in Providence, and also considers herself an ordained minister in "the Methodist tradition."
But Bishop Peter D. Weaver, head of the New England conference of the United Methodist Church, offers a different assessment.
"I consider her a good friend, and she's a fine person, but she can't be both lay and clergy, and clearly she's not United Methodist clergy," Weaver said. "To my knowledge, there is not a church or denomination that has ordained her, so the United Methodist church would not recognize this as a valid ordination."
Britton said she now hopes to create a ministry for traveling theater professionals or to get a post other than pastor in a Methodist congregation. In the meantime, she is working toward a doctorate in theology at Boston University.
"I am called to ordained life, and I expect that in the fairly near future, some opportunities will open up for me," she said. "I do enjoy preaching and fully intend to use this ordination of mine to do the most good work I possibly can, wherever that presents itself."
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(Source: TBP)