c. 1996 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) The Episcopal Church said Thursday (Oct. 31) it will thoroughly investigate allegations in the current issue of Penthouse magazine that priests in the denomination’s Long Island diocese performed and participated in same-sex marriage ceremonies and engaged in homosexual orgies involving young men from Brazil.

At least two priests, the Rev. Lloyd Andries, rector of St. Gabriel’s Episcopal Church in Brooklyn, N.Y., and the Rev. Howard Williams, a priest at the Episcopal Church Center, the denomination’s headquarters in New York City, have resigned as a result of the allegations.”If the recent allegations prove true, the clergy implicated have violated their ordination vows, desecrated holy space and betrayed a sacred trust,”Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning said in a statement.”These allegations must be dealt with in a fair and expeditious manner.” Browning said that Williams, coordinator for Children’s Ministries at the Episcopal Church Center, has agreed to resign, effective immediately.

The Long Island scandal is the latest in a series of body blows to the 2.5 million-member denomination during the past year. The church’s former national treasurer, Ellen Cooke, is serving a prison term for a multi-million dollar embezzlement scheme; retired bishop Walter Righter was tried for heresy _ and acquitted _ for ordaining a gay deacon; and Bishop Edward Chalfont of Maine resigned after it was revealed he was involved in an extramarital affair.

Bishop Orris Walker of the Long Island diocese said in a statement that the Penthouse article,”The Boys from Brazil”by investigative reporter Rudy Maxa, was”most disturbing”and said he had ordered an investigation.

Walker said he had met with Andries on Oct. 25 and confronted him with the allegations.”It was imperative that we make every effort to determine the truth of the assertions to be found in that article,”Walker said.”To that end, I am calling for an investigation of this most disturbing situation by the (diocesan) Chancellor’s Office, and have accepted the resignation of Father Andries … and, thus, his rectorship”at St. Gabriel’s.

Walker did not comment on whether Andries confirmed the charges. Andries could not be reached for comment.

In the Penthouse article, Maxa alleges that priests from the diocese engaged in sexual orgies at St. Gabriel’s involving young men from Brazil and cross-dressing priests who model themselves after Marilyn Monroe and Madonna. He claims that an unidentified priest officiated at a marriage ceremony that united Andries with another man.

Maxa’s article centers on allegations made by a young Brazilian identified as Wasticlinio Barros, who is said to have lived at St. Gabriel’s sporadically for 18 months in exchange for sexual favors with Andries.

Maxa charged that Barros and other young men became”playthings for priests whose commitment to the Scriptures had long ago been replaced by a pursuit of pleasure that would have fit nicely with Sodom Gomorrah.” In the article, Maxa said that Barros first met Andries through Williams. Browning had placed Williams on leave when the allegations first appeared last week, pending the investigation. In the article, Maxa said that”as far as Barros knows, Williams had no involvement with the priest’s (Andries) sexual activities.” On Thursday, however, the church announced that Williams had resigned.

Factions in the church were quick to respond to the alleged scandal.

Episcopalians United, a conservative group within the denomination, distributed an editorial via the Internet saying the alleged scandal”is not only that these activities may have occurred, or even where they may have occurred. The deeper scandal is in Episcopal leaders who seriously propose that sexual intercourse between two men or two women is the moral equivalent of lovemaking by a married man and woman.” The alleged scandal also highlighted longstanding tensions with the ranks of Episcopalians on the issue of homosexuality.

Twenty seven Episcopal bishops issued a statement Oct. 30 saying,”A denomination that will not uphold faithful, monogamous, heterosexual marriage as the only legitimate context for sexual intimacy must not be surprised when some of its members seek such intimacy elsewhere. A church that refuses to demand that even its clergy must conform to this historic, biblical standard should not be surprised when some of them don’t.” But Browning urged church members not to confuse alleged sexual misconduct with the moral and theological debate within the church on homosexuality.”We must be clear that the allegations of the abusive and lurid sexual activities by some persons in the Diocese of Long Island are outside the parameters of our ongoing discussion,”he said.”All decent people, regardless of their convictions in the dialogues around sexuality, are outraged and revolted by the exploitation and abuse of any human being.” Fred Ellis III, president of Integrity, the gay and lesbian organization within the church, issued a statement expressing”sadness and dismay”at the allegations.”Integrity condemns sexual exploitation and the abuse of power in any relationship in the strongest terms as a clear violation of the God-given gifts of sexuality, the baptismal promise to respect the dignity of every human person, and the core value taught by our Lord to love one another as he loves us,”Ellis said.

MJP END ANDERSON