All Saints, Pasadena rector on Oprah, encore visit

From All Saints Episcopal Church, Pasadena, CA:

The Reverend J. Edwin Bacon, Jr., rector of All Saints Church, Pasadena will make an encore appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show today, Monday, January 12, to respond to the controversy around his statement in a January 8th segment on the Oprah Show that “being gay is a gift from God.”

It was no surprise at All Saints Church that the show’s producers asked for some follow-up time with Reverend Bacon. “The volume of email we’re getting here in Pasadena tells us that Ed Bacon’s message — the good news that God loves absolutely everybody — is one people are hungry to hear,” said the Reverend Susan Russell, All Saints Senior Associate for Communication.

“We are deeply grateful for the national platform Ed Bacon’s appearance on Oprah has given this message of love, inclusion and tolerance that we hear preached here in Pasadena 24/7. We look forward to welcoming those coming toward us who are hearing for the first time that the abundant, inclusive love of God includes them!”

For more information contact Keith Holeman, Director of Communications at All Saints Church, Pasadena, at kholeman@allsaints-pas.org, or 626.583.2739.

The Oprah show is reporting that it was the most controversial moment of her “Best Life” Week series. Oprah Winfrey said Monday her show’s message boards were flooded with responses to statements made by a religious leader that being gay was OK in God’s eyes.

Responding to a viewer who Skyped into the show, The Rev. Ed Bacon, declared being gay is a “gift from God.”

Bacon appeared live via satellite during today’s show and didn’t back down from statements made last week.

“I meant exactly what I said,” Bacon said.

It is so important for every human being to understand he or she is a gift from God. … and it’s important to remember that God made them, he said.

Bacon said he’s received a lot of response from his appearance last week, most of it being positive.

“It simply unleashed a flood of healing,” Bacon said.

Read the article here.

Comments to the Oprah Show are here.

Integrity, Episcopal group working for full inclusion of GLBT persons in the Episcopal Church, comments here.

Ed Bacon tells of his experience in the first show below:


Some responses received at All Saints:

Here are from just three of the many emails we’re answering at All Saints this week in response to Ed’s appearance on Oprah this week:

Thank you Mr. Bacon for so publicly saying that “gay” is a gift from God. I have struggled with homosexuality for many years. I grew up in the Southern Baptist church and always felt that maybe God didn’t love me because of the way I am. I tried years to change it, but when I finally accepted myself, I began to thank God for who I am. Had I not been a gay man, I may not have had the many talents or the success given my upbringing. I live in Encino, CA. I would love to visit the All Saints church. Are there other members from the GLBT community that attend you church?

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I just watched Rev. Bacon on the Oprah show and was moved to tears by his kindness and compassion. My father died of stomach cancer when I was 9 years old and on the day he died I stopped believing in God. The Reverends remarks about how God does not give diseases struck me at my very core and I am still crying as I type this. Moreover, his comments to the young gay gentleman were so incredibly kind and loving. I would like to reconnect with God. I live in New York City and was wondering if your church had a sister organization in NYC. I would like to find a Reverend and a church that shares Rev. Bacon’s approach to spirituality. Would you be able to recommend a church in New York City? Or perhaps how I may start to figure out how to find one?Any help you could give would be greatly appreciated.

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I am a volunteer counselor at The Trevor Project, a suicide and crisis line for gay teens. When I started training I was staggered by the number of gay teens that attempt suicide, 3 to 1 over their heterosexual counterpart, and now as a counselor I find that most of the calls involve conflict about religion. So many teens across this country are torn between their sexuality and their faith. As a counselor, it is frustrating to have so little to say to be able to ease their often desperate anxiety. Your words on The Oprah Show, I am confident, changed the lives of many kids. There are so many conflicted kids who are trying so hard to do what’s right, I know that your words saved some of their lives. I, myself was moved to tears. I wanted to commend you for you bravery and your clarity, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

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