A church shouldn’t have to compromise its identity, he said.
“Do you have to have an elaborate document in order to get permission to preach the gospel?” Pearson said. “That shows me there’s something not quite right in the relationship from the get-go. It really was those core issues that were being brought to bear and of course, yes, they manifest themselves in the sexuality issue.”
He was not pressing other churches to change to the Advent’s position, he said.
“In one of our earlier conversations the president of the Standing Committee said to me, ‘Well, Andrew, what would you say if an Episcopal Church in Birmingham hired a transgendered clergy person to be their associate?’” Pearson said. “My answer was, ‘What I’d say is ‘Welcome to the Episcopal Church.’”
It was more about the Advent’s right to keep its tradition, he said.
“The issue really became, for me anyway, I think the individual congregation should have the ability to go in the direction they feel called to go, but I’d ask the same for the Advent,” he said. “I wasn’t really concerned what other Episcopal churches in the diocese were doing, but there seems to be a great concern from other churches as to what the Advent is doing.”
Andrew Pearson on why he left Advent Cathedral and dealing with the diocese. “I would often engage in conversations with leaders of the diocese and at given points it was clearly said that Jesus’ death on the cross was just a political accident.” https://t.co/gPsEhk5Jvd
— Jeff Walton (@jeffreyhwalton) July 5, 2021