Friday, June 22, 2007
Friends, community members, neighbors, churches;
After 37 years of serving the LGBT Christian community in Chicago, Good Shepherd Parish MCC will hold its final public worship on July 8th at 7pm.
Everyone’s welcome to this spirit filled service and to share a story of how Good Shepherd Parish MCC has had an influence in their life.
The staff and board or directors along with the membership will continue ministry as called by God but the doors of this oldest GLBT Christian church must close.
Mayor Richard M. Daley, upon recognizing the congregations influence in the community at large has proclaimed July 8th, 2007 as Good Shepherd Parish MCC Day in the City of Chicago. | PROCLAMATION
WHEREAS, Good Shepherd Parish Metropolitan Community Church was founded
in 1970 by the Rev. Arthur Green, making it the fourth Metropolitan Community Church worldwide and the first established outside of the State of California; and
WHEREAS, for 37 years, Good Shepherd Parish has served the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities of Chicago and in addition has welcomed all people in Chicago who were in need of spiritual guidance and public worship; and
WHEREAS, from its founding, Good Shepherd Parish pioneered inclusive language in its worship services and programs and was inclusive of race, age, gender, sexual orientation, and gender identity in building its congregation; and
WHEREAS, from its founding, Good Shepherd Parish maintained a live 24-hour telephone help line with general information for the LGBT communities as well as for all the local Metropolitan Community Church congregations; and
WHEREAS, during the first wave of the HIV/AIDS crisis, Good Shepherd Parish maintained a strong ministry at Illinois Masonic Hospital; and
WHEREAS, Good Shepherd Parish has educated the members of the LGBT community about how substantive living as LGBT Christians is a fulfillment of self; and
WHEREAS, Good Shepherd Parish has conducted hundreds of commitment ceremonies or Holy Unions lending support to committed relationships in the LGBT communities; and
WHEREAS, in 2006 and 2007, Good Shepherd Parish held coffee socials on the corner of Bryn Mawr and Kenmore Avenues to invite members of the Edgewater neighborhood into the parish, reaffirming its outreach to the entire community;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, Richard M. Daley Mayor of the City of Chicago, do hereby proclaim July 8, 2007, to be Good Shepherd Parish Metropolitan Community Church in Chicago day and encourage all Chicagoans to recognize the contributions that the members of Good Shepherd Parish have made to the betterment of Chicago and the good work that the Metropolitan Community Church has done worldwide.
Dated this 12th Day of June, 2007
Signed by Richard M. Daley, Mayor
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