Bishop Walter C. Righter, RIP

[markpkessinger]

A friend on Facebook reported yesterday on the sad passing of Episcopal Bishop Walter C. Righter at the age of 89. Bp. Righter was a true social justice warrior and a major advocate for full inclusion of gay and lesbian persons into the full life of the church, and in all roles, clergy and lay. Among the dozens of comments paying tribute to Bp. Righter was this one:

All this boosterism doesn't quite fit the man I knew (and loved). Come on, people, where's the salt? He and I were walking back from lunch one day at the Episcopal Church's General Convention in Phoenix, when we passed a protester carrying a sign saying something about Sodom and "Gemorra". Bp. Righter said to the protester, "Your sign is mispelled." The protester immediately jumped to his own defense, saying, "That's how it's spelled in the (whatever) version of the Bible!" We walked a little further, when Bp. Righter said out of the side of his mouth, "It's just so easy to jerk these peoples' chains."

RIP, Bishop Righter