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In this issue's John Harvard's Journal:
De- and Reconstructing Harvard - Memorial Church Welcomes Gay Commitment Rites - Harvard's New Acreage - Habitat for the Humanities - Coresidence: An Anniversary - Harvard Portrait: Elizabeth Randall - Book Thief Shelved - In Pooh's Neighborhood - PBHA, College to Split? - Brevia - The Undergraduate: The Tao of Crew - Sports

Memorial Church Welcomes Gay Commitment Rites

Same-sex couples may now hold commitment or blessing ceremonies in Harvard's Memorial Church. The University's Board of Ministry pondered the matter for a year before recommending that students, alumni, and employees be permitted to conduct such ceremonies in the nondenominational Protestant church, used by a wide variety of religious groups.

The Reverend Peter J. Gomes, Pusey minister in the Memorial Church and Plummer professor of Christian morals, conferred with President Neil L. Rudenstine before accepting the board's recommendation in July. The decision is not an official University policy but was made in accordance with Harvard's nondiscrimination policy, said Ann O'Connor, a spokesperson for the church. "I am pleased to be able to extend the hospitality of the University church to all members of the University," said Gomes in a statement. "Our staff will do all that we can to assist in the development of these services."

Same-sex commitment services have no legal standing, and they are opposed by many religious denominations. As of early August, none had yet been performed at Harvard.

Stanford University permits same-sex unions to be celebrated in its chapel, but few other major educational institutions do. The president of Emory University in Atlanta recently got into a fuss over the issue with a group of regional leaders of the United Methodist Church. (The university and the denomination are closely affiliated.) The president wrote a letter of apology to a gay couple denied permission to use a university chapel for a commitment service. The church leaders heard of the letter and passed a resolution expressing "strong disagreement and extreme displeasure" with the president. The trustees of the university then temporarily banned such services and instructed university chaplains to devise an unambiguous policy for consideration at a November trustees' meeting.

A same-sex service in the Princeton University chapel last April caused an uproar among some alumni. University officials later declared that gay and lesbian couples would be able to use the chapel for commitment services, but could not sign its "Registry of Marriages."


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