Quest Conference 2002
LONDON COLNEY
‘Questions of Conscience’
A report
(first published in Quest Bulletin 32)
Quest Conference 2002: Time for Joy
For me this year’s Conference was the first since I joined Quest. This completely new experience I had been expecting with curiosity and a certain excitement. What I found was even better than I had hoped. It was a weekend spent in a very friendly atmosphere, among many new upbeat faces, with a well-balanced programme which was generously packed with opportunities for rest and having fun, but also reflection and prayer. For me personally, it was not just an excellent break in a daily routine, but rather an important time of learning from other people and listening to how I - a gay Christian, who does not want to remain careless about my own faith, my brothers and sisters and the Church - might be and should do in order to be consistent with everything I am given from God.
The Pastoral Centre in London Colney, which was the venue of our Conference, was a big former convent. I could guess it used to be a nice place for spending the, not always easy, life of nuns. A massive church - there we had our Sunday mass - used to regularly witness many beautiful voices. It seems that rarely happens now - instead, a smaller chapel is in use. This chapel was a cosy place of our communal prayers with songs and readings from Scripture, so thoughtfully prepared and livelily provided. We specially remembered John Jenkinson, who worked hard for Quest and was a kind friend to those who knew him.
A beautiful calm garden - with a small pond and fountain - surrounded by the building’s walls was a good place for chatting: we spent a lot of time there.
James Alison, one of the guest speakers, spent the whole weekend with us and was available for a casual chat all the time. For me it was a special experience - at some point reading his Faith beyond Resentment has turned over all my picture of myself, the world, the Church, of God, at last. On Saturday, he gave a talk under the title ‘Unbinding the Gay Conscience’ that I would translate as: ‘On not enslaving oneself with not being sincere, but rather trusting God who likes us immensely’. The talk was easily accessible and insightful - it provoked many questions afterwards.
To some extent a short discussion during the AGM reflected - in rather practical terms - the Conference theme, ‘Questions of Conscience’, and Alison’s talk: as long as we deny the public consequences of our being gay Catholics, the Church will be unable to notice, not to say admit, the need of real pastoral care for gay people. According to the Chair, Timothy Potts, despite a general silencing of that need by the bishops, among them can be some who manage to take a wiser posture if they have been given reason for that. At the end, the Chair asked all present Quest members to consider a fuller participation in Quest activities - it is necessary if we would like to see our organisation able to speak creatively, either to brothers and sisters looking for reconciliation of a deep personal division on the matter of being gay, or to our bishops and priests.
The Saturday evening was fabulous; the gala dinner was very good, in a huge and very smart room. It was followed by the speech of Richard Kirker from LGCM. He was excited by the recent appointment of Rowan Williams to be Archbishop of Canterbury. Kirker told us how big the hope of Anglicans (and, maybe, not only them) is for getting the Church attitude to gay people more just. Later on, the disco totally absorbed many of us.
The next day, charming Linda Hogan, from Trinity College, Dublin, joined us to deliver one more talk. She approached the question of conscience from the point of view of Catholic tradition, which regards the conscience as the primary criterion for making moral decisions. Again, the talk provoked comments giving rise to a serious discussion on Quest’s identity.
I think all of us enjoyed a lot the presence of Fr Richard, who served the Conference as Chaplain. I have not met many people so cheerful as Fr Richard - a smile was on his face all the time.
For many days after the Conference, the excellent atmosphere we together managed to create (special thanks to the organisers - they did a fantastic job!) still excited me. In my thoughts, I often go back to those days, to insights we shared which enabled me to think from a different perspective about those things my life consists of. Of course, I am immensely happy to have new friends whom I met at the Conference. Thank God for Quest!
Ihar Ivanou