A local Lutheran church is braving the consequences to ordain an openly gay man as one of its own.

Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Newmarket has announced it will disobey the wishes of its order and go ahead with the ceremony to ordain Lionel Ketola, an openly gay married man, even though the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada’s policies forbid the ordination of “self-declared and practicing homosexuals.”

Holy Cross pastor Rev. Dawn Hutchings said she isn’t concerned about the consequences of ordaining Mr. Ketola as her associate pastor, because it’s just the right thing to do.

“This started in 2005 when our congregation offered a statement of welcome to gays and lesbians,” Ms Hutchings said. “The following year, Lionel came to us and asked about ordination and the internship to become ordained, which he did, and is now certified for call.”

In addition to serving as an associ ate pastor for Holy Cross, Mr. Ketola will also become an ambassador of reconciliation, Ms Hutchings said.

In essence, he’ll travel to other like-minded congregations to provide resources and assistance on how to better welcome gays and lesbians into the fold.

Still, that’s not a popular notion with everyone in the hierarchy of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada denomination.

This ordination is a first in Canada, Ms Hutchings said, but congregations belonging to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America have been subject to disciplinary actions for ordaining openly gay individuals.

As it stands, the church’s stance doesn’t entirely forbid the ordination of gay and lesbian individuals as clergy, provided they remain celibate.

“As a married gay man since 2003 and an active member of the queer community, this is a great opportunity for the church to reach out to queer people,” Mr. Ketola said.

“I am very proud of Holy Cross Lutheran Church for this.”

 For its actions, the church could be subject to suspension, censure, admonission or exclusion from the denomination, Ms Hutchings said.

Furthermore, Ms Hutchings said she, herself, could face being removed from the church’s roster.

“Our Eastern Synod meets in July and we’ll be asking for them to urge our bishop not to apply disciplinary action,” she said.

“At the moment the bishop has sent some letters detailing some of the possibilities for us.”

Even so, Ms Hutchings said she does hold out some hope that she and the church will go unpunished for ordaining Mr. Ketola.

“The policy is that if you are practicing and open about your sexuality you can’t be ordained,” Mr. Ketola said. “It forces people to be silent about it.”

The bishop seems to approve of the church’s ends, but simply disagrees on the means, Ms Hutchings said.

“The bishop has expressed hope at changing some of the policies we’re going against, but he just doesn’t approve of our methods,” she said. “We’re faithfully disobeying the church.”

The Eastern Synod’s Bishop, Rev. Michael Pryse, said Holy Cross’ decision to go ahead and ordain Mr. Ketola represented a serious breach of the church’s accepted policies and practices.

The whole church, he said, is meant to decide who becomes ordained, not individual congregations.

“Our church doesn’t allow individual units in isolation to determine who gets ordained and who doesn’t,” he said.

“The whole church decides who represents us.”

As things are, Mr. Pryse said individuals such as Mr. Ketola are not eligible to become pastors in the  church. It’s a simple matter of policy.

“The church has a policy that excludes self-proclaimed practicing homosexuals,” Mr. Pryse said.

“As a result Mr. Ketola cannot be eligible for ordination by the church.”

‘At the end of the day, I want to see homosexuals have the same rights in the church as heterosexuals, but I don’t think one single act will get us to that day any sooner; it might even put that day off.’

Ms Hutchings is quite correct in saying that the church may be subject to discipline, Mr. Pryse said. If the ordination goes ahead, the ELCIC would likely put together an investigations committee and then, based on that investigation, a disciplinary committee.

From there, the church could face anything from strongly worded objections, to a suspension or even being removed from the church entirely.

Mr. Pryse said such matters would not be up to him, but he hoped the most severe punishment would not be necessary.

“There would be no great urgency in doing this,” Mr. Pryse said.

“A lot of people are very passionate about this, so right away might not be the best time to make those kinds of decisions.”

Mr Pryse went on to state he sympathizes with the goals of Holy Cross and could understand their frustrations, however, he warned hasty actions may end up hindering, rather than helping, the cause in the long run.

“My great concern is about people in the moderate middle who are moving to positive effect towards progressive views on this matter and might not be very happy about a small group doing this on their own,” he said.

“At the end of the day, I want to see homosexuals have the same rights in the church as heterosexuals, but I don’t think one single act will get us to that day any sooner; it might even put that day off.”

Either way, Ms Hutchings said she’s not concerned about the ramifications that may come about. She knows, if nothing else, she has the support of her congregation.

“The congregation has been overwhelmingly supportive on this issue,” she said. “They voted for this and they knew the risks involved going in.”

Mr. Ketola lives in the area with his partner, Steve Loweth.

Tomorrow night’s ceremony will mark the end of a long road for Mr. Ketola, which began in Saskatoon in 1986 when the church first removed him as a candidate for ordination, after he informed his bishop that he was a homosexual and sexually active.

Since that time, Mr. Ketola has remained committed to his goal of being ordained into the church and has received support and assistance on his journey by organizations such as the Extraordinary Candidacy Project, the Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries and, of course, Holy Cross, which is also a member of Lutherans Concerned in Canada an organization committed to fostering a more welcoming attitude towards gays and lesbians within the structure of the church.

Whatever happens, Ms Hutchings said the ordination ceremony will go on as planned on at the Trinity United Church located at 461 Park Ave. in Newmarket tomorrow at 7:30 p.m.

Ms Hutchings said she, along with colleagues from the Anglican Church, the United Church and from other congregations from across North America will then perform the ordination ceremony and let the consequences be, well, damned.

“In a Lutheran church, the power rests with the congregation, but they cede certain powers, in our denomination, to the gathered assembly of bishops who run the church in the interim,” she said.

“As a gay man who has waited 20 years for this, it feels like a dream come true,” Mr. Ketola said.

“There were times I thought it would never happen ... It’s a great gift to be at this point today.”