Page 75 - MLD Book

2015
Very early in 2015, our two doctors who regularly attended the 8:00 service went to Erdman and asked him to perform their marriage. This was the period when those marriages now were officially sanctioned, and they wanted to be married in their own church. Erdman refused! He spouted about some duty he had to preserve what the Bible taught, and a bunch of other gibberish that entirely went against the inclusivity that had been Calvary’s motto for year and years. Of course this set off a firestorm, with those on his side getting ugly and most of the rest of us equally adamant that we WERE inclusive AND supportive. We tried to offer a good solution and that was to have another priest to do it, but still at Calvary. NO! He got very belligerent and said that under no circumstances would he permit such marriages to be performed in Calvary’s building. He even told them to go to the Cathedral to get married (CCC had offered) and that Calvary would then give them a nice reception at Calvary after they were married!!! That incredulous offer set off yet another firestorm. “The Doctors” as we lovingly called them, transferred to the Church of the Advent, where they were joyfully received – and married! The battle went on and on at Calvary as we tried to pick up the pieces. At least I was able to remind people that they couldn’t blame ME and my relationship with the rector for this one! In fact, the unrest went on all year, with congregational meetings beginning in March culminating in his resignation, which finally happened on December 23!!! I remember the most contentious meeting was on August 30, where Sandy MacLean and Ginger Ray got into it in embarrassing fashion. Sandy was pontificating as usual, assuming HE was the only real liturgical expert at Calvary, and Ginger had enough. She screamed out “Shut up, you fucking felon!” (Yes, Sandy had been in jail at one time.) O yes, as a parting shot, Erdman changed all the passwords on the church
computer he was using! Lovely man.
A number of people left Calvary in support of Erdman, one being the aforementioned Sandy, who most of the time acted as if we knew nothing and was constantly trying to impose his Catholic tendencies on us. His love of pomp and incense, along with Erdman’s, had already caused myriads of trouble for those who were allergic to smoke. I was beginning my first year as an LEM, and he was sooo condescending to me. One reason was that I was a woman, and the other intertwined was that he thought I knew nothing. True, but I learned! So I was not sorry to see him go. Eventually the defectors ended up at St. Martin of Tours, along with Eugene AND Erdman, who formed a liason with a Catholic group based in Texas that allowed married Episcopalian priests to stay married and become Catholic. It was called Our Lady and St. John or some such. So Erdman got to have his cake and eat it too! But one person I am still sad to see go is Ralph Hirsbrunner, a retired music teacher from Indiana, who was always interested and supportive of me musically. He was unmarried, and we never figured out why he would take Erdman’s side on prohibiting gay marriage. He was sure I had played a part in getting rid of him. Ralph was a dog lover and had many of those tall thin Greyhounds – he even named one after me!
Of course, this whole episode did nothing to dispel Calvary’s reputation in the greater Episcopal region of being a PRIEST KILLER. They don’t bother to look back at the circumstances of how each trauma occurred, but it’s here for the looking, should they desire the truth. Of course, we had to go through the negotiations of settlement again, just as we did with Polk a mere 13 years previous, not to mention me getting a mere one year’s salary in termination 2012. Erdman came away with $200,000 and still chased after Sally Meigs playing poor mouth. Director of Music Eugene Lavery was somebody I never did figure out, and I never felt close enough to him to ask him why he was definitely in Erdman’s court. But he was, and three days after the Erdman resignation on December 23, he offered his own