News
2007-01-04
Ford remembered
at D.C. funeral for supporting gays
The nation
remembered Gerald R. Ford on Tuesday for what he didn't
have—pretensions, a scheming agenda, a great golf
The nation
remembered Gerald R. Ford on Tuesday for what he didn't
have—pretensions, a scheming agenda, a great golf
game—as much as for the small-town authenticity
he brought to the presidency—as well as his
support for gays. In an elaborate national funeral
service in Washington, D.C., and in
a simpler ceremony in Grand Rapids,
Mich., the 38th president was celebrated for treating
politics as a calling rather than blood sport.
The service in Washington unfolded in the spirit
of one of its musical selections, "Fanfare for the
Common Man," as powerful people celebrated the modesty
and humility of a leader propelled to the presidency
by the Watergate crisis that drove predecessor Richard Nixon
from office. In his homily, Episcopalian minister Robert G.
Certain touched on the fractious debate in the church
over homosexuality, adding that Ford did not think the
issue should be splitting Episcopalians. He was Ford's
pastor at St. Margaret's Church in Palm Desert, Calif.
"He asked me if we would face schism after we
discussed the various issues we would consider,
particularly concerns about human sexuality and the
leadership of women," Certain said. "He said that he did not
think they should be divisive for anyone who lived by the
great commandments and the great commission to love
God and to love thy neighbor." (Calvin Woodward and
James Prichard, AP)
Click here to follow The Advocate on Twitter.
Page 1 of 1