Double check on the church. OP linked to Parish (in this Diocese?) https://www.eriercd.org/the-diocese.html They provide links on their site to the Vatican and other Roman Catholic groups:
Church of the Beloved Disciple
1310 South Center St. Ext
Grove City, PA 16127
FBI file refers to NAMBLA Convention being held at a historically Nondenominational church? after separated from Roman Catholic Church:
Church of the Beloved Disciples
348 W. 14th St.
New York
March 24th-25th 1979
Apparently based on a redacted info from San Francisco, people from various states were being looked into as to their attending or not.
Although it was also 'disciple', FBI added made a spelling error. People from Houston were talked to with negative results. It was thought that NAMBLA members who attended the convention might bring boys.
Also it was noted the following Aug:
TitIe is marked "Changed" to reflect the, address and name of the above organization as the North American':Man Boy~'" Love Association (NAMBLA) '. Box 331, Kenmore Station; Boston, Massachusetts . The title Was, formerly shown as the National Man/boy lovers association, (NMBLA) convention, Church of the Beloved Disciples, 348 W. 14th St., New York, New York
Robert M. Clement, pastor of the Church of the Beloved Disciple, the first church to serve the gay community in New York City, was born
Robert Clement founded the Church of the Beloved Disciple in New York City for the purpose of ministering to the needs of the gay community.
(ca.1924) in Lee Park, Pennsylvania. He was ordained (1948) in the Polish National Catholic Church, a schismatic denomination which had separated from the Roman Catholic Church in the late 19th century and which maintained its headquarters in Pennsylvania. In 1970 Father Clement founded the Church of the Beloved Disciple as a place where gays could worship freely without fear of censure or denunciation. Nondenominational, with a congregation of some 600, and its own religious order, the Oblate Companion of St. John, the new church stressed the apostolic and sacramental nature of its ministry in contrast to the established church which it felt had consistently denied the sacraments to gays. Its liturgy was derived from a sixth-century Gallican or Gothic mass first codified by Bishop St. Germain of Paris. It claimed to be descended from the American Orthodox Church of the United States (Western Orthodox) founded in 1968, an independent denomination of which Father Clement was curial administrator.
The church held its first services in the sanctuary of the Episcopal Church of the Holy Apostles (at 9th Avenue and 28th Street). It subsequently relocated to the Moravian Church (at Lexington Avenue and 30th Street) and then to its own building at 348 West 14th Street.
By its ancient liturgy and its high-church tone the Church of the Beloved Disciple set itself apart from other gay congregations of a more evangelical nature such as the affiliates of the Metropolitan Community Church of Los Angeles founded by Rev. Troy Perry.
In 1974 in recognition of his services to the gay community Father Clement was consecrated Bishop of New York of the Eucharistic Catholic Church by Archbishop George A. Hyde, who had founded the church in 1946 in Atlanta, Georgia, as the "world's first gay church".
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Vindicator ago
Thanks for the NAMBLA FOIA docs, goatboy.
Can you please add an explanation of how this church is connected per Rule 1? Thanks. I'll give you our 24 Hour Grace flair, so you can edit.
kestrel9 ago
Double check on the church. OP linked to Parish (in this Diocese?) https://www.eriercd.org/the-diocese.html They provide links on their site to the Vatican and other Roman Catholic groups:
Church of the Beloved Disciple
1310 South Center St. Ext
Grove City, PA 16127
FBI file refers to NAMBLA Convention being held at a historically Nondenominational church? after separated from Roman Catholic Church:
Church of the Beloved Disciples
348 W. 14th St.
New York
March 24th-25th 1979
Apparently based on a redacted info from San Francisco, people from various states were being looked into as to their attending or not.
Although it was also 'disciple', FBI added made a spelling error. People from Houston were talked to with negative results. It was thought that NAMBLA members who attended the convention might bring boys.
Also it was noted the following Aug:
TitIe is marked "Changed" to reflect the, address and name of the above organization as the North American':Man Boy~'" Love Association (NAMBLA) '. Box 331, Kenmore Station; Boston, Massachusetts . The title Was, formerly shown as the National Man/boy lovers association, (NMBLA) convention, Church of the Beloved Disciples, 348 W. 14th St., New York, New York
March 24 - 25. 1979
http://archives.nypl.org/mss/567
Robert M. Clement, pastor of the Church of the Beloved Disciple, the first church to serve the gay community in New York City, was born
Robert Clement founded the Church of the Beloved Disciple in New York City for the purpose of ministering to the needs of the gay community.
(ca.1924) in Lee Park, Pennsylvania. He was ordained (1948) in the Polish National Catholic Church, a schismatic denomination which had separated from the Roman Catholic Church in the late 19th century and which maintained its headquarters in Pennsylvania. In 1970 Father Clement founded the Church of the Beloved Disciple as a place where gays could worship freely without fear of censure or denunciation. Nondenominational, with a congregation of some 600, and its own religious order, the Oblate Companion of St. John, the new church stressed the apostolic and sacramental nature of its ministry in contrast to the established church which it felt had consistently denied the sacraments to gays. Its liturgy was derived from a sixth-century Gallican or Gothic mass first codified by Bishop St. Germain of Paris. It claimed to be descended from the American Orthodox Church of the United States (Western Orthodox) founded in 1968, an independent denomination of which Father Clement was curial administrator.
The church held its first services in the sanctuary of the Episcopal Church of the Holy Apostles (at 9th Avenue and 28th Street). It subsequently relocated to the Moravian Church (at Lexington Avenue and 30th Street) and then to its own building at 348 West 14th Street.
By its ancient liturgy and its high-church tone the Church of the Beloved Disciple set itself apart from other gay congregations of a more evangelical nature such as the affiliates of the Metropolitan Community Church of Los Angeles founded by Rev. Troy Perry.
In 1974 in recognition of his services to the gay community Father Clement was consecrated Bishop of New York of the Eucharistic Catholic Church by Archbishop George A. Hyde, who had founded the church in 1946 in Atlanta, Georgia, as the "world's first gay church".
See also http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1794584/posts for early info on NAMBLA and gay 'youth' rights movement in the late 70s and 80s.
@goatboy