Father John Parker. Dean, St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary.

On October 29 Chris Banescu’s OrthodoxNet published excerpts from Father John Parker’s presentation this past June at the Digital Media and Orthodox Pastoral Care Conference in Crete. As we noted in our OrthodoxNet Has Heart Attack over Metropolitan Kallistos (Ware), Mr. Banescu—whose theological background includes  degrees in business administration, marketing, and law—seems to resort to flagrant misrepresentations to stoke his readers’ fears of open dialogue on complex topics in the Orthodox Church. 

Father Parker’s article on OrthodoxNet can be read here.

Dr. David Ford’s comment at the end of Father Parker’s article—”Thank you very much, Fr. John, for this very needful alert!”—might cause our readers some confusion since he has written extensively for Orthodoxy in Dialogue (here, here, here, here, and the March 29 and April 14 letters to the editors here); twice with his wife, Dr. Mary Ford, for Public Orthodoxy (here and here); and once for The Wheel (here). In fact in his March 29 letter Dr. Ford commends us for On Chastity: Two Letters to a Struggling Monk and acknowledges that Orthodoxy in Dialogue does not promote sexual immorality. Why join in misrepresenting and trashing three publications that have welcomed you to write for them? 

(Incidentally, has Dr. Ford seen our several articles in defense of both a proper Orthodox understanding of opposite-sex marriage and of women married to abusive husbands?)

We have already responded in two parts to Father Parker’s presentation in Crete: first, in St. Tikhon’s Seminary Appoints Internationally Known Homophobe as Dean; and second, in “For I Am Wonderfully Made”.

We thank Father Parker and Mr. Banescu for this opportunity to keep the conversation going. Anyone wishing to participate should check our Submission Guidelines and the extensive Sexuality and Gender section in our Archives by Author. You may also consider writing something shorter for our Letters to the Editors.

See also David J. Dunn’s Baaalderdash! We’re All Just Sheep Here: A Response to Fr. John Parker’s LGBTQ Fearmongering.

Orthodoxy in Dialogue seeks to promote the free exchange of ideas by offering a wide range of perspectives on an unlimited variety of topics. Our decision to publish implies neither our agreement nor disagreement with an author, in whole or in part.

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