Iliff Karen Oliveto

Oliveto Embraces LGBT ‘Resurrection’ at Iliff Chapel

on April 27, 2017

The day following her appearance at a United Methodist Judicial Council hearing that may affect her episcopacy, contested Bishop Karen Oliveto returned to her Mountain Sky Episcopal Area to address seminary students and faculty.

In her address, Oliveto encouraged students to “embrace the doubting Thomas within you,” lashed out at the church’s discipline proscribing homosexual practices as “silencing”, and equated the act of coming out as homosexual or “gender queer” as comparable to Christ’s resurrection.

Oliveto spoke April 26 at the Iliff School of Theology chapel service in Denver, Colorado, where she serves on the board of trustees for the United Methodist-affiliated seminary.

Considered among the most progressive of the 13 official seminaries serving the United Methodist Church, the school educates a relatively small number of United Methodist seminarians. According to the denomination’s General Board of Higher Education and Ministry (GBHEM) in 2013, Iliff educated fewer than a dozen ordinands.

Iliff President Tom Wolfe opened the chapel service, announcing to Oliveto “we welcome your courage. We welcome your wisdom, we welcome your heart.” The congregation was enthusiastic, rising out of their pews and clapping for an extended duration as the newly-elected bishop acknowledged their welcome.

Oliveto assessed to the Iliff community that “we are in a waiting time” unsure if she will still be their bishop on Friday, the earliest possible date that the Judicial Council may hand down a ruling. The Judicial Council is the top court of the denomination and has been asked to make a ruling of law about the validity of electing a person as bishop who is in a legal same-sex marriage. While Oliveto is unmentioned in the case and did not speak at the hearing, the case was precipitated by her July election and consecration. In 2014, Oliveto entered into a legal marriage with Deaconess Robin Ridenour.

Oliveto spoke on the gospel reading for the day, John Chapter 20 verses 24-29, in which the disciple Thomas encounters the resurrected Christ and will not believe until he places his hand into Christ’s side.

“The more I meditated upon Thomas, especially during the Judicial Council [proceedings]; my appreciation for him has grown,” Oliveto said. “How many of us have had our reality condemned or disbelieved?”

Addressing language in the Book of Discipline that proscribes homosexual practices, Oliveto declared “this has resulted in an increased silencing of queer voices.”

“I want to celebrate you, the doubting Thomases, who put their foot down and say that unless it is part of my experiences, I cannot accept it as my truth,” Oliveto announced.

“I am not untrustworthy, and I am not sick,” Oliveto declared. “What lies have you been fed about you?”

Quoting New Age spirituality author Eckhart Tolle, Oliveto said “When you find your truth, your actions will be in alignment with it.”

“Embrace the doubting Thomas within you,” Oliveto advised. “We believe the lies told about ourselves and we end up, as the song goes, looking for love in all the wrong places.”

The United Methodist cleric assessed that doctrines and dogma fail to fill this hunger. Instead, people are looking for an experience of God.

“They want to touch and be touched by God,” Oliveto diagnosed. “To those of us who are the children of Thomas, God has not left us to wallow in our doubt.”

The contested bishop also reflected on the reality of the resurrection.

“I believe that resurrection happened, and it continues to happen. It is a miracle that I have witnessed over and over again,” Oliveto reported. “Every time I see someone come out as LGBTQI or gender queer, there is a resurrection going on.”

Oliveto concluded by calling for putting “our whole self in” and “speaking aloud the truth of our experience.” Recalling a fellow passenger on mass transit whom she initially expressed annoyance at for playing music without headphones, she realized the familiar tune was the ‘Hokey-Pokey’. Encouraging the gathered seminary community to embrace this authenticity, she punctuated her address by leading them in the familiar dance and song.

  1. Comment by Dan on April 27, 2017 at 5:57 pm

    I would award her a unicorn frappuccino for her heterodoxy.

  2. Comment by Jeffrey Olah on April 27, 2017 at 6:20 pm

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6492a6897694137debb29f94692c93e6ed671e4c804f8b449fe60cb560a03734.jpg

  3. Comment by Bob Wynn on April 27, 2017 at 6:25 pm

    Huh? Wonder why Iliff only has 12 students? Could it be the fact that they are so “progressive?”

  4. Comment by Jeff Walton on April 28, 2017 at 9:21 am

    To clarify, Iliff has far more than a dozen students – they just have very few United Methodist ordinands studying there.

  5. Comment by James C on April 29, 2017 at 3:03 pm

    Why then are we funding it?

  6. Comment by Jeff Walton on May 1, 2017 at 9:38 am

    An excellent question. Schools like Iliff and Garrett educate few United Methodist ordinands and receive a significant subsidy each quadrennium. Meanwhile, Asbury educates nearly a quarter of future UM pastors and receives nothing. Based on market forces alone, there should be changes in how these funds are allocated.

  7. Comment by John Smit on May 2, 2017 at 7:08 am

    Funding is not based on market but rather on ideology.

  8. Comment by JoAnn 'Fowler' Henry on April 27, 2017 at 6:30 pm

    To even give her an audience shows how far away from God the Methodist faith has gone. It would be so easy to go with the flow and accept homosexuals as normal but you can’t! The Bible stands in front of you like a wall and you can’t go against the Word. We’re trying to keep people out of hell, not put more in hell just to get along and increase attendance. So many scriptures against having sex with the same sex and you know them all. Don’t bow your knee to Baal.

  9. Comment by Melissa Bush on May 7, 2017 at 11:56 am

    What did Jesus say about homosexuality?

    Nothing.

  10. Comment by Jim on August 7, 2017 at 6:42 pm

    Also said nothing about being United Methodist and a whole host of subjects. But the Bible does speak of homosexuality and a lot of subjects Jesus is not quoted talking about. I would think it would be safe to say He is agreement with The Book!

  11. Comment by Beth on April 27, 2017 at 9:23 pm

    How does anyone remain in the Methodist Church? Glad I left.

  12. Comment by Xerxesfire on April 27, 2017 at 9:55 pm

    This so-called apostate bishop speaks blasphemy by equating a gay person coming out to Christ’s resurrection! Iliff is nothing but a breeding ground for apostasy.

  13. Comment by Kemper Smith on April 28, 2017 at 10:05 am

    The resurrection of Jesus Christ was a totally unique event that will not be exactly duplicated until the resurrection at the end. Wow, talk about extremely lousy “exegesis”, reading personal beliefs and feelings back into the Holy Scriptures to prove your own point! Taking a historical event that changed the world and “spiritualizing” just to support your unscriptural beliefs is a sad demonstration of her not being qualified to be a bishop.

  14. Comment by i belong, Amen! Ministries on April 29, 2017 at 3:57 pm

    False Teacher…… many of them out there. This surprises anyone??? And to think people still refer to these folks as Christian. smh

  15. Comment by Riolion on May 2, 2017 at 2:41 pm

    If the UMC sees to honor Oliveto as a bishop, then clearly the UMC is continuing on its way to the graveyard as simply put the sheep that genuinely belong to the Lord will not follow such a leader; they will go elsewhere in other Methodist oriented denominations or form new ones. What they should learn from viewing the PCUSA, ELCA, etc. is what has happened when a denomination denounces the teaching of Scripture.

  16. Comment by James C on July 9, 2017 at 11:02 pm

    One of my professors said that most heretics are the most interesting. He may have been right but heresy is still heresy no matter who promotes it. This is really messed up theology. Actually it’s more psychobabble. Means nothing because it’s not rooted in truth.

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