Audio Interview, Bruce Hanson, February 19, 2012
- EVELYN BAILEY: So I'm here with Reverend Bruce Hanson
- in his home in St. Augustine.
- And we're looking back at the early history of the formation
- of Dignity-Integrity Rochester.
- And I'm going to let Bruce tell the story.
- REVEREND BRUCE HANSON: Thank you.
- (laughs) I'll give it a try to that, OK?
- I am Father Bruce, and I was the rector of St. Luke's Church.
- OK, this is Father Bruce, the rector
- of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Rochester,
- New York from 1973 to 1980.
- St. Luke's is Rochester's oldest church.
- It was built by Colonel Rochester, who
- founded the city of Rochester and some of the mills
- along the river.
- Now, Father Bruce--
- St. Luke's Church then merged with St. Simon Cyrene,
- Rochester's African American congregation
- in the Episcopal church and they merged.
- In the early spring of 1975, Father Bruce met with Father
- Szymanski, a curate at St. Thomas church,
- to discuss the use of an office in a downtown building--
- namely, St. Luke's Church--
- St. Thomas church being at the southeastern edge of the city
- with no public transportation on weekends.
- So Father Szymanski had started a meeting of gay men
- on Sunday afternoon.
- But attendance was wild and indifferent.
- Because the only way to attend anything at St. Thomas church
- was governed by carpools because of no public buses
- or anything of that sort.
- This varied attendance did not really form a solid group,
- nor could anyone seeking counsel reach Farther Symansky
- if he were at St. Thomas Church.
- The location of St. Thomas Church
- was discouraging to those seeking a church gathering
- place.
- At this time, the only gathering of gay Christian men
- was a small meeting of Roman Catholics in the church
- behind Kodak Tower.
- Kodak needed some more parking space for its members
- and arranged the destruction of the Roman Catholic
- church next to Kodak.
- The Catholic gay group needed to find a place to meet,
- since the church was only the Roman Catholic
- church that accepted them.
- After discussion with Father Szymanski,
- Father Hanson consulted with the lay leaders, the wardens,
- who enthusiastically approved Father Szymanski's
- use of a vacant office, but more, they
- approved a late Sunday afternoon meeting of the Roman Catholic
- group and the St. Thomas group.
- The church warden gave permission
- to use the worship space and the parish hall
- for a social gathering following the service.
- By late spring, Father Szymanski had gathered the two groups
- together for worship and socialization.
- Socialization was easily arranged.
- But worship was a bit more difficult,
- until the group had experienced both the Roman Catholic
- and the Episcopal liturgies and found
- them to be almost identical.
- Then, surprise to everyone, both the Episcopal and Roman
- Catholic bishops at the time gave their approval
- of an alternate weekly plan.
- The Roman Catholics would have the use of their liturgy
- on the first and third Sundays of each month.
- The Episcopal liturgy was used on the second and fourth.
- In addition to approval of the use of the liturgies
- in that way, the bishops also gave
- approval of the pastor and Episcopal Roman Catholic
- clergy to preach and celebrate the Eucharist.
- This was usually done on a quarterly basis.
- Organizational administration was quickly
- organized as the group began to grow,
- including women who had not been there at the beginning.
- Father Szymanski and Father George Kakuzi were appointed
- the clergy leadership, including Father Bruce, rector of St.
- Luke's.
- Father Bruce often served as organist
- when the scheduled volunteer organist failed to show up.
- For the first couple of years of Dignity-Integrity,
- the group was joined by gay men and women
- from the downtown Presbyterian church.
- They were a larger gathering, badly
- missed when they created their own gathering
- for Protestant worship.
- During the first couple of years,
- St. Luke's congregation invited Dignity-Integrity
- and the Presbyterians to celebrate with them
- on Christmas Eve and Easter.
- The nave and gallery were filled for all four
- of the worship experiences.
- The nave and gallery hadn't been filled since the 1940s.
- But this was a major and special event
- with gays and regular people all meeting
- and worshipping together.
- The big event of these gatherings
- was the passing of the peace.
- Straight and gay persons dashed through the nave
- and the gallery to pass the peace.
- It was sheer chaos.
- Another thing that happened in these early days
- was that Father Bruce approved and permitted
- to happen in the church gay weddings, which
- was a surprise to the community but supported by the church.
- These were the first openly celebrated commitments
- in Rochester.
- As members became more comfortable being out
- and accepted DI, these commitments
- became more public celebrations.
- Let's see.
- One of the great events for Rochester
- was the joining of Dignity and Integrity,
- the first combined such organization
- in the United States.
- This merged group has successfully
- found ways to work and play and worship together.