ORLANDO–Baptism is usually a time to celebrate new life and spiritual community. But for Rich McCaffrey the ritual took on a hurtful note when he had to cancel his son’s baptism because McCaffrey and his husband are gay.
McCaffrey and his husband, Eric, began attending the Episcopal Cathedral Church of St. Luke in Orlando, Florida shortly after adopting their son, Jack. They hoped to become part of a spiritual community in which they could baptize their son.
The church’s dean, Anthony Clark, initially agreed to the baptism and encouraged the family to schedule it for the 6 p.m. Sunday service, “since those who worship at that time tend to be the most ‘open,'” according to McCaffrey. The parents chose April 19.
Things turned sour on April 16, when, three days before the planned baptism, Clark told them that “there were members of the congregation who opposed Jack’s baptism” and the service would have to be temporarily cancelled.
“Jack’s baptism turned out to be the very opposite of what it should have been,” McCaffrey wrote on Facebook. “It became about Jack having two dads, rather than a community opening its arms to a joyful little soul, one of God’s children.”
After the news spread, Bishop Greg Brewer of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida, where St. Luke is located, contacted McCaffrey to make amends, according to Joe Thoma, communications director for the diocese.
Thoma said Brewer was “caught by surprise” when he learned of the baptism’s cancellation and wanted to repair the situation. After Brewer and McCaffrey spoke on the phone Sunday, the two released a joint statement saying they would not give any interviews or comments “to protect the privacy of their conversation.” The two are scheduled to meet again on May 7 and release a joint statement on May 8, Thoma said.
Clark called the cancelled baptism a “regrettable misunderstanding. I’ve reached out to them so that we might resolve the misunderstanding and make this right moving forward,” he told the site.
While the episode has put the church into the “public glare,” Thoma said, it also created an “opportunity to reconnect and connect with many people one-on-one” on the issue of LGBT inclusion in the church — something that McCaffrey said had been thrown into question.
Antonia Blumberg of the Huffington Post contributed to this report.
