The Tribune

By MORGAN ADDERLEY

Tribune Staff Reporter

madderley@tribunemedia.net

AMERICAN Bishop Michael Curry, the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church who delivered the sermon at the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in May, admitted that he did not initially realise how effective his sermon was, and is often asked, especially by incredulous young people, whether he truly believes these words.

Bishop Curry spoke at Christ Church Cathedral on Monday night, launching the 50th anniversary meeting and conference of the Union of Black Episcopalians (UBE). The event runs until July 27 at the Melia Resort in Nassau.

During his sermon on Monday night, Bishop Curry's words echoed the theme of his royal wedding sermon, focusing on the power love has to change the world.

Bishop Curry also called for more love to lead the way, particularly pointing to the US government and criticising the Trump administration's policy of separating immigrant families in detention centres.

Regarding the royal wedding, Bishop Curry said, "I didn't know that anybody had paid attention to anything except the wedding gown and the bride. I didn't know.

"And then I got to Heathrow Airport the next morning and people were taking pictures, and I said, 'why are these people taking pictures of me?' And all of a sudden, my whole staff, they were inundated with press requests and the media and when I got back to New York, one of the first interviews that I did was with Harvey Levin at TMZ."

Bishop Curry said the interviewer asked a question that has "perplexed him" since it was put to him.

"He said to me in that interview, 'we really want to believe you. The young people who watch TMZ and listen to TMZ, we want to believe that love can change us and change this world. But it's hard to believe that. Do you really mean what you say? Is love really the way?'

"…I've been with several groups of young people since then," Bishop Curry continued. "And do you know that question has come up repeatedly? They want to know can love change this world that is bent on self-destruction?

"They want to know, young people in the United States, is love the way when lying and duplicity seem to be the order of the day from the highest precinct of power?

"What would the Episcopal church look like if love was the way? What would the White House -," he began, before he was interrupted by a raucous response from the audience.

"We'd have a different America, probably a different occupant. But love would make the difference."

Bishop Curry also described a recent visit to a detention centre in the United States.

"At our general convention, we gathered on Sunday morning, probably 1,000 people. Episcopalians got on buses, and rode from the city of Boston to a woman's detention centre. The Hutto detention centre. We had a prayer vigil, to make a public witness, because we follow Jesus Christ. He has taught us that we should love the Lord our God and love our neighbour as ourselves.

"So, we went to Hutto detention centre, with barbed wire on the outside. Grey granite buildings, with small windows, where women, who had been separated from their children, in America -- separated from their children-- were housed and confined.

"And we had a service, and bore witness. And we reminded America, we had a revolution once. We celebrated on July 4, 1776, that on that day there was issued a Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson, who did not always live up to the words that he wrote. Sally Hemmings knew that.

"…. But whether he lived up to it or not, the words are true. 'We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men, that all people are created equal. And that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. That among these rights are the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

"That all people are endowed not by a parliament, not by a congress, not by a plebiscite, not by a pope, not by a priest, a potentate, a prime minister, or a president. All people are endowed by their creator, by the Lord God Almighty, with certain inalienable rights.

"All people. And that's not just American people. That's all people. All people are children of God…. loved equally by God and meant to be treated equally in the eyes of man. All people. Not just some of us, but all of us. And we stood there and bore witness.

"And some in the group stood up and they went up as close as the police would let them to the detention centre. And they had signs that said, 'God loves you', 'we're here for you'. And they shouted to the women, 'God loves you. God loves you.'

"Most of the women inside spoke only Spanish. But the Holy Spirit did some translating. (Because) they understood what we were saying. And inside, the women had towels. And they were waving their towels in the window, and they were shouting, 'we love you! We love you!'

"Now that day, we did not break down the walls. But let me tell you something -- it took seven times going around the city of Jericho until those walls came tumbling down."