A prominent Episcopal bishop ripped out a clergyman’s throat after she briefly forgot his words at an LGBT-friendly Easter Vigil that was led by a drag queen.
Video captured the astonishing moment Bishop Alan M. Gates snatched the necklace from the neck of the Rev. Tamra Tucker during service at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Boston on March 30.
In the footage, Rev. Tucker, leader of The Crossing, an LGBTQ-inclusive congregation, explained to attendees that they will now be “in communion” with one another.
“It’s going to be very simple,” the reverend said as she began to explain the ceremony to the audience, which was made up of several congregations and other Protestant denominations.
Bishop Alan Gates (in white chasuble) ripped the clerical collar from the neck of the Rev. Tamra Tucker after Tucker (to Gates’ left) forgot the words of the church service.
‘We are going to allow someone to take his own piece of bread, and you will say this to the person who takes the bread.’
At this point in the video, Rev. Tucker apparently forgot the words of the ceremony.
He looked at the bishop and then turned to the crowd and said with his palms up, ‘Wait, what’s going on? I’ve been away for a while.’
Then he seemed to remember the words and said with visible relief: “The body of Christ.”
The reverend smiled and the people on the stage behind her laughed.
‘It is very simple. The body of Christ, that’s all you have to do,” said Rev. Tucker.
Moments later, Bishop Gates, who had been smiling good-naturedly at his brief mistake, lunged at her and removed the reverend’s clerical collar.
At first people laughed outrageously at the gesture of surprise. A woman at the end of the podium stared with her jaw open, and the drag queen applauded.
Reverend Tucker seemed upset and Bishop Gates, realizing he had crossed a line, returned the necklace.
“Just kidding,” the bishop said.
“Thank you,” the reverend said as the bishop put his arm around her apologetically.
At first people laughed, but shortly after the event, the church became silent and people were visibly uncomfortable with the event.
But the church was silent and the other people on the stage seemed uncomfortable.
“Damn,” said Reverend Tucker, stunned by what had just happened.
After the incident, the reverend continued with the ceremony, but her surprise seemed to linger.
Bishop Gates’ action, with playful intent, infuriated members of the faith.
The Rev. Rita Powell, chaplain of the Harvard Episcopal Community, told the Boston Globe“It was really sad that an occasion that is supposed to be joyful had to be marked by the specter of long-term misogyny that is quite essential to Christianity, even in a church that feels it has moved beyond that.”
Bishop Gates, the top official of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, issued a formal apology on April 12, nearly two weeks after the incident occurred. He has led the diocese, which contains 180 congregations, since 2014.
Bishop Gates called his action “an instant of totally misguided mischief.”
The penitent bishop observed that Rev. Tucker ‘had a moment, familiar to every worship leader, in which she went blank on the next line.’
The far-right woman laughed in amazement, and the drag queen, who hosted the event, laughed too.
Bishop Gates said removing the clerical collar was “a devastating and degrading act, which I regret with all my heart.”
The spiritual leader called Reverend Tucker “a valued colleague and excellent priest whose leadership it has been my honor to affirm.”
He further stated that “it was not and never would be” his intention to humiliate the reverend.
‘With my action I abused my authority, I failed to extend episcopal grace and I transgressed personal space and limits. I am deeply sorry.’
Rev. Tucker has yet to speak publicly about the incident and it is unclear whether or not he accepted his apology.
Tracy J. Sukraw, a spokesman for the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, said the bishop was remorseful and had reached out to the reverend “to express his regret and try to make amends.”
The bishop seemed to immediately regret his action. He said he was joking and put his arm around the reverend’s shoulders.
“It was in the joyful context of a non-traditional service, but it was poorly considered and no one thinks it was a good thing, including Bishop Gates,” Sukraw said.
‘His sincere desire is to apologize and make amends, and that is what he is working on now.
Venerable Rita Powell agreed that Bishop Gates’ intention was not to humiliate Reverend Tucker, but that the circumstances of his action made it “an act of symbolic violence.”
The day after the incident, the Rev. Jay Williams, senior pastor of Union Combined Parish, where the Rev. Tucker’s wife is executive pastor, condemned Bishop Gates’ action.
Rev. Williams said the incident was an example of “violent patriarchy and sexism.”
The reverend berated Gates, saying he “literally stripped” the reverend “of her clerical collar in public.”
“The bishop tried to say it was a joke and apologize in public, but it is no joke when a man publicly violates a woman’s personal space and symbolically strips her of her sign of ordination,” the reverend lashed out.
Service continued without problems after the incident. But the bishop’s action sparked serious criticism from other members of the religious community.
The Rev. Karen Coleman, speaking on behalf of the Standing Committee of the Diocese of Massachusetts, publicly defended the embattled bishop, hailing him as “a conscientious and compassionate pastor and colleague.”
Reverend Coleman stated that Bishop Gates has been “a constant supporter and ally of the Reverend Tamra Tucker, the Crossing congregation she pastors, and groups on the margins.”
In his apology, Bishop Gates said: ‘I extend my remorse and apologies to the Rev. Tamra Tucker; to the Crossing community; to the cathedral community; to other communities present; to the ecumenical companions who accompanied us at the Vigil; and those in the church and wider community whom I have hurt.’
‘In our baptismal pact we commit to “respect the dignity of every human being.” I ask for forgiveness for not having fulfilled this commitment and for the grace of God to renew that commitment.’