We continue our journey through the month of June — the month of Pride — remembering those religious leaders and spiritual adepts who dedicated their lives helping all the children of God know and value the Divine Spark within them and welcoming them to the table of celebrating that spark and participating fully in their spiritual journey.

In the sacramental Christian tradition in the United States, perhaps the greatest of these leaders is a man by the name of George Hyde born July 2, 1923, in Chattanooga, TN. (Wikipedia article on Hyde) As I mentioned in last week’s post honoring Bishop John Kazantks, I first learned about George Hyde in Julie Byrne’s 2016 book The Other Catholics – Remaking America’s Largest Religion. Since reading her book, I have been amazed by the courage and zeal that George Hyde and John Kazantks had for drawing people into the body of Christ, especially those marginalized by most denominations. It also amazes methink about the time in which they did so, all the way back in 1946 when George Hyde was ordained a priest by Greek Orthodox bishop John Kazantks and established the first Christian congregation dedicated to ministering to and for homosexuals by homosexual priests.

I can only imagine the courage it took to do so at a time when it was illegal across the United States to have such relationships and few homosexuals openly lived out who they were and were able to live their truth, to love themselves, to accept and honor themselves as God loves, accepts, honors and celebrates all God’s children who seek to reflect that presence of the Divine in their lives and the world around them.

A user named Linda on the findagrave.com website posted the following picture of George Augustine Hyde on that website:

According to the Net Ministries Network profile on the Eucharistic Catholic Church, Hyde was ordained a priest by Bishop John Kazantks on July 1, 1946 — a day before Hyde’s 23rd birthday. Hyde accepted Bishop Kazantks as his hierarchical superior. That ordination, nearly 75 years ago, marked the beginning of what would be come known as The Eucharistic Catholic Church, the first “Gay Church”.

There are many resources on the Internet now about George Hyde, Bishop Kazantks and the beginning of the ECC. Including:

https://www.netministries.org/churches/ch04614

https://lgbtqreligiousarchives.org/oral-histories/george-augustine-hyde

http://eucharisticcatholicchurch.org — Please note, as of this posting, this link currently does not work, Archbishop LaRade kindly responded to my email of 6/6/2021 and explained they are currently having issues with their web server and hope to have it resolved soon.

I would encourage you to check out the above links and find out more about Bishop Hyde and Bishop Kazantks and the Eucharistic Catholic Church.

Although my own journey in the Independent Sacramental Movement has not brought me in direct contact with the ECC or any clergy affiliated with or with ties of apostolic succession to Bishop Hyde and/or Bishop Kazantks, I admire brave pioneers in the Body of Christ like Kazantks and Hyde who not only welcomed homosexual men and women into the body of Christ, but so many other marginalized individuals who felt they had no place in the Body of Christ.

The late patriarch and founder of the Catholic Apostolic Church of Antioch, said it best when he described in his book The Sacramentarian:

Some will object that certain Sacramental Churches have for many centuries endeavored to reconstruct society but have failed in the creation of a social order of love and goodwill. The answer to this objection is two-fold. These Sacramental Churches did not lift the Sacramental Actions to the high level we have proposed, and they were notoriously remiss in their failure to practice love. Sacraments without love are almost totally useless and dead.

Spruit, Herman The Sacramentarian pg. 75

Thank God for pioneering souls like Bishop George Andrew “Augustine” Hyde who sought to celebrate the sacraments in the fullness of God’s love for all children of God.

Blessed St. George Andrew “Augustine” Hyde — pray for us. Pray that our hearts may be kindled with that same zeal, love and compassion; that our mind may be illuminated with that same wisdom and light, and that our thoughts, words and actions be tempered with that same Divine Love, Divine Light that inspired you to draw so many into the body of Christ.