EXCLUSIVE: A rector who marched against Trump, gay blessings, gun control, Muslim outreach and ‘climate crisis’ solar panels on the roof: Meet Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch’s ultra-liberal church
St. John’s Episcopal Church is led by a pastor who proudly attended the anti-Trump Women’s March in Denver the day after the President’s inauguration
Rev. Susan Springer has said she is pro-gay marriage and offers blessings to same-sex couples
Another member of the clergy is outspoken about the need for gun control
The church’s Rev. Ted Howard also signed a letter slamming the ‘disrespectful rhetoric’ directed at Islam as Trump floated a ban on Muslim immigrants
Church authorities also appear to be strongly in favor of environmental initiatives and added solar panels to the roof because of ‘climate crisis’
If Gorsuch is confirmed, he will renew the Supreme Court’s Christian majority and join as the only non-Catholic member
By Ruth Styles In Boulder, Colorado
DailyMail.com
6 February 2017
He has been described as ‘the heir to Scalia’ and is a religious conservative whose appointment to the Supreme Court was greeted with jubilation on the pro-gun, anti-abortion Right.
But DailyMail.com can reveal that Neil Gorsuch’s own church, in Boulder, Colorado, is a hotbed of liberal thinking – and is led by a pastor who proudly attended the anti-Trump Women’s March in Denver the day after the President’s inauguration.
Another member of the clergy at St. John’s Episcopal Church is outspoken about the need for gun control, and helped organize opposition to a gun shop giveaway of high-capacity magazines in the run-up to a 2013 law that banned them from the state of Colorado.
In December 2015, shortly after the San Bernardino terrorist attack, Rev. Ted Howard, 74, also put his name to a public letter slamming the ‘criticism and disrespectful rhetoric’ directed at Islam – just as President Trump was floating a total ban on Muslim immigrants.
And in a twist that may surprise religious conservatives who welcomed Gorsuch’s appointment, church leader Rev. Susan Springer, 58, has said she is pro-gay marriage and offers blessings to same sex couples.
The church, which trumpets its ‘inclusive’ ethos on its website, also operates a homeless outreach program that includes an LGBT center and a sexual health clinic in a pamphlet setting out the best places for those in need of help.
Church authorities also appear to be strongly in favor of environmental initiatives – even adding solar panels to the roof in January last year saying it was because of the ‘climate crisis’.
Gorsuch, 49, moved to Colorado with his British wife Louise and daughters Emma, 18, and Belinda, 16, a decade ago after being appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit by President George W. Bush.
The judge, who grew up in Denver but relocated to Washington DC as a teenager, has been a member of the congregation ever since and regularly volunteers as an usher.
Gorsuch was brought up as a Catholic by his mother Ann, and attended an elite all boys Catholic school in Washington D.C. run by the Jesuit order.
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