He was also a rector of St. John's Parish in Washington, Connecticut from 1959 until 1967.[2][3] While in Washington, he helped establish the Washington Montessori School and reopened the Wykeham Rise School that focused on the visual and performing arts.[2][4][5]
From 1968 until 1982 he was a member and president of the Standing Liturgical Commission, which developed the 1979 edition of the Book of Common Prayer.[2][4]
In 1993, he relocated to San Francisco, where he helped to found and was the executive director of Oasis/California, a gay and lesbian Episcopal ministry.[2][4] He was also an interim dean at the School for Deacons in California.[2][4] He also became the Bishop-in-Residence at the Church of St. John-the-Evangelist in San Francisco.[2][4]
Charles was also a founding editor of Millennium3 which was distributed to all Episcopal clergy.[4]
Charles married Elvira Latta on May 26, 1951.[2][1] They had five children: Christopher, Nicholas, Emilie, Timothy, and Elvira.[2] After his retirement in 1993, Charles publicly came out as gay, the first Christian bishop ever to take such a step.[6][4] However, he told his wife that he was gay in 1976.[6] He and his wife divorced shortly after his public announcement.[6] Charles said, "I was ashamed of myself for remaining silent when the church was involved in an acrimonious debate about the whole question of gay people in the life of the church. I couldn't live with that any longer. I came to realize that I was only going to wither and die and it would be a destructive relationship for my wife and myself."[6]
On April 24, 2004, he had a commitment ceremony with Felipe Sanchez-Paris (1941 – July 31, 2013).[2][1] He legally married Sanchez-Paris on September 29, 2008.[6] Sanchez-Paris was a retired professor and political organizer; he had four ex-wives and four children.[6][4] The two appear in the documentary film Love Free or Die, testifying about a resolution directing the Episcopal Church to create a provisional rite for the blessing of same-gender relationships at its 2009 General Convention in Anaheim, California.[7] Sanchez-Paris died on July 30, 2013.[8][4]
