“The Episcopal Church Welcomes You” (?)

 

07/08/09:  Bishops from the six states where civil marriage of same-gender couples is now legal are asking the General Convention for “generous discretion” that would allow clergy in affected dioceses to adapt the church’s prayerbook services “for use with all couples who seek the church’s support and God’s blessing in their marriages.”

The resolution, B012—proposed by Bishop Stephen Lane of the Diocese of Maine and cosponsored by the Diocese of Massachusetts’ three bishops, along with the bishops of Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont and Iowa—was the focus of a full-house hearing before the Social and Urban Affairs Committee this afternoon.  No one spoke against the resolution during 75 minutes of testimony, though committee member Robert Hennagen of the Diocese of Southwest Florida rose to relay concerns he said he’s heard from others, including that the Episcopal Church has yet to officially take a position on whether same-gender unions are an appropriate model of Christian marriage.

Those who urged the resolution’s passage spoke from a variety of personal perspectives and local contexts.  Some described inequality in the pastoral care they are able to receive or provide.

“News alert:  Marriage equality is a reality coming to a state near you.  And when it comes, your bishop and your clergy will face the same dilemma we do now in New Hampshire, which is that clergy are going to be required to offer a different standard of pastoral care to different members of their congregations,” Bishop Gene Robinson said.  “It is incredibly painful.”

Some framed it as a civil rights issue.  Still others said that the church’s evangelism efforts are being inhibited, that, in effect, the current gap between what is increasingly legal civilly and what the church is able to offer pastorally puts a virtual question mark behind the slogan “The Episcopal Church Welcomes You.”

“The gay and lesbian people in the Diocese of Massachusetts feel that they are only welcome so far into the life of the church,” Bishop M. Thomas Shaw, SSJE said.

Massachusetts deputies Sam Gould and the Rev. Gale Davis Morris also testified.

“As a priest in the Diocese of Massachusetts I cannot serve my congregation equally. I find this to be a particularly appalling position to be put into as a priest, that the state would allow me but my church will not,” Morris said.  “There is something radically wrong with that picture, and I hope that we will allow this resolution to go forward so that we can change that.  It doesn’t force any diocese that is not in our position to go ahead and authorize the blessing of same-sex marriage, but it allows those of us who have that privilege to do it in a very holy and just way.”

The resolution remains under consideration.

–Tracy J. Sukraw

From testimony by Bishop M. Thomas Shaw, SSJE:  

“Five years ago when we were discussing this in Massachusetts I tried to bring it to the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church, and I think because we were such an anomaly, the House of Bishops wasn’t really willing to take it up.  So, through conversations with the archbishop of Canterbury and the then-presiding bishop, Frank Griswold, we reached an accommodation in Massachusetts that didn’t include parish priests being able to marry gay and lesbian people that were members of their parishes that could be civilly married in Massachusetts. 

“It’s been five years that we’ve lived with this accommodation, and I can tell you pastorally that it’s a very painful accommodation for the gay and lesbian people of the Diocese of Massachusetts, but also for heterosexual people as well.  This has not been a solution that has really met the pastoral needs of our churches, because the gay and lesbian people in the Diocese of Massachusetts feel that they are only welcome so far into the life of the church.  So for pastoral reasons I hope that you will approve this resolution. 

“But there’s another thing as well.  We have a Youth Leadership Academy in the Diocese of Massachusetts.  I was meeting with them last week, and we were talking about the General Convention, and I told them about B012.  And they said to me, ‘You know, Tom, you need to get that approved. [laughter]  We can’t go out to our friends who are our age and invite them into the life of the Episcopal Church unless everyone is welcome in the life of the church.’”

 

 

 

"The Episcopal Church Welcomes You"