Friends:
I have just returned from the Episcopal Church’s
General Convention in Anaheim, California, and I wanted to share with you some of the important developments as they relate to the LGBT community in the Episcopal Church.
General Convention meets every three years, and it is the time and place where the entire Episcopal Church gathers to change canons, pass resolutions, and craft budgets that determine our positions and policies as a Church.
All of this work is done democratically as opposed to hierarchically. All members of Christ Church can be proud that the first General Conventions were held at Christ Church, and GC still operates today on the democratic methods instituted by Bishop William White, who was Rector of Christ Church at the time. I felt some goosebumps as I sat as deputy in the delegation from our Diocese of Pennsylvania. Our delegation is comprised of 4 priests and 4 laypersons. With all of the other dioceses, there were 812 members of the House of Deputies. For anything to occur, the resolution must receive a majority vote in this House, and then also in the separate House of Bishops, which has about 140 members.
Anyway, last Sunday evening, I had the opportunity to vote for
resolution D 25, which reopens the ordination process to all members of the Episcopal Church, including for the office of Bishop. You may remember that in the last General Convention, a problematic resolution—B-33—was passed referring to not ordaining any bishop “whose manner of life” proved a problem to our Anglican brothers and sisters throughout the world. Clearly aimed at Bishop Gene Robinson, with the subtle message of regret for ordaining him a bishop, and a promise not to do so again, the resolution was meant to give our new Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts-Schori the tools needed to mend relationships with Anglican archbishops, but the resolution inflicted a deep wound with our lesbian and gay members, and needed to be changed. Resolution B-33 proved again that we should not say what we do not mean for the sake of seeking peace, which may not be possible.
In classic subtle Anglican language, the new resolution that we passed undoes the restrictions of B-33 while affirming how important the Episcopal Church believes the relationship with the rest of the Anglican Communion to be. A great fear in the House of Deputies was that the House of Bishops would not consent to our vote. However, our vote was overwhelmingly in favor, and the Bishops, with a small amendment,
gave their consent. Since then, there has been great debate as to what exactly the resolution means, which is a well-honed Episcopal sport. I have put the links to various news articles in the text.
Regarding same-sex blessings and/or marriage, the General Convention will be far less resolute. Resolutions and legislation approving and sanctioning ceremonies began in the House of Bishops, and they were much less likely to take a prophetic stance. Yesterday,
they approved a resolution allowing Bishops in states that allow civil unions or same-sex marriage to give permission for the church to sanction such unions, and to study over the next three years what liturgy would be appropriate for doing so. That means that the soonest that the Episcopal Church could take a specific position on performing same-sex blessings or marriage ceremonies is 2015. For some, this is adequate progress; for me, it moves too slow.
In committee testimony, holding so many of you in my heart, I testified that the time had come for the Episcopal Church to move onto a definition of marriage as between two people in a life-long, monogamous and faithful relationship based on love and fidelity, and not to keep a separate category “same sex blessing.” You can read about my testimony
here. It is clear that the Episcopal Church, as a whole, is not ready to move this far.
Interestingly, that so many states have made either marriage or civil unions possible for same sex couples has shifted the church more quickly than our own devices.
The Diocese of Pennsylvania should still have “local option,” meaning that with the permission of the Bishop and the Vestry, I may offer a pastoral ministry to our gay and lesbian members who seek a blessing ceremony, which we proudly do. That the state of Pennsylvania does not recognize civil unions remains a problem, so we must be about that work, as well as the ENDA work. At a minimum, I pray for legislation in PA that recognizes civil union licenses from New Jersey.
Lastly, the House of Deputies voted overwhelimingly to include “gender identity and gender expression,” in the listing of non-discrimination matters. Unfortunately, the House of Bishops
did not approve, choosing to remove all non-discrimination categories, trusting in the theology that baptism will give full access to all for ordination.
I am away on vacation now until mid-August, but I wanted you to know what had happened, and how important these matters are to me and to your parish. I look forward to a longer conversation in the fall.
Tim
P.S. It was interesting to me how many people from around the country, upon learning that I was from Philadelphia, asked if I knew about the
terrible incident of African-American and Hispanic kids from a Northeast summer camp losing their swim privileges in an exclusive Huntington Valley swim club. I could not give them any detail, as I had been away, but their concern reminded me that there is no such thing as justice for one group or subset of our community; there is simply “justice for all,” and there is no true justice until all enjoy equally its protection.