Gay marriage in episcopal church
Stances of Faiths on LGBTQ+ Issues: Episcopal Church
BACKGROUND
Among its statements of belief, the Episcopal Church includes, “In Jesus, we come across that the innateness of God is love, and through baptism, we give in his victory over sin and death.” They further emphasize, “We compete to love our neighbors as ourselves and respect the dignity of every person.”
With 2 million members, the U.S.-based Episcopal Church is just one branch of a worldwide Anglican Communion of 85 million. The church operates under the direction of two legislative bodies: the House of Deputies, with lay and clergy representatives from across the church, and the House of Bishops, which includes all bishops of the church. Together they make doctrinal, administrative and budgetary decisions at a General Convention that convenes every three years. An Executive Council of clergy and lay leaders manages the business of the church in the intervening period, and are elected at each General Convention, with a Presiding Bishop elected every nine years. Changes to the church constitution and to canon regulation are enacted only through a majority vote in both houses. The Constitution and Canons of the Epi
With same-sex marriage in the spotlight, where does it stand across the Anglican Communion?
A same-sex couple receives a blessing in the Church in Wales in November 2021. Photo source: Church in Wales
[Episcopal News Service – Canterbury, England] As the Lambeth Conference gets underway here, the status of same-sex marriage and Homosexual inclusion in the Anglican Communion has unexpectedly taken center stage. Though the controversial statement saying the Anglican Communion “as a whole” rejects same-sex marriage has now been removed from one of the proposed “Lambeth Calls,” it has heightened the differences among the provinces on the issue.
Some bishops have spoken of a 1998 Lambeth resolution rejecting same-sex marriage as the “official teaching” of the Anglican Communion. However, the Anglican Communion is not one church but a group of distinct churches, established as provinces, and does not have a codified set of “official teaching[s]” beyond the Nicene and Apostles’ Creeds, except perhaps the Lambeth Quadrilateral. The Lambeth Conference is not a legislative body, and its resolutions (or, in this case, “calls”) contain no binding authority.
Whatever happens at this 15th Lambeth C
Diocesan bishops who blocked same-sex marriages accept reluctant first steps toward allowing ceremonies
Deputies, bishops and visitors packed a gathering room in the Austin Hilton Hotel the afternoon of July 5 to testify on three marriage-related resolutions. Photo: Mary Frances Schjonberg/Episcopal News Service
[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Church’s General Convention first approved trial rites for homosexual marriage ceremonies in 2015, but the bishops of eight domestic dioceses still refused to authorize those ceremonies in their congregations as of this month, heading into the 79th General Convention in Austin, Texas.
Then Resolution B012 happened.
After a back-and-forth negotiation between the Dwelling of Deputies and House of Bishops, both houses approved an amended B012 that struck a compromise on the issue of granting Episcopalians across the country access to the liturgies, regardless of their bishops’ stance on lgbtq+ marriage.
The new requirement doesn’t take impact until the first Sunday of Advent, Dec. 2, and it remains to be seen how those eight dioceses will implement the process outlined by B012. They are the dioceses of Albany, Central Florida, Dallas, Florida,
1962: October Homosexuality, along with alcoholism, is studied by the House of Bishops of the Protestant Episcopal Church. It is referred to as a “standard weakness.” [1]
1963: August Rev. David B. Wayne of the Church of the Epiphany in New York City preaches that homosexuals “must be accepted fully into the fellowship of the church” while they also must seek counseling or psychological treatment. [2]
1964: November A proposed revision to a New York State law that would decriminalize “sexual deviation” (i.e., homosexuality and adultery) is praised by Episcopalians and denounced by Roman Catholics. The revision is later dropped by the NY state Legislature. [3]
1966: October Speaking at Duke Rule School, Episcopal Auxiliary Bishop of California, Rev. James A. Pike claims that laws “aimed at controlling homosexuality, sexual practices between man and wife and abortions…must be changed.” He claims that such matters are “nobody’s business but the individuals concerned.” [4]
1967: November During a symposium on homosexuality sponsored by the Episcopal Dioceses of New York, Connecticut, Drawn-out Island, and Newark, ninety Episcopalian priests agree that the chur