Blessings and Joy

Rev. Carolyn Hall (right) welcomes worshipers
to Integrity Eucharist (7/9/12)

For years, the Episcopal Church has tied itself in knots over issues of sexuality, and differences over those issues are still apparent here in Indianapolis. But at this General Convention, the will of the majority is to move on. Both the House of Deputies and the House of Bishops have approved resolutions that likely would have deepened rifts in the church less than a decade ago. Today, while there is still opposition in some quarters, both houses have sent a clear message that the Episcopal Church stands for inclusivity.

Monday was a historic day on which “the church put its actions where its mouth is,” said the Rev. Caroline Hall, president of Integrity USA. The House of Bishops voted by a margin of almost three to one to authorize provisional use of a liturgy for blessing same sex covenants. And the House of Deputies gave final approval to canon changes already approved by the Bishops making it church-wide policy that transgendered persons can be ordained. 

For some of us in the Washington Diocese, the blessing resolution may seem superfluous. Under DC law, our clergy already are performing marriage rites for same-sex couples. But to most of the country, approving the liturgy for provisional use is a huge step by the Episcopal Church. Our Bishop, Mariann Budde, spoke in favor on the floor of the House of Bishops, in honor of the many same sex couples who have inspired her and her husband, and who have served Christ and Christ's mission. They want only for their church to honor and bless their relationships, she said.

The blessing resolution came to the floor after hours of testimony and debate in committee, and the handwriting was on the wall from the start. Six of those who testified against it during a packed public hearing were from the same Diocese, Central Florida.  Supporters surprisingly included a man from Tanzania who said that, in the U.S. context, approving the liturgy was the right thing to do.

In true Episcopal fashion, the committee considering the resolution added language to ensure that clergy could decline to preside at same-sex rites and that no one should be coerced or punished for objecting to or supporting such blessings. Bishop Daniel Martins of the Diocese of Springfield said that the “increasingly isolated theological minority would be greatly comforted by this extra measure of comfort.”

When the Bishops finally voted on the blessing resolution, supporters were overjoyed but there was no celebration in the meeting room—just one of the many ways in which General Convention is so very different from the kinds of political conventions many of us in Washington are accustomed to.

Deborah Potter

Deborah Potter is an General Convention Alternate Deputy and member of St. Alban's Episcopal Church, Washington, DC.