Resolution from the Diocese of NC

ON THE INCLUSION OF ALL PERSONS REGARDLESS OF SEXUAL ORIENTATION AS FULL AND EQUAL PARTICIPANTS IN THE LIFE OF CHRIST'S CHURCH.

Resolved by the 192nd Annual Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina, that the Diocese continue to demonstrate its commitment to radical hospitality and, that in accordance with the House of Bishops' Statement, Fall 2007, we "proclaim the Gospel that in Christ all God's children, including gay and lesbian persons, are full and equal participants in the life of Christ's Church" by:

1) Urging the Archbishop of Canterbury to extend to the duly elected and consecrated Bishop of New Hampshire an invitation to full participation in the Lambeth Conference of 2008;

2) Encouraging our Deputies to the 2009 General Convention to ensure compliance with Title III. Canon I. Section 2, which supports the full and equal participation of all persons regardless of sexual orientation in all aspects of the Church's ministries, lay and ordained;

3) Encouraging the General Convention to call for the development of public liturgies for the blessing of same sex unions.

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The debate on the resolution by convention, which was abbreviated because of the threat of winter weather, was civil and respectful, in the Spirit of Jesus, as Bishop Curry observed after the vote.

Episcopal Leader Defends Gay Bishops

LONDON (AP) — Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori says her church has been unfairly singled out for criticism because it is honest about consecrating gay bishops.

Jefferts Schori told BBC Radio 4's "PM" program that the New York-based church, which is the Anglican body in the U.S., is far from the only Anglican province that has a bishop with a same-sex partner. In 2003, Episcopalians elected the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, causing an uproar that has pushed the Anglican family toward a split.

"He is certainly not alone in being a gay bishop; he's certainly not alone in being a gay partnered bishop," Jefferts Schori said in an interview broadcast Tuesday. "He is alone in being the only gay partnered bishop who's open about that status."

The 77 million-member Anglican Communion is a global fellowship of churches that trace their roots to the Church of England. Most Anglicans are traditionalists who believe Scripture bars gay relationships. Liberal-leaning Anglicans believe the Bible's social justice teachings on acceptance should apply to same-gender couples.

The national Episcopal Church has not developed an official public prayer to bless gay couples churchwide. However, Jefferts Schori and other Episcopal leaders acknowledge that such ceremonies take place in many parishes. She said other Anglican churches do the same.

"Those services are happening in various places, including in the Church of England, where my understanding is that there are far more of them happening than there are in the Episcopal Church," Jefferts Schori said.

© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Marilyn McCord Adams challenges liberal Episcopalians...

In the mid-twentieth century, sex-and-gender conservatives in TEC/CoE began to lose their majority, and sex-and-gender liberals were increasingly in a position to give their conscientious beliefs institutional expression instead. This forced conservatives to ‘come out of the closet’ to themselves and others about their commitment to (what I shall call) the ‘Institutional Purity Principle’ [IPP]:

It is contrary to our conscientious beliefs to live within an institution whose institutional policies are incompatible with our conscientious beliefs.

It did not take them very long to turn this exposure into a challenge to liberals with the following arguments:

Arg. 1: Given [IPP], tolerance for our conscientious beliefs requires you to let us set institutional policy whether or not we hold a majority; and/or requires you to complicate the polity of the institution in such a way as to insulate us from close encounters with parts of the institution in which your conscientious beliefs prevail.

Arg. 2: Given [IPP], your commitment to being inclusive requires you to allow our conscientious beliefs to set institutional polity and/or to complicate it whether or not we hold a majority.

In other words, the conservatives have played on liberal propensities for tolerance and inclusiveness to insist that liberals tolerate not only individual beliefs but institutional policies contrary to liberal conscientious beliefs, and to do so no matter who holds the majority.

Read more at the Episcopal Cafe...

San Joachin Secedes

Delegates attending the 48th Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin on Saturday, December 8, overwhelmingly voted to leave the Episcopal Church and to align with the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. Read more....

Resolution 10, Commitee Report

DIOCESAN CONVENTION OF WNC

November 10, 2007

The Liturgy and Music Commission

Resolution #10 Supporting Relationships of Mutuality and Fidelity

The Committee moves to table the resolution until next year with the following:

* We heard much support for the broad sentiment of the resolution. We also heard that the importance of this resolution invites our best attention.

* We agreed to involve more broadly the whole family in this conversation in the coming year.

* As a body we worked to respect one another in the middle of an issue for which we all have deep passion.

* Being mindful of Paul's call to bear one another's burdens, we invited people to voice their pain and hear the pain of others.

* Respecting our differences, we wish to work toward a consensus.

* As a diocese we have worked hard to be the body of Christ. It is good work and we are being transformed by it.

* We are committed to doing what is necessary to offer a resolution next year that attends to these issues in a transformational manner.

Resolution 10, Diocesan Convention 2007

Resolved, that this the 86th convention of the Diocese of Western North Carolina desiring to support our sisters and brothers in Christ who are in same-gender relationships of mutuality and fidelity, and desiring to provide clergy with appropriate pastoral tools for ministering to these couples, calls upon General Convention of the Episcopal Church to develop and authorize same-sex union blessing rites.

Evaluation of resolution:
Blessings are the province of the Church as a communal recognition of God’s love for all God’s children. This proposal is to bring to reality the blessings of the Church to couples in same-sex relationships.

The Episcopal Church has passed resolutions recognizing LGBT members as full members of the Church. It is time to move from resolutions to rites.

As of this writing eleven dioceses have already approved official written policies for such blessings. (California, Connecticut, Delaware, Long Island, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Utah, Vermont, Washington)

Within this diocese many gay Episcopalians are living in relationships of mutuality and fidelity. We experience these, our brothers and sisters, as living lives of Christian discipleship and servanthood. They support the Diocese financially, and with their time and talents. Some of those living in these committed relationships are ordained. We believe that that these loving committed relationships are deserving of sacramental equality.

We call upon the Episcopal Church to grant them every blessing the Church confers upon its other members. And we call upon the Diocese of Western North Carolina to continue its history of being an advocate for those who do not experience full and equal rights/rites in the Church.

In the Beginning

At our 2007 Convention a resolution was submitted asking The Diocese of WNC to call on General Convention to develop and authorize rites for same sex union blessing. The resolution (#10) was tabled in order that a conversation might take place over the course of the coming year so that when the same resolution (or one like it) comes to the floor in 2008, people will have had a rich and thorough opportunity to think, talk, and pray about it.

And so, here and now...the conversation begins.