Episcopal church of the united states statement on gay marriage
Stances of Faiths on LGBTQ+ Issues: Episcopal Church
BACKGROUND
Among its statements of belief, the Episcopal Church includes, “In Jesus, we find that the essence of God is passion, and through baptism, we share in his victory over sin and death.” They further emphasize, “We strive 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 law are enacted only through a majority vote in both houses. The Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church set
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 LGBTQ+ inclusion in the Anglican Communion has unexpectedly taken center stage. Though the controversial declaration 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 unique churches, known as provinces, and does not own 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”) have no binding authority.
Whatever happens at this 15th Lambeth Co
The vote on Wednesday represents the latest move by the U.S. branch of the Anglican Communion, which claims roughly 2 million members, to embrace the LGBT community.
In 2003, the church appointed an openly same-sex attracted bishop to head its New Hampshire diocese. And Episcopalian bishops already had the freedom to allow same-sex couples to marry in their dioceses.
Last week at the general assembly in Salt Lake City, church leaders elected Michael Curry, who had said the Supreme Court's vote for marriage equality "affirmed the authenticity of love," as their presiding bishop.
Two other mainline Protestant churches, the United Church of Christ and the Presbyterian Church, also allow homosexual marriage.
However, the vote on Wednesday exposes the U.S. branch of the Anglican Communion to criticism from fellow Anglicans abroad — there are an estimated 80 million Anglicans worldwide. African Anglican leaders had denounced the Church of England for accepting celibate gay bishops.
Those divisions may be what Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, the most senior bishop in the loosely assembled global Anglican Communion, was trying to elude when he bristled at the prospect of the church's U.S. af
SALT LAKE CITY -- Episcopalians have voted to enable religious weddings for gay couples, just days after the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.
The vote came Wednesday in Salt Lake City at the denomination's national assembly. The measure passed by an overwhelming margin in the House of Deputies, the voting body of clergy and lay people at the meeting. The day before, the Home of Bishops had approved the resolution, 129-26 with five abstaining.
"Rapid changes in civil law concerning marriage in the United States, along with the responses received as part of the SCLM church-wide consultation process, indicate a desire for equivalent proper liturgies in jurisdictions where queer marriage is legal," according to a statement on the church's website.
"Further, the SCLM consultation process indicated a pastoral need for equivalent marriage rites that could be used by any couple."
Prior to the vote, the Very Rev. Brian Baker of Sacramento said the church governance change was the finding of a nearly four-decade long conversation that has been difficult and painful for many. Baker, chair of the committee that crafted the changes, said church members have n
Sexuality and Identity: A Pastoral Statement from the College of Bishops
January 2021
Preamble
The Bishops of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) extend this pastoral expression to the Church after prayer, review , careful listening to disparate voices, and a collaborative process involving contributions from across the Province. As a product of this process, we have grow even more acutely aware of the power we all need to survive faithfully in Jesus Christ as He redeems the whole of our self, including our sexuality.
The College of Bishops asked for the formation of this statement in January of 2020 after we heard reports of varied application among ACNA leaders regarding the employ of language about sexual identity, especially within provincial events. We recognize there are a multiplicity of realities in our current national, political, and global circumstances into which an episcopal voice could be presented. In the midst of this tragic pandemic, we desire to continue to minister the Gospel into all aspects of our common animation that have been distorted by sin such as racism, persecution, injustice, and violence, while also speaking to this specific issue of identity