A parting on the left
Alan Cooperman does a nice job in this morning's Washington Post of noting a division between Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and liberal Episcopalians without sensationalizing or personalizing the matter. The story, which includes several quotes from Bishop John Chane, is here.
Is Bishop Chane's assessment "the majority of dioceses in this country have -- allowed the blessing of same-sex couples for some time" based on certain knowledge or is this an impression he has from meetings of the HoB? I'm not sure what the force of "allow" is here, in particular. I know of bishops who essentially emply a don't ask/don't tell regime -- if that is covered by "allow" (i.e., anything other than "forbid") then perhaps this migth explain; as compared with what I think is a fairly small number of bishops who have gone a step further to "authorize." -- Your perspective?
Posted by tobias haller | March 11, 2007 3:34 PM
I think "allow" in this case covers a range of attitudes that runs from "thinks they are a good thing and is glad to see them happening" to "does not forbid."
The bishop knows that there are only about two or three dioceses that have "authorized" a specific text for same-sex blessings.
Posted by Jim Naughton | March 11, 2007 3:50 PM