So this is the great leap forward? Pastoral generosity doesn't extend to actually performing same gender marriages of Episcopalians in the Episcopal Church.

Gay Episcopalians are best advised to stick to civil marriage and forget the church. If their marriages are of God they will be blessed.

So this is the great leap forward? Pastoral generosity doesn't extend to actually performing same gender marriages of Episcopalians in the Episcopal Church.

Gay Episcopalians are best advised to stick to civil marriage and forget the church. If their marriages are of God they will be blessed.

Thank you, Paul, My husband Murdoch and I have done what you recommend. We married civilly in Montreal four years ago and see no need to get a second-class blessing from a condescending denomination. New York State recognizes our civil marriage but the Episcopal Church still can't deal with it. Is there to be pastoral generosity in dioceses in New York State?

The Bishop of Massachusetts's admission that he doesn't know how C056 would allow him to do more than he currently does, which is to allow civilly married same-sex couples to receive a second-class church blessing, is disappointing if he is correct in his reading of the resolution.

Gary Paul Gilbert

OCICBW Paul and Gary, but this is not my understanding.

I hear the bishop(s) offering the SAME "Blessing of a Civil Marriage" to BOTH opposite-sex and same-sex couples (who have received a civil marriage, presumably from a secular official).

The difference is that, prior to a civil marriage, the opposite-sex couple may opt for a liturgical marriage (i.e., a wedding), the Whole Shebang (civil & ecclesial) in church, whereas the same-sex couple may not...

...which is why a growing # of priests and parishes are saying they will NOT perform that Whole Shebang (wedding) for opposite-sex couples---UNTIL same-sex couples can obtain them, too. "Blessings of a Civil Marriage" and ONLY that, until there is equality for ALL! :-)

JC Fisher

J C Fisher, You have a point. But this is complicated and given the C056 merely gives bishops permission to experiment on blessing same-sex couples, it is not clear what is being offered. The impression given is still that same-sex couples are a new problem that must be dealt with. The issue is still not framed as equality both in civil society and in the church.

Yes, Bishop Shaw is allowing civil marriages of both same-sex and opposite-sex couples to be blessed. So on the surface the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts treats same-sex and opposite-sex couples the same. But, as you yourself admit, Bishop Shaw does not allow an Episcopal priest to preside at the civil wedding. And what about states where same-sex couples only have the right to state civil unions or domestic partnerships or no formal legal status at all? Are they to get nothing from the Episcopal Church until the civil authorities deem them worthy of some kind of legal recognition? The church, which has been ever so eager to work for the state and bless the status quo, now wants to get out of the civil marriage business because same-sex couples want to have the right to marry.

The word "blessing" seems very old-fashioned. It sounds very 1990s. Why not simply use the word "marriage?" Many United Church of Christ congregations are already calling everything "marriage." Calling it a blessing still denies same-sex couples the right to use the word "marriage," the standard for describing committed relationships. We are defined as other. No other term is understood the same way. An opposite-sex couple will say they have just got married, while for the purposes of the Episcopal Church a same-sex couple will have to tell people they have just got blessed, whatever that is.

The Riverside Church in Manhattan, which is affiliated with UCC, uses the word "marriage" for all couples. Brad Braxton wrote after the passage of Proposition in California, "We now continue in this tradition of progressive activism by reaffirming our commitment to pursue an open and candid conversation to forge greater understanding of such issues as family values, sexual identity, and biblical interpretations of human relations. Further, in an attempt to embrace all committed-relationships, the Church will take the bold action of no longer distinguishing between samesex unions and (heterosexual) marriages. All ceremonies among two committed, loving adults at The Riverside Church will be recognized as marriages." http://www.theriversidechurchny.org/news/article.php?id=259

This policy of not distinguishing between same-sex couples and opposite-sex couples regarding the use of the word "marriage" for religious purposes has been the standard policy at Riverside for a few years now along with the congregation's commitment to lobbying government for the full civil equality for all.

Using the word "blessing," even if it is technically the same thing that is offered opposite-sex couples, still sounds like second-class status.

I am ambivalent about those congregations which have decided to refuse to solemnize civil marriages because they do not want to participate in a legal system which discrminates against same-sex couples. I would feel better if they used the marriage rite for everybody, which is what UCC allows their congregations to do. Religious marriage is marriage and not a mere blessing.

Paraphrasing the Rev. Dr. Brad Braxton, I would argue that the church should call all committed relationships marriage.

Gary Paul Gilbert

It seems to me that GC09 took a big step forward. It is something when there so easily could have been nothing.

But all too often in the USA people are given something, but it is not enough to thrive and we are expected to be grateful for the pittance which only allows survival. Look at the miserly nature of various social service programs such as Section 8 Rental Assistance, food stamps now called EBT, Mediaid and the horrors perpetuated by Schwarznegger to balance the CA State Budget by making the poorest people in the state bear the largest brunt.

I wish with all my heart that GC09 had given our GLBT sisters and brothers much more. Although cynic that I can be, I am surpised GC did this much.

The poor of the USA, the GLBT community of TEC, we all get barely enough to survive, not enough to thrive. Surely the Gospel is all about thriving?