B012 encounters rough canonical weather

Of the many resolutions seeking to move the Episcopal Church toward marriage equality, none has received more attention than B012, the so called "pastoral generosity" resolution. The key clause is this one:

That in those dioceses, under the direction of the bishop, generous discretion in interpretation of The Book of Common Prayer is extended to clergy in the exercise of their pastoral ministry in order to permit the adaptation of the Pastoral Offices for The Celebration and Blessing of a Marriage and The Blessing of a Civil Marriage for use with all couples who seek the church's support and God's blessing in their marriages;

A number of bishops and deputies have raised concerns that allowing "discretion" to "permit the adaptation" of rites in the Book of Common Prayer is an end run around the Convention's responsibility to authorize changes to the prayer book. Others have asked why the Church should follow the state rather than making its own judgments on the issue of marriage.

As a result, advocates for marriage equality are refocusing their attention to some of the resolutions before the Committee on Prayer Book, Liturgy and Music, and trying to reassure their allies that the defeat or withdrawl of B012 is not a decisive blow against marriage equality at this convention.

Posted by Jim Naughton on July 11, 2009 1:22 PM | |
Comments (2)

I think the concerns are justified.
Just changing the pronouns (which is what adaptation of the BCP marriage rite would most likely entail) is a cop out, and opens us up to charges of just going with the spirit of the times, making secular values of equality and civil rights paramount.
What is needed is solid theological reflection about relationships and the grace shown in them, and a rewriting of the marriage rite to reflect that new theological understanding.
(see, for example, the Niagara rite and the theological paper that goes with it)
B012 is definitely not the way to do that.

Posted by Jim Pratt [TypeKey Profile Page] | July 11, 2009 8:09 PM

So the Episcopalians will punt yet again, while the United Church of Christ, the Unitarians, the Quakers, and Reform Judaism have moved on. Clergy in jurisdictions with civil marriage equality will have nothing to offer same-sex couples. There is nothing new to look at here but rather something very old: the unjustified exclusion of same-sex couples from religious marriage. Whereas some states and countries understand that the legal sex of a spouse does not invalidate a civil marriage, this denomination still acts as if same-sex couples were a brand-new phenomenon.

B012 itself is already an admission the denomination is moving slowly on recognizing LGBTs as human beings like everyone else because it only asks for more wiggle room in states which have civil marriage equality. Why not move ahead and affirm equality both in civil marriage and religious marriage? And why continue to work as agents of states which exclude same-sex couples from civil marriage?

Jim Pratt makes it sound as if there is something wrong with the secular values of equality and civil rights. I don't see anything wrong with equality.


Gary Paul Gilbert

Posted by garydasein [TypeKey Profile Page] | July 12, 2009 6:28 PM

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