Episcopalians Release Report on Same-Sex Marriages

A 95-page report highlighting "traditionalist" and "expansionist" viewpoints on the issue of same-sex relationships was released by a panel of Episcopal theologians this week.

"Same-Sex Relationships in the Life of the Church" was compiled through a year's worth of study by the Episcopal House of Bishop's theology committee, who were commissioned to draft a report that would be "designed to reflect a full spectrum of views and to be a contribution to the listening process of the Anglican Communion," according to a statement from TEC's 2009 General Convention.

"For a generation and more the Episcopal Church and the wider Anglican Communion have been engaged in a challenging conversation about sexual ethics, especially regarding same-sex relationships in the life of the church," Theology Committee Chair and Alabama Bishop Henry Parsley wrote in the preface to the report. "The hope of this work is that serious engagement in theological reflection across differences will build new bridges of understanding."

While intended to be one comprehensive report, sharp divides between theological viewpoints resulted in two separate papers being written, with the theologians describing themselves as "traditionalist and expansionist," according to Dallas Bishop Paul Lambert.

The "expansionist" paper argued that same-sex couples should be blessed because the church "requires their testimony to the love of Christ and the church, and because it recognizes that same-sex couples stand in need of sanctification no less than opposite-sex couples."

It also said that "to deny committed couples marriage deprives them not of a privilege but of a medicine. It deprives them not of a social means of satisfaction but of a saving manner of healing."

The "traditionalist" report noted that the blessing of same-sex marriages doesn't fit neatly into a series of "successive liberation movements," such as the freeing of the slaves, that are now widely accepted by Anglicans and the general public.

"At the heart of our position is the conviction that the issue of same-sex marriage simply cannot be put in the same category as other social issues on which Anglicans and Christians in general have changed their mind," the paper said. "We do not believe that acceptance of gay and lesbian marriage fits neatly into some narrative of successive liberation movements that emancipated serfs, slaves, child laborers, blacks, and now homosexual couples."

The paper also made note of a rule of thumb taken by reformation theologian Richard Hooker which said, "where practices and institutions develop in accordance with reason and tradition, and when they are not in contradiction with Holy Scripture, then there is no requirement to abolish such understandings and practices (such as church vestments, hierarchical ministry, and so on)."

"While it may be possible on grounds of justice (in a modern sense) to argue in favor of same-sex relations, it would be in contradiction to the teaching of Scripture, and it would be in contradiction to the guidance from reason which Hooker articulated in his understanding of natural law," the paper continued.

"Though tradition and reason carry weight, they are, finally, not on the same level as Scripture, which must be deemed the decisive factor."

The full text of the report can be viewed here

Study participant Bishop Joe Burnette of Nebraska said during a post-meeting news conference: "I think the house believes that the progress that was made both in terms of the more well-known conservative viewpoint, for lack of a better term, as well as the creative theological work of the more liberal group, again for lack of a better term to characterize them, did provide some new theological insight and grist for conversation," he said, according to Episcopal News Service (ENS).

"But we all believe and are of a mind that there is more work to be done in pursuing strictly theological and biblical insights that will give the church some kind of resource to work toward finding a way to live together in the midst of some rather strong differences among many of our members, clergy and congregations," he added.

The release of the study comes on the heels of the election of Mary Glasspool as the second openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church (TEC), following Gene Robinson's consecration in 2003.

Glasspool, 56, who serves in TEC's Los Angeles diocese, was given final approval for her elevation to bishop by a majority of the church's bishops and standing committees last Wednesday. She is set to be consecrated by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori in May.

Alongside the controversy surrounding Glasspool's lifestyle, several groups have also raised alarm over the Episcopal Church's blatant disregard of a request from the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams last December to exercise "gracious restraint in respect of actions which are contrary to the mind of the Communion."

Earlier this week, UK-based Anglican group Fulcrum issued a statement blasting the Episcopal Church's "clear rejection of the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lambeth Conference, the Primates' Meeting and the Anglican Consultative Council," and made an open request for Schori to not be invited to the Primate's Meeting planned for January 2011.

"Actions have consequences," the group said.

Williams, who called Glasspool's election "regrettable," has said that he will be engaging in "further consultation" about the implications of her approval, and is yet to comment on Fulcrum's statement.

Addressing the Church of England General Synod in February, Williams voiced the need for a "three-dimensional" viewpoint among church-goers especially on dividing issues such as homosexuality.

"Seeing something in three dimensions is seeing that I can't see everything at once: what's in front of me is not just the surface I see in this particular moment," Williams said. "So seeing in three dimensions requires us to take time with what we see."

Continuing on, the Archbishop recounted a story of an "astonishing [Episcopal] Hispanic woman" who "single-handedly created a campaign against gun crime in the Bronx that seeks to bring a million women on to the streets, and I saw how prayer unobtrusively shaped every aspect of this work and how people were introduced to Jesus Christ."

"And I was reminded of another parish in New Orleans that I visited a couple of years ago – a local church planted as a result of the relief work of the Diocese, when local people begged for a church to be opened because they had seen the love of Christ in the work done with and for them," Williams continued. "Three-dimensionality in the Episcopal Church which some are tempted to dismiss as no more than a liberal talking shop."

Williams' remarks come nearly a year after a lengthy message he published in 2009 in response to a vote from the Episcopal Church's General Convention to affirm that "any ordained ministry" is open to homosexuals.

In his 2009 message, Williams said he saw the Anglican Church following a "two-track model, two ways of witnessing to the Anglican heritage."

The Archbishop also said that the issue of homosexuality should not be debated "in apocalyptic terms of schism and excommunication but plainly as what they are - two styles of being Anglican."

Williams' message drew mixed responses from Episcopalians, one of whom, Canon Kendall Harmon, said the remarks would "increase the chaos in the province of the American church and in the Anglican Communion," according to the Associated Press.

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