Gay and lesbian Episcopalians are celebrating their church's approval on Tuesday of liturgical rites for blessing same-sex couples. But conservatives are threatening to take "drastic" steps to distance themselves from the Episcopal Church.
Episcopalians meeting at their triennial General Convention in Indianapolis overwhelmingly approved the new rites. Lay members and priests voted 171-41 in favor of the same-sex blessings. Bishops voted 111-41, with three abstentions.
The bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri, Bishop Wayne Smith, said in a statement that under his direction "the rites will be implemented carefully and pastorally, parish by parish, person by person." The diocese, with about 14,000 members, encompasses the eastern half of the state.
Bishop Daniel Martins leads the 5,000 Episcopalians in the Springfield, Ill., diocese, which encompasses Southern and eastern-central Illinois and includes congregations in Alton, Belleville, Carbondale, Edwardsville, Glen Carbon, Granite City and O'Fallon.
Martins voted in the minority against the resolution, and told the Post-Dispatch in an email Wednesday that he had been "clear all along that anything like what we just passed" would not be implemented in his diocese.
"I honor and value the witness of gay and lesbian Episcopalians in the diocese, and it brings me no joy to take a position that I know they find painful," Martins wrote. "I pledge to stay connected to them as a pastor during what is a challenging time for everyone."
In approving the rites, the Episcopal Church joined a small but growing number of religious groups in the U.S. that have sanctioned rites for celebrating same-sex unions. Few, however, are part of international bodies.
Episcopalians, on the other hand, form the 2.3 million-member U.S. branch of the Anglican Communion, a fellowship with 85 million members worldwide and roots in the Church of England. Anxious to keep the communion intact, Anglican leaders have warned the Episcopal Church ? one of 38 Anglican provinces around the world ? against adopting pro-gay policies. Many Anglicans in Africa and other parts of the world consider homosexuality sinful.
Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori voted in favor of the same-sex blessings on Monday. A spokeswoman said she was not available for comment.
The Rev. Susan Russell, a longtime gay rights activist in the Episcopal Church, praised the new blessings as a 'step towards full inclusion of all the baptized in all the sacraments."
The same-sex rites resemble a marriage ceremony, with an exchange of vows and rings ? but are not, technically, a wedding. Nor are the blessings included in the Book of Common Prayer, the Anglican Communion's official book of services and rites, which defines marriage as between a man and woman.
Some gay activists have already criticized the new Episcopal rites as 'separate and unequal." Conservatives in the church were unhappy with the vote's outcome. The diocese of South Carolina's delegation left the General Convention in protest on Wednesday.
"Due to the actions of General Convention, the South Carolina deputation has concluded that we cannot continue with business as usual," the diocese said in a statement. "We all agree that we cannot and will not remain on the floor of the House and act as if all is normal."
On Tuesday, the Rev. Kendall Harmon, the Diocese of South Carolina's canon theologian, called the approval of same-sex blessings "unbiblical" and "unseemly."
"By making this decision, the Episcopal Church moves further away from Jesus Christ and his teaching," said Harmon. "It thereby makes it necessary for the diocese of South Carolina to take further decisive and dramatic action to distance itself from this false step." Harmon said South Carolina is not necessarily threatening to secede from the Episcopal Church, as four dioceses have done since the church consecrated a gay bishop in 2003. But his diocese has already begun to move away from the national church, and local Episcopalians will now expect that distance to increase, Harmon said.
Under guidelines approved with the same-sex blessings, bishops do not have to allow them in their diocese. Nor can priests be forced to perform them.
Texas Bishop C. Andrew Doyle said congregations and clergy can make their own decisions, a plan publicly backed by former Secretary of State James A. Baker.
"Hardliners on both sides of the issue may find fault with this proposal," Baker, an Episcopalian, wrote on the diocese's website. "But to me, it seems the best way to establish a win-win situation in which there is not one set of winners and one set of losers."
Tim Townsend, of the Post-Dispatch, contributed to this report.
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