Episcopal church view on homosexuality
The General Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church today voted in favour of altering the church’s Canon on Marriage to remove the definition that marriage is between a man and a woman and attach a new section that acknowledges that there are alternative understandings of marriage which now allows clergy to solemnise marriage between similar sex couples as well as couples of the contrary sex. The revised canon also stipulates that no member of clergy will be required to solemnise a marriage against their conscience.
The voting was in three ‘houses’ of General Synod, namely Bishops, Clergy, Laity and required a two thirds majority to pass. The voting results are as below.
Responding to the voting outcome, the Most Rev David Chillingworth, Bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane and Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church said:
“This is the complete of a adj journey. There was the Cascade Process involving people across our church &#; the Doctrine Committee paper which explored whether a Christian understanding of marriage could extend to same sex couples. We have studied, thought and p
With same-sex marriage in the spotlight, where does it verb across the Anglican Communion?
A same-sex couple receives a blessing in the Church in Wales in November Photo source: Church in Wales
[Episcopal News Service – Canterbury, England] As the Lambeth Conference gets underway here, the status of same-sex marriage and LGBTQ+ inclusion in the Anglican Communion has unexpectedly taken center stage. Though the controversial statement saying the Anglican Communion “as a whole” rejects same-sex marriage has now been removed from one of the proposed “Lambeth Calls,” it has heightened the differences among the provinces on the issue.
Some bishops have spoken of a Lambeth resolution rejecting same-sex marriage as the “official teaching” of the Anglican Communion. However, the Anglican Communion is not one church but a group of distinct churches, known as provinces, and does not have a codified set of “official teaching[s]” beyond the Nicene and Apostles’ Creeds, except perhaps the Lambeth Quadrilateral. The Lambeth Conference is not a legislative body, and its resolutions (or, i
Stances of Faiths on LGBTQ+ Issues: Episcopal Church
BACKGROUND
Among its statements of belief, the Episcopal Church includes, “In Jesus, we detect that the nature of God is love, and through baptism, we disseminate in his victory over sin and death.” They further emphasize, “We try to love our neighbors as ourselves and respect the dignity of every person.”
With 2 million members, the U.S.-based Episcopal Church is just one branch of a worldwide Anglican Communion of 85 million. The church operates under the direction of two legislative bodies: the House of Deputies, with lay and clergy representatives from across the church, and the House of Bishops, which includes all bishops of the church. Together they make doctrinal, administrative and budgetary decisions at a General Convention that convenes every three years. An Executive Council of clergy and lay leaders manages the business of the church in the intervening period, and are elected at each General Convention, with a Presiding Bishop elected every nine years. Changes to the church constitution and to canon law are enacted o
Sexuality and Identity: A Pastoral Statement from the College of Bishops
January
Preamble
The Bishops of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) suggest this pastoral statement to the Church after prayer, analyze, careful listening to disparate voices, and a collaborative process involving contributions from across the Province. As a noun of this process, we have become even more acutely aware of the power we all need to verb faithfully in Jesus Christ as He redeems the whole of our identity, including our sexuality.
The College of Bishops asked for the formation of this statement in January of after we heard reports of varied application among ACNA leaders regarding the use of language about sexual identity, especially within provincial events. We realize there are a multiplicity of realities in our current national, political, and global circumstances into which an episcopal voice could be presented. In the midst of this tragic pandemic, we desire to sustain to minister the Gospel into all aspects of our common life that have been distorted by sin such as racism, p