What does recent decision of Anglican Church (denying gay marriage) mean for Episcopal Church ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are actually a lot of Episcopalians, even in politically and socially liberal congregations, who are into the whole British/Celtic aesthetic tradition. I think a lot of them will ignore what the Anglican Church says so long as we keep having lessons and carols services, singing All Things Bright and Beautiful, etc. I do wonder, though, what the response will be of the many Episcopalians and Episcopal clergy who are queer+/LGBTQ. Many of those folks left the Roman Catholic church because they were treated as sinners. Will they look the other way now? Doubt it.

Yeah -- me too. When you have clergy who are openly gay -- in some cases married to same sex partners -- what do you do? What do THEY do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are actually a lot of Episcopalians, even in politically and socially liberal congregations, who are into the whole British/Celtic aesthetic tradition. I think a lot of them will ignore what the Anglican Church says so long as we keep having lessons and carols services, singing All Things Bright and Beautiful, etc. I do wonder, though, what the response will be of the many Episcopalians and Episcopal clergy who are queer+/LGBTQ. Many of those folks left the Roman Catholic church because they were treated as sinners. Will they look the other way now? Doubt it.

Yeah -- me too. When you have clergy who are openly gay -- in some cases married to same sex partners -- what do you do? What do THEY do?

My pastor is gay. He is still my pastor, and although it's early days, my sense is that that's not going to change. I don't know everything he's thinking, but the TEC in the US is very different from the Anglican communion. He probably finds support from US bishops and other priests like him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was baptized and confirmed in the Church of England. I am now a member of an Episcopal Church. I am also gay and all this saddens me. So happy we found a Church here that welcomes us though.

Every church welcomes sinners. What a weird comment.

Some churches don't welcome certain kinds of sinners -- i.e., gays

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are actually a lot of Episcopalians, even in politically and socially liberal congregations, who are into the whole British/Celtic aesthetic tradition. I think a lot of them will ignore what the Anglican Church says so long as we keep having lessons and carols services, singing All Things Bright and Beautiful, etc. I do wonder, though, what the response will be of the many Episcopalians and Episcopal clergy who are queer+/LGBTQ. Many of those folks left the Roman Catholic church because they were treated as sinners. Will they look the other way now? Doubt it.

Yeah -- me too. When you have clergy who are openly gay -- in some cases married to same sex partners -- what do you do? What do THEY do?

I don’t think the Episcopalian branch will ever renounce gay inclusivity as it is a big part of our identity now - but wonder whether we will stay part of the Anglican communion …

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was baptized and confirmed in the Church of England. I am now a member of an Episcopal Church. I am also gay and all this saddens me. So happy we found a Church here that welcomes us though.

Every church welcomes sinners. What a weird comment.

I would hope so, since literally everyone sins.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was baptized and confirmed in the Church of England. I am now a member of an Episcopal Church. I am also gay and all this saddens me. So happy we found a Church here that welcomes us though.

Every church welcomes sinners. What a weird comment.

DP - welcome in the sense of full Inclusion with gay marriages and ordination of gays and respecting they are made in God’s image too - not some perversion of ideal humanity …

What church does not teach that all are made in God's image?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was baptized and confirmed in the Church of England. I am now a member of an Episcopal Church. I am also gay and all this saddens me. So happy we found a Church here that welcomes us though.

Every church welcomes sinners. What a weird comment.

DP - welcome in the sense of full Inclusion with gay marriages and ordination of gays and respecting they are made in God’s image too - not some perversion of ideal humanity …

What church does not teach that all are made in God's image?

They might all teach it theoretically but many if not most do not allow gay marriages or ordination of openly gay people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was baptized and confirmed in the Church of England. I am now a member of an Episcopal Church. I am also gay and all this saddens me. So happy we found a Church here that welcomes us though.

Every church welcomes sinners. What a weird comment.

DP - welcome in the sense of full Inclusion with gay marriages and ordination of gays and respecting they are made in God’s image too - not some perversion of ideal humanity …

What church does not teach that all are made in God's image?

They might all teach it theoretically but many if not most do not allow gay marriages or ordination of openly gay people.

From Pew Research

Many of the largest U.S. religious institutions have remained firmly against allowing same-sex marriage, including the Roman Catholic Church, the Orthodox Jewish movement and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as well as the Southern Baptist Convention and other evangelical Protestant denominations. The nation’s largest historically black church, the National Baptist Convention, and its biggest Pentecostal denomination, the Assemblies of God, also prohibit their clergy from marrying same-sex couples.

At the same time, in the past two decades, several other religious groups also have moved to allow same-sex couples to marry within their traditions. This includes the Reform and Conservative Jewish movements, the Unitarian Universalist Association and the United Church of Christ.

And the list is growing: Clergy from the Episcopal Church will be able to perform same-sex marriage ceremonies after the church’s General Convention recently approved a new definition of marriage. Another mainline Protestant denomination, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), voted to formally sanction same-sex marriage earlier this year.

Among the four largest mainline Protestant churches, the same-sex marriage debate has not been simple. The United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (not to be confused with the Presbyterian Church in America, which opposes same-sex marriage) and the Episcopal Church have wrestled with the issue for years, often as part of a larger debate on the role of gays and lesbians in the church.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was baptized and confirmed in the Church of England. I am now a member of an Episcopal Church. I am also gay and all this saddens me. So happy we found a Church here that welcomes us though.

Every church welcomes sinners. What a weird comment.

Some churches don't welcome certain kinds of sinners -- i.e., gays

Gay people are always welcome at any church. What are you even talking about?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was baptized and confirmed in the Church of England. I am now a member of an Episcopal Church. I am also gay and all this saddens me. So happy we found a Church here that welcomes us though.

Every church welcomes sinners. What a weird comment.

Some churches don't welcome certain kinds of sinners -- i.e., gays

Gay people are always welcome at any church. What are you even talking about?

I'm gay. My wife is Catholic. I went to mass with her family once. The homily was about the "desecration of marriage" by secularists. I did not feel welcome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm completely opposed to the CoE's decision. One thing to know, though, is that the worldwide Anglican communion has a significant presence in African and other countries where the voices tend to be socially conservative.

But I thought we cared about Diversity and Black Voices?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was baptized and confirmed in the Church of England. I am now a member of an Episcopal Church. I am also gay and all this saddens me. So happy we found a Church here that welcomes us though.

Every church welcomes sinners. What a weird comment.

Some churches don't welcome certain kinds of sinners -- i.e., gays

Gay people are always welcome at any church. What are you even talking about?

I’m an Episcopalian. We had a Catholic come to our church about a year ago and she came to coffee hour and I was chatting with her and she burst into tears. She had been Catholic her whole life but as a gay person she felt ostracized at her Church and was seeking a new Church home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm completely opposed to the CoE's decision. One thing to know, though, is that the worldwide Anglican communion has a significant presence in African and other countries where the voices tend to be socially conservative.

But I thought we cared about Diversity and Black Voices?

We do but they does not mean we agree with every view… African countries are particularly homophobic with homosexuality criminalized in many countries.

There are many wonderful aspects to African cultures such as ways they collectively handle dying, death and grief and amazing art. But homophobia is not something I wish to emulate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was baptized and confirmed in the Church of England. I am now a member of an Episcopal Church. I am also gay and all this saddens me. So happy we found a Church here that welcomes us though.

Every church welcomes sinners. What a weird comment.

Some churches don't welcome certain kinds of sinners -- i.e., gays

Gay people are always welcome at any church. What are you even talking about?

I'm gay. My wife is Catholic. I went to mass with her family once. The homily was about the "desecration of marriage" by secularists. I did not feel welcome.

I don't imagine any non-gay "secularists" felt welcome either and some could have been there that day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm completely opposed to the CoE's decision. One thing to know, though, is that the worldwide Anglican communion has a significant presence in African and other countries where the voices tend to be socially conservative.

But I thought we cared about Diversity and Black Voices?

We do but they does not mean we agree with every view… African countries are particularly homophobic with homosexuality criminalized in many countries.

There are many wonderful aspects to African cultures such as ways they collectively handle dying, death and grief and amazing art. But homophobia is not something I wish to emulate.

Would consider rethinking this- a good amount of homophobia was brought in by white missionaries from denominations who have only relatively recently “come around” on social issues. It’s not a “cultural” things as much as the chickens coming home to roost, and I say this as a mainline progressive (though nonwhite) Christian. We can fight it while recognizing the role we had in creating it.