The legislative process continues to lumber along. The two houses (Deputies and Bishops) met twice today, but primarily for organizing themselves and welcoming visiting dignataries and the like. In the 2nd session of the day the House of Deputies (HoD) spent over an hour nitpicking new rules of order, which had been worked on these last 3 years by a committee of people who really knew what they were doing. The new rules are definitely an improvement. But taking over an hour to wordsmith the committee’s good work was exhausting to behold. Several amendments were offered, all defeated easily. After all the debate, the rules passed by over 95%!
The legislative committee on marriage met yesterday morning to discuss the first 4 resolutions from the previous night’s hearing. A lot of discussion around extending the work of the Task Force on Marriage took place. They added money to the budget request in order to insist on much broader consultation with Anglican Communion partners, inserted language to make sure the reconstituted Task Force is more reflective of cultural and theological diversity, and implored the Church to really use the materials (toolkit especially) produced by the Task Force already. (A caveat for those who do not know – I am currently a member of the Task Force, so a bit of pride in our work may creep into my comments. Should GC approve the continuation of the Task Force, I would love to continue to serve on it, but we all understand that will be entirely up to the Presiding Officers – the Presiding Bishop and the President of the House of Deputies). Bishop Dorsey McConnell of Pittsburgh was particularly critical of the Task Force report and what he deems the one-sided nature of the theological arguments. He was perturbed by it enough to oppose the resolution imploring the Church to use the study materials because he disagrees with the theolgical, historical, canonical essays. Thankfully, Bishop Tom Ely of Vermont defended our work (he is also on theTask Force) and challenged McConnell’s statement. In the end the committee approved the amended resolution to continue the work, which means it now goes into the pipeline to be debated by the two houses, where it can be approved, amended, rejected, or sent back to the committee.
Last night the committee held hearings on proposed canonical changes. Our Task Force had filed one of those resolutions which changes the canon on marriage in several areas. While the majority of those speaking at the hearing (anyone is allowed to sign up to speak) were in favor of the canonical change, which changes language of “man and woman” and “husband and wife” to “two parties”, there were some passionate pleas to not mess with this. For some it was “we are not ready for this”, for others this was moving our church out of “Christendom” (someone needs to tell the speaker that Christendom is over, thanks be to God).
Bishop Shannon Johnston of Virgina (and formerly of Mississippi) gave us a peek at a core piece of the argument against the canon changes. While stating emphatically he was in full support of marriage equality, he believes strongly that changing the canon is the wrong way to go. He encouraged the committee to put forward the suggested new liturgies which are gender neutral and consider them prayer book revision (trial rites), which could allow them to be part of the prayer book in 2018 (having been approved by two consecutive General Conventions). The House of Bishops will be where the rubber meets the road on all this.
I enjoyed a late dinner with my bishop, the Rt. Rev. Brian Seage. It was really good to catch up, being a long way from my home diocese I needed to reconnect and discuss my future with him.
Off to the new day, your prayers are appreciated.
