…The bulk of the deputation to the House of Deputies from the Diocese of South Carolina has left General Convention one day early, following the actions of the Convention thus far to (a) add transsexual persons to the list of people who cannot be denied work at any level in the Episcopal Church (USA); (b) adopt a rite for the blessing of same-sex unions, in violation of both the Book of Common Prayer and the ECUSA Constitution; and (c) refuse to act at this time on the proposed Anglican Covenant….

I shall not speculate on the response(s), if any, that those in ECUSA’s leadership might make to this development. (I have done that once too often, and they have always managed to equal or exceed my worst expectations.) I shall note here only that there is no Church Canon, or Constitutional provision, mandating a Diocese to participate willy-nilly in the proceedings of General Convention, or mandating a Bishop to attend sessions of the House of Bishops.

It is evident that it is far more important to the leaders of the Diocese of South Carolina to attend to their dispirited flocks than to signal that everything remains normal, after such extraordinary and illegal moves by the Church’s General Convention. Many other Bishops may not be aware of it just now, but they are going to face plenty of storms in their own dioceses after they return.

Read it all.

(It is very important that you read the previous thread on this as well as the comments there first). Here again is the full text–

Resolved, the House of _______ concurring, That the 77th General Convention direct the Presiding Bishop and the President of the House of Deputies to appoint a special commission charged with conducting a study of the theology underlying access to Holy Baptism and Holy Communion in this Church and to recommend for consideration by the 78th General Convention any amendment to Title I, Canon 17, Section 7, of the Canons of General Convention that it deems appropriate; and be it further Resolved, That the General Convention request the Joint Standing Committee on Program, Budget and Finance to consider a budget allocation of $30,000 for the implementation of this Resolution.
Resolved, the House of Bishops concurring, that The Episcopal Church reaffirms that baptism is the ancient and normative entry point to receiving Holy Communion and that our Lord Jesus Christ calls us to go into the world and baptize all peoples. We also acknowledge that in various local contexts there is the exercise of pastoral sensitivity with those who are not yet baptized.

You can find a copy of it here. Please note that in the House of Deputies debate today there was an attempt at an amendment that failed. The vote totals as announced were–Lay Order 85 yes, No 16, divided 9; Clergy 70 Yes, No 24, Divided 16.

But will conservative Episcopalians still be around to debate them?

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.”

Read it all.

Due to the actions of General Convention, the South Carolina Deputation has concluded that we cannot continue with business as usual. We all agree that we cannot and will not remain on the floor of the House and act as if all is normal. John Burwell and Lonnie Hamilton have agreed to remain at Convention to monitor further developments and by their presence demonstrate that our action is not to be construed as a departure from the Episcopal Church. Please pray for those of us who will be traveling early and for those who remain.

“For the church to say, ”˜This is an active part of our life in ministry, and we support this,’ is an extraordinarily important step,” said the Very Rev. Katherine Hancock Ragsdale, president of Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass. “It shows that when this church says it welcomes all people, it means it….”

“It means the Episcopal Church is now separating itself that much more from the Anglican Communion,” says Hood College historian David Hein, co-author of “The Episcopalians,” a standard history of the church. “The American Episcopal Church is trying to set itself up as a separate denomination, although they would claim that they’re not.”

Read it all.

The Rt. Rev. Michael Smith, Bishop of North Dakota, rose at the start of the morning session of the House of Bishops today and said:

“Presiding Bishop, thank you for allowing me to rise to speak on behalf of at least twelve members of this House. Those of us known as the Communion Partners have expended a great deal of energy for at least the past six years working to persuade theological conservatives to remain in the Episcopal Church and theological liberals to remain in the Anglican Communion. Two actions of this General Convention have made this task more difficult: the authorization of same-sex blessings through the passage of Resolution 049, and our decision to ”˜decline to take a position on the Anglican Covenant’ by the passage of Resolution D008.”

“We find ourselves between the proverbial ‘rock and a hard place’. We struggle to hold together the evangelical faith of the Church, from which we see this Convention as departing, and the catholic order of the Church, which causes us, for the sake of the unity for which Jesus prayed, to resist the temptation to leave this fellowship.”

Read it all.

The Rt. Rev. Greg Rickel, Episcopal Bishop of Olympia, reflected in an e-mail over his church’s historic votes over the past two days. Rickel voted for the “holy covenant” and has endorsed same-sex marriage, which Washington will vote on this November. He said:

“It had to be a most gratifying day for gay and lesbian people, who share a deep and abiding love, in fidelity, for one another. Their journey has been long and many of them may not feel this is all they would like to see, but most present here are surely gratified this day.”

The clergy delegates to the General Convention voted 76 percent to approve the new liturgy. It garnered a 78 percent “yes” vote among lay delegates. The convention is divided into a House of Bishops and a House of Delegates, the latter elected from each of more than 100 dioceses.

Read it all.

Sometimes a resolution comes down the pike whose wisdom and beauty is almost breathtaking. This is how the whole House of Bishops felt about a resolution sent to us by the legislative committee on public policy. It concerned Israel and Palestine. Very often such resolutions come across as one-sided and polarizing, even when they don’t intend to be. Not this one. It was all about how the Episcopal Church could help the Diocese of Jerusalem in its work of bringing Jews, Muslims and Christians together in pursuit of peace, and could pursue policies that would favor dialogue over division. This resolution didn’t skirt the profound challenges that face the two-state solution embraced by our church, nor did it avoid naming concrete actions we can take, including positive investment in Palestinian businesses to build up the economic infrastructure that is crucial to any future viability of Palestine as a state. But there was no rancor in this resolution — rather a clearly articulated care for the people on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian divide. Bishops across the whole political spectrum were able to rally around this piece of legislation — not because it offered no challenges, but because it challenged everyone to the hard work of peace-making. This resolution would not have been possible apart from a growing commitment to peace-making within our own church, as we learn to gather at one altar despite our differences.

Read it all.

Read it all (pdf).

(Written the day before the Deputies Vote–KSH).

As I have explained this will be passed by the House of Deputies. The Diocese of Texas has a plan for dealing with this. Our plan, rolled out in April, communicated to all Diocese of Texas clergy, and posted for the diocese in order to have access to the materials is available at: http://www.epicenter.org/unity

In our plan the progressives will be allowed generous pastoral provisions to respond to gay and lesbians while the traditionalists who oppose the blessing of same-gender blessings are protected by the legislation and by my desire to make room for all people of many views on this subject within our diocese. In the Diocese of Texas we have a way to move forward with our continued work of proclaiming the uniqueness of Christ Jesus and participating in God’s mission of salvation.

Our goal is to keep the church together for the sake of mission. In the past we have not had a plan that enabled us to stay together, so people on all sides have been frustrated, fearful, and suspicious of one another. Traditionalists and progressives alike have left as our church because of a lack of direction. The Texas plan offers a vision of unity for the sake of mission of God; it reminds us that our future resides in the arms of God and God’s kingdom.

Read it all.

Fears of a “meltdown” here at the 77th General Convention of The Episcopal Church seem today largely unfounded. As I indicated in an earlier post, I have often been amazed that this somewhat unwieldy body of lay persons, bishops, priests, and deacons seems to find a way for common sense and the Holy Spirit to bring us back from the brink time and time again over the years.

At this point, it looks as though we will not only have overwhelmingly passed provisional liturgies for the blessing of same sex unions and made a rational, careful response to the proposal for an Anglican Covenant which will keep us at the table, but will pass a sensible (for now) budget for the next triennium, vote to relocate but not sell the Church Center headquarter in New York, establish a special task force and process for listening to the church and bringing to the next General Convention specific plans for restructure of our administration and governance. Not bad for eight days in the smoldering heat of an Indianapolis summer!

Read it all.

In introducing the resolutions to the house, the Rt. Rev. Ian Douglas, Bishop of Connecticut and episcopal chairman, said the committee was blessed by having seven of the proposers of the eight initial resolutions on it.

As the committee worked, it became clear that “this church holds a wide variety of ecclesiological positions and opinions on the Anglican Covenant and its position in the Anglican Communion,” Douglas said. “As we continued to perfect ”¦ we began to believe that we would be unable to make a positive statement that would not somehow create a significant [number] of winners and losers.”

The committee began to think instead of presenting two resolutions to General Convention. Resolution B005 calls itself, in part, “a pastoral response to the Episcopal Church.”

Read it all.

Read it all. It is a nice picture of David Thurlow.

Even more troubling is the Episcopal Church’s official embrace of transgenderism. Here is essentially a Gnostic faith that mental and emotional self-realization trumps physical reality. Each self-actualized individual can in fact perpetually reinvent himself or herself into endlessly possible new sexual identities. Male today, female tomorrow, then some yet to be determined new gender next week. The Christian hope and understanding that the human body is called to be a sacred temple of the Holy Spirit that will ultimately resurrect, as Christ resurrected, for all eternity is largely lost or ignored under the transgender ideology.

What is the ultimate ceiling or floor of this strange new course upon which the Episcopal Church is launched? Only God knows.

Read it all.

Episcopalians approved a churchwide ceremony Tuesday to bless same-sex couples, the latest decisive step toward accepting homosexuality by a denomination that nine years ago elected the first openly [non-celibate] gay bishop….

A spokeswoman for the leader of the Episcopal Church, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, said she would not comment Tuesday….

The Rev. David Thurlow of the Diocese of South Carolina, which has withdrawn from some councils of the national church in protest of its theological direction, said the church was “marching off not only completely out of step with, but completely out of line with, the faith once delivered to the saints.”

Read it all.

The Episcopal Church has become the largest US denomination to bless same-sex relationships.

The policy was overwhelmingly approved in a vote at the church’s general convention in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Church officials stressed the new ceremony, which includes prayers and an exchange of vows and rings, was not a same-sex marriage.

Read it all.

“This is significant because it’s saying, ”˜This is around to stay ”” this is not a passing fad,’ ” said Mary A. Tolbert, founding director of the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry at Pacific School of Religion, in Berkeley, Calif. “It’s making a statement about the continued presence of gay and lesbian people among the congregations of the Episcopal Church, and that their lives need to be marked by liturgy as well.”

At the church’s General Convention three years ago, priests were granted provisional permission to bless gay couples if their bishops allowed it ”” and about 30 bishops did, said Bishop Thomas C. Ely of Vermont, who was among them. But many bishops, he said, have been waiting until the General Convention passed a specific liturgy to give their permission.

The resolution explicitly allows bishops who do not approve of same-sex relationships to prohibit their priests from using the liturgy. It calls the liturgy “provisional,” saying it will be re-evaluated in three years. It also does not refer to the liturgy as a marriage rite, calling it instead “The Witnessing and Blessing of a Lifelong Covenant.”

Read it all.

What a lovely picture–check it out.

I was present in the gallery of the House of Deputies today as the final vote was taken on a rite for same-sex blessings. The Deputies voted to concur with the Bishops in approving the rite.

As you know, over the past three years I have exercised the authority given me by the 2009 General Convention to allow the blessing of same-sex couples, and have stipulated the use of the rite developed in the Diocese of Washington, D.C. In the intervening years a number of our parishes have used this pastoral provision to minister to same-sex couples, and some are planning to do so in the near future.

What has happened now is that General Convention has issued its own rite that will be published shortly, and as of its effective date, that is the service that will be used by those parishes in our diocese who wish to bless unions.

Read it all.

Read it all.

This General Convention action is unbiblical, unchristian, unanglican and unseemly. It will further wreak havoc among Anglicans, and indeed Christians, in North America and around the world.

By making this decision, The Episcopal Church moves further away from Jesus Christ and his teaching. 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.

We in South Carolina must differentiate to stay loyal to Christ, but also to keep our own parish members and not hinder the mission of Jesus Christ who loves all and transforms all by the power of the Holy Spirit to holiness of life, a holiness which has a clear shape agreed by Christians East and West throughout 20 centuries.

–The Rev. Canon Dr. Kendall Harmon is Canon Theologian for the Diocese of South Carolina and convenor of this blog (and he makes this statement for himself)

S.C. Deputation Statement
July 10, 2012

It is with heavy hearts that Bishop Mark Lawrence and the South Carolina deputation to General Convention must report the final passage and adoption of Resolution A049, the Resolution to Authorize Liturgical Resources for Blessing Same-Gender Relationships. The Bishop and our deputation, in both speaking and voting against its passage, remains united and unanimous in our support of the historic understanding of “the doctrine, discipline and worship of Christ as this Church has received them.” In the debate prior to the vote being taken, we spoke in favor of the minority report authored and presented by the Very Rev. David Thurlow. The Standing Committee of the Diocese of South Carolina, in its statement of June 15 has articulated the clear position of our diocese on marriage. The South Carolina deputation wholeheartedly endorses that position. We grieve that General Convention has further departed from these values and adopted a resolution to permit pastoral license to violate the existing canons on marriage. We believe this decision will seriously wound the Church and ask to you join is in prayers for God’s One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

The Rt. Rev. Mark J. Lawrence
The Very Rev. John Burwell
The Rev. Canon Jim Lewis
The Very Rev. David Thurlow
Reid Boylston
Lydia Evans
Lonnie Hamilton
Elizabeth (Boo) Pennewill

You may find it also on the diocese website there.

The motion was made by the Very Rev. Timothy E. Kimbrough, Dean and Rector of Christ Church Cathedral in Nashville, Tennessee.

The vote on division fails.

If you are not watching you can follow tweets here and there.

Read it all and follow the link to the budget.

Her remarks in response follow: (ENS)

I am honored to have been chosen by my colleagues in the House of Deputies as their next president, and I’m grateful to all of the people across the church””deputies, bishops, and many other leaders””who have expressed their confidence in me and shared their ideas. I’m especially grateful to Deputy Martha Alexander and Deputy Frank Logue for offering their gifts to the church, and I look forward to working with them during the next triennium.

I am a priest, ordained in 1979, born and raised and ordained in the Diocese of Central New York, and an eight-time deputy from the Diocese of Ohio. I stood for election as president of the House of Deputies because I believe that God is calling me to work with leaders across the church to change the way we do business in the next triennium. For the Episcopal Church to matter in the 21st century, we have to find ways to move forward together.

As president of the House of Deputies, I intend to foster the leadership of young people, people of color, and others who have not always been at the table. I have strong relationships with many bishops, and I look forward to working with the House of Bishops for wholeness, reconciliation and justice that will benefit the entire Episcopal Church.

The Church longs to be transfigured ”“ changed into the likeness of Jesus ”“ from glory to glory. That’s my vision for the Episcopal Church, and I look forward to working with the House of Deputies, the House of Bishops, and Episcopalians across the church to make it come true.

The bishop suffragan of Texas, the Rt. Rev. Dena A. Harrison, reminded the bishops that “we are indeed members of a worldwide Anglican Communion. The actions that we might take today put our brothers and sisters in a tough position around the world that is literally life and death.”

“We are better able to handle the ambiguity than they are,” she added.

The Rt. Rev. Nathan Baxter, Central Pennsylvania, countered that “we’ve been called to courage, to not be afraid to be a minority.”

Read it all.

Read it all (pdf).

Here is the latest from the committee–amended C029–

Resolved, the House of _______ concurring, That the 77th General Convention direct the Presiding Bishop and the President of the House of Deputies to appoint a special commission charged with conducting a study of the theology underlying access to Holy Baptism and Holy Communion in this Church and to recommend for consideration by the 78th General Convention any amendment to Title I, Canon 17, Section 7, of the Canons of General Convention that it deems appropriate; and be it further Resolved, That the General Convention request the Joint Standing Committee on Program, Budget and Finance to consider a budget allocation of $30,000 for the implementation of this Resolution.
Resolved, the House of Bishops concurring, that The Episcopal Church reaffirms that baptism is the ancient and normative entry point to receiving Holy Communion and that our Lord Jesus Christ calls us to go into the world and baptize all peoples. We also acknowledge that in various local contexts there is the exercise of pastoral sensitivity with those who are not yet baptized.

You can find a copy of it here.

The whole day was exhilarating and unpredictable and messy but also holy and good.

The bishops talked about not requiring the Presiding Bishop to resign as a diocesan bishop, but decided to wait to act until we see the Structure piece. Our afternoon focused on a Trial use of a Blessing for same sex couples. It was a holy debate. The measure passed easily. My sense is that we currently have a kind of liturgical anarchy about rites of blessings. Dioceses use all kinds of rites. This will regularize them and enable us as a Church to see if this rite works. It’s a trial use for the Church to gather information.

General Convention is such a strange way to run a Church. My hope is that in our reform we will do much less business but do it well. I think our decisions afford a lot of input but not enough reflection. I know that after a week of being here, I am tired and not able to think as clearly as this work demands.

Read it all.