Consideration of the first two issues will take place against the backdrop of recent news that the House of Bishops has commissioned its second theological study in nine years on homosexuality.
In addition, House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson wrote to the deputies June 29 that it would be asked to consider convening in two rare “committee of the whole” sessions the afternoon of July 8 and the morning of July 9 “to exchange information and viewpoints among the deputies” and to inform the legislative committee that will consider all B033 resolutions.
Concern over the reaction from the wider Anglican Communion about eventual decisions made about Resolution B033 and same-gender blessings likely also will hover over the Anaheim meeting.
The Episcopal Church began studying issues of human sexuality in 1964, when General Convention said that “changing patterns in human action have raised inquiries concerning the church’s position on sexual behavior” and called for data gathering and studies that would result in recommendations to the next convention. Since then, the church has published 10 officially sanctioned studies and reports on human sexuality, including the 2005 “To Set Our Hope in Christ,” which summarizes the history of the debate and the changes in perspective the church has experienced.
10 official studies in 45 years? goodness.