Suddenly this summer, the reality of same-sex couples lining up to get married in California has led some religious leaders to rethink their government role.
In a letter last month, Bishop Marc Handley Andrus of the Episcopal Diocese of California directed his clergy to “encourage all couples, regardless of orientation, to follow the pattern of first being married in a secular service and then being blessed in the Episcopal Church.”
The bishop’s missive illustrates what a tangled web we have woven when clergy intone “by the power invested in me by the state.”
Because the Episcopal Church doesn’t sanction same-sex marriage ”” but gives the option of blessing the union ”” the bishop appears to be seeking a way to bless all couples while distancing the church from legal arrangements sanctioned by the state.