As such, the two resolutions represent a clear and purposeful departure from the requests made of the Episcopal Church by the rest of the Anglican communion, as expressed repeatedly by all of the official bodies of global Anglicanism over the past several years. Contradicting requests for a moratorium on bishops in same-sex relationships, Resolution D025 asserts that \u201cGod has called and may call\u201d\u009d persons in such relationships to all of the ordained ministries of the church. And, in the face of requests not to authorize public rites of blessing for same-sex unions, Resolution C056 explicitly calls for their development and authorizes bishops to perform them on a trial basis in their dioceses. It is, in short, a clear victory for those such as Bishop Sauls who have argued for the national autonomy of the Episcopal Church and the need to move forward regardless of Anglican communion requests.<\/p>\n
That is, at least, the straightforward interpretation of the resolutions, as understood by media outlets such as the New York Times (\u201cEpiscopal Vote Reopens a Door to Gay Bishops,\u201d\u009d \u201cEpiscopal Bishops Give Ground on Gay Marriage\u201d\u009d), the BBC (\u201cUS Church Drops Gay Bishops Ban\u201d\u009d), Reuters (\u201cEpiscopal Vote Widens Anglican Split\u201d\u009d), and the Washington Post (\u201cEpiscopal Bishops Can Bless Gay Unions\u201d\u009d). It is, additionally, how they were understood by Anglican bishop N.T. Wright (\u201cThe Americans Know This Will Lead to Schism,\u201d\u009d), conservative groups such as Fulcrum and the Anglican Communion Institute, and the ECUSA gay rights lobby, Integrity. Susan Russell, the president of Integrity, celebrated achieving a \u201cclean sweep” on their legislative goals, and justifiably so.<\/p>\n
But be that as it may, the official organs of the Episcopal Church have insisted that no matter what it might look like to everyone else, actually nothing much has changed….<\/p>\n
All in all, one is left with the spectacle of the Episcopal Church\u2019s leadership trying desperately to convince the Anglican communion and countless onlookers, by the artful use of lawyerly nuance and political hair-splitting, that they did not do what they did.<\/p>\n
Arguably, this is the worst of all possible worlds. While one might wish that the church had not decided to leave behind biblical sexual norms, it is by now clear that this is the position of the great majority of Episcopal leadership. As such, there would have been genuine integrity in stating forthrightly that the Episcopal Church disagrees with its Anglican brothers and sisters, and that, out of their prayerful discernment and sense of God\u2019s justice, they cannot comply with the Anglican world\u2019s requests.<\/p>\n
But that is not the path the Episcopal Church\u2019s leaders have chosen. Instead, they have professed their heartfelt desire to remain full members of the Anglican communion, but on none but their own terms.<\/p>\n