{"id":276196,"date":"2018-02-02T06:12:18","date_gmt":"2018-02-02T11:12:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aleteia.org\/?post_type=post&p=276196"},"modified":"2018-02-02T06:12:18","modified_gmt":"2018-02-02T11:12:18","slug":"episcopal-diocese-votes-to-avoid-gendered-references-to-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2018\/02\/episcopal-diocese-votes-to-avoid-gendered-references-to-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Episcopal diocese votes to avoid gendered references to God"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Details:\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., formally resolved Saturday to eliminate all gendered references to God, and open their gender-specific activities and public facilities based on gender identity.<\/p>\n

The Washington-based Institute on Religion and Democracy reported on its\u00a0blog<\/a>\u00a0Monday that the Diocese of Washington for the Episcopal Church passed three resolutions over the weekend at a gathering at Washington National Cathedral. Delegates to the 123rd Diocesan Convention moved within one hour to adopt proposals titled \u201cOn Becoming a Sanctuary Diocese: Offering Sacred Welcome to Immigrants,\u201d \u201cOn Inclusion of Transgender People,\u201d and \u201cOn the Gendered Language for God.\u201d<\/p>\n

The resolution about language for God emphasized replacing gendered references to God with gender neutral language and pronouns wherever possible.<\/p>\n

The measure was subsequently amended to say \u201c\u2026 if revision of the Book of Common Prayer [a liturgical prayer book used by Anglicans worldwide] is authorized, to utilize expansive language for God from the rich sources of feminine, masculine, and non-binary imagery for God found in Scripture and tradition and, when possible, to avoid the use of gendered pronouns for God.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read on<\/a><\/strong> for more.<\/p>\n

Meantime, this<\/a><\/strong> is interesting and may help explain the move, regarding the parish of one of the sponsors of this resolution:<\/p>\n

According to statistics made available by the Episcopal Church, St. Thomas has\u00a0declined precipitously<\/a>\u00a0in the past five years, shrinking from a weekly attendance of 150 down to 75 (-50%). St. Margaret\u2019s has similarly declined from approximately 240 attendees in 2006 down to 130 (-46%).<\/p>\n

In the past decade, weekly attendance in the Diocese of Washington has declined 17 percent. Meanwhile, baptisms have dropped 35 percent and weddings have declined 39 percent. In April, the\u00a0diocesan clergy conference<\/a>\u00a0will hear from an organization assisting churches \u201cto move from a place of plateau or decline to sustained congregational health.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read more.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Details:\u00a0 The Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., formally resolved Saturday to eliminate all gendered references to God, and open their gender-specific activities and public facilities based on gender identity. The Washington-based Institute on Religion and Democracy reported on its\u00a0blog\u00a0Monday that the Diocese of Washington for the Episcopal Church passed three resolutions over the weekend at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":131421,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11252],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-276196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-open-mind"],"yoast_head":"\nEpiscopal diocese votes to avoid gendered references to God<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Details:\u00a0 The Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., formally resolved Saturday to eliminate all gendered references to God, and open their gender-specific\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2018\/02\/episcopal-diocese-votes-to-avoid-gendered-references-to-god\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Episcopal diocese votes to avoid gendered references to God\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Details:\u00a0 The Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., formally resolved Saturday to eliminate all gendered references to God, and open their gender-specific\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2018\/02\/episcopal-diocese-votes-to-avoid-gendered-references-to-god\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-02-02T11:12:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/56\/2016\/12\/washington_national_cathedral_in_george_town.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Deacon Greg Kandra\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Deacon Greg Kandra\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2018\/02\/episcopal-diocese-votes-to-avoid-gendered-references-to-god\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2018\/02\/episcopal-diocese-votes-to-avoid-gendered-references-to-god\/\",\"name\":\"Episcopal diocese votes to avoid gendered references to God\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-02-02T11:12:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-02-02T11:12:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970\"},\"description\":\"Details:\u00a0 The Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., formally resolved Saturday to eliminate all gendered references to God, and open their gender-specific\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2018\/02\/episcopal-diocese-votes-to-avoid-gendered-references-to-god\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2018\/02\/episcopal-diocese-votes-to-avoid-gendered-references-to-god\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2018\/02\/episcopal-diocese-votes-to-avoid-gendered-references-to-god\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Episcopal diocese votes to avoid gendered references to God\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/\",\"name\":\"The Deacon's Bench\",\"description\":\"Where a Roman Catholic deacon ponders the world\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970\",\"name\":\"Deacon Greg Kandra\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Deacon Greg Kandra\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/author\/deacon-greg-kandra\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Episcopal diocese votes to avoid gendered references to God","description":"Details:\u00a0 The Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., formally resolved Saturday to eliminate all gendered references to God, and open their gender-specific","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2018\/02\/episcopal-diocese-votes-to-avoid-gendered-references-to-god\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Episcopal diocese votes to avoid gendered references to God","og_description":"Details:\u00a0 The Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., formally resolved Saturday to eliminate all gendered references to God, and open their gender-specific","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2018\/02\/episcopal-diocese-votes-to-avoid-gendered-references-to-god\/","og_site_name":"The Deacon's Bench","article_published_time":"2018-02-02T11:12:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":450,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/56\/2016\/12\/washington_national_cathedral_in_george_town.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Deacon Greg Kandra","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Deacon Greg Kandra","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2018\/02\/episcopal-diocese-votes-to-avoid-gendered-references-to-god\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2018\/02\/episcopal-diocese-votes-to-avoid-gendered-references-to-god\/","name":"Episcopal diocese votes to avoid gendered references to God","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-02-02T11:12:18+00:00","dateModified":"2018-02-02T11:12:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970"},"description":"Details:\u00a0 The Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., formally resolved Saturday to eliminate all gendered references to God, and open their gender-specific","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2018\/02\/episcopal-diocese-votes-to-avoid-gendered-references-to-god\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2018\/02\/episcopal-diocese-votes-to-avoid-gendered-references-to-god\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2018\/02\/episcopal-diocese-votes-to-avoid-gendered-references-to-god\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Episcopal diocese votes to avoid gendered references to God"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/","name":"The Deacon's Bench","description":"Where a Roman Catholic deacon ponders the world","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970","name":"Deacon Greg Kandra","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Deacon Greg Kandra"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/author\/deacon-greg-kandra\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/132"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}