The historic Trinity Episcopal Church offers clear online guidance to those seeking a Blessing of Holy Union in its sanctuary on Boston\u2019s Copley Square.<\/p>\n\n
The services are based on \u201cA Rite for the Celebration of Commitment to a Life Together\u201d which is used in the Diocese of Massachusetts.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cA priest may bless a same-sex civil marriage or preside at and bless a same-sex union. \u2026 The same liturgical rite is used,\u201d say the guidelines. \u201cIn the presence of God and the couple\u2019s Christian community, the rite includes a declaration of the couple\u2019s intent to join their lives together and a celebration of their commitment to a life together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
This is precisely the kind of rite that has infuriated so many conservatives in the worldwide Anglican Communion.<\/p>\n\n
But the sound that Anglican insiders heard the other day was nervous coughing in England. U.S. Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori has decided not to let gays, lesbians and bisexuals in the mother church sit safely on the sidelines while traditionalists take shots at her flock.<\/p>\n\n
What about those same-sex union rites?<\/p>\n\n
\u201cThose services are happening in various places, including in the Church of England, where my understanding is that there are far more of them happening than there are in the Episcopal Church,\u201d she recently told the BBC.<\/p>\n\n
What about New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson, a gay man who is living in a same-sex relationship? According to Jefferts Schori, Robinson is under attack for being honest.<\/p>\n\n
Bishop Robison, she said, is \u201ccertainly not alone in being a gay bishop, he\u2019s certainly not alone in being a gay partnered bishop. He is alone in being the only gay partnered bishop who\u2019s open about that status. \u2026 There\u2019s certainly a double standard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
What we have here is an attempt to pull British bishops out and into open combat with conservatives in Africa, South America, Asia and other parts of the 70-million-member Anglican Communion. The presiding bishop has played the England card in a high-stakes game of ecclesiastical poker inside the Church of England.<\/p>\n\n
The tensions were already rising, as Canterbury prepares for its once-a-decade global Lambeth Conference of bishops, this coming July 20-Aug. 3. Conservatives are planning their own Global Anglican Future Conference, June 15-22 in Jerusalem.<\/p>\n\n
Thus, it was symbolic that Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams recently presided at a closed-door Eucharist in London for the Clergy Consultation, a support network for gay Anglican clergy, seminarians, monks and nuns. The Times of London offered this detail: \u201cSecrecy was so tight that a list of names attending was sent to Lambeth Palace with orders that it be shredded as soon as Dr. Williams had read it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Meanwhile, a few liberal activists have focused on the leader of the one U.S. diocese that has \u2014 so far \u2014 voted to cut its ties to the national church.<\/p>\n\n
Citing a disputed interview from more than a decade ago, backed with hostile testimonies, blogger Lisa Fox of Jefferson City, Mo., claims that San Joaquin Bishop John-David Schofield has repeatedly \u201couted\u201d himself as an ex-homosexual.<\/p>\n\n
Yes, it\u2019s time to publish names, Fox said.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cWhen a cleric uses his closet as a sniper\u2019s nest, he deserves to have a light directed upon his deceit and duplicity,\u201d wrote Fox, at her \u201cMy Manner of Life\u201d weblog. \u201cFor the life of me, I still do not know how those gay-lesbian bishops \u2014 especially the ones on the \u2018progressive\u2019 side of the spectrum \u2014 can look themselves in the mirror each day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Schofield, meanwhile, insists that he has been misquoted. The 69-year-old bishop does have an unusual background, since he has both taken a monastic vow of celibacy and been a leader in the charismatic renewal movement, with its emphasis on spiritual gifts such as healing and prophecy. He also supports ministries for those who struggle with sexual-orientation issues.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cI always thought I would be married,\u201d the bishop told Virtueonline.org. \u201cIn my early days of the priesthood, I was an Oblate of Mount Calvary that required annual vows be renewed. By 1966, I was convinced that married life was for me. On November 17, 1966, however, in a life-changing encounter with the Lord, I responded to his request to live a single life for Him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Schofield also answered the question that others will soon face.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cI am not a homosexual,\u201d he said. \u201cI have never been in the homosexual lifestyle.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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