INVITING EPISCOPAL CHURCHES
The Episcopal Church INVITES you... Whoever you are, just as you are!
Home     About Us     In The News!     Pride 2007!     Site Map     Contact Us      
In The News!            
Cheers echoed in the State House when the vote was tallied.
At left are Marc Solomon (center), Director of Mass Equality, Patrick Guerrero (left), former mayor of Melrose,
and Holly Gunner (bottom), an ACLU board member.
(Globe Photo)
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Legislators vote to defeat same-sex marriage ban
By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff, from Boston.com

A proposed constitutional ban on same-sex marriage was swiftly defeated today by a joint session of the Legislature by a vote of 45 to 151, eliminating any chance of getting it on the ballot in November 2008. The measure needed at least 50 votes to advance.

The vote came without debate after House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi, Senate President Therese Murray, and Governor Deval Patrick conferred this morning and concluded that they have the votes to kill the proposal.

"Today's vote was not just a victory for marriage equality, it was a victory for equality itself," Patrick told reporters as cheers echoed in the State House. "Whenever we affirm the equality of anyone, we affirm the equality of everyone."

The three leaders - along with gay rights activists - spent the last several days intensely lobbying a dozen or more state representatives and state senators who had previously supported the amendment but signaled that they were open to changing their positions.

Because fewer than 50 of the state's 200 lawmakers supported the amendment, it will not appear on the 2008 ballot, giving gay marriage advocates a major victory in their battle with social conservatives to keep same-sex marriage legal in Massachusetts.

Opponents of gay marriage face an increasingly tough battle to win legislative approval of any future petitions to appear on a statewide ballot. The next election available to them is 2012.

See the rest of the story at Boston. com by clicking here.
 
May 22, 2007
Decision on Lambeth Conference invitations draws reaction
By Matthew Davies and Mary Frances Schjonberg

[Episcopal News Service] The Archbishop of Canterbury's decision to withhold a small number of invitations to the 2008 Lambeth Conference of Bishops drew reaction as soon as the announcement was made public May 22.

The once-a-decade gathering of Anglican Communion bishops is due to be held July 16-August 4 at the University of Kent in Canterbury, England. About 880 invitations are being sent out from the Archbishop, Dr. Rowan Williams.

The Rev. Canon Kenneth Kearon, secretary general of the Anglican Communion, confirmed to Episcopal News Service that Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire and Martyn Minns, bishop of the Church of Nigeria-founded Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA) are among the "small number of bishops" who have not been invited to the 2008 conference.

Robinson is one of the few duly elected bishops who did not receive an invitation, Kearon said. Williams "intends to explore how Robinson might be present as a guest to the conference," but he is not contemplating inviting Minns at all, Kearon added.

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori sent a short e-mail message to the House of Bishops urging "a calm approach to today's announcement regarding 2008 Lambeth Conference invitations, a subject on which I plan to make no formal statement at this time. It is possible that aspects of this matter may change in the next 14 months, and the House of Bishops' September meeting offers us a forum for further discussion."

House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson also issued a short statement saying that "the Episcopal Church elects bishops and consents to the election of bishops in a democratic and participatory manner. The process is carried out within our Constitution and Canons, both at the General Convention and in our dioceses. The Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson is a duly elected and consecrated bishop of this Church. Not inviting him to the Lambeth Conference causes serious concern to The Episcopal Church."

The House of Deputies in 2003 consented (Resolution C045) to Robinson's election, as did the House of Bishops.

In a statement issued on the New Hampshire diocese's website, Robinson said he felt "great disappointment" at not being invited.

"At a time when the Anglican Communion is calling for a ‘listening process' on the issue of homosexuality, it makes no sense to exclude gay and lesbian people from that conversation," he said. "It is time that the Bishops of the Anglican Communion stop talking about gay and lesbian people and start talking with us."

In 2005, the Primates acknowledged that Robinson had been duly elected according to the canons and constitutions of the Episcopal Church, Kearon told ENS.

However, he explained that Williams could not ignore the "widespread objection to Robinson's ministry in many parts of the Communion" or ignore the advice given in the Windsor Report (paragraph 133), that calls on the Archbishop of Canterbury "to exercise very considerable caution in inviting or admitting [Robinson] to the councils of the Communion."

"So the Archbishop has not issued Gene Robinson with an invitation, but he intends to explore how he might be present as a guest to the conference," Kearon said, noting that the details of what it would mean for a bishop to be a guest at the Lambeth Conference have yet to be worked out.

Robinson said he appreciated the acknowledgement that he is a duly elected and consecrated bishop of the Church, but added that "the refusal to include me among all the other duly elected and consecrated Bishops of the Church is an affront to the entire Episcopal Church."

"This is not about Gene Robinson, nor the Diocese of New Hampshire," he said. "It is about the American Church and its relationship to the Communion. It is for The Episcopal Church to respond to this challenge, and in due time, I assume we will do so. In the meantime, I will pray for Archbishop Rowan and our beloved Anglican Communion."

See the rest of the article here.

The Rev. Susan Russell, the president of IntegrityUSA, said that her organization of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Episcopalians and their supporters, is "outraged and appalled" at Williams' decision not to invite Robinson. She suggested that the Episcopal Church's bishops ought "to think long and hard about whether they are willing to participate in the continued scapegoating of the gay and lesbian faithful as the price for going to the Lambeth Conference."

"This is not only a snub of Bishop Gene Robinson but an affront to the entire U.S. Episcopal Church," Russell said in part. "The Archbishop of Canterbury has allowed himself to be blackmailed by forces promoting bigotry and exclusion in the Anglican Communion. This action shows a disgraceful lack of leadership on Williams' part."

The complete IntegrityUSA statement is available here.
MAY 17th, 2007 
 
From Bay Windows online: www.baywindows.com

Rt. Rev. Gayle Harris becomes 1000th clergy to sign Religious Declaration for the Freedom to Marry
Laura Kiritsy
lkiritsy@baywindows.com

The Right Rev. Gayle Harris, Bishop Suffragan of the Episcopal Diocese of the Massachusetts, on May 17 became the 1000th signer of the Religious Declaration for the Freedom to Marry at a signing ceremony at the State House.
The 10-year old declaration, authored by Rabbi Howard Berman, a founding member of the Religious Coalition for the Freedom to Marry, states in part, “As religious people, clergy, and leaders, we are mandated to stand for justice in our common civic life. We oppose appeals to sacred texts and religious traditions for the purpose of denying legal equity to same-gender couples. As concerned citizens, we affirm the liberty of adults of the same gender to love and marry.”
The following is a transcript of Harris’s remarks to the crowd of about 200 who had gathered in Nurse’s Hall at the State House to mark the occasion:
“This is the day that the Lord hath made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
“I brought my own pen today, which is purple. I think that’s appropriate. And it has purple ink in it, even more appropriate. It’s what I sign ordination and other documents with. And I wanted to use my own pen because this comes as a moment of faith for me, as for many of you who are gathered here. I signed this declaration as first a bishop, but also as a citizen of this great Commonwealth. And as a citizen of this great Commonwealth, I want to say that it is important for us to uphold justice for all. Our government is there to protect our lives and our rights, not to take them away. I grew up in the 1950s in Chicago, Illinios, and I know what it’s like to be discriminated against. After all I’m a black person in America. And I know that if it was put to the ballot, Brown versus the Board of Education would not have become the law of this land. Because that’s what the climate was. We do not vote on rights. We vote on those things that empower all of us as a society and as the people of America.
“But as a bishop, I also signed this because I understand that it is my responsibility, it is my mission and my ministry to promote justice; to seek to work for, as our baptismal covenant says, to strive for justice as well as to protect the dignity of every human being. Justice is not about where the political spectrum is as of this moment. Justice comes from God. Justice upholds love. God is love. As one of our hymns say, ‘God is love and where love is, God is there, too.’ So I’m here out of love, out of my call of ministry to love all of God’s people, to uphold that love wherever it is found. Where ever it is found. Where ever love is found.
“So as bishop and a citizen of this Commonwealth I am honored to sign. I am honored to stand with my brothers and sisters to protect families, to lift up children, to care for those who care for one another. I am here because of love and because … love is my greatest joy and God is the God of love for us all. Thank you.”