Bishop George Wayne Smith of the Diocese of Missouri will visit and assist at three Dallas-area parishes that wish to celebrate weddings for same-sex couples:
General Convention passed Resolution B012 on July 13, 2018, to give all Episcopalians the ability to be married by their priests in their home churches.
One part of Resolution B012 resolves that if a bishop “holds a theological position that does not embrace marriage for same-sex couples,” that bishop “shall invite, as necessary, another bishop of this Church to provide pastoral support to the couple, the Member of the Clergy involved and the congregation or worshipping community in order to fulfill the intention of this resolution that all couples have convenient and reasonable local congregational access to these rites.”
Bishop [George] Sumner wrote, “I am confident that we will be working collegially for the sake of the thriving of all the parishes in the Diocese of Dallas. I have provided Ascension, Transfiguration, and St. Thomas with a protocol for Bishop Smith’s work with them. Both he and I share the hope that the three parishes will continue to invite me annually to come to preach, teach, and share in worship.”
Bishop Sumner’s announcement provides further details:
He has been a leader in the area of liturgy in our Church. Bishop Smith is a person of humor, intelligence, wisdom, and faith, and I am grateful for his heart to help us in this way. He is also a Texan happy to minister in the Lone Star State! The following link provides more biographical information about the bishop: diocesemo.org/about/diocese/bishop-wayne-smith.
… All the costs associated with this arrangement will be borne by the diocese; the parishes’ obligations and privileges within the Diocese of Dallas continue unchanged.
This new arrangement goes into effect on Advent 1. We look forward to welcoming Bishop Wayne among us.
Matthew Townsend is a Halifax-based freelance journalist and volunteer advocate for survivors of sexual misconduct in Anglican settings. He served as editor of the Anglican Journal from 2019 to 2021 and communications missioner for the Anglican Diocese of Quebec from 2019 to 2022. He and his wife recently entered catechism class in the Orthodox Church in America.
