The Rev. Gay Clark Jennings, president of the House of Deputies, has released this response to Bishop Bill Love of Albany:
For more than 40 years, the Episcopal Church has prayed, studied and discerned and, in doing so, we have seen the evidence of God’s blessing in the lives of LGBT people. The Episcopal Church’s General Convention, our highest temporal authority, first acknowledged that God calls LGBT people to any ordained ministry in 2009. In 2012, the General Convention authorized a liturgical rite for the blessing of same-sex unions, and in 2015, we authorized marriage equality in the church.
We recognize the Holy Spirit at work in the marriages of LGBTQ people and we know that there are Christians who have been drawn further into fidelity and service to the world by living in committed same-sex partnerships and marriages based on holy love and the gift of seeing Christ in one another. When we celebrate these marriages, the entire church is blessed by the love and fidelity of these faithful couples.
Durante más de 40 años, la Iglesia Episcopal ha orado, estudiado y discernido y, al hacerlo, hemos visto la evidencia de la bendición de Dios en las vidas de las personas LGBT. La Convención General de la Iglesia Episcopal, nuestra más alta autoridad temporal, reconoció por primera vez que Dios llama a las personas LGBT a cualquier ministerio ordenado en 2009. En 2012, la Convención General autorizó un rito litúrgico para la bendición de las uniones del mismo sexo, y en 2015, autorizamos la igualdad de matrimonio en la iglesia.
Reconocemos el trabajo del Espíritu Santo en los matrimonios de personas LGBTQ y sabemos que hay cristianos que se han sentido más atraídos hacia la fidelidad y el servicio al mundo por vivir en parejas y matrimonios comprometidos del mismo sexo basados en el amor santo y el don de ver a cristo en el otro. Cuando celebramos estos matrimonios, toda la iglesia es bendecida por el amor y la fidelidad de estas parejas fieles.
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.
