The Bishop of Tennessee has announced his policy regarding the 79th General Convention Resolution B-012, which authorizes priests throughout the Episcopal Church to perform same-sex weddings.
Bishop John C. Bauerschmidt has asked the Rt. Rev. Brian L. Cole, Bishop of East Tennessee, to work with parishes that wish to use the rite.
Bauerschmidt is president of the Living Church Foundation’s board of directors.
“I commend to your attention the provisions of the appended Procedure,” Bishop Bauerschmidt wrote to the people of his diocese. “They are intended to promote the highest degree of communion and fellowship in a time of challenge for the Church. These provisions require consultation. No document can answer every question in advance. I also commend to your attention the two documents that preceded this Procedure: the two pastoral teachings on the Episcopate and on Marriage.”
Related reading: Bishop Bauerschmidt’s pastoral teaching on the episcopate
Implementation of B012 in Tennessee Pastoral Teaching on Marriage-John Bauerschmidt
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.
