Resolution C051 of the 2003 General Convention acknowledged this reality in stating “that we recognize that local faith communities are operating within the bounds of our common life as they explore and experience liturgies celebrating and blessing same-sex unions.”
Resolution C051 has been interpreted by many as a tacit authorization of the blessing of same-sex relationships or, at the least, a recognition of a “local option” for the practice within the Episcopal Church. Others have seen it as primarily descriptive of facts on the ground.
The blessing of same-sex relationships in the Episcopal Church has been one matter of controversy within the world-wide Anglican Communion. The Windsor Report of 2004 cited Resolution C051 as evidence that the Episcopal Church had, in fact, authorized such blessings. Because such blessings are not accepted in many other parts of the Anglican Communion and have been a source of Communion tension, The Windsor Report called for “moratorium on all such public rites” in the Episcopal Church. Subsequent statements from the Primates’ Meeting and other Anglican Communion bodies have renewed this call for a moratorium and the issue remains a point of contention within the Communion.
Perhaps in partial response to Communion concerns, General Convention has not to date authorized specific rites for same-sex blessing for use in the Episcopal Church. Nonetheless, pastoral concern for the gay and lesbian members of the Episcopal Church persists and blessings have remained an ongoing reality. Some Bishops have expressed their support for pastoral care for gay and lesbian couples, including the liturgical celebration of the commitment in their relationships, while at the same time declining to authorize public rites for blessings in their dioceses since General Convention has not done so. Bishop Councell took this position in his address to the 2007 Convention of the Diocese of New Jersey. (p. 119 ff. of the Convention Journal).
In this complex context, a number of Resolutions concerning same-sex blessings have been proposed for consideration by the General Convention of 2009. All Resolutions submitted to date ask in one way or another that the Episcopal Church move towards authorizing such rites.
Some resolutions authorize or direct the Standing Commission on Liturgy of Music to develop rites for such blessings and present them for approval to the 2012 General Convention.
C009: http://gc2009.org/
C017: http://gc2009.org/
C028: http://gc2009.org/
C031: http://gc2009.org/
C056: http://gc2009.org/
Other Resolutions make explicit the authority of Diocesan Bishops to authorize “liturgical blessings of committed relationships between same-sex partners.”
C004: http://gc2009.org/
C056: http://gc2009.org/
Other Resolutions would amend the canons concerning marriage in the Episcopal Church so that they apply to same-sex as well as opposite-sex couples and take account of changes in civil law in some states allowing same-sex marriage and/or civil unions:
C019: http://gc2009.org/
C025: http://gc2009.org/
C041: http://gc2009.org/
C042: http://gc2009.org/
All of these Resolutions have been assigned to Cognate Committee 13 on Prayer Book, Liturgy and Music. At Convention, the Committee will hold hearings and eventually report out one or more of the original Resolutions and/or modified or combined versions of them for consideration by the Convention. (The Rev. Jack Zamboni of our New Jersey Deputation has been appointed to Committee 13 and will be involved in its work).
The Resolutions will go for initial consideration to the House of Bishops; if adopted there, the House of Deputies will then consider them.