Episcopalians Narrowly Reject Call to Bless Same-Sex Unions

In a decision underscoring sharp differences over homosexual relationships, the Episcopal Church on Saturday narrowly turned back a call for blessing same-sex unions.

The razor-thin vote in the church’s highest legislative body--the General Convention--was seen as an unmistakable signal that tensions over issues of human sexuality that have dogged the Episcopal Church as well as other denominations are not expected to go away anytime soon.

Had the resolution been approved, the church’s liturgical commission would have been urged to develop “a rite or rites for the blessing of committed relationships between persons of the same sex.” But the House of Deputies made up of priests and lay members of the church fell just short of the necessary votes required to send the measure to the convention’s House of Bishops. The vote among lay delegates was 56 in favor and 41 against. Among priests, the vote was 56 in favor and 37 against. To be approved, the measure needed 57 votes in each group.

“This issue is dead for this General Convention,” church spokesman James Solheim said. But supporters of the measure said they would come back at the next convention, to be held in 2000, and try again.

“To us, this vote is an affirmation. We’re pleased with this vote. It means it’s coming back,” said the Rev. Michael W. Hopkins, a member of Integrity, the Episcopal gay and lesbian organization. In the meantime, Hopkins predicted, some priests would continue to bless same-sex unions. “They’ve been going on for years and they will continue to go on,” Hopkins said.

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On a related issue, however, the convention authorized individual dioceses to offer health insurance benefits to domestic partners of clergy and church employees, including those involved in same-sex relationships. The Anglican Church of Canada approved a similar resolution last year.

Later, in an address to the convention, Archbishop of Canterbury George L. Carey urged Episcopalians not to allow differences to divide the church.

“My plea to you all is to keep your eyes focused on the God whose hands are tied by his love for you,” said Carey, who is the head of the Church of England and spiritual leader of the 70-million-member worldwide Anglican Communion, which includes the Episcopal Church.

“Remember that no matter how much you think you are dealing with issues, you are not; you are always dealing with people--people who wound, who hurt, who feel--and remember as you look on them that they are in the image of God.”

The vote rejecting ceremonies for blessing same-sex unions followed sometimes emotional floor debate, with supporters wanting to expand what is meant by holy matrimony and opponents warning that such services would make the Episcopal Church an outcast within Christianity.

“We are not attempting to subvert the sanctity of marriage,” said the Rev. Jane N. Garrett of Vermont, a supporter. “Far from it. We are asking to join in the sanctity of marriage through full participation in it.”

Other backers stressed that the resolution also affirmed “the sacredness of Christian marriage between one man and one woman.”

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The Rev. Bonnie A. Perry said her Chicago parish was all but dead five years ago, but thanks to the contributions and commitment of new parishioners--about a third of whom are gay men and lesbians--she said the church has been transformed into a “vibrant and growing” community of Christians.

Despite the contributions of gays and lesbians, she said she has had to turn down three gay couples who have asked her to bless their relationships. She urged them to wait for action by the national church.

“I can tell you the entire congregation, straight and gay, is waiting and longing for me to come back and say that the Episcopal Church welcomes all of us and loves all of us,” Perry told delegates.

But opponents warned that same-sex union rituals would make the Episcopal Church the first in the world to officially bless sexual relations outside of traditional matrimony. “The passage of this resolution will put us permanently out of step with the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches, conservative Protestants and many mainline Protestants as well. The vast majority reject this practice as sin,” said the Rev. Richard C. Crocker of Iowa.

Rank-and-file Episcopalians are against such services, said the Rev. Gerry L. Schnackenberg of Colorado. “It will have been done against the convictions of a majority of those who sit in our pews. . . . It will be done in response to a pressure group which has taken the novel approach of raising experience to normative authority over Scripture.”

Meanwhile, in other business, the House of Bishops approved a measure passed a day earlier by the House of Deputies requiring four dissenting bishops who refuse to ordain women to develop plans for doing so by 1999 or face the possibility of a church trial for not upholding church law. The church has ordained women since 1976.

Later, one of the holdout bishops, the Rt. Rev. Jack Iker of Fort Worth, told reporters he intended to undertake “active resistance to the directive.” By that, he said he meant he would continue to refer women interested in becoming priests to another diocese but that he would not ordain them himself.

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He said he remains unconvinced by arguments that women should be ordained. “I cannot compromise my conscience because I have serious theological reservations,” he told reporters.

In floor debate, the Rt. Rev. Barbara Harris of Boston, who in 1989 became the first female Episcopal bishop, called for defeat of an amendment that would have allowed the four dissenting bishops to continue denying ordination to women as long as they hold office.

“The message such an amendment would send to the women of this church and those who support the ordained ministry of women in this church is that once again this house is engaged in a delaying tactic,” Harris said. “To engage in further delay says to the women of this church, ‘We do not value your ministry, even though God has called you.’ ”