This resolution provides clarification in light of the Windsor Report (2004) and subsequent discussions in the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion.
The first resolve reaffirms resolution A159 adopted at the 75th General Convention General Convention, in 2006. While much attention has been focused on official statements and resolutions from the primates meetings, Lambeth Conference 2008, and Anglican Consultative Council meetings in 2005 and 2009, our participation in the Anglican Communion consists of a much richer tapestry of ministries and networks as well as personal relationships. Hence the second resolve encourages Episcopalians, individually and in dioceses and parishes, to build relationships with our sisters and brothers around the Anglican Communion by participation in these networks and ministries.
Another sign of the Episcopal Church's commitment to the Anglican Communion is financial. In 2007, The Episcopal Church budgeted $661,000 for the Inter-Anglican budget, which sustains the work of the Anglican Consultative Council and the Anglican Communion offices in London. The 2007 financial report of the Anglican Consultative Council (the latest available on the Anglican Communion website) reports a total income from Inter Anglican Budget contributions as £1,134,745 ($1,864,574.36, using 2009 currency rates). In other words, The Episcopal Church contributes a substantial portion of the Inter Anglican Budget. This resolution reaffirms our financial commitment.
Our relationships in the Anglican Communion have been tested by the question of the ordination to the episcopate of individuals living in a same-sex partnership. Resolution D-039 of the 73rd General Convention, in 2000, acknowledged that the membership of the Episcopal Church includes persons living in same-sex relationships; established an expectation that "such relationships will be characterized by fidelity, monogamy, mutual affection and respect, careful, honest communication, and the holy love which enables those in such relationships to see in each other the image of God"; and further denounced "promiscuity, exploitation, and abusiveness in the relationships of any of our members." Three years later, the 74th General Convention reaffirmed this expectation. These standards thus provide guidance for access to the discernment process for ordination to the episcopate.
The acceptance of the ministry of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender persons is not settled in The Episcopal Church or in the Anglican Communion. While the church continues to discern God's will in these matters, it is important to remind ourselves that sacramental theology since the time of Augustine of Hippo has affirmed that the validity of sacraments does not depend on the character of the ordained person celebrating those sacraments.
See? Money and property get top billing and emphasis - and my God: can you believe the total cluelessness of that last sentence? "Generous pastoral response," anyone?
I read this Resolution over again because I found this at IGF: "Self-Made Schism."
I tried to explain "Anglican Fudge" to them in the comments, and at least one person seemed to understand. But it's also completely obvious that people outside the church just don't really get the whole thing. I am surprised, though, that the "overturning of B033" was reported as fact, without a more critical reading.
And then check out Christopher's latest post: Analyzing Rowan Williams’ Rhetoric About LGBT Persons. More about cluelessness over there.
Well, as I said at IGF: we have much more difficult work to do than we ever knew - certainly much more difficult than the feel-good band-aids we've been trying to use to close these raw and gaping wounds.
Good, really.
(Once again, though, I add: I am very appreciative of the language used in the already-on-the-books Resolutions from 2000 and 2003: "such relationships will be characterized by fidelity, monogamy, mutual affection and respect, careful, honest communication, and the holy love which enables those in such relationships to see in each other the image of God." That is really major and important - although I suppose it seems old-hat by now. That is what is going to make deep change possible, not the ordination of gay men and women to the American Episcopate. Sheesh. Let's get over the silliness already and get to work....)
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