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MILWAUKEE: Episcopal board backs same-sex blessings; bishop has concerns
By Annysa Johnson
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
http://www.jsonline.com/
July 6, 2014
Two years after the Episcopal Church opened the door to same-sex blessings, a local advisory board is urging Bishop Steven A. Miller to allow their use in the Diocese of Milwaukee, saying a majority of area parishes favor allowing them.
Miller said last week that he is reviewing the recommendation of his Standing Committee and will respond later this summer. But he reiterated his reservations, saying the blessing falls short of a marriage rite and as such treats same-sex couples inequitably in the eyes of the church.
"My concern about the rite is that it looks like marriage but says it's not," said Miller, who has voiced support for same-sex civil marriages.
"A blessing still keeps gay and lesbian people in a second-tier status," Miller said.
The Rev April Berends, a member of the Standing Committee, acknowledged the bishop's concerns. But she said the inability to offer the blessing creates a hardship for committed gay and lesbian couples and a pastoral quandary for clergy.
"Maybe it is the case that the blessing does not go far enough," said Berends, rector at St. Mark's Episcopal Church on Milwaukee's east side. "But there are couples who are hungry for a blessing in the context of their home parish, and they would see this as a welcome step."
The Episcopal Church adopted the provisional rite in 2012, leaving it up to local bishops to decide whether to allow it in their dioceses. Since then more than 60 dioceses across the country have allowed them to be used, according to the Episcopal gay and lesbian advocacy group Integrity USA.
Miller, who serves as vice chair of the national church committee that will continue to work on the provisional rite, has not authorized its use locally. But he has given priests permission to preside over blessings in dioceses where it's permitted. And last year, he asked the diocese's advisory board known as the Standing Committee to offer a recommendation on the issue.
The committee issued issued its findings in a report sent to Miller this week.
According to its report:
■More than half, or, 24 of the 43 parishes that responded to a survey on the question said they supported allowing priests to offer the blessing, 13 saying they "strongly" supported it.
■Of the 43, only eight opposed allowing it, and one parish said it was "strongly" opposed.
■Eleven of the parishes were described as being in the "middle ground," with a range of divergent views on the subject.
■Thirty-five parishes indicated some level of support for the rite in their pews.
■Clergy overwhelmingly supported being allowedto use the rite.
The findings are the result of a number of parish meetings over the last years. About 80% of the parishes took part in the process.
The report stressed that no clergy would be forced to offer the blessing. And it acknowledged the divisive nature of the debate over gay marriage and sexuality within the Episcopal Church, which has lost more than 200 parishes since the denomination ordained its first openly gay bishop in 2003.
"For some, this is a very painful issue," said Berends, adding that said the committee was struck by the absence of rancor in the process.
"The responses were incredibly thoughtful ... full of mutual respect and concern," she said. "That we could do this peacefully was really an encouraging sign."
