NYT: Connecticut Episcopal Bishop Will Bless Gay Unions

Connecticut Episcopal Bishop Will Bless Gay Unions
By FERNANDA SANTOS
Published: October 23, 2006

The leader of the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut, Bishop Andrew D. Smith, has authorized priests to give blessings to same-sex unions during religious ceremonies. The move threatens to further alienate the conservative wing of his church and deepen a fissure between progressive and orthodox Episcopalians nationwide.

“I believe in my heart and soul that it is time for this church, this diocese, formally to acknowledge and support and bless our sisters and brothers who are gay and lesbian, including those who are living in faithful and faith-filled committed partnerships,” Bishop Smith said on Saturday in a speech at a diocesan conference in Hartford.

The decision, reported yesterday by The Hartford Courant, does not authorize Episcopal clergy to officiate at civil unions or create an official prayer service for the blessings. Rather, it permits parishes to acknowledge gay and lesbian couples who have had a civil union granted by the state. Connecticut approved civil unions last year....

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Nationwide, nine other Episcopal dioceses — in Arkansas, California, Delaware, Long Island, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Vermont and Washington, D.C. — have enacted policies allowing the blessing of same-sex couples, according to Integrity, a national Episcopal gay organization based in Rochester....

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But the Rev. Canon David C. Anderson, president of the American Anglican Council, an orthodox umbrella group, said that Bishop Smith’s decision “is proof of his disregard for the larger Anglican Communion and further evidences his militancy with the homosexual gay agenda.”...

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/23/nyregion/23bishop.html?hp&ex=1161576000&en=5ca89e25b8c47c72&ei=5094&partner=homepage

weddings anyway, whether their bishops approve or not.

now where did I put my copy

I've been cleaning and I might have thrown it out

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

someone accidentally left the copier running -- there's a Brazillion.

:rofl:

Damned homosexual agenda.
The nerve of these people...wanting equality.
How dare they assume they are entitled to the same rights as all Americans.
I mean...first they want to be protected from discrimination
Then they want to get married so they can share the legal benefits that hetero couples have

What's next???


on note:
in case I wasn't clear :sarcasm: