Episcopal role OK’d in gays’ weddings

Bishop Thomas Shaw approves priests’ officiating in Eastern Massachusetts
By Michael Paulson
Globe Staff / November 30, 2009

The decision by Bishop M. Thomas Shaw III was immediately welcomed by advocates of gay rights in the Episcopal Church, who have chafed at local rules that allowed priests to bless same-sex couples, but not sign the documents that would solemnize their marriages.

The decision is likely to exacerbate tensions in the Episcopal Church and the global denomination to which it belongs, the Anglican Communion, which has faced significant division in the wake of the election of an openly gay priest as bishop of New Hampshire in 2003. the rest