Southern Ohio to Allow Same-Sex Blessings

November 9, 2009

Two resolutions of the Episcopal Church’s 76th General Convention have prompted another bishop to grant permission for blessing same-sex couples.

The Rt. Rev. Thomas E. Breidenthal, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio, announced to his diocese’s annual convention Nov. 6 that such blessings will begin as of Easter 2010.

“It is my view that the recent General Convention resolutions D025 and C056 have altered the terrain, by reasserting the possibility of godly unions between persons of the same sex, and by inviting bishops who have jurisdiction in states that have offered some form of civil union to gay and lesbian couples to exercise ‘pastoral generosity’ in offering the church’s public ministrations to such couples,” Bishop Breidenthal said in his address to the convention.

“In so doing, the Episcopal Church has effectively acknowledged that the godly union of two persons of the same sex — by which I mean the union of two persons who have vowed lifelong fidelity to one another, and accept accountability to the faith community as a faithful household — can be blessed by the church,” the bishop added. “I am convinced that in fairness to our fellow Episcopalians who have entered into such unions or who desire to do so, we must move deliberately toward the implementation of a policy that will permit and govern the blessings of such unions in Southern Ohio.” the rest