PB: Convention Vote Changed Nothing

December 3, 2009

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori gave a wide-ranging radio interview during her pastoral visit to the Diocese of Atlanta.

National Public Radio affiliate WABE-FM has posted an eight-minute interview with the Presiding Bishop by veteran reporter Denis O'Hayer.

The archived segment began in mid-sentence as Bishop Jefferts Schori answered a question about General Convention’s Resolution D025. That resolution said that God “has called and may call” gay and lesbian persons to ordained ministry in the Episcopal Church.

“It does not represent a change. It represents a reaffirmation of what church law has said for a long time,” the Presiding Bishop said.

General Convention approved canonical changes in 1994 that prohibit discriminating against potential candidates based on their sexual orientation.

“The conversation’s been going on in the Episcopal Church for 45 years,” the Presiding Bishop said. “The reality is that same-sex unions are blessed in many churches of the Anglican Communion; not just in the United States or Canada, but also in England — not officially, but that is also reality.” the rest