A.S.Haley: On the Impossibility of Enacting a Trial Rite for Same-Sex Blessings without Violating the Constitution (II)

Monday, July 2, 2012

[Note: This post is Part II of a series on amending the BCP and adopting trial or experimental liturgies for use in the Church, as we head into General Convention LXXVII later this week. Part I is at this link, Part III will follow tomorrow, and the remaining parts each day thereafter, until the series is complete.]

Yesterday we reviewed the first two methods in the Constitution for adding to or changing the liturgies in the Book of Common Prayer (BCP): the first, by amending the BCP itself, and the second, by authorizing liturgies for Church-wide use, on a trial basis. The first requires the changes to pass two successive General Conventions; the second may be accomplished in only one General Convention. But for that very reason, the second method requires a greater majority in the House of Bishops than does the first method.

To adopt a trial rite for the Church, the Constitution requires approval in the HoB by "a majority of the whole number of Bishops entitled to vote in the House of Bishops." As we saw by examining the two provisions in detail, that bold phrase means that all the Bishops who are entitled to vote in the HoB, including retired Bishops not attending, must be counted in determining the required majority.

Thus if there are, say, 300 Bishops in all who are entitled to vote in the House of Bishops, it takes the vote of at least 151 of them to approve a rite for trial use. And if only 120 of them are present for the meeting, then there cannot be not enough votes for the measure to pass -- even if every Bishop present voted "Yes." the rest