A.S. Haley: Making a Mishmash of Marriage.......Part III

June 4, 2015

In Part I of this series, I showed that the attempt by General Convention in 2012 to authorize, sub rosa, same-sex marriages without bothering first to change the canons or the Book of Common Prayer led to widespread disciplinary violations by clergy in those States that recognized those unions.

In Part II, I outlined the inadequacies of two current proposals to cure the canonical dilemma: Resolutions 2015-A036 and 2015-A054. Taken together as offered, they would eliminate the traditional equation of marriage to Holy Matrimony as celebrated in the BCP, and render the concept of “marriage” virtually meaningless—the proposed rites for same-gender marriage run the gamut from invoking blessings, to becoming “bound to one another”, to being “married according to the laws of the State of X.”, to being “wed to one another,” to being “ever hereafter United in Matrimony” [sic]. Nothing could better indicate the inability of this generation to perceive its roots than this smorgasbord of two-person hookups offered to all and sundry.

This is what comes of acting first and thinking later. “We can, and should, do same-sex marriages NOW—let’s worry about justifying it down the road.” (This impetus appears to have been behind the unquestioning adaptation [see below] of the BCP liturgy for Holy Matrimony to same-gender marriages. According to the Supplemental Materials of the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music, “a number of respondents expressed frustration or confusion that the [original draft] liturgy appeared to be a ‘separate but equal’ rite, which therefore was not equivalent to marriage” (p. 5 at the link; italics added).... the rest