MINNEAPOLIS, Aug. 7 -- Winding up a tumultuous and deeply divided convention, the Episcopal Church today officially recognized the blessing of same-sex unions but stopped short of establishing a liturgy for those ceremonies.
Bishop John B. Chane of Washington said the decision "legitimizes what has been going on for quite some time." He predicted that it would not result in a sharp rise in same-sex commitment ceremonies at Episcopal churches.
In Washington and other dioceses where a wide variety of same-sex blessings have been performed unofficially for a decade, he said, most Episcopal priests are willing to bless only couples that are active in their congregations and have been in committed, monogamous relationships for some time.
"There won't be a revolving door," he said.
Chane noted that congregations and priests who do not wish to perform such ceremonies are under no obligation to do so. But there are many priests who have wanted to bless gay couples "and have held off until they had some kind of a sign from the larger church that it would be okay," he said. "We now have that sign." Going into the General Convention, which began July 30 and ends Friday, gay rights advocates had hoped to win approval for the development of a formal, churchwide rite for inclusion in a book of optional prayer services.
After threats of schism over the confirmation Tuesday of the first openly gay Episcopal bishop, however, the church's House of Bishops decided that putting same-sex blessings into an official prayer book would be too divisive.
While some deputies wore ashes on their foreheads here, protests also flowed in from overseas. Forty-five conservative bishops, mainly in Africa and Asia, issued a statement saying that the 2.3-million-member Episcopal Church had caused "great distress" throughout the 75-million-member, global Anglican Communion by confirming the election of the Rev. V. Gene Robinson as a bishop in New Hampshire.
In a compromise, the bishops voted overwhelmingly Wednesday for an eight-paragraph resolution that says, in part: "We recognize that local faith communities are operating within the bounds of our common life as they explore and experience liturgies celebrating and blessing same-sex unions." The 835-member House of Deputies, the other chamber in the church's bicameral legislature, approved the compromise today. Under a complicated system in which deputies vote by delegations of laity and clergy, the vote was 58 lay delegations in favor, 38 opposed and 12 divided. Among the clergy, the vote was 62 to 34, with 12 delegations divided.
Interest groups on both sides of the issue -- gay rights groups that favor same-sex blessings and orthodox groups that oppose them -- said the resolution marked the first time that the Episcopal Church has officially given bishops the option of allowing same-sex blessings in their dioceses.
Some church leaders maintained that the resolution is ambiguous. Bishop Geralyn Wolf of Rhode Island said it recognizes that same-sex blessings take place. But "the word 'recognition' is not to be confused with the word 'approval,' " she said, adding that the aim is "to admit that certain things are occurring" without endorsing them.
Several deputies, on both sides of the issue, disagreed with that argument in a brief but spirited floor debate today.
"Let's be honest," said the Rev. Kendall Harmon, a leading opponent of the resolution. "This is authorization: the authorization of the blessing without the authorization of a common rite." The Rev. Frank Wade, rector of St. Alban's Church in Washington and chairman of the House of Deputies' committee on liturgy, told reporters after the vote that the resolution means same-sex blessings "are within the embrace of God and the doctrines and discipline of this church."
"It's both accepting the fact that such blessings occur and affirming the fact that it is an acceptable practice within the church," Wade said.
The differences in interpretation reflect the widely differing policies in the church's 110 U.S. dioceses. Many bishops have banned same-sex blessings, and only three have formally authorized them. But the heads of about 20 dioceses, including those in Washington and New York, have tacitly allowed individual parishes and priests to decide whether to conduct same-sex commitment ceremonies in their churches.
Still others, including Wolf, have banned same-sex blessings on church property but say they do not know what goes on in private settings. That has allowed the practice of "house blessings," in which an Episcopal priest conducts a ceremony to bless a house and its inhabitants. Gay couples across the country have used such blessings as a form of commitment ceremony, often inviting friends and family members as witnesses.
The Rev. Michael Hopkins, a priest in the diocese of Washington who heads the gay church group Integrity, said he has been performing same-sex blessings for the past decade, at the rate of about one a year, at St. George's Church in Glenn Dale, Md.
"I've never asked permission of my bishop to do that, and I've gotten the signal not to ask," Hopkins said. He added that he now expects to receive formal approval.
Hopkins said dozens of ceremonies are in use across the country. He said he borrowed from several services to cobble together the liturgy he uses, which includes readings, a homily, a covenant between the partners and an exchange of a symbol of that covenant, which is often, but not always, a ring.
Although he is disappointed that the convention did not approve the drafting of a uniform liturgy, Hopkins said: "I know that in the context of Gene Robinson's election, we got all that we could, and it's another step forward. The inevitability of this continues to build."