Both houses of the 75th General Convention concurred on the final language of Resolution B033 after Episcopalians voted down a tougher resolution Tuesday which asked diocese to “refrain from” ordaining gay bishops or developing rites for the blessing of same-sex unions.
Instead, the weaker nonbinding resolution asks church leaders “to exercise restraint by not consenting to the consecration of any candidate...whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communion”.
Bishop Dorsey Henderson of Upper South Carolina, co-chair of the Special Committee on the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion, described the resolution as "an appropriate and blessed way forward, strengthening the Episcopal Church, strengthening the Anglican Communion, without closing any doors unnecessarily”.
Bishop Geralyn Wolf of Rhode Island, a member of the committee, said it is "the best that we can do," conveying hope that the Anglican Communion realizes the process has been the result of a compromise.It's a relief to me because my hope is that we can stay in communion and continue the conversation and affirm the Windsor process.
Bishop Geralyn Wolf of Rhode Island
"It's a relief to me because my hope is that we can stay in communion and continue the conversation and affirm the Windsor process," she said. "Having this vote in both houses says to the Anglican Communion that we are very serious about our relationship."
The resolution responds to the invitation of the Windsor Report to the Episcopal Church "to effect a moratorium on the election and consent to the consecration of any candidate to the episcopate who is living in a same gender union until some new consensus in the Anglican Communion emerges."
Many conservatives feel however that the compromise resolution does not go far enough to meeting the demands of the Windsor Report and the wider Anglican Communion.
