Episcopal Press and News
Bishop of Olympia Blocks Blessing Service to Keep Covenant with Other Bishops
Episcopal News Service. December 14, 1994 [94193]
Diane Walker, Director of Communications for the Diocese of Olympia
In deciding to block the blessing of a same sex union between two men who are members of St. Mark's Cathedral in Seattle, Bishop Vincent Warner found himself caught between his own life-long ministry of inclusiveness and a covenant of the church's bishops not to move until a consensus emerges.
The service, scheduled for the cathedral December 11, was cancelled by the couple after repeated admonitions from the bishop to Dean Frederick Northrup of the cathedral and the canon pastor Linda Strohmeier who said they were prepared to proceed with the service despite the bishop's objections. The couple, who have been in a relationship for over 10 years, said they did not want a service until they had the blessing of the whole church.
Warner, who has been a strong supporter of the gay community and sympathetic to blessing same sex unions, said that he could not approve the blessing because of his "covenant relationship" with other bishops of the church to "stay in community with each other" and not move until the church as a whole makes a decision on the issue.
"The decision to bless same sex unions must be a decision of the whole church before we are truly able to embrace the wholeness of our baptismal vows to respect the dignity of every human being," Warner said in a pastoral letter read in parishes throughout the diocese on December 11.
Warner said that he told Northrup, when asked about blessing same sex unions prior to last summer's General Convention, "No, not yet. The church is clear that we are not able to come to one mind about that. We must stay in dialogue so that the church can move together." When the blessing service was announced, the bishop met with the dean, chancellor and wardens of the cathedral to discuss "how we live in community." He stressed that the dean did not have authority to proceed with the service.
"There is incredible, wrenching pain for all of us in these events," Warner said in his pastoral letter. "How do we hold out the hand of welcome and inclusivity and yet deny the church's blessing? How do we call our church into the prophetic openness and respect of every human being and yet not provide for blessing committed relationships of every kind?
Warner said that, "as a result of the pain and anguish of this particular situation on the couple, their parish and on our dialogue," he would initiate a dialogue "to talk about how we care for each other, pastorally, during this interim between our General Conventions."
Dr. James Black told the press that he made a "stupid mistake" thinking that the love and support he and his partner found at St. Mark's was representative of the Episcopal Church. 'I hope there will come a day when the dragon of prejudice will be killed." Calling the cathedral "our faith home," he expressed determination to "keep working for full recognition of our people there."
At a subsequent service of "Prayer and Meditation for the Church and its Relationship with Gay and Lesbian People" at the cathedral, Canon Linda Strohmeier told participants, "Dearly beloved, we have come together in the presence of God not to witness and bless the joining together in Holy Union of two persons who love one another, as we had planned and expected. We come, instead, to mourn our brokenness as a church and as a people of God."
According to participants, the service pulled together all the love and friendship, pain and brokenness, of the congregation and created a mood of healing, reconciliation and hope.