Posted on 01/09/2013 3:51:25 PM PST by NYer
(AP) -- The Washington National Cathedral had been ready to embrace same-sex marriage for some time, though it took a series of recent events and a new leader for the prominent, 106-year-old church to announce Wednesday that it would begin hosting such nuptials.
The key development came last July when the Episcopal Church approved a ceremony for same-sex unions at its General Convention in Indianapolis, followed by the legalization of gay marriage in Maryland, which joined the District of Columbia. The national church made a special allowance for marriage ceremonies in states where gay marriage is legal.
Longtime same-sex marriage advocate the Very Rev. Gary Hall took over as the cathedral's dean in October. Conversations began even before he arrived to clear the way for the ceremonies at the church that so often serves as a symbolic house of prayer for national celebrations and tragedies.
The Episcopal bishop of Washington, the Rt. Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, authorized use of the new marriage rite in December for 89 congregations in D.C. and Maryland. Each priest then decides whether to marry same-sex couples.
The cathedral's congregation and leadership include many gays and lesbians. The church was just waiting for the right moment and the right leader.
"This was something that was brewing in the cathedral. We were really waiting for him," Budde told The Associated Press. "It would have been inconceivable for the Cathedral to call somebody who was not in favor of full equality for gay and lesbian people."
Hall, a former rector at churches in Michigan, Pennsylvania and California and a seminary dean in Chicago, had been a leader in developing liturgical rites for same-sex blessings in the Episcopal Church. Budde said Hall was a catalyst for change in the church's marriage tradition.
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
The new face of Sodom and Gomorrah The great falling away;
Me too. I’m 72 and can’t believe the stuff I’m seeing. Worse, I have been an Episcopalian since 1967 and am thoroughly disgusted with my church. I guess you could say I’m a lapsed Episcopalian because I no longer attend mass or contribute to my parish in any way. The only reason I remain a member is because my son and grandson are members, misguided though they may be.
The guy looks like a perv, himself.
“The national church made a special allowance for marriage ceremonies in states where gay marriage is legal.”
Think about how limp-wristed this is. They are such slaves to the state that they won’t marry someone in states that don’t give their permission. “Sorry Dave and Andrew. Even though our faith believes you are able to be married, our state doesn’t. And it make the calls for us in these matters, tough luck.” That might be more insane than accepting ‘gay marriage’ itself.
Freegards, thanks for all the pings on FR
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Now it will serve as a symbolic house of prayer to Sodom for local celebrations of depraved homosexual sex practitioners.
It is not coincidental that the morally depraved collectivists that worship Sodom also promote the murder of innocents through abortion and tirelessly promote and construct the Tower of Babel known as big government.
That building in your photo looks like a haunted mansion in a theme park.
Next up............FAMOUS CHURCHS BELLS TO RING FOR MARRIAGE OF ANIMALS AND HUMANS.
And scared and sad 3 year old children~
What would Henry VIII say about his church now?
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