Posted on 07/08/2012 1:45:39 PM PDT by NYer
July 8, 2012|10:00 am A day after a legislative body of the Episcopal Church voted to sell the denomination's New York headquarters amid budget cuts and declining membership, church leaders on Saturday adopted legislation to give transgenders the right to become lay and ordained ministers.
At the church's ongoing week-long General Convention in Indianapolis, Ind., the House of Bishops approved proposal that would amend two canons to prohibit discrimination based on "gender identity or expression" in the lay and ordained ministry discernment process and in the overall life, worship and governance of the church, Episcopal News Service reported.
The House of Deputies, the other legislative body of the bicameral General Convention of the Episcopal Church, must approve the legislation to pass at the convention.
The bishops' move overlooks the fact that 200,000 members and 300 parishes have left the denomination in the past few years partly due to the church's leftist policies on social and political issues. Nine years ago, the church approved its first openly gay bishop.
For many in the church, Saturday's resolution was about "inclusion."
"I am pleased that these resolutions did pass in that they have the very significant effect of validating, in the eyes of the church, the humanity of those who are transgender," the Rev. Carolyn Woodall of the Diocese of San Joaquin was quoted as saying. "We are greatly misunderstood and there is a widespread lack of knowledge about what it means to be transgender."
The Rev. Susan Russell, a deputy from the Diocese of Los Angeles and a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activist, said the resolution brings the church "another step closer to making all the sacraments available to all the baptized."
"The courageous witness of our transgender brothers and sisters has been an extraordinary gift to the church as we continue to grow in understanding and appreciation of the diversity of God's beloved human family," Russell added.
Some church leaders opposed the resolution.
"I believe we need to have more discussion in the church, in our congregations, in order to be able to speak in a way that is theologically sound, that gives a deeper understanding of what it means to be a transgender person," said Bishop Andrew Waldo of the Diocese of Upper South Carolina.
"We are entering into a time of individualized eros … the freedom of every individual to self-define every aspect of who they are in such a way that we no longer have any kinds of norms. We are entering into the chaos of individuality," said Bishop Mark Lawrence of the Diocese of South Carolina. "It's an idol that will break us," he warned.
Leaders of the church are also scheduled to vote on a liturgy for same-sex weddings during the convention, which concludes on Thursday.
In recent years, the membership of the Episcopal Church, which is rooted in the Church of England, has declined to below two million, and the average Sunday attendance is as low as 657,831.
Where’s the morality???
Guess they’ve lost any pretence of that.
Little more than a feel good church..
At what point do we start to treat the Episcopalians as cultists?
Spirited: How about the mystery religion cult of Sodom?
Jesus told us in the last days that doctrines of demons and seducing spirits would invade the church. He called it the ‘falling away’. The apostate church that traded the truth for lies. And He said he abandons them to do their evil. They have fast tracked to that wide road that leads to eternal destruction.
“A feel good church” sums it up.
Anything for a genital tickle is worshipped and glorified.
Id anyone who posts here on a regular basis surprised by this?
““In recent years, the membership of the Episcopal Church, which is rooted in the Church of England,...””
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Most of the founding fathers had roots in England.
Should we dig them up and ship them back?
Just because the Episcopal Church descended from the Anglican Church, that is no reason to blame the current problem on England.
The gays targeted the Episcopal church because it is relatively small, and does embrace the pomp and ceremony practiced by the church.
The National Cathedral in Washington is Episcopal.
Many of the disenfranchised Episcopalians have been moving to the Anglican church.
I do agree, however, that England has become a cesspit, but the USSA is not far behind.
Our Founding Fathers risked their lives and everything they owned to free us from the tyranny of the Crown. No need to ship them back. They earned the right to the title of “Founding Fathers” for doing so. What they started has been a blessing to us all.
Today the UK has become a curse and blight on the world and, yes, the USA is following close behind. The one big dif between the US and the UK is the citizenry of the US has guns as a last resort to the tyranny those in government are implementing. The subjects of the UK have spitballs.
I believe the Episcopal Church’s liberals are being as provocative as they can, in the hopes of driving off the Christians, so a tiny group of radicals can control the billions of dollars of real-estate assets.
I agree! However, when you are hell-bent as they are, you aren't trying to be godly, just a little superior to others, i.e., politically correct.
is it bad that I that I thought they already allowed this?
The Left insists that homosexuals are “born that way”, and since they are made by God in that way, absolutely cannot, should not, and should not be expected to change. However, they cannot explain to me how this concept can dovetail with the idea that in the case of the poor, misguided souls who want to get transgendered “God made a mistake” in their gender, and they absolutely should be surgically mutilated into a new form (on my insurance dime.) Do you take the stand that God intends people to be who they are born as, or that He is fallible and must be overruled?
“Our Founding Fathers risked their lives and everything they owned to free us from the tyranny of the Crown.”
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Well, your reply has zero to do with my post or the subject.
We all know the history of the establishment of the USA, and it has little to do with the Anglican or Episcopal church.
I explained how and why the ECUSA was co-opted by the gays and leftist. That was my only point.
As a note, however, the idea that you will save America with your guns and bullets is a fallacy, unless you are totally joined by the military.
The takers now far outnumber the givers.
That, along with the Marxist takeover of the media and education, explains why America is in the mess that it is.
England, home to Gilbert and Sullivan, The Bard, and Britcoms, has some spectacular empty churches which are great examples of beautiful architecture. And has walked away from all I once thought of as British as they have allowed their culture to be diluted by wave after wave of Godless foreigners and panty-waisted liberal idiots. God help them.
“The Left insists that homosexuals are “born that way”
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That makes for an interesting question...What makes one a homo, or attracted to homos? Is it just genetic?
The miscreant that became a minister in the ECUSA, and put in charge of my historic church, was the son of a Baptist country preacher.
As a child he suffered some damage to his testicles in a bicycle accident. I do not, however, know if he was homosexual.
I had known him for almost 20 years before he became involved with any church, and I do not know how or when he found the Episcopal church.
err.. Bishop, it's already broken you.
the ECUSA serves as a stark warning to every one of us. You let one foot slip (women pastors)and you step straight into a mud-slick that you can't recover from
Let us not gloat, but let us learn from their mistakes.
there will have to be unixes bathrooms...
you hit the nail on the head with a sledge-hammer...
Not correct. Most of the foreigners have more God than the native English -- whether those are Irish or Polish or Russian or Coptic. Also the Hindus and Moslems are more religious than the natives.
the decaying factor was the 60s -- just as in the USA
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