When the state of New York allows same-gender couples to marry beginning July 24, some of the state's Episcopal Church bishops are requiring their partnered clergy to avail themselves of the law.
Clergy living in same-gender relationships in the Diocese of Long Island have nine months from July 24 to have their relationships "be regularized either by the exchange of vows in marriage" or live apart, Bishop Lawrence Provenzano announced in a July 8 pastoral letter setting out guidelines for implementing the new law.
The letter, titled "A Theological Perspective and Practical Guideline on Marriage in the Diocese of Long Island as New York," was sent to all diocesan clergy and is to be read in Long Island parishes on Aug. 7.
"I deem it to be honest and fair, and I do so direct and require, now that it is legal, that only married couples may live together, either in rectories or elsewhere as a clergy couple living in the midst of our faith community," wrote the bishop, who had earlier welcomed the new law's passage.
Provenzano told Episcopal News Service in a telephone interview July 11 that after he consulted with the leadership of the diocese "it was clear that the consensus of thinking was that there ought to be some time frame" on fulfilling his requirement. "If we left it completely open-ended, it might not be acted on" and that inaction would create a "disparity," he said, noting that he would not allow a heterosexual clergy couple to live together outside of marriage.
The bishop said he has not received any criticism from the gay and lesbian clergy of the diocese.
"At least as it applies to the Diocese of Long Island, I don't think it's going to feel to anyone that I am being unpastoral or punitive in any way or creating a hardship for them by saying nine months," he said. "I suspect that most of our partnered gay and lesbian clergy have been living in committed relationships for a fairly long period of time and that the concept of being married is exactly what they've been waiting for to happen, so the church moving in this direction with them is welcomed."
Provenzano noted that the lay people involved in these same-gender relationships are being told by their employers that they must marry in order to preserve their benefits.
"An overarching ecclesial matter" for him, the bishop said, was that there not be a long period of time when the clergy of the diocese seemed to have "a special privilege over the lay folk of their parishes" in terms of these employment requirements.
Meanwhile, Manhattan-based Diocese of New York, Bishop Mark Sisk said in a letter to clergy about their options for marrying same-gender couples under the law that "in the spirit of the opportunity provided by this new law, it is my expectation that all those who are currently living in committed relationships, will, in due course, have those relationships formalized by the state of New York."
This, Sisk said, "is an especially high priority for priests and deacons because in their ordination vows they promised to pattern their lives and that of their families and households "in accordance with the teachings of Christ" so that they may be "a wholesome example" to people.
Diocese of Rochester Bishop Prince Sing, a strong supporter of the law, told ENS via e-mail that he has commissioned a "Marriage Equality Task Force made up of thoughtful leaders to study, distill and provide me with options and guidelines to help us move forward with dignity and integrity." Singh asked the group to provide their recommendations within the next four weeks.
In the Buffalo-based Diocese of Western New York, Bishop William Franklin, who welcomed the new law, said he is writing a policy statement for the diocese, which will be issued before the law goes into effect. That works comes as the bishop finished a series of meetings with various groups of clergy and diocesan leaders to listen to their views on the topic of marriage equality.
Elsewhere in the Episcopal Church where dioceses are located within states and other jurisdictions that allow same-gender marriage, bishops' policies differ.
In the Diocese of Washington, Bishop John Chane does not required clergy living in same-gender relationships to marry. The diocese encompasses four Maryland counties and the District of Columbia, which began allowing same-gender marriage in March 2010. At that time Chane said that clergy could preside at such civil marriages. The guidelines Chane set are here.
Chane told ENS in a telephone interview July 11 that he would "never, ever" require priests in his diocese who live in same-gender relationships to marry unless they wanted to.
To do so, he said, misses the fact that civil authorities have denied "basic human rights and privileges" to same-gender couples for years and now "it's almost as if the straight community is once again telling gay people what they ought to do and I find that really somewhat troublesome."
The district's law "gives people the right and I believe also the opportunity to determine if in fact they wish to be married to one another, or whether they wish to retain the relationship that they had to live with given the laws that were in effect prior to being allowed to be married like anyone else," the bishop said.
Previously, "they had no option but to either live quietly in a closet, live quietly together and not do anything or live quietly and ask the church in some way to bless their commitment to one another, but their human rights had been violated by the status quo," he said, adding that some people in such relationships could lose their jobs if it became known that they were married to someone of the same gender.
"In a culture that is still going through turmoil trying to understand the nature of human sexuality and relationships that are same-gender, I find that … to be unconscionable," he said.
Rather than be definitive about what clergy living in such relationships must do, "as we go through this transitional time, there has to be some real careful exercise of … a pastoral embrace," he said.
Chane said that at least six clergy in his diocese who had been living in committed relationships which had been formally blessed by the church have chosen to get married in the district. Most others living in same-gender relationships (including those in the Maryland portions of the diocese) have had those commitments blessed by the church, he added, noting that the diocese was among the first to begin blessing such relationships for diocesan members.
The Rev. Canon Mally Lloyd, Diocese of Massachusetts canon to the ordinary, said in a comment e-mailed to ENS July 11 that "in general the bishops' practice during this time of transition and change has been to treat situations with pastoral care whenever possible because the fact that marriage is now legal for gay and lesbian people is a quantum shift in identity and possibility for many of them, and to put a timeline on a couple's readiness for the sacramental rite of marriage when that has never been available to them before seems arbitrary and unpastoral."
In 2004, the State of Massachusetts was the first state to issue licenses for same-gender marriages. The diocese does not have a written policy on the issue.
"We feel it is important to hear the voices and experiences of gay and lesbian people on this subject, and that takes time," Lloyd continued. "The standard here has been that unmarried people should not live together in church-owned housing, but there is no written policy.”
The Diocese of Connecticut has no written policy on marriage for clergy living in same-gender relationships, according to the Rev. Canon Erick Larsen, canon for transition ministry. However, when the state passed first a civil-union bill and later a same-gender marriage law, then-diocesan Bishop Andrew Smith expected gay and lesbian clergy to live with the same sort of fidelity and commitment that was expected of heterosexual clergy, Larsen said.
"The same rules apply to everybody, regardless of gender," Larsen said, adding that "there's been no public change" in that approach since Ian Douglas succeed Smith in April 2010.
In July 2009, the church's General Convention passed Resolution C056, which said in part that bishops, "particularly those in dioceses within civil jurisdictions where same-gender marriage, civil unions, or domestic partnerships are legal, may provide generous pastoral response to meet the needs of members of this church." The resolution also called for the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music to work with the House of Bishops to collect and develop theological resources and liturgies for blessing same-gender relationships. The commission is to report to the 77th General Convention in 2012 in Indianapolis.
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