From OPENLY EPISCOPAL IN ALBANY
When the following letter was read to our congregation this Sunday, July 3rd, 2011, as ordered by Bishop Love (Shown at left) , you could have heard a pin drop. As the rector began her recitation, a loud thunderclap from a passing summer storm only served to increase the tension. When the letter noted that "New York has now joined five other states in redefining marriage," there was loud and sustained appause from the congregation. Where the letter referred to diocesan canon that "specifically bars any other union" than that between one man and one woman, there arose an audible hiss. When the Bishop expressed his expectation that all "the clergy and laity of the Diocese Albany" will support him in upholding diocesan canon over the law of New York, more than one head was shaking in disbelief.
Compare the legalistic response of the Bishop of Albany with the pastoral and welcoming responses of the Bishop of Long Island, The Bishop of Western New York, and other dioceses across our state.
In one thing the Bishop of Albany is correct, when he states that "this has been and is a very emotional and highly charged issue." Speak up if you are one of the "very well meaning people" who welcomes the action of the New York Legislature, and who find the restrictive canon of the Diocese of Albany to be now, more than ever, discriminatory.
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