This page presents proposals being brought by me or by parishioners of ECR to the Texas Diocesan Council in February of 2011. Please review and, if so moved, please pray for their adoption.
Resolution regarding the sin of bullying -
Whereas the suicide rate among teenagers in this country is known to be tragically high, and
Whereas the suicide rate among gay teenagers and gay-perceived teenagers is well established to be three to four times higher than non-gay; and
Whereas obedience to the teachings of Jesus Christ disallow the bullying of teenagers at all, much more so to the point that they would take their lives; and
Whereas the people of the Diocese of Texas are grieved that so many teenagers who are gay or perceived to be gay have been bullied and have committed suicide, including within the area of our own diocese; and
Whereas our baptismal covenant includes a vow to strive for justice and peace among all people and to respect the dignity of every human being; therefore
Be it resolved that the 162nd Council of the Diocese of Texas calls on the Executive Board of this diocese to issue a press release in thirty days condemning the bullying of any child, straight, gay or perceived to be gay; and be it further
Resolved that the 162nd Council of the Diocese of Texas calls on the Executive Board to communicate with State and Federal legislators whose constituencies reside within the diocese to express and urge support of anti-bullying legislation; and be it further
Resolved that the 162nd Council of the Diocese of Texas encourages all the people of the diocese, clergy and lay, to communicate with their State and Federal legislators to express and urge support of anti-bullying legislation; and be it further
Resolved that the 162nd Council of the Diocese of Texas encourages all the people of the diocese, clergy and lay, to support in prayer, in word, and in deed, the efforts of school systems, public and private, to implement anti-bullying programs that educate students regarding the dangers and sin of bullying.
Submitted by Andrew Lyon, Lay Delegate, the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection, Austin.
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Proposed canon: On Pastoral Care
Section 1: Clergy in this diocese shall be permitted to offer and to officiate at a prayer service for couples making commitment to one another, to God, and to the Church for whom a registration of marriage with the State may incur extraordinarily punitive consequences or for whom the sacrament of Holy Matrimony is canonically inaccessible.
Section 2: Clergy shall provide pastoral care, discernment, and spiritual formation in preparation for the use of such service of prayer.
Section 3: No clergy shall be required to officiate at any such service of prayer.
Section 4: Clergy shall respect and express the Church's teaching that Holy Matrimony is the desired norm for Christian couples making commitment to one another, to God, and to the Church.
Section 2: Clergy shall provide pastoral care, discernment, and spiritual formation in preparation for the use of such service of prayer.
Section 3: No clergy shall be required to officiate at any such service of prayer.
Section 4: Clergy shall respect and express the Church's teaching that Holy Matrimony is the desired norm for Christian couples making commitment to one another, to God, and to the Church.
Rationale:
This canon respects the polity of Episcopal Church which currently provides no rite and ceremony of mutual commitment for couples for whom Holy Matrimony is practically or canonically unavailable. Examples of couples for whom clergy might exercise the pastoral option provided by this canon include, but are not limited to, gay couples and lesbian couples who are currently excluded from the sacrament of Holy Matrimony by the canons of the Episcopal Church; couples living on fixed incomes for whom a regularly licensed marriage would incur reductions in their income and thereby threaten their ability to live within their means; and couples of whom one is or both are of immigrant status and for whom the process of applying with the state for a regular marriage license could expose one or both to deportation. This canon provides a pastoral choice that helps to manifest the welcome of the Episcopal Church and of the Diocese of Texas to all sorts and conditions of persons, regardless of race, color, ethnic origin, national origin, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, disabilities or age. This canon supports and is supported by the commitment of the Diocese of Texas to welcome and value in our institutions, missions, ministries, and parishes all persons as blessings to our collective life as we engage together in mission and ministry. This canon helps to demonstrate and is based in the commitment of the Diocese of Texas to ensuring that all people in our communities and their relationships shall receive the pastoral care, time, attention and honor that they are due as God is revealed in and through them and as God works to change us all into a holy people.
Proposed by: The Rev. James Stockton - Rector, the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection, Austin; and others
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Proposed amendment to diocesan canon 43
Canon 43
MORAL DISCIPLINE
Section 43.1 Obligation
All members of the clergy, having subscribed to the Declaration required by Article VIII of the Constitution of the Episcopal Church, shall be under obligation to model in their own lives the received teaching of the Church that all of its members are to abstain from sexual relations outside Holy Matrimony.
As amended:
Canon 43
MORAL DISCIPLINE
Section 43.1 Obligation
All members of the clergy, having subscribed to the Declaration required by Article VIII of the Constitution of the Episcopal Church, shall be under obligation to model in their own lives the received teaching of the Church that all of its members are to abstain from sexual relations outside Holy Matrimony.
Rationale: Holy Matrimony is one of the sacraments of the Church. By honored ancient tradition and under the polity of the Episcopal Church the sacraments are defined by Christ Jesus and by the whole Church for the whole Church. By honored ancient tradition and under the polity of the Episcopal Church a smaller constituent body of the Church does not define for itself the sacraments of the Church. This amendment relieves the Diocese of Texas of either seeming to or claiming to have the autonomous authority to define for itself one of the Church’s sacraments. This amendment leaves the church-wide definition of the Church’s sacrament of Holy Matrimony rightfully with the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church. This amendment respects the descriptions of the sacrament of Holy Matrimony as found in the Book of Common Prayer and in the Book of Occasional Services (e.g. “Anniversary of a Marriage” pp. 163ff).
Submitted by the Rev. Jim Stockton, the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection, Austin
