By Lynne Hendricks
NEWBURYPORT — Church leaders in the region voiced support yesterday for a decision handed down over the weekend by Episcopal Bishop M. Thomas Shaw that will allow church clergy in Eastern Massachusetts to officiate at the marriages of same-sex couples.
The bishop's decision is a controversial one, handed down after the General Convention of the Episcopal Church provided new doctrine to bishops enabling them to make the change. But church leaders from Amesbury, West Newbury and Newburyport say allowing gay couples the same rights as everyone else to commit to one another is the right thing to do.
"I'm very proud of our church for doing the right thing once again," said the Rev. Victoria Pretti of West Newbury's All Saints Church of the ruling. "I think people understand there could be reactions — positive and negative — but the beauty and the joy of being Episcopalian is being a member of a church where people can differ in opinion and still love each other and worship with one another. I view it as a very good and positive thing."
The decision has the potential to further divide the Episcopal church, which lost a number of parishioners following the appointment of openly gay Bishop V. Gene Robinson in New Hampshire two years ago. But Pretti, whose West Newbury parish lost many members following the appointment of Robinson, said it will be an issue she feels will be heartily debated by parishioners, then ultimately embraced in the spirit of the Episcopal faith.
"My sense is that even in this small group of people, there will be many differences of opinion about this," said Pretti, who describes her congregation as one evenly split between liberal and evangelical members. "I think it will be a lively but compassionate conversation.
"Personally, I don't expect to lose more parishioners over this issue. In regard to this issue or any other one, I think that people are very much inclined to listen to one another, to care about one another and to kind of hang in there for one another."
The Rev. Martha Hubbard of Newburyport's St. Paul's Episcopal Church said she and the bulk of her parishioners stand behind the bishop's decision as well and affirms that it's not been one arrived at in a rushed fashion.
"St. Paul's Church is a very open and affirming place," said Hubbard yesterday. "We welcome all kinds of people, and for a number of years, we've done same-sex blessings. We see marriage between a man and a woman, or between two men or two women, as something we want to support in our community life."
Though she expects some members of St. Paul's might not agree with the bishop's decision, Hubbard doesn't expect people to leave the church over the new policy.
"There will be members who might not agree with this, but certainly that's part of being an Episcopal — we try to work this out together and discern where the Holy Spirit is leading us," she said.
Other issues
For Priest-in-Charge Susan Esco-Chandler of Amesbury's St. James Episcopal Church, the issue over same-sex marriage, while important, is one she said pales in comparison to the many other challenges humanity is facing right now.
Esco-Chandler was reluctant to weigh in on the controversial decision handed down by Shaw and how it will be handled in her Amesbury parish, but she said her policy is always to meet parishioners wherever they are on their journey.
"It is part of the diocese of the Massachusetts Episcopal Church," Esco-Chandler said. "It's just a small part of the wider mission and ministry.
Esco-Chandler said that while she recognizes controversial issues like this one are important to people, she cited hunger and poverty as much larger issues the church is devoting itself to addressing.
"There's so much need right here in our backyard. We know our neighbors are hungry. We don't need to go much further than that to do our work and alleviate suffering."
The decision handed down by Shaw to allow clergy to marry same-sex couples was made, according to Shaw, based on language adopted at the July meeting of the 76th General Convention of the Episcopal Church, which allowed "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."
"I believe this because the truth of it is in our midst, revealed again and again by the many marriages — of women and men, and of persons of the same gender — that are characterized, just as our church expects, by fidelity, monogamy, mutual affection and respect, and the holy love which enables spouses to see in one another the image of God," wrote Shaw in his letter to church leaders sent out last Saturday.
While Shaw explained he felt allowing clergy to solemnize marriage was the right thing to do, he said dissension should be expected and respected, allowing churches to decide for themselves whether they will perform same-sex marriages.
"Our Anglican tradition makes space for this disagreement and calls us to respect and engage one another in our differences," he told church leaders.
According to Hubbard and Pretti, a discussion on the bishop's new edict will be encouraged this weekend, with an after-Mass coffee for the West Newbury parish and an open discussion and reading of the doctrine over at St. Paul's. This isn't the first time discussion on the issue has taken place, however.
"It's been discussed over the years here," Hubbard said. "I think in our congregation it's widely supported."
"It has been coming for a long time, I think, and especially being in Massachusetts where same-sex marriage was legal," Petti said. We were the first state in the country that legally allowed same-sex marriage, so I think people expected all along that we would be the first diocese in the country."
