Episcopal diocese sets same-sex wedding ban

The Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, headed by three bishops who support gay marriage, is barring its priests from officiating at same-sex weddings, citing restrictive language in the canons and prayerbook of the church.

The decision by the Episcopalbishops, who are among the most outspoken religious supporters of same-sex couples in the state, is in line with the rulings of the vast majority of mainstream religious denominations, most of which are barring their clergy from officiating at the marriages of same-gender couples when those marriages become legal in the Commonwealth next week.

The Roman Catholic Church, the Episcopal Church, the United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Greek Orthodox Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints, the National Baptist Convention, and the Church of God in Christ are ordering or asking clergy not to officiate at same-sex marriages. Clergy in several religions and denominations with no hierarchy, such as Islam, Orthodox Judaism, and Conservative Judaism, as well as in most independent African-American Protestant and evangelical Protestant churches, are also expected to refuse to officiate at same-sex weddings. The prohibitions, in a state where hundreds of clergy have said they support same-sex marriage, are setting up serious conflicts and the possibility of ecclesiastical trials within several major denominations.

One local Episcopal priest, a prominent feminist theologian at Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, has notified the bishop of Massachusetts that she plans to disobey him by officiating at the marriages of two lesbian couples this month; one Lutheran minister has similarly informed the bishop of New England of an intention to disobey. In both denominations, performing same-sex weddings despite instructions from bishops not to do so could lead to serious discipline, such as ouster from the ministry.

Only four denominations have endorsed same-sex weddings: the Unitarian Universalist Association, Reform Judaism, Reconstructionist Judaism, and the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, a gay denomination. Three mainline Christian denominations -- the United Church of Christ, the American Baptist Churches, and the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) -- are allowing clergy to decide what to do and expect that many will choose to officiate at same-sex weddings. And some Buddhist monks, nuns, and lay people are expected to perform such weddings.

But perhaps no denomination has struggled as much as the Episcopal Church. The Diocese of Massachusetts, meeting at a special convention in March, endorsed same-sex marriage, as the bishops did last fall. Scores of Episcopal priests have signed a declaration of support for same-sex marriage, the diocese was strongly supportive of the confirmation of a gay man as the Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire, and an Episcopal parish in Cambridge, Christ Church, is hosting an interfaith rally in support of same-sex marriage Sunday night.

But the Episcopal bishops of Massachusetts, citing their allegiance to their national denomination, the Episcopal Church USA, and the global Anglican Communion, have concluded there is no room for same-sex marriage under church law. The Episcopal Church's constitution and canons declare that "Holy Matrimony is a physical and spiritual union of a man and a woman," and the same definition is cited in the rubric for weddings, as well as the catechism in the church's Book of Common Prayer.

The Episcopal bishops in Eastern Massachusetts have granted clergy here blanket authority to bless same-sex couples; they are only prohibiting clergy from "solemnizing" marriages, which they said includes the signing of marriage licenses.

Some clergy said they plan to bring justices of the peace, or to deputize parishioners, to sign marriage licenses inside their churches, and then the priests will bless the married couples. But the Rev. I. Carter Heyward, a professor of theology at Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, said she will disobey the bishops by officiating at two same-sex weddings. Heyward was one of the 11 women who were irregularly ordained as Episcopal priests in 1974, before the Episcopal Church allowed the ordination of women.

"I have heard so many gays and lesbians tell me how profoundly disappointed they are in the Diocese of Massachusetts, and the bishops' responses, and they feel betrayed and really, really upset about it -- they are saying it seems to be OK for the church to bless our unions as long as nothing is at stake," Heyward said. "I was persuaded by those lamentations . . . so I would say my position is constructive disobedience."

Episcopal Bishop Roy F. "Bud" Cederholm Jr. said bishops have no comment on how they might respond to priests who officiate at same-sex weddings. But the Rev. Cathy H. George, chairwoman of the Episcopal diocese's Task Force on Blessing of Holy Unions, said priests who perform such weddings could be liable for a presentment trial in an ecclesiastical court for holding a public teaching of a doctrine contrary to that held by the church.

"We belong to a Communion larger than the state of Massachusetts, yet we're trying to respond and function in a way that supports the civil rights of gays and lesbians in this state," said George, rector of St. Anne's in-the-Fields Church in Lincoln. "The fact is it's a work in progress; there is conflict, but people seem to be willing to work through it."

For many denominations and faiths, there is no ambiguity -- marriage is an exclusively heterosexual institution, regardless of what Massachusetts law says.

Officiating at same sex-marriages is "absolutely forbidden," and any priest who performed such a ceremony would be immediately suspended, said the Rev. Christopher J. Coyne, spokesman for the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. About 3 million of the state's 6 million residents are Catholic.

Imam Talal Eid, the head of the Islamic Center of New England, said "the official position of Islam is that marriage is defined only between a man and a woman -- any other thing is condemned, and is not acceptable."

Although rabbis have almost total authority within Jewish congregations, for Orthodox Jews "there is no conceivable basis under Orthodoxy's understanding of halakha [Jewish law] which would sanction a same-sex marriage," according to Nathan J. Diament, public policy director for the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations. Similarly, in Conservative Judaism "The Rabbinical Assemblies' Law Committee has deemed it inappropriate for a Conservative rabbi to perform such marriage," said Aaron Kischel, executive director of the New England region of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.

African-American Protestant denominations have also come out against same-sex marriage; the Church of God in Christ, for example, has issued a proclamation declaring: "Notwithstanding the rulings of the court systems of the land in support of same-sex unions; we resolve that the Church of God in Christ stand resolutely firm and never allow the sanctioning of same-sex marriages by its clergy nor recognize the legitimacy of such unions."

And Metropolitan Methodios, the presiding hierarch of the Greek Orthodox metropolis of Boston, said, "If two men or two women come to a priest with a civil license, they are going to be turned away. We believe marriage is a bond between a man and a woman, and that's it."

For several mainline Protestant denominations, by contrast, the Massachusetts court ruling has injected new tension into acrimonious debates over the ordination of gay clergy and the blessing of gay relationships that have been confounding the churches for decades.

"At this time, our present policy is that marriage is an institution between a man and a woman, and my direction to pastors is that, although we're in the midst of studying the issue, my expectation is that they will not perform civil marriages," said Bishop Margaret G. Payne, chief of the New England synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Payne said Lutheran pastors can bless gay and lesbian couples.

Similarly, clergy of the Presbyterian Church (USA) can bless, but not marry, gay couples, according to Catherine T.R. MacDonald, stated clerk of the Presbytery of Boston.

By contrast, Bishop Susan W. Hassinger, the top official in the New England Conference of the United Methodist Church, said Methodist ministers should neither marry nor bless gay couples.

Michael Paulson can be reached at mpaulson@globe.com.