Episcopal bishop caught amid split over gay marriages

Episcopal Bishop M. Thomas Shaw, caught between his support for gay marriage and the clear prohibition against it in canon law, is facing scattered opposition from liberals and conservatives as he labors to keep both in the diocesan fold.

At least two local Episcopal priests, the Rev. I. Carter Heyward, a professor of theology at Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, and the Rev. William Blaine-Wallace, the rector of Emmanuel Church in the Back Bay, have already officiated at three same-sex weddings, in defiance of instructions Shaw issued in the weeks before such unions became legal in Massachusetts.

In addition, two Episcopal parishes, Our Saviour in Arlington and Our Saviour in Milton, have decided to stop having clergy officiate at heterosexual marriages while homosexual marriages are prohibited, and Episcopal Divinity School, the only Episcopal seminary in New England, has decided to bar all Episcopal marriages in its chapel as a form of protest.

At the same time, a handful of parishes that oppose Shaw’s support for the ordination of a gay bishop in New Hampshire are affiliating with a new national network of conservative parishes and are considering ask ing Shaw to allow another, more conservative, bishop to minister to them.

Shaw, the bishop of the Diocese of Massachusetts, met in late April with seven liberal priests unhappy with the ban on officiating at same-sex marriages and is scheduled to meet next week with clergy and laypeople from several conservative parishes.

‘‘Whatever we can do to take care of people on either end of the spectrum pastorally, that’s what I want to do,’’ Shaw said yesterday. I want everybody to stay in the church.’’

In his first interview since same-sex marriages became legal in Massachusetts May 17, Shaw said he had traveled to London in February to seek guidance from Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury, who Shaw said advised him not to allow priests to solemnize same-sex marriages. Shaw said he got the same advice from the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church USA, Frank Griswold.

Shaw said he agrees with Williams and Griswold that there is no ambiguity in the canons and constitution of the Episcopal Church, which clearly define marriage as a heterosexual institution. But Shaw is allowing priests to bless same-sex couples, and is even allowing them to conduct ceremonies in churches at which a justice of the peace conducts a civil marriage and a priest then blesses the same-sex couple’s ‘‘holy union.’’

Shaw defended his record on gay rights, pointing out that a decade ago he began ordaining noncelibate gay and lesbian clergy, that he has allowed the blessings of same-sex unions, and that he was a leading supporter of the elevation of an openly gay priest, V. Gene Robinson, to bishop of New Hampshire.

‘‘I have a longstanding reputation for supporting gay and lesbian rights, both in society and in the church, and I was surprised and delighted when the Supreme Judicial Court made its decision,’’ Shaw said. ‘‘But this is one place where the state is ahead of the life of the church. We haven’t, in the church, ever had any conversations [at the church’s general convention] about solemnizing marriages, and I really feel that, for the good of the whole community, we need to work through our conventions and the places where we form community in our church as away to go forward.’’

The issue of same-sex marriage, coming as the Episcopal Church is still facing the possibility of schism over its decision last summer to make Robinson a bishop, is posing a challenge to Shaw, as conservatives will be watching closely to see how he responds to priests who disregard his instructions and marry same-sex couples. Canon law specialists said Shaw has several options, including removing the priests’ licenses to officiate at weddings, issuing a ‘‘godly admonition’’ ordering them to stop marrying same-sex couples, or bringing formal charges, called a ‘‘presentment,’’ which could lead to an ecclesiastical hearing at which a priest could be defrocked. Even liberals who support same sex marriage fear that if Shaw does nothing, he could face a trial himself for failing to enforce church doctrine, but two conservative canon lawyers said such a step was highly unlikely.

‘‘I don’t want Tom Shaw to get in trouble – if somebody is going to be tried for heresy, I would rather it be one of us than him, because at least we would have married somebody,’’ said the Rev. Anne C. Fowler, rector of St. John’s Church in Jamaica Plain. Fowler, a vocal supporter of same-sex marriage, has thus far declined to officiate at same-sex weddings.

‘‘He’s doing the best he can do, but there are people who are angry at Tom on both ends of the spectrum - liberals who think he should be dying in the ditch over this, and conservatives who think we shouldn’t even be talking about it,’’ Fowler said.

Several priests who have met with Shaw said he has privately pledged to support changing the canons and constitution of the Episcopal Church to allow samesex marriages, a process that would take at least until 2009. But Shaw would not publicly commit himself to such a step yesterday.

‘‘I believe gay and lesbian people should be allowed to be married because they deserve the same civil rights as every other human being in this country and this commonwealth,’’ Shaw said. But, within the church, he said, ‘‘I’d like us to explore what we believe is God’s will in light of this new reality in the Commonwealth.’’

He said he will meet with the two priests who are marrying same-sex couples before deciding whether to discipline them. He described them as friends, but said he said he does not agree with their strategy for promoting change.

The priests in question say they could not wait for the church to change its rules. Blaine-Wallace, who has married two couples, explained his position in a sermon to his parish, saying, ‘‘The church’s ban on clergy solemnizing same sex marriages is unjust. I’m not going going to follow it.’’

Heyward, who has married one couple, took a similar position, saying in an interview, ‘‘The church needs to be pushed.’’

But in interviews yesterday, two gay Massachusetts priests offered support for Shaw, even though both acknowledged that his position means that they will not be able to marry their own partners in Episcopal ceremonies.

‘‘I know where Tom’s heart is on this, and I want to support him as much as he has supported me in my ministry, and sometimes that means we have to wait a while,’’ said the Rev. Miriam C. Gelfer, rector of Grace Church in Newton.

And the Rev. Francis Fornaro, rector of St. Paul’s Church in Bedford and the coconvener of a caucus of gay and lesbian Episcopal priests, also offered Shaw support. Fornaro, 61, said he is considering having a civil wedding to his partner of 30 years and then having their union blessed by an Episcopal priest - the compromise proffered by Shaw.

‘‘In an ideal world, would we like to have the whole thing happen with one person? Yes, but I understand the world we live in,’’ Fornaro said.

Some conservatives are also praising Shaw, because unlike other liberal bishops around the country, he has not opposed clergy and parishes seeking to join the conservative Anglican Communion Network.

‘‘So far he has done a masterful job in a very difficult situation,” said the Rev. William L. Murdoch, the rector of All Saints Church in West Newbury, who is the dean of the conservative network in New England. ‘‘This is a very, very difficult spot for Bishop Shaw right now, and we’re praying for him that he will have the wisdom and courage to exercise his ministry within the canons of the church.’’

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