[ASAP] St. David's on Sunday

[douggmurphy at comcast.net]

Thank you for sharing. 
Doug Murphy 

----- Original Message -----

From: "Joyce Peacock via ASAP" <asap at mail.prichard.tv> 
To: "Paula" <paulacwade at hotmail.com> 
Cc: asap at episcopallists.com 
Sent: Monday, December 14, 2015 6:10:54 PM 
Subject: Re: [ASAP] St. David's on Sunday 

Thanks so much for sharing this, Paula.  

Joyce 
St Ann's 

Sent from my iPhone 

On Dec 14, 2015, at 5:37 PM, Paula via ASAP < asap at mail.prichard.tv > wrote: 









 Dear ASAP: 




At St. David’s on Sunday, there was very spirited questioning of the Bishop regarding the marriage policy, with apparent unanimity in the room in support of marriage equality. (It was a packed room, with many polite, grey-haired mainstream-as-you-can-find West Nashvillians expressing their views.)   I believe this surprised him. 




Having been warned that he would likely talk for a long time about other things and leave as little time as possible for this issue, he was twice requested to address parishioners’ concerns about the policy before time ran out. He gave a long and legalistic description of the General Convention action, explaining it as merely a change to gender neutral language in a trial liturgy – not as the important and longed-for change that it is. Asked a second time to address parishioners’ concerns, he couldn’t hold off any more. 




Specifically he was asked why his policy was so hard line, giving no latitude for priests to minister according to their conscience. His answer was that the Convention had specifically voted for Bishops to determine what was best in their Dioceses. Nothing else. Left implicit was that this was up to him and this is his decision. 

He was asked many times to explain WHY he chose to impose such a harsh restriction, and never went beyond the above. On further questioning, he did say that his personal belief is that marriage requires a man and a woman. Asked at that point why he felt that belief was enough to justify denial of a sacrament, he didn't address the question. 





Several members spoke to the pain this decision has caused for their families, and others chimed in to the effect that it pained all of us – it is not an “us and them” issue. He said there was pain on both sides and that he wasn’t able to measure and compare people’s pain. 




He was asked to address concerns that this policy will make it difficult for the Diocese to attract and retain priests, as St. David’s (and other parishes) are in a search for a new rector. He responded that he didn’t think it would be a problem and that two recent calls had been completed recently at Otey Parish and another church on the Mountain, attracting priests that do not agree with him on the marriage issue. 





He was asked why there is no allowance for conscience, and said that his decision was in line with his duty to “guard the unity, faith and discipline of the church”. He also said that the people of the Diocese “are all over the place on this issue” but that the policies of the church are not determined “by polls”.  


I wish we had had time to ask about alternative Episcopal oversight, but we did not. By now you get the tenor of the exchange. 
I hope this is helpful in some way. 







Paula. 









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