The "centrist" Bishop of Kentucky

Diocese of Kentucky: Bishop Gulick Quietly Approves Of Same Sex Blessing at St. Matthews, Louisville

from Stand Firm by Sarah Hey

Well -- at least he tried to be quiet about it.

One can find all the goods in the vestry minutes of St. Matthews, Louisville; the parish's rector since 1997 is one Lucinda Laird.

From the April 28, 2009 minutes:
Old Business
Blessings-

In a unanimous vote, the Vestry of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church unanimously passed the following motion:
• Resolved that the Vestry of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church endorses and fully supports our Rector in addressing the pastoral needs of our gay and lesbian parishioners.
• Resolved that the St. Matthew’s Vestry offers its assistance to our Rector in any further development of appropriate criteria, procedures and protocols relating to Commitment Ceremonies for gay and lesbian parishioners at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church.
• Resolved that the Vestry endorses and fully supports our Rector in performing, or allowing other clergy to perform, Commitment Ceremonies for parishioners at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church.
• Resolved that the Vestry offers its assistance to our Rector in working with our Bishop concerning such ceremonies.

From the June 23, 2009 vestry minutes:

Blessings – Rev. Canon Lucinda Laird
Lucinda acknowledged a letter of support from the Cathedral Chapter that also noted that they were engaged in similar work. Bishop Gulick recently met with clergy and informed them that he would be working with us and others as we begin to same-sex blessings.

From the August 18, 2009 vestry minutes:
Blessings - Lucinda reviewed Resolution D025 from General Convention. Guided by the Spirit, Lucinda will continue to work with Ted, embracing scripture, tradition and reason as she plans for a blessing ceremony and celebration in November at St. Matthew’s.

There are three interesting points about this particular blessing in the Diocese of Kentucky.

1) The blessing was approved to occur in November, 2009 -- seven months before the new bishop of Kentucky is to be elected in June. Thus, Bishop Gulick assisted in establishing a "planned and approved fact" with which his successor must deal. Does anyone know if any other approved-by-Bishop-Gulick blessings have occurred? Or is this the first one to be approved by Bishop Gulick -- right before he departs as diocesan bishop?

2) Much of the planning for the same sex blessing, with the assistance of Bishop Gulick, occurred prior to General Convention 2009.

3) And yet, here were the comments of Bishop Gulick -- well knowing what he was undertaking back in his own diocese -- regarding the passage of Resolution C056 at General Convention 2009 from the newsletter of the Diocese of Kentucky [note as an aside the frankly and transparently propagandistic headline in this "news" [sic] publication -- "Bishop, deputies return from 76th General Convention talking about the ‘middle way’"]:
Resolution C056, he stressed, recommits the Episcopal Church’s support of the Anglican Communion while addressing the new reality that civil unions of same-sex couples are now legal in six states as they are in the Anglican provinces of Australia, Canada, Great Britain, New Zealand and South Africa, according to Gulick. “Naturally Anglicans in those jurisdictions will ask what the church is going to do to recognize that relationship in some sort of liturgical way.”

The resolution does not authorize rites of blessing same sex unions, he stressed. “It is important to understand that. We haven’t taken any action except to have theological considerations at the moment and to develop resources. We have not approved rites. … The bishops are encouraged to support clergy in pastoral generosity to persons who have chosen to marry in these states, and pastoral generosity is not defined specifically.”

The shocking thing for me is not that Episcopal bishops are engaging in heretical acts, in knowing violation of Communion and Biblical standards. The shocking thing is how sneaking, sly, hidden, and furtive they are in both speaking about and carrying out their goals.

What an embarrassing and disgraceful display.

[Updated: The blessing was scheduled to occur in November 2009, rather than 2010. I've therefore updated point #1 above to take my error of dating into account. Yes, it really is a new year, and not still 2009!]