• Washington National Cathedral to celebrate same-sex weddings

    Kevin Lamarque / Reuters

    The National Cathedral is seen after a crane collapsed from the building in Washington Sept. 7, 2011.

    By Becky Bratu, Staff Writer, NBC News

    Same-sex weddings may now be celebrated at the Washington National Cathedral, making the church that holds presidential inaugural prayer services one of the first Episcopal congregations to use a rite adapted from an existing blessing ceremony approved last summer.

    “Washington National Cathedral has a long history of advancing equality for people of all faiths and perspectives,” the Very Rev. Gary Hall, dean of Washington National Cathedral, said in a news release Wednesday.


    "For more than 30 years, the Episcopal Church has prayed and studied to discern the evidence of God’s blessing in the lives of same-sex couples," he added. "We enthusiastically affirm each person as a beloved child of God — and doing so means including the full participation of gays and lesbians in the life of this spiritual home for the nation.”

    The 106-year-old cathedral draws hundreds of thousands of visitors, hosting presidential inaugural services, including for Ronald Reagan, George Bush and Barack Obama, and funerals for Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford.

    The diocese covers the district and four counties in Maryland, where same-sex marriage is legal. The Rt. Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, the Episcopal bishop of Washington, decided in December to allow an expansion of the Christian marriage sacrament. Hall, who has been an ordained minister for more than 35 years, ultimately led the cathedral’s decision and adaptation of the same-sex rite. He told The Associated Press he began performing same-sex blessings in 1990 when he served at All Saints Church in Pasadena, Calif.

    “I consider it a great honor to lead this Cathedral as it takes another historic step toward greater equality—and I am pleased that this step follows the results made clear in this past November’s election, when three states voted to allow same-sex marriage,” Hall said in the news release.

    Weddings at the cathedral will be conducted as Christian marriages, so at least one person in the couple must have been baptized. According to the news release, only couples directly affiliated with the life of the cathedral as members of the congregation, alumni, volunteers, donors or those judged by the dean to have played an exceptional role in the life of the nation are eligible to be married at the cathedral.

    It will likely be six months to a year before the first gay marriages are performed at the cathedral due to its busy schedule and its pre-marital counseling requirement, the AP said.

    At its General Convention last summer, the U.S. Episcopal Church became the biggest church in the United States to approve a provisional rite for blessing gay unions.

    The Episcopal Church is an independent U.S.-based church affiliated with the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church has about 2 million members, most in the United States.

    Same-sex marriage is now legal in nine states and the District of Columbia. Illinois and Rhode Island are also set to take up bills to possibly join them, and the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear cases on gay marriage in March.

    But Hall told the AP he sees marriage as a human issue, not a political issue.

    "It is my hope and prayer that, if all of us open ourselves to the fullness and diversity of our nation’s many voices, we will learn to walk together in a new way as we listen for God’s call to us to be faithful to each other and to God,” Hall said in the news release.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

  • Is liberal Christianity signing its own death warrant?

    Courtesy: Diocese of South Carolina

    The Rt. Rev. Mark Joseph Lawrence, the Episcopal bishop of South Carolina, believes his denomination is moving too far left.

    By Becky Bratu, NBC News

    The Rt. Rev. Mark Joseph Lawrence, the Episcopal bishop of South Carolina, fears for the future of his church.


    One week after the U.S. Episcopal Church overwhelmingly voted to approve a provisional rite for blessing gay unions and the ordination of transgender people, Bishop Lawrence said in an interview with NBC News that his denomination is moving too far out of the mainstream.

    "Do I think that these two decisions will cause further decline? I believe they will," Bishop Lawrence said. "I think we've entered into a time of sexual and gender anarchy."

    Lawrence's comments come amid a growing debate over the future of so-called mainline Christian churches: Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Methodists, some Lutherans and more. These denominations, which are generally more liberal than their evangelical counterparts, have been in decline for decades, a trend some observers attribute to their supposed leftward drift.

    In a recent New York Times editorial, columnist and author Ross Douthat tackled the "looming extinction" of liberal Christianity, adding that: "Practically every denomination — Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian — that has tried to adapt itself to contemporary liberal values has seen an Episcopal-style plunge in church attendance."

    Since 2000, the Episcopal Church has lost more than 16 percent of its membership. This decrease reflects a wider trend across most other Protestant denominations. In 2008, the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life reported that "the proportion of the population that is Protestant has declined markedly in recent decades."

    Following the Episcopal Church's decision to adopt gay-union rites last week, most of the Diocese of South Carolina’s delegation left the General Convention to show their concern.

    "I had an issue of conscience in which I believed that a line had been crossed in the church’s teachings, that I could no longer pretend that nothing significant had happened," Bishop Lawrence said, adding that the departure of the deputies should not be understood as a departure from the Episcopal Church.

    “It’s not merely a matter of adapting the Church’s teachings about Jesus Christ, about salvation, about right and wrong to the culture," he said. "The culture is adrift in sexual confusion and obsession.”

    But Jenna Guy, an Episcopalian from Iowa, said when the gay-rites vote was taken that the issue is important to the younger generation of Episcopalians and that the resolution would bring more people into the church.

    "It’s always with great pride that I tell [people] of the inclusive nature of this church,” Guy said. 

    The Episcopal Church's approval of the rites makes it one of the more liberal churches on that issue.

    • In May, the United Methodist Church, the largest mainline denomination in the United States with about 7.8 million members, voted against changing its definition of marriage as between a man and a woman.
    • Earlier this month, the U.S. Presbyterian Church narrowly rejected a proposal for a constitutional change that would redefine marriage as a union between "two people" rather than between a woman and a man. The church, with around 2 million members, currently allows ministers to bless gay unions but prohibits them from solemnizing gay civil marriages.
    • The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America defines marriage as "a lifelong covenant of faithfulness between a man and a woman" and has no official rite for same-gender unions.
    • Standing out among the rest, the United Church of Christ, a mainline Protestant denomination with about 1 million members, voted in 2005 to support full civil and religious marriage equality for same-sex couples.

    "I see other mainline denominations that are fairly liberal, like the Presbyterians and the Methodists, just really being very careful about jumping over this hurdle," David Hein, Hood College historian and co-author of “The Episcopalians,” a history of the church, told NBC News, "because it really wreaks havoc with the denominations for the national headquarters on down, the institutions, the seminaries, the parishes when you start to lose huge numbers of members.”

    "I think churches that are fairly clear in their stance and are not either fundamentalist or way out there on the fringe are doing pretty well," Hein added.

    Episcopal Church approves rites for gay unions
    Underground gay group emerges, shaking Christian college

    Steady decline in membership, however, is a problem across the board for mainline Protestant churches.

    According to the National Council of Churches' 2011 report, membership in the UCC declined 2.8 percent to 1.1 million members over the previous year; the Presbyterian Church was down 2.6 percent to 2.7 million; the Episcopal Church was down 2.5 percent to two million members and the Evangelical Lutheran Church was down 2.0 percent to 4.5 million members.


    The United Methodist Church's membership has declined every year since it was formed in 1968, according to a 2010 report commissioned by the denomination.

    In the case of the Episcopal Church, Hein believes it "might not have been hemorrhaging so quickly " had it been more accommodating of its traditionalists.

    “I think it’s a mistake that the Episcopal Church is not more welcoming of the mainstream attitude,” he said, adding that "these accommodations should really have been made five, seven years ago, because really about all that’s left of the Episcopal Church is the left wing of the Episcopal Church.”

    In 2003, the election of the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church caused a deep rift between liberals and conservatives within the global Anglican Communion, with many churches leaving the U.S. and affiliating instead with the global Anglicans. The Episcopal Church is an independent church affiliated with the worldwide Anglican Communion.

    "I still believe there is a broad and silent middle [within the Episcopal Church], I just don't know what it would take for them to stand up with moral courage and say, 'We don't believe this,'" Bishop Lawrence said.

    Bucking the national trend, the Diocese of South Carolina experienced growth in 2011 in its average Sunday attendance, which rose 10.8 percent, from 11,086 to 12,286, according to the diocese.

    “If ever there was a time for the church to be clear, hopeful, and to offer a moral compass to the struggling, and grace, and forgiveness, and healing to the broken, it’s now,” Bishop Lawrence said.

    More content from NBCNews.com:

    Follow US News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

     

  • Episcopal Church becomes biggest US church to bless gay unions

    By Becky Bratu, Staff Writer, NBC News

    The U.S. Episcopal Church became the biggest church in the United States to approve a provisional rite for blessing gay unions after its House of Deputies gave its final approval Tuesday.


    The resolution passed with 78 percent approval in the lay order and 76 percent in the clergy order. The House of Deputies is made up of both clergy and lay people. 

    In the lay order, 86 deputations voted in favor, 19 against; five were divided. In the clergy order, 85 deputations voted in favor, 22 opposed the resolution and four were divided. 

    The proposed blessing liturgy was initially approved by the Church's House of Bishops Monday during the 77th General Convention in Indianapolis, with 111 votes in favor to 41 opposed and three abstentions.

    Deputies of opposite views spoke in alternate succession Tuesday afternoon, with those against the proposal urging more time to consider a decision of such magnitude. 

    The Rev. Sharon Lewis, alternate deputy of the Diocese of Southwest Florida, said the liturgy is more than a “pastoral provision.”

    "Let us move together in the heart of Christ, not turn this great big old church that I love so much on a dime,” Lewis said.

    Speaking in favor of the blessings, Deputy Jenna Guy from Iowa said the resolution is important to the younger generation of Episcopalians, adding that passing the resolution would bring more people into the Church.


    "It’s always with great pride that I tell [people] of the inclusive nature of this Church,” Guy said. 

    A deputy from Alaska added, "There is never anything wrong with celebrating love.”

    The new Episcopal same-sex liturgy is called "The Witnessing and Blessing of a Lifelong Covenant."

    In the proposed rite, each person would make a vow to the other, exchange rings and be declared "bound to one another in a holy covenant, as long as they both shall live." The liturgy is expected to go into effect for provisional use starting the first week of Advent -- beginning on Dec. 2, 2012 -- and will undergo a review process before the next General Convention in 2015. Congregations and clergy wishing to use the liturgy would need the permission of their bishops.

    In states that currently allow same-sex civil marriage, such as Massachusetts and New York, Episcopalians may already bless same-sex marriages, but there is no formal church-wide liturgy. Commitment ceremonies for gay couples are allowed elsewhere in the church at the discretion of the local bishop.

    Episcopal bishops approve resolution to bless gay unions

    The Episcopal Church is an independent U.S.-based church affiliated with the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church has about 2 million members, most in the United States.

    It is not the only major U.S. denomination considering same-sex marriage issues.

    The United Church of Christ, a mainline Protestant denomination with about 1 million members voted in 2005 to support full civil and religious marriage equality for same-sex couples.

    The U.S. Presbyterian Church on Friday narrowly rejected a proposal for a constitutional change that would redefine marriage as a union between "two people" rather than between a woman and a man. The church, with around 2 million members, currently allows ministers to bless gay unions but prohibits them from solemnizing gay civil marriages.

    Reuters contributed to this report.

    More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

    Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook

  • Episcopal bishops approve resolution to bless gay unions

    By Becky Bratu, msnbc.com

    Episcopal bishops approved a resolution to create a liturgy for same-sex unions Monday during the Church’s 77th General Convention in Indianapolis, with 111 votes in favor and 41 opposing.

    The resolution known as A049 will now move to the House of Deputies, which is made up of both clergy and lay people.

     “It is the Jesus thing to do in our time,” the Rev. Michael Louis Vono of the Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande said in the meeting in support of the resolution.


    In the proposed rites, each person would make a vow to the other, exchange rings and be declared "bound to one another in a holy covenant, as long as they both shall live." The resolution also asks that the liturgy be approved for provisional use starting the first week of Advent -- beginning on Dec. 2, 2012 -- and calls for a review process before the next General Convention in 2015. Congregations and clergy wishing to use the liturgy would need the permission of their bishops.

    Some of the bishops who spoke against the resolution worried the decision would put the Episcopal Church out of the Christian mainstream, while the Rev. Steven Andrew Miller of Milwaukee asked whether the proposed blessings would create a second-class of LGBT people. Several bishops also worried that adopting the same-sex blessing legislation will be interpreted as an endorsement of same-sex marriage.   

    If the blessings legislation is approved, it would make the Episcopal Church the biggest Christian denomination in the United States with rites for gay unions. The United Church of Christ, a mainline Protestant denomination with about 1.3 million members voted in 2005 to support full civil and religious marriage equality for same-sex couples.

    Earlier Monday, the resolution was passed by the General Convention Prayer Book, Liturgy and Church Music Committee key committee.

    “This is clearly a work in process, and there is a place in that process for all Episcopalians, whether or not they agree with the action we are taking today,” Deputy Ruth Meyers of Chicago and Vermont Bishop Thomas Ely, chairs of the subcommittee on blessings, said in a press release.

    The resolution was amended by the committee to specify that “no bishop, priest, deacon or lay person should be coerced or penalized in any manner, nor suffer any canonical disabilities, as a result of his or her conscientious objection to or support for the 77th General Convention’s action with regard to the Blessing of Same-Sex Relationships.”

    In states that currently allow same-sex civil marriage, such as Massachusetts and New York, Episcopalians may already bless same-sex marriages, but there is no formal church-wide liturgy. Commitment ceremonies for gay couples are allowed elsewhere in the church at the discretion of the local bishop.

    Nearly 40 people testified on the proposed resolution during a Saturday hearing, and supporters outnumbered opponents, according to the Episcopal News Service, the church's officially sponsored news source.

    Among them was Jonathan York, a sophomore at Duke University, who described the conflict he said he and many young gay Christians feel.

    "So many gay people feel like they’re being forced to make a choice: They can have their place in their church, or they can have their identity," York said, according to ENS.

    If the resolution is passed, York said, it would show gay Christians “that they do in fact have a place in God’s home.”

    While expressing support of York and other young gay Christians, the Rev. Danielle Morris of the Diocese of Central Florida went on to ask that the resolution be struck down, as she believes it could endanger Christians living in predominantly Muslim countries.

    “We know people who live in terror of our decision," Morris said, according to ENS. "Let us sacrifice not the blood of new martyrs but our own personal desires, all for the good and betterment of the world.”

    Others urged for more time to consider the resolution, adding that the decision should not be taken lightly. The Rev. Sharon Lewis, alternate deputy of the Diocese of Southwest Florida, said the resolution is more than a “pastoral provision,” according to ENS. “It is really representing a different definition of marriage," Lewis said.

    On Saturday, the House of Bishops approved a proposal that would give transgender men and women the right to become ministers in the church, if it survives a final vote.

    The House of Bishops voted to include "gender identity and expression" in its "non-discrimination canons," meaning sexual orientation, including that of people who have undergone sex-change operations, cannot be used to exclude candidates to ministry. The move comes nine years after the Episcopal Church approved its first openly gay bishop.

    The Episcopal Church is an independent U.S.-based church affiliated with the worldwide Anglican Communion. The Church has about 2 million members mostly in the United States.

    It is not the only major U.S. denomination considering same-sex marriage issues.

    The U.S. Presbyterian Church on Friday narrowly rejected a proposal for a constitutional change that would redefine marriage as a union between "two people" rather than between a woman and a man. The church, with around 2 million members, currently allows ministers to bless gay unions but prohibits them from solemnizing gay civil marriages.

    Reuters contributed to this report.

    More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

    Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook

  • Two dead in shooting at Florida high school

    By NBC News and msnbc.com staff

    Updated at 6:21 p.m. ET: JACKSONVILLE, Fla.  -- The head of a private high school was shot and killed Tuesday afternoon by a teacher who had been fired earlier in the day, NBC News reported.

    Police said a man came onto campus of Episcopal School of Jacksonville with an AK-47 in a guitar case, went to the administrative office, shot the head of the school several times, and then killed himself, according to WJXT-TV in Jacksonville, Fla.

    NBC News reported both bodies were found on campus about 1:30 p.m. NBC News confirmed the person shot was Dale D. Regan, the head of the private, coed school of about 900 students in central Jacksonville. Regan had been at the school for more than 34 years, according to the school’s website.

    "We have full confidence that Dale Regan is already with God and in heaven with our Lord and savior Jesus, but we ask for your prayers as we mourn this great leader," said Kate Morehead, dean of Episcopal Cathedral. "We are shocked. She was a very beloved woman."

    Regan had been headmistress for seven years.

    The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office told NBC News an employee who had been recently terminated returned to the high school with an assault-style firearm, went into an office and shot and killed Regan. The gunman then shot and killed himself. Authorities identified him as Shane Schumerth, 29, a Spanish teacher at the school.

    Schumerth had been hired in 2010, according to the school's website.

    'No one is in danger'
    Witnesses said they heard seven or eight shots fired in or near the administrative office.

    "No children were involved, we believe, and no one is in danger," Jacksonville Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Melissa Bujeda said.

    The shooting sent shock waves throughout the school and community.

    "I think our headmaster was killed today, and I think it was an unhappy teacher that was fired this morning (that shot her)," teacher Carolyn Cooper told WJXT-TV.

    A parent, Dondra Lewis, told First Coast News she received a text message from her son, who is a student, and he said there was a shooter on campus.

    Another parent, Dave Steel, told WJXT-TV he also received a text from his son. "My heart immediately started racing. All I could think of was the worst and come and get my son immediately to make sure he was safe," he said.

    Vigils have been planned for Regan. The school said in a statement it would provide counseling to students and faculty.

    The school released the following statement on its website: "The Episcopal Community is deeply saddened to share with you that Dale Regan, Episcopal's Head of School, died this afternoon. Our deepest sympathies are with her family and we ask for your support and prayers during this time. The entire School family mourns the loss of our friend and leader.

    "All students and faculty are safe and our campus is secure. The School will remain closed from today through the already scheduled spring break until March 19th. The School will provide counseling and pastoral care to its students, faculty, staff and to those in our School community."

    More content from msnbc.com and NBC News