Is This A First?

First Anglican ordination of someone in a gay marriage (as opposed to civil union)?

The Right Reverend Mark Lattime, Episcopal Bishop of Alaska, will ordain Sara Gavit to the Sacred Order of Deacons at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Anchorage this Saturday.

Sara Gavit is the Pastoral Minister at St. Mary’s. Her work involves providing a spiritual presence to those in need, both within the church and in the broader community. At the core of her outreach ministry are the issues of homelessness, domestic violence, environmental stewardship, and gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality.

Sara has two amazing adult daughters and two beautiful grandchildren. She and her wife Patricia were married in Vancouver, B.C. Canada in 2009.

Interesting.

2 Comments on “Is This A First?

  1. This is why I hold back on my musings on sexuality. This is the way my mind works:

    Starting from a traditional perspective (celibacy higher calling, sex for procreation, marriage a sacrament, priesthood male) I come to a conclusion that female orders and same sex marriage are inescapably linked – both gendered sacraments de-gendered.

    Since the Reformation celibacy has been sidelined (try being a single rural or evangelical Vicar), sex seen for pleasure and contraception allowed (with little theological reflection on a broader meaning of procreation). Fine we can work through these issues in a Reformed Catholic model, but if the sacrament of ordination is to be de-gendered under Gal 3.28 then why not marriage? I suspect plenty of Conservative Roman Catholics see the links too.

    I do hold to 'focus for unity' for bishops, but again this leads me to question ordaining female bishops as much as same sex partnered bishops.

    Hence my half joking suggestion of a moratorium on non-celibate bishops until we work out exactly what we believe about sexuality and marriage. Oh and the CofE's divorce policy is a symptom of the mess we are in. I know personally.

  2. Hurrah! It would be cooler if she was a hot lesbian but, still, an important step forward ;)

    Anyway, isn't it common (albeit not in the C of E, perhaps) to combine civil partnerships with blessing services that necessarily ape the language of 'traditional' marriage? Presumably, to the conservative, that is quite as problematic (or at least not a qualitatively different kind of problem) to full blown (so, er, to speak ;-)) Gay Marriage.

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