June 26, 2015
Dear friends in Christ,
Today the United States Supreme Court ruled that all Americans, regardless of their sexual orientation, have a constitutional right to marry the person they choose and in doing so are guaranteed equal protection under the law throughout this land. I rejoice with all of our LGBT sisters and brothers, that their long perseverance in the courts has been rewarded, and that civil rights and benefits once denied to some are now extended to all.
Here in Salt Lake City, at the 78th General Convention of the Episcopal Church, we are in the process of considering issues that are very closely related to today’s developments in our country. We are engaged in a prayerful council involving our understanding of human sexuality, relationship, commitment, and sacrament; and how, as people of faith, we can respond in our time and place. In the Special Legislative Committee on Marriage, on which I serve, we are sorting through questions of doctrine, constitution, canons and liturgy. We will likely not know the full shape of any actions to be taken up by the whole Convention — Bishops and Deputies alike — until much closer to the end of our time together next Friday.
In the meantime, I ask you all to pray for us at General Convention, as well as for the whole Church and our nation. As always I am aware of the great diversity of views on these matters held by the members of this diocese, reflecting the variety of the whole Episcopal Church. And I hope and trust, as I have since my first days as your bishop, that as we have in the past, so in the coming days, we will continue to walk together in the Lord, embracing one another and always remembering that our differences are far overpowered by our unity in Jesus Christ and His faithfulness towards us.
Faithfully your bishop,
(The Right Reverend) Dorsey McConnell