The Rev. Mary Glasspool has received a majority of Standing Committee consents needed to confirm her election according to the Diocese of Los Angeles news reports. The bishops’ consents are not yet known although Bishop Bruno says he looks “forward to the final few consents to come in from the bishops in the next few days.”
The Standing Committee of the Diocese of Los Angeles has received the necessary majority of Standing Committee consents to the December 2009 elections of the Rev. Canon Diane Jardine Bruce and the Rev. Canon Mary Douglas Glasspool as bishops suffragan to serve the six-county Los Angeles diocese.
The Los Angeles Standing Committee reported March 10 that within the last 64 days it has received 61 consents needed to the election of Glasspool, and 78 consents to the election of Bruce. In each election a majority of 56 consents was needed from the counterpart Standing Committees of the 110 dioceses of the Episcopal Church.
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“I give thanks for the Standing Commitees’ prompt action, and for the consents to the elections of my sisters,” Los Angeles Bishop Diocesan J. Jon Bruno said on March 10. “I look forward to the final few consents to come in from the bishops in the next few days, and I give thanks for the fact that we as a church have taken a bold step for just action.”
UPDATE: The Chicago Consultation press release notes:
Among those passing their congratulations on to Canon Glasspool were the Very Rev. Rowan Smith, dean of Saint George’s Cathedral in Capetown, South Africa and Dr. Jenny Plane Te Paa, Dean of St. John’s Seminary in Auckland, New Zealand.
In joining her voice with “all those global Anglicans who would sing the alleluia chorus to greet a newly elected member of the episcopate,” Te Paa noted that Glasspool was “clearly chosen on the basis of her ecclesial eligibility and her spiritual and pastoral suitability.”
Smith wrote: “In your election of Mary Glasspool as Suffragan Bishop of Los Angeles you were being true to your/our vocation and that is to be as Christ from whom no one is excluded.”
“For much of the last seven years, Episcopalians were offered a false choice between acting in conscience by affirming God’s call to LGBT Christians, or maintaining relationships within the Anglican Communion,” Baker said. “These warm words from our friends in other parts of the Communion suggest those days are over.”
Read more below:
CHICAGO CONSULTATION REJOICES AT CONSENTS FOR BISHOP-ELECT GLASSPOOL
CHICAGO, IL, March 10, 2010 The Chicago Consultation rejoices with friends across the Anglican Communion in the news that a majority of Standing Committees within the Episcopal Church has consented to the election of the Rev. Canon Mary D. Glasspool as suffragan bishop of the Diocese of Los Angeles.
Canon Glasspool will become the first partnered lesbian bishop in the Church if she receives the consent of a majority of the diocesan bishops in the Church before the May 5 deadline.
“This is a happy day, and one that lay people, clergy and bishops across the Church have worked and prayed for,” said the Very Rev. Dr. Brian Baker, Dean of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Sacramento, a co-convener of the Chicago Consultation. “For too long, religion has been used to justify cultural prejudices against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Christians. Slowly, but I hope surely, the Church is stepping out of that shadow and into God’s light. We urge bishops with jurisdiction to follow the lead of the church’s standing committees and consent to Canon Glasspool’s election without delay.”
Glasspool’s election and consecration could not have occurred without the passage of pivotal legislation at the 2009 General Convention of the Episcopal Church. At that gathering, the Church’s House of Deputies and House of Bishops passed Resolution D025 which acknowledged that:
the baptized membership of The Episcopal Church includes same-sex couples living in lifelong committed relationships characterized by fidelity, monogamy, mutual affection and respect, careful, honest communication, and the holy love which enables those in such relationships to see in each other the image of God.
gay and lesbian persons who are a part of such relationships have responded to God’s call and have exercised various ministries in and on behalf of God?s One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church and are currently doing so in our midst.
God has called and may call such individuals to any ordained ministry in The Episcopal Church.
“We were pointing toward days like this when we worked to pass that resolution,” Baker said. “We believed that if D025 passed, we could move past the time when gay and lesbian Christians were expected to ignore God’s call to ministry simply because some people didn’t believe such a call was possible.”
Among those passing their congratulations on to Canon Glasspool were the Very Rev. Rowan Smith, dean of Saint George’s Cathedral in Capetown, South Africa and Dr. Jenny Plane Te Paa, Dean of St. John’s Seminary in Auckland, New Zealand.
In joining her voice with “all those global Anglicans who would sing the alleluia chorus to greet a newly elected member of the episcopate, “Te Paa noted that Glasspool was “clearly chosen on the basis of her ecclesial eligibility and her spiritual and pastoral suitability.”
Smith wrote: In your election of Mary Glasspool as Suffragan Bishop of Los Angeles you were being true to your /our vocation and that is to be as Christ from whom no one is excluded.
“For much of the last seven years, Episcopalians were offered a false choice between acting in conscience by affirming God’s call to LGBT Christians, or maintaining relationships within the Anglican Communion,” Baker said. “These warm words from our friends in other parts of the Communion suggest those days are over.”
The Chicago Consultation, a group of Episcopal and Anglican bishops, clergy and lay people, supports the full inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Christians in the Episcopal Church and the worldwide Anglican Communion. To learn more about the Chicago Consultation, visit here.