Thomas M. Finn relates a brief history of marriage equality in the National Catholic Reporter”
Debate over same-sex marriage is raging these days in the United States, be it in the courts, the media, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and even among one’s friends and family. Deep beneath the breakers runs a broad stream of little-known history that might bring some calm.
Some of the exploration includes the Bible, early Jews and Christians, medieval and contemporary views. Read more here.
From Susan Russell who is serving on the Marriage Task Force:
Have just returned from a four day initial meeting of the A050 mandated “Task Force for the Study of Marriage” which met in Baltimore. Our charge, from the enabling resolution passed by the 2012 General Convention of the Episcopal Church, is “to identify and explore the historical, biblical, theological, liturgical, and canonical dimensions of marriage, and to do so in consideration of the “changing societal and cultural norms and legal structures” of our time.”
We divided up our work into subcommittees and I’ve been tasked with chairing the “historical/liturgical/canonical” team … and so we have our work cut out for us! That said, what a delight to wake up this morning to this “making the rounds” article from the National Catholic Reporter — A look at marriage equality from a historical perspective — which totally makes the point that the more we know about the history of how marriage has changed in the past the better prepared we are to meet the challenges of our day and to move into the future.