BREAKING NEWS

Here's the ENS reports on new task forces forming to implement General Convention resolution C056. I am VERY honored to part of such an amazing team of folks and very much looking forward to our work together toward GC2012!

[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Church Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music June 28 announced the names of task force leaders charged with leading the development of theological resources and liturgies for same-sex blessings, according to a news release.
The church's General Convention in 2009 passed Resolution C056, which authorized the House of Bishops, in conjunction with the SCLM, to devise an open process that would invite church-wide participation in collecting and developing the resources.

The commission is to report its efforts to the next meeting of General Convention, in 2012.

SCLM has established three task groups: a liturgical resources group; a pastoral/teaching resources group; and a theological resources group, according to the release.

The leaders are:

Liturgical resources task group, chair:

The Rev. Patrick Malloy of the Diocese of Bethlehem. Malloy is the H. Boone Porter chair in liturgics at General Theological Seminary in New York and is a former member of the SCLM. The rector of Grace Church, Allentown, Pennsylvania, he is the author of Celebrating the Eucharist and a forthcoming second volume, Celebrating the Pastoral Rites and the Daily Office.

Pastoral/teaching resources group, co-chairs:

The Rev. Canon Thaddeus A. Bennett of the Diocese of Vermont. Bennett is the part-time canon for transition ministry and part-time rector of St. Mary's-in-the-Mountains Church in Wilmington. Previously, he was the canon to the ordinary in the Diocese of Los Angeles. He is one of the authors of the Episcopal Church's Fresh Start resource and serves as a vocational faculty for CREDO. He helped found three HIV/AIDS organizations, including the National Episcopal AIDS Coalition, and co-authored a number of resources for HIV/AIDS education and ministry.

The Rev. Canon Susan Russell of the Diocese of Los Angeles. Russell is a senior associate at All Saints Church in Pasadena and is chair of the Program Group on LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) ministry for the Diocese of Los Angeles. In 2008 she convened the taskforce responsible for creating a diocesan pastoral response to both the May California Supreme Court decision on marriage equality and the November Proposition 8 ballot initiative.

Theological resources task group, chair

The Rev. Jay Emerson Johnson of the Diocese of California. Johnson is a member of the core doctoral faculty in theology at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley and coordinates the Certificate in Sexuality and Religion program at Pacific School of Religion, where he serves as senior director of academic research and resources at the school's Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry. Since 2006 he has been a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Theology and Sexuality and he is book review editor of the Anglican Theological Review. His first book, published in 2005, was Dancing with God: Anglican Christianity and the Practice of Hope. He serves as associate clergy at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Berkeley.

To facilitate communication and to share ideas and resources, SCLM has set up a blog and an e-mail address: sclm@episcopalchurch.org.