Do You Want to be Part of Planning
the Beloved Community?

Since last May, members of our diocese have been meeting as the "Beloved Community in Conversation" to help shape a new plan for the next 3-5 years of our diocese. This plan will be considered by a special diocesan convention will meet in May of this year.

Now, you have the opportunity to join in the last series of these planning meetings. You home parish may be planning to conduct a Beloved Community planning process using materials just released by the diocese. Or Oasis could conduct a Beloved Community Conversation for LGBT people and our allies across this diocese. Either way, so long as your comments are in by the end of March – you will be part of the process.

The views and concerns of LGBT Episcopalians can only be reflected in planning for the Beloved Community if each of us is willing to be heard in the process of shaping this plan. Please let us know if you would like Oasis to conduct a Beloved Community Conversation or if you plan to attend one at your parish.

Same Gender Blessings Backed By Diocese of California

SAN FRANCISCO - - - Elected representatives of the Episcopal Diocese of California have commended to their bishop rites for the blessing of same gender couples by an overwhelming margin. The action opens the way for Diocesan Bishop Marc Andrus to allow these services to be used on a trial basis by Episcopal churches across the Bay Area. You can download a copy of this report as a PDF file here and then share it with your friends by e-mail or in printed form,
'There will be no outcasts in this Church,' Presiding Bishop tells live webcast audience

Opening with an overview of the mission-driven September 20-25 House of Bishops meeting in New Orleans, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori set the tone October 16 for her second webcast held at the studio facilities of Trinity Church, Wall Street, in New York City.

More coverage at the Oasis News Blog.
The webcast is available for on-demand viewing here.
The full text of the Presiding Bishop's opening remarks are available here.

NOW ONLINE:

The Report of the Joint Standing Committee to the Archbishop of Canterbury on the Response of The Episcopal Church to the Questions of the Primates articulated at their meeting in Dar es Salaam and related Pastoral Concerns

Bishop Marc Affirms Our Place In Our Church

Excluding LGBT people from the Episcopal Church in some parts of America leaves "empty places all over the United States where their graceful presences are missing," the Rt. Rev. Marc Andrus, Bishop of the Diocese of California, told Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and the Church's House of Bishops Thursday (10/20).

"This is also true for me regarding Gene Robinson," Bishop Andrus added, reaffirming his support for the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church. The House of Bishops is meeting with Archbishop Williams in New Orleans to address a demand from Anglican church leaders that the American church bar LGBT people from becoming bishops or priests of the Episcopal Church. These leaders have also called on the US Episcopal Church not to adopt rites for blessing same gender couples. The full text of Bishop Marc's statement in the House of Bishops is here at the Oasis News Blog.

OASIS CALIFORNIA

The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of California

Mailing Address: Oasis/California, Episcopal Diocese of California, 1055 Taylor St., San Francisco, CA 94108-2209

The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and TransgenderMinistry of the Episcopal Diocese of California