Since General Convention’s adoption of Resolution C056 during the summer, the bishops of Bethlehem, Southeast Florida, and Southern Ohio have authorized some form of blessing for same-sex couples.
 
The Rt. Rev. Mark Hollingsworth, Bishop of Ohio, responded to the resolution by saying his diocese will support the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music as it gathers liturgies and other resources regarding such rites.
 
Bishop Hollingsworth announced this response during his address to the diocese’s annual convention on Nov. 13 and 14 in Cleveland. The bishop asked deputies to pray during designated times in response to his address.
 
“I will appoint a task force to gather such resources from our congregations, clergy and communicants, in order that the Diocese of Ohio might play a constructive and leadership role in the larger Church’s carrying out of this endeavor,” the bishop said about Resolution C056.
 
“I ask you and your prayer partner each in turn to pray aloud for the Episcopal Church and its leadership, for our commitment and witness to the Anglican Communion, and for fidelity to our vocation to serve and be served by all of God’s beloved,” the bishop said. “Ask God to lead us into new ways that offer the world models of living together with difference. Ask God to bring our church growth in mission and lead us into all truth.”
 
In other business, delegates to the convention:
 
• Donated thousands of T-shirts to programs for youth and the homeless.
 
• Volunteered, in a program called “Be the Hands of Christ,” in ministries that address homelessness, hunger and waterway pollution.
 
• Approved the same minimum and median salary standards for diocesan clergy in 2010 as adopted for 2009.
 
• Acknowledged the end of ministries at St. Andrew’s, Canfield; Grace, Galion; and Trinity, Bryan, and declared those parishes extinct.
 
• Joined General Convention in affirming a Charter for Lifelong Christian Formation.
 
• Asked the governor and legislature of Ohio to impose a moratorium on capital punishment.
 
• Asked Bishop Hollingsworth and the diocese’s commission on global and domestic mission to pursue intentional and mutual partnerships with the Diocese of Tanga (Tanzania) and the Diocese of Belize and report back to next year’s convention about establishing those partnerships.
 
• Adopted a budget of $3,447,554, a decrease of $189,056, or 5.2 percent, from this year’s budget.
 
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