HOUSE OF BISHOPS ISSUES STATEMENTS/RESOLUTIONS ON THE WAR IN UKRAINE AND ON ANTI-TRANS LEGISLATION
HOUSE OF BISHOPS ISSUES STATEMENTS/RESOLUTIONS ON THE WAR IN UKRAINE AND ON ANTI-TRANS LEGISLATION
In its first in-person assembly since September of 2019, The Episcopal Church House of Bishops gathered March 15-21 at Camp Allen in Navasota, Texas, for its traditional spring retreat. In addition to their primary activities of fellowship, study, prayer, and Sabbath, the 133 bishops and bishops-elect present held a business meeting the morning of March 19 that included the passage of pastoral statements/resolutions on the war in Ukraine and anti-trans legislation in various states. Read more about the House of Bishops meeting.
Resolution on Anti-Trans Legislation
In light of the baptismal covenant’s promise to see Christ in all persons, and the recent and any actions by elected officials in Texas, Alabama, Arizona, Idaho, Iowa, New Hampshire, Michigan, Missouri, Florida, Arkansas, Ohio, North Dakota, Mississippi, South Dakota, Nebraska, Indiana, South Carolina and any other states, municipalities, and school districts targeting transgender children and their families, we, the Bishops of The Episcopal Church gathered at Camp Allen, Texas, in March 2022, voice our love and continued support for all persons who identify as transgender or non-binary and their families. We decry legislative initiatives and governmental actions targeting trans children and their families. We urge all in our Church to create safe spaces and shield all people from harassment based on gender identity.
A Statement from the House of Bishops on the Conflict in Ukraine
To the faithful in Christ Jesus throughout The Episcopal Church,
We are gathered at a moment of profound jeopardy to the principles of international law and peace. As we meet and pray together as a House of Bishops, Ukraine—an independent, sovereign nation that has posed no threat to others beyond its borders—has been invaded by military forces of Russia, without provocation and without justification.
On December 1, 1991, the people of Ukraine voted in a nationwide referendum on the question of their future. Nearly eighty-five percent of the electorate took part in that referendum. The question set before them was simply this: “Do you support the Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine?” More than ninety percent of those casting a vote voted yes. The independence of Ukraine was, and remains, an act of clear, principled self-determination. In the thirty years since then the people of Ukraine have, through challenges and difficulties, forged a strong sense of national purpose and identity.
There is a direct link between our baptismal covenant to respect the dignity of all people in Christ and the demand to respect the will of nations to determine their own destiny— the rule of jus cogens, in international law—when expressed freely through the ballot box. We acknowledge and lament the failure of many of the nations where The Episcopal Church lives and gathers to respect and defend that fundamental principle in their own policies and actions in the years since the founding of the United Nations. (read on)
