The wrangling over faith, homosexuality and Proposition 8, which overturned the legalization of gay marriage in California, is taking some interesting turns this week — all based in some way on how one reads the Bible.

Archbishop of Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony said in a letter to homosexuals in the weekly archdiocesan paper, The Tidings, that the Catholic Church’s vociferous support of the ballot initiative “does not diminish in any way (your) importance” nor “lessen your personal dignity and value as full members of the body of Christ.”

Mahony wrote:

We are saddened that some people who opposed Proposition 8 have employed hurtful and accusatory language, and even threatening actions, against those who voted for Proposition 8. This is most unfortunate since such strategies obscure the basic matter at issue: the preservation of the ordered relationship between man and woman created by God.

In a blog, LA Weekly wasn’t buying this, calling it “wacky double-speak.”

And the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles and seven other dioceses announced they would ask their national denomination to retract its General Convention’s 2006 ban on the election of more gay or lesbian bishops. (The election of actively gay bishop Gene Robinson in 2003 was the rallying cry for a splinter group of about 10% of U.S. parishes to pull out of the Episcopal Church and form their own new conservative Church, the cornerstone of which is a literal reading of the Bible which they say forbids homosexual behavior.)

To make the point even sharper, Bishop of Los Angeles Jon Bruno announced a new policy on the Sacramental Blessing of Life-Long Covenants and included an official liturgy for the diocese — another step officially discouraged by the national denomination.

 See Gays, God, the Bible and the bishops
USA Today -

The bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles has announced that church leaders can bless the unions of same-sex couples as a matter of policy.

The Rt. Rev. J. Jon Bruno, whose diocese encompasses Los Angeles County and five other Southern California counties, made the announcement Friday during a diocesan convention in Riverside.

Bruno acted just days after hundreds of conservative Episcopal congregations in North America formed a breakaway church amid a rift that began with the ordination of a gay bishop in New Hampshire five years ago.

“The practice has not changed. The policy has. . . . It’s sort of like ‘coming out,’ ” said the Rev. Susan Russell, a lesbian priest at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena. Russell also is president of Integrity USA, a group representing the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community in the Episcopal Church.

The rite endorsed by Bruno also allows the blessing of other relationships, such as those between two senior citizens who do not wish to legally marry because they might lose health insurance or Social Security benefits.

Diocese representatives also passed a resolution at their convention calling on the Episcopal Church to let gays and lesbians become bishops.

See Episcopal Diocese of LA officially condones the blessing of gay unions
Los Angeles Times  

RIVERSIDE, Calif.—The Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles has joined seven other dioceses in passing a resolution asking the church to let gays and lesbians become bishops.

The vote Friday at the church’s 113th annual Diocesan Convention rejected the Episcopal Church’s de facto moratorium on the election of gay or lesbian bishops.

The resolution will be forwarded for consideration at the July 2009 national convention in Anaheim.

Also at the meeting the LA diocese expressed support for gay marriage with the creation of the “Sacramental Blessing for a Life-long Covenant.”

 See LA Episcopal Diocese wants gays to become bishops
San Jose Mercury News -