Canada: New gender blessings for trial use
by Matt Gardner, Anglican Journal:
Transition, affirmation liturgies commended for 12-month study.
The Anglican Church of Canada has prepared a set of gender-themed liturgies for trial use, including a blessing on gender transition, that the church’s director of Faith, Worship and Ministry says could be the first of their kind for a national church in the Anglican Communion if they are eventually authorized.
On Nov. 6, Council of General Synod (CoGS) voted to commend Pastoral Liturgies for Journeys of Gender Transition and Affirmation for study, trial use, evaluation and feedback for a one-year period where permitted by bishops. The liturgies, a supplement to the Book of Alternative Services, include a blessing on the gender transition process, an affirmation of gender identity, additional prayers and pastoral prayer resources, suggested Bible readings and an appropriate hymnody.
Liturgies to mark gender transition and affirmation for transgender Christians are available in a number of Anglican Communion provinces, but primarily at the local or diocesan level, says the Rev. Eileen Scully, director of Faith, Worship and Ministry for General Synod.
There are two exceptions at the national church level. The Episcopal Church (TEC) in the United States voted at its 2018 General Convention to authorize “A Service of Renaming.” But whereas TEC’s liturgy is intended to mark any experience that has led a baptized person to adopt a new name, the Anglican Church of Canada’s Pastoral Liturgies for Journeys of Gender Transition and Affirmation explicitly refer to gender identity, transgender, cisgender and intersex individuals.
“Rather than starting from the idea of a generic renaming for whatever occasion… we decided we were starting from the point of pastoral relationship with transgender persons,” says Scully, who wrote the liturgies in close partnership with a consultative body which met at her invitation to inform the work.
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