SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Episcopalians overwhelmingly voted Wednesday to allow religious weddings for same-sex couples, solidifying the church's embrace of gay rights that began more than a decade ago with the pioneering election of the first openly gay bishop. 
 
 FILE - In this May 1, 2005, file photo, Bishop Gene Robinson addresses the congregation at Christ Church in Philadelphia, Sunday, May 1, 2005. Robinson, now retired, said he is breathless about how quickly... (Associated Press) 
 
 The vote came in Salt Lake City at the Episcopal General Convention, just days after the U.S. Supreme Court legalized gay marriage nationwide. It passed in the House of Deputies, the voting body of clergy and lay participants at the meeting. The House of Bishops had approved the resolution Tuesday by 129-26 with five abstaining. 
 
 The Very Rev. Brian Baker of Sacramento said the church rule change was the result of a nearly four-decade long conversation that has been difficult and painful for many. Baker, chair of the committee that crafted the changes, said church members have not always been kind to one another but that the dynamic has changed in recent decades. 
 
 "We have learned to not only care for, but care about one other," Baker said. "That mutual care was present in the conversations we had. Some people disagreed, some people disagreed deeply, but we prayed and we listened and we came up with compromises that we believe make room and leave no one behind." 
 
 Baker said the denomination's House of Bishops prayed and debated the issue for five hours earlier this week before passing it on to the House of Deputies. 
 
 During debate on Wednesday, several deputies spoke in support of the move, with some saying it was long overdue. Opponents spoke too, including Jose Luis Mendoza-Barahona of Honduras, who gave an impassioned speech in Spanish against the change, saying it goes against the biblical basis of the church and would create a chasm in the church. 
 
 The vote eliminates gender-specific language from church laws on marriage so that same-sex couples could have religious weddings. Instead of "husband" and "wife," for example, the new church law will refer to "the couple." Under the new rules, clergy can decline to perform the ceremonies. The changes were approved 173-27. The convention also approved a gender-neutral prayer service for marriage on a 184-23 vote. 
 
 The measures take effect the first Sunday of Advent, Nov. 29. 
 
 Many dioceses in the New York-based church of nearly 1.9 million members have allowed their priests to perform civil same-sex weddings, using a trial prayer service to bless the couple. Still, the church hadn't changed its own laws on marriage until Wednesday. 
 
 The Episcopal Church joins two other mainline Protestant groups that allow gay marriage in all their congregations: the United Church of Christ and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The 3.8-million-member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America lets its congregations decide for themselves, and many of them host gay weddings. 
 
 The United Methodist Church, by far the largest mainline Protestant church with 12.8 million members, bars gay marriage, although many of its clergy have been officiating at same-sex weddings recently in protest. 
 
 The Episcopal Church is the U.S. wing of the Anglican Communion, an 80 million-member global fellowship of churches. Ties among Anglicans have been strained since Episcopalians in 2003 elected Bishop Gene Robinson, who lived openly with his male partner, to lead the Diocese of New Hampshire. 
 
 On the eve of the U.S. vote, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, spiritual leader of the world's Anglicans, issued a statement expressing deep concern about the move to change the definition of marriage. 
 
 Faith groups across the spectrum of belief, from the Episcopal Church to the Southern Baptists, have been losing members as more Americans say they identify with no particular religion. The Episcopal Church has shrunk 18 percent over the last decade, after more than a generation of steady decline. 
 
 After the Supreme Court ruling last week, many conservative churches, including the Southern Baptists and the Mormons, renewed their opposition to gay marriage. 
 
 The gay marriage decision is the second major news to come from the convention, the top policymaking body of the church. The church elected its first black presiding bishop last weekend, with Bishop Michael Curry of North Carolina winning in a landslide. 
 
 Curry has allowed same-sex church weddings in North Carolina, and he said the Supreme Court "affirmed the authenticity of love" by legalizing gay marriage. 
 
 ___ 
 
 McCombs reported from Salt Lake City. AP Religion Writer Rachel Zoll reported from New York. ||||| Gene Robinson, who in 2003 became the first Episcopal bishop living openly with a same-sex partner, attends the Episcopal General Convention in Salt Lake City on Thursday. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) 
 
 This analysis is by George Conger, who has reported on the Anglican/Episcopal world for almost 20 years, writing for newspapers and magazines in England, the United States and Australia. He also serves as an Episcopal priest in a parish in Florida. 
 
 The bishops of the Episcopal Church have authorized their clergy to perform same-sex weddings, but don’t expect sweeping changes across the entire denomination anytime soon. Episcopalians voted Wednesday to allow religious weddings for gay couples, but not every priest will necessarily officiate at a same-sex wedding. 
 
 In resolutions adopted here at the denomination’s General Convention meeting in Salt Lake City this week, the bishops have endorsed new liturgies or services for same-sex couples wishing to marry in church. The bishops also approved changing the church’s canons, or rules, governing marriage, making them gender neutral by substituting the terms “man and woman” with “couple.” However, clergy were also given the right to refuse to perform a same-sex marriage, with the promise they would incur no penalty, while bishops were given the right to refuse to allow the services to take place in their diocese. 
 
 The compromise means that same-sex weddings may occur after Nov. 1, 2015, with the full blessing of the church in places like Washington, Los Angeles and New York, but likely won’t take place in more conservative parts of the church, like Dallas, Albany and Orlando. 
 
 On Tuesday, the leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion that includes the Episcopal Church, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, released a statement expressing his “deep concern” over the votes and urged the bishops to pull back, writing that the “decision will cause distress for some and have ramifications for the Anglican Communion as a whole, as well as for its ecumenical and interfaith relationships.” 
 
 The church’s compromise has sparked the ire of Episcopalians who are both for and against same-sex marriage. Those who are more theologically liberal may try to block the bishops’ plan, insisting on the immediate introduction of same-sex marriage with no way for dioceses to opt out. On the other hand, those who are conservative are likely to reach out to overseas leaders in the wider Anglican Communion to pressure the church to stop. 
 
 The conservative minority of bishops at the meeting agreed the compromise was the best outcome they could hope to achieve, and told their liberal colleagues they were grateful for the accommodation given them. 
 
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 The bishops agreed to allow clergy to begin offering same-sex marriages using the new rites after Nov. 1. However, no clergy could be compelled to perform a same-sex marriage, and a bishop had the authority to forbid his clergy from celebrating gay marriages. 
 
 The former bishop of Virginia, Peter Lee, explained to the bishops in Salt Lake City the accommodation meant that a conservative priest in a liberal diocese would incur no penalty if he refused to perform a same-sex marriage. The priest would, however, have to pass a couple seeking to be married on to another church or priest to perform the ceremony. 
 
 Priests in dioceses where the bishop forbid same-sex marriages may not solemnize gay marriages. A priest who did so would be liable for punishment for disobeying the bishop. A diocese that does not perform gay marriages must pass the couple on to another part of the church that permits gay marriage. 
 
 The path toward same-sex blessings and same-sex marriage began at the 2012 meeting of the General Convention in Indianapolis — the triennial assembly of bishops and deputies from the church’s 109 American and overseas dioceses. The church approved “provisional” same-sex blessing rites that could be used with the permission of the local bishop. 
 
 The default position of the church, however, was that marriage was an exclusive life-long covenant of one man and one woman, as described in the Episcopal Church’s Book of Common Prayer. The provisional rites and trial rites would expand the traditional teaching about marriage, the majority argued, without changing the church’s underlying text or doctrine of marriage. 
 
 Where do the battle lines get drawn now? 
 
 Bishop Edward S. Little II of northern Indiana opposed the change, telling the convention that the “issue is not the welcome of gays and lesbians” — all agreed they were to be welcomed, he said — but “whether we should alter the received faith of the church?” 
 
 Bishop Stephen Bauerschmidt of Tennessee told the convention that “procreation” was a central tenet of the Christian understanding of marriage. It “must have the potential to be fruitful in the procreation of a third person,” he argued. 
 
 Bishop William Love of Albany rose and addressed the convention and cited the biblical passage Matthew 19:5, where Jesus states that at marriage “a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 
 
 “If our Lord is the son of God … God incarnate. He is quite aware of the nature of marriage and could have offered alternatives but did not,” Love said. The issue before the Episcopal Church was not whether “men and women can love each other.” The Episcopal Church supported the full civil rights of gays and lesbians, he said. But “God has told us that is not appropriate to use the gift of sexual intimacy” outside of the marriage of one man and one woman. 
 
 What the church should be telling partnered gay and lesbian couples is, “Do you love your partner enough not to engage in sexual intimacy? The issue before us is not about relationships but sexual intimacy,” Love said. 
 
 Other bishops disagreed, saying same-gender sexual intimacy was morally acceptable and should be blessed in faithful covenanted relationships. The former bishop of New Hampshire V. Gene Robinson — the first openly gay Episcopal bishop — expressed the sentiments of the majority when he told the convention, “I think it is time for us to do this.” 
 
 “Gays and lesbians are living out their lives in holy ways,” Robinson said. Changing the church’s rules on marriage “allows us to recognize this” and to “declare how far we have come.” 
 
 The Bishop of eastern Michigan, Todd Ousley, also disagreed with some bishops’ emphasis on “procreation” as a central aim of marriage. The theological studies on marriage undertaken over the past few years had provided a more expansive understanding of “fruitfulness” in marriage, he told the bishops. As the biological father of one and adopted father of two children, Ousley stated that he and his wife “have been fruitful” in their marriage. Procreation’s biological meaning should not drive its theological meaning, he argued. 
 
 A spokesman for the church, Bishop Rev. Pierre Whalon, downplayed the archbishop of Canterbury’s concern that the votes would cause distress for the global church body. “The change of canons does not change anything,” Whalon told The Washington Post, adding that the introduction of trial rites did not detract from the authority of the church’s official stance as stated in the Book of Common Prayer. 
 
 What the bishops did agree on was to hold conflicting stances in tension and allow each side to honor their consciences. 
 
 (This piece has been updated to clarify the Episcopal Church’s connection to the Anglican Communion.) 
 
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 Episcopal Church leaders on Wednesday adopt rituals for same-sex marriage ceremonies, making it the third mainline Protestant denomination in America to do so. 
 
 Capping a week of debate in which opposing voices were scarce, the Episcopal Church USA's House of Deputies, meeting in the faith's 78th General Convention, voted 184-23 to approve the new liturgy. In a separate action, Episcopal Church deputies voted 173 to 27 to approve the change to the church's canon, or rules, redefining marriage as being between two persons, instead of a man and a woman. 
 
 "This is one of many bridges we need to build for the future," said E. Bruce Garner, a deputy from Atlanta, of the change. But the Rev. José Luis Mendoza from Honduras opposed the move, saying it would cause schism in the church. 
 
 "This resolution goes against the biblical principles of our church," he said. "Don't be seduced by the fashion of society." 
 
 The Episcopal Church vote comes on the heels of a June 26 Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage in all 50 states and a dramatic shift in public support for the change. Episcopalians now join the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the United Church of Christ in offering such rituals to same-sex couples. 
 
 The Episcopal Church voted in 1976 that gays and lesbians were "a full and equal claim with all other persons upon the love, acceptance, and pastoral concern and care of the (c)hurch." By 2003, the Episcopal Church elected its first openly gay bishop, a move that critics say triggered a major schism. In the past nine years, the church has lost 12 percent of its membership, statistics revealed. 
 
 Beginning Nov. 29, which Episcopalians note as the first Sunday of Advent, congregations will be authorized to use a rite called "The Witnessing and Blessing of a Lifelong Covenant," which is designed without reference to gender. Proposed for "trial" use are liturgies tailored to same-sex marriages where they are legal, the church's resolution said. 
 
 The use of the liturgies would be subject to the permission of a diocese's bishop, said the Rev. Brian Baker, a member of the church's task force on marriage. Bishops can refuse to allow the ceremonies in their diocese, and any cleric can refuse to marry any couple for any reason, according to the voted resolution. 
 
 The church's actions Wednesday also involved changing of official Episcopal Church definition of marriage, contained in a resolution proposing revisions to the church's "canon," or rules, concerning marriage. 
 
 According to Joan Geiszler-Ludlum, an attorney from North Carolina and chairwoman of the Committee on Constitution and Canons, those changes would make same-sex couples feel capable of achieving the same goals in marriage other couples desire. 
 
 In the runup to the vote, several dozen people spoke at three hearings of the church's special legislative committee on marriage, as well as in the House of Bishops. Only one, the Rt. Rev. William Love, bishop of Albany, New York, cited the Bible in his arguments, referring to Jesus' words on divorce that refer to marriage as between a man and a woman. 
 
 Several Episcopal Church delegates said discussions about scriptural interpretations of marriage and same-sex behavior have been ongoing prior to the Salt Lake City convention. 
 
 Norah Grimball, a lay deputy from Columbia, South Carolina, said her diocese has "discussed this at length" of the study papers citing scripture. "We have to realize that most of the Bible's references (against homosexuality) were in the setting of abuse and not a committed, loving relationship," she said. 
 
 The Rt. Rev. Don Johnson, also saying the Bible's viewpoint has been discussed over the years, added, "we are trying to be faithful to God's love for all creation and our call to be part of that." 
 
 Responding to the earlier vote by the House of Bishops approving the new marriage liturgy, the leader of the world's Anglicans said the move would add stress to relationships between the Episcopal Church and its Anglican peers. 
 
 Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby stated the American move "will cause distress for some and have ramifications for the Anglican Communion as a whole, as well as for its ecumenical and interfaith relationships." 
 
 Email: mkellner@deseretnews.com 
 
 Twitter: @Mark_Kellner
– The leaders of the Episcopal Church have approved same-sex marriage by a more resounding margin than the Supreme Court did last week: The church's House of Deputies voted 173-27 in favor of new rules and rituals that will allow same-sex couples to be married in church, the AP reports. The House of Bishops backed the changes 129-26 on Tuesday. The church, which is the American member of the Anglican Communion, was seen as a trailblazer when it elected an openly gay bishop in 2003 and is now the third major Protestant group to allow gay marriage in all congregations, after the United Church of Christ and the Presbyterian Church, which voted to redefine marriage earlier this year, the AP notes. It took a week of debate at the church's General Convention to bring in the changes, which include ditching terms like "wife" and "husband" for gender-neutral language, the Deseret News reports. The final product of the negotiations was a compromise that allows clergy to refuse to perform same-sex wedding ceremonies, which means that although such ceremonies may begin in some areas this fall, they are unlikely to be held in more conservative dioceses, Episcopal priest George Conger explains at the Washington Post. "What the bishops did agree on was to hold conflicting stances in tension and allow each side to honor their consciences," he writes.