A Pastoral Letter from Bishop Stephen T. Lane to the Diocese of Maine

On Sunday, March 18, a pastoral letter by Bishop Lane was read in each Maine congregation. The letter outlines the issues facing the Episcopal Church and the people in Maine later this year regarding the Anglican Covenant and the blessings of same-gender relationships, both of which will come before the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in July, and the marriage equality referendum that Mainers will consider in November.

You may read the Pastoral Letter here.

A two-page list of resources and background material about the Anglican Covenant and the work of the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music is available here. The Anglican Covenant may be found in its entirety here.

In his letter Bishop Lane commends the Maine Council of Churches’ Covenant for Civil Discourse to members of the Diocese of Maine. That document is available here.

An exhaustive list of primary documents charting the evolution of the Anglican Covenant and a detailed timeline is available at www.noanglicancovenant.org.

The Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music’s blog liturgyandmusic.wordpress.com has excerpts from its report and information on its work to date.