What is Claiming the Blessing (claimingtheblessing.org)?

Updated

Claiming the Blessing (CTB) is an advocacy collaborative within the Episcopal Church, convened in 2002, that works for the full inclusion of all baptized people in all sacraments of the church. The website claimingtheblessing.org serves as its public home for history, resources, and ongoing advocacy updates. If you are looking for an Episcopal justice organization focused on LGBTQ inclusion and marriage equality, this is the right starting point.

Who runs it

CTB was formed as an intentional collaboration of organizations and individuals inside the Episcopal Church. Its founding partners included:

  • Integrity
  • Oasis
  • Beyond Inclusion
  • The Episcopal Women's Caucus

These groups partnered with The Witness magazine and other individual Episcopal leaders. So CTB is not a single congregation or a general news site — it is a coalition of existing justice organizations working together.

What it advocates for

The collaborative focuses on three broad commitments:

  • Promoting wholeness in human relationships
  • Abolishing prejudice and oppression
  • Healing the rift between sexuality and spirituality in the church

In practice, its advocacy has covered:

  • Liturgies for the blessing of same-sex relationships
  • Equal access to all orders of ministry for qualified gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender candidates
  • Civil and sacramental marriage equality

Key milestones

Year Development
2002 CTB convened as a collaborative within the Episcopal Church
2015 The 78th General Convention in Salt Lake City amended marriage canons and approved liturgies for equal use by same-sex and opposite-sex couples
2018 The 79th General Convention in Austin focused on securing and implementing those advances, including equal access to marriage across the church and amplifying voices in dissenting dioceses

CTB describes 2015 as a watershed year, bringing civil marriage equality to the United States and sacramental marriage equality to the Episcopal Church. Its later work turned to making sure that a person's zip code does not determine whether their marriage receives equal blessing or equal protection.

What you'll find on the site

The site is organized around a few main areas:

  • History — how the collaborative began and what it has worked for
  • Resources — materials related to its advocacy
  • Voices of Witness — personal testimonies
  • Where do we go from here — ongoing reflection and next steps

It also carries recent posts, comments, archives, and categories, functioning as a record of the collaborative's work rather than a general news outlet.

Why it matters

CTB represents a sustained, organized effort to change church policy from within. Its stated position is that while homophobia and discrimination against LGBTQ people still exist in the church and the world, the legislative gains of 2015 and 2018 marked real progress. The site's own framing puts it plainly: having "claimed the blessing" legislatively, the work continues to be lived out incarnationally — la lucha continua.