What Is Claiming the Blessing's Current Focus After the 2018 General Convention?

Claiming the Blessing (CTB) describes its post-2018 work as a shift from winning legislative change to implementing it. In its own account, the collaborative turned "to both securing and implementing those advances and making sure that your zip code does not define whether or not your marriage receives equal blessing by the church or equal protection by the Constitution." That statement is the clearest summary of its current focus: the canons and liturgies already exist, and the remaining task is making them real in every diocese and congregation.

From legislating to "living it out incarnationally"

CTB was convened in 2002 as a collaborative of organizations and individuals within the Episcopal Church advocating for "full inclusion of all the baptized in all sacraments of the church." Its founding partners included Integrity, Oasis, Beyond Inclusion, and the Episcopal Women's Caucus, working alongside The Witness magazine and other individual leaders.

Its stated aims from the beginning were:

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

The 2015 General Convention in Salt Lake City marked what CTB calls a watershed: the 78th General Convention adopted resolutions amending the marriage canons and approved liturgies for equal use by same-sex and opposite-sex couples. That same year, civil marriage equality came to the United States.

At the 79th General Convention in Austin in 2018, CTB's work centered on:

1. Legislative advances guaranteeing equal access to marriage across the Episcopal Church
2. Amplifying voices of those it describes as "left behind" in the eight dissenting dioceses (out of 101)

After Austin, CTB's framing is that it has "claimed the blessing" legislatively and is now "committed to the work of living it out incarnationally" — that is, embodying the change in actual parish and diocesan practice rather than only in church law. The site closes that account with "La lucha continua" ("the struggle continues").

What "your zip code should not define your marriage" means in practice

This phrase is the operational core of CTB's current focus. Even after 2015 and 2018, the practical availability of equal marriage blessings and equal access to ordination can vary by diocese and congregation. CTB's stated concern is that geography — where a couple happens to live — should not determine whether their marriage receives the church's equal blessing or the Constitution's equal protection.

For a reader trying to understand the organization's present posture, the key takeaway is that CTB no longer presents itself primarily as a campaign for new canons. It presents itself as a watchdog and advocacy voice for implementation, with attention to the dioceses that dissented and to those it considers underserved by the advances already won.

What the site offers

The homepage navigation lists these sections:

The page also includes standard blog elements — Recent Posts, Recent Comments, Archives, Categories, and Meta — indicating the site functions as an ongoing publication rather than a static archive.

Practical caveats

• The site's own description of its work ends with the 2018 General Convention; it does not, in the material available here, lay out a detailed post-2018 program beyond the commitments quoted above.
• The homepage mentions "subscription" among its pricing signals, but no pricing links or payment platforms are listed, so nothing here establishes whether any part of the site is paid or requires an account.
• For current activity, the Recent Posts and Archives sections are the places to check, since the homepage text is a historical summary rather than a live status page.