claimingtheblessing.org

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

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.

Claiming the Blessing (CTB) uses that phrase to mean exactly what it says: every person who has been baptized — including gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people — should have full access to every sacrament and every order of ministry in the Episcopal Church. It is not a general statement about welcome or hospitality. It is a specific claim about church law, liturgy, and ordained ministry, and CTB has pursued it since 2002 through legislation at the Episcopal Church's General Convention.

The phrase, unpacked

Two parts carry the weight:

• "All the baptized" — baptism, not sexual orientation or gender identity, is the qualifying condition for membership and access in the church. If someone is baptized, nothing else should restrict their participation.
• "All sacraments" — this covers the full sacramental life, but CTB's advocacy has concentrated on two areas where LGBTQ Episcopalians were historically excluded: the blessing of same-sex relationships (and later, marriage) and ordination to all orders of ministry.

The phrase is therefore a theological and canonical argument, not a social slogan. It says the church's own sacramental logic — that baptism admits a person to full membership — is inconsistent with denying anyone the sacraments that follow.

What CTB has actually advocated for

According to the organization's own account of its history, its advocacy has included:

• Liturgies for the blessing of same-sex relationships — developing and approving rites the church could use.
• Equal access to all orders of ministry — ensuring qualified gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender candidates can be ordained as deacons, priests, and bishops.
• Civil and sacramental marriage equality — supporting both legal marriage equality in the wider society and equal marriage rites in the church.
• Implementation, not just policy — after the 2015 General Convention amended the marriage canons and approved liturgies for equal use by same-sex and opposite-sex couples, CTB's work shifted toward making sure those advances were actually available regardless of where a person lives.

That last point matters for understanding the phrase. A canon passed at the national level does not automatically change practice in every diocese or parish. CTB's stated concern after 2015 was that "your zip code does not define whether or not your marriage receives equal blessing by the church or equal protection by the Constitution."

The 2015 and 2018 turning points

CTB describes 2015 as a watershed year. At the 78th General Convention in Salt Lake City, resolutions amended the church's marriage canons and approved liturgies for equal use by same-sex and opposite-sex couples. In the same period, civil marriage equality became law in the United States.

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

• Advocating for legislative guarantees of equal access to marriage across the Episcopal Church.
• Amplifying the voices of those "left behind" in the eight dissenting dioceses out of 101.

This is where the phrase meets reality. National legislation can permit equal access, but a minority of dioceses resisted, and CTB framed its ongoing task as both securing and implementing the advances already won — "having now 'claimed the blessing' legislatively we continue to be committed to the work of living it out incarnationally."

Why this is a church-law question, not only a social one

CTB was convened in 2002 as a collaborative of organizations and individuals within the Episcopal Church, including Integrity, Oasis, Beyond Inclusion, and the Episcopal Women's Caucus, in partnership with The Witness magazine. Its stated focus areas were:

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

Those goals are theological and ecclesial. The mechanism for pursuing them was the General Convention — the church's legislative body — which is why the phrase "all the baptized in all sacraments" functions as a canonical standard to be written into church law, not just a value to be affirmed.

What this means if you're trying to understand the site

If you arrive at claimingtheblessing.org wondering what the organization wants, the answer is narrower and more concrete than "inclusion" as a general idea. It wants:

1. Baptism to be the only gate to full sacramental participation.
2. Marriage rites available equally to same-sex and opposite-sex couples, in every diocese.
3. Ordination open to qualified LGBTQ candidates in all orders of ministry.
4. The gap between national policy and local practice closed.

The site's own framing — "Proclaiming the Good News of God's inclusive love" — sits on top of that legislative and liturgical program. Understanding the phrase as a claim about sacraments and church law, rather than a statement of welcome, is the key to reading the rest of the site.

Claiming the Blessing (CTB) is a collaborative of organizations and individuals within the Episcopal Church that has advocated since 2002 for the full inclusion of all the baptized in all sacraments. Its specific advocacy has centered on three areas: liturgies for blessing same-sex relationships, equal access to all orders of ministry for qualified LGBTQ candidates, and civil and sacramental marriage equality. The timeline below shows what changed at each General Convention.

Founding and Core Focus (2002)

CTB was convened in 2002 as an intentional collaborative. Its founding partners included leading Episcopal justice organizations — Integrity, Oasis, Beyond Inclusion, and the Episcopal Women's Caucus — in partnership with The Witness magazine and other individual leaders in the Episcopal Church.

The collaborative framed its work around three stated goals:

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

These goals set the direction for the specific legislative and liturgical advocacy that followed.

Advocacy Priorities

Across its history, CTB's advocacy has included:

• Liturgies for the blessing of same-sex relationships — working toward authorized rites, not only informal or local practices
• Equal access to all orders of ministry — supporting qualified gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender candidates for ordination
• Civil and sacramental marriage equality — supporting both legal recognition and church blessing of marriages

The 2015 Turning Point: 78th General Convention

CTB describes 2015 as a watershed year. At the 78th General Convention, meeting in Salt Lake City, the convention:

• Adopted resolutions that amended the canons on marriage
• Approved liturgies for equal use by same-sex and opposite-sex couples

In the same year, civil marriage equality came to the United States. CTB frames these two developments together — sacramental marriage equality in the Episcopal Church and civil marriage equality in the country — as the culmination of years of advocacy.

CTB is explicit, however, that this did not mean the work was finished. It notes that homophobia and discrimination against LGBTQ people remained in both the church and the world.

2018: Securing and Implementing the Advances — 79th General Convention

After 2015, CTB's work shifted from winning legislative change to securing and implementing it. A central concern was geography: making sure, in CTB's words, that "your zip code does not define whether or not your marriage receives equal blessing by the church or equal protection by the Constitution."

At the 79th General Convention in Austin, that work included:

• Advocating for legislative advances guaranteeing equal access to marriage across the Episcopal Church
• Amplifying the voices of those "left behind" in the eight dissenting dioceses (out of 101)

CTB describes much as having been accomplished in Austin, and characterizes its posture afterward as having "claimed the blessing" legislatively while continuing the work of "living it out incarnationally."

How to Read This Timeline

If you want to verify or follow this work directly, the site's own navigation includes History, Resources, and Voices of Witness sections, plus an archive of posts by category and date. Those are the primary places to check for CTB's own account of its advocacy and for any updates beyond the 2018 convention.

claimingtheblessing.org is the home of Claiming the Blessing (CTB), a collaborative convened in 2002 within the Episcopal Church to advocate for the full inclusion of all the baptized in all sacraments. The site is organized as a small set of named pages plus a standard blog structure, so you can either read the advocacy history in sequence or follow ongoing posts by date, category, or archive. It is a resource and advocacy site rather than a service portal — there is no indication of gated content or paid access in the available material.

Main sections of the site

The navigation shown on the homepage lists five named areas:

The homepage text itself functions as a condensed history: it describes CTB as "an intentional collaborative of organizations and individuals within the Episcopal Church," naming Integrity, Oasis, Beyond Inclusion, and the Episcopal Women's Caucus as partners alongside the Witness magazine and individual leaders.

Following new content

Below the main narrative, the homepage uses a conventional blog layout:

• Recent Posts — the newest entries, listed in reverse chronological order
• Recent Comments — the latest reader replies, useful for seeing which posts are drawing discussion
• Archives — posts grouped by date, for reading back through the site's output
• Categories — posts grouped by topic, the fastest way to pull together everything on a single theme
• Meta — the standard site administration and feed links

A search box is also present, so if you already know the term you want — a resolution, a convention year, a specific liturgy — searching is quicker than browsing categories.

What the advocacy content covers

The homepage summarizes the arc of CTB's work, which is the main subject matter you will find across the site:

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

It marks 2015 as a turning point, noting that the 78th General Convention in Salt Lake City adopted resolutions amending the church's marriage canons and approved liturgies for equal use by same- and opposite-sex couples. The account then moves to 2018 and the 79th General Convention in Austin, where the focus shifted to securing and implementing those advances — including equal access to marriage across the Episcopal Church and amplifying voices in the eight of 101 dioceses that dissented. The stated ongoing commitment is to "living it out incarnationally," a phrase worth reading alongside the "Where do we go from here" section.

Participating in the site

The homepage includes sharing controls for X and Facebook and a comment form with a "Leave a comment" prompt and a cancel option, plus a trackback URL for linking from other sites. In other words, you can respond to a post directly or share it outward. If you want to follow the discussion rather than just the posts, the Recent Comments list is the practical entry point.

How to use the site depending on what you need

• If you are new to CTB: start with Home for the mission statement, then History for how the collaborative formed.
• If you want the theological and personal dimension: go to Voices of Witness.
• If you are researching a specific convention or resolution: use the search box or Categories rather than scrolling the Archives.
• If you want to track the work going forward: watch Recent Posts and the "Where do we go from here" section together.

One caveat: the available material describes the site's structure and its own account of its advocacy, but it does not detail what is inside the Resources or Voices of Witness pages, how often new posts appear, or whether comments are moderated. Treat the section descriptions above as a map of where to look, not a summary of contents you have not yet opened.

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.