Bishop Thomas Ely is one of 29 Episcopal bishops who have signed an amici curiae (friends of the courts) brief in the United States Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, which prevents the U.S. government from recognizing same-sex civil marriages in their dioceses. The bishops represent 23 of 24 dioceses in civil jurisdictions with marriage equality located in the States of California, Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia.

I greet you on this Ash Wednesday as we begin the Holy Season of Lent with these words from Psalm 139: "For you yourself created my inmost parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I will thank you because I am marvelously made; your works are wonderful, and I know it well." I was invited to reflect on these words this morning while reading Brother Geoffrey Tristram's offering in the "Brother, Give Us A Word" series from the brothers at The Society of Saint John the Evangelist (SSJE).

“Will you respect the dignity of every human being?” This question from the Baptismal Covenant directs our attention to one of the most important promises we make as Christians. When you answer, “I will, with God’s help” what is it to which you are committing yourself? Donna Hicks is helping me to understand at a deeply spiritual level what my commitment to this promise means. Her book, Dignity, The Essential Role it Plays in Resolving Conflict, is the fruit of her many years of engagement with this topic of human dignity.

January 10, 2013 – the Right Reverend Thomas C. Ely, Episcopal Bishop of Vermont

The current residence of the Episcopal Bishop of Vermont at Rock Point in Burlington, built in 1895, stands on the site of the original house built by Bishop Hopkins some 50 years earlier. Over the porch of the entrance is carved the “arms” of the Diocese, comprising the pastoral staff, the mountains and wheat sheaves of the State coat of arms, the fleur de lis of the arms of Old France, and the words Veritas liberabit vos - “The truth shall make you free,” taken from the eighth chapter of the Gospel according to John. Our State motto incorporates two other great Biblical themes: “Freedom and Unity.”