Episcopal bishop who required gay clergy to marry their partners announces retirement
An Episcopal Church bishop in New York who garnered headlines years ago for requiring openly gay clergy to marry their romantic partners has announced his plans to retire.
The Right Rev. Lawrence Provenzano of the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island issued a pastoral letter on Tuesday announcing his plan to step down in September 2026, which will mark 17 years since his consecration.
Provenzano said he will turn 70 next month, saying it is “time for me to set into motion for the diocese, and especially the Standing Committee and eventual Joint Oversight Committee, the process of discernment for the search, nomination, election, and ordination of my successor.”
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“I will remain actively and fully your bishop until the moment I hand the diocesan crozier into the hands of my successor during her or his ordination as bishop,” he wrote.
“For now, I ask for your prayers for me, my family, and the staff of the diocese. I ask that, in every way you may be involved in the process that will unfold, that you remain focused on our witness as the church, the people of God.”
In July 2011, as New York legalized same-sex marriage, Provenzano announced that gay clergy within his diocese who had romantic partners had to marry them within the next nine months.
“I hereby grant a grace period of nine months from the effective date of the New York State Law permitting same-gender marriages for those relationships to be regularized either by the exchange of vows in marriage or the living apart of said couples,” the bishop wrote at the time.
“I deem it to be honest and fair, and I do so direct and require, now that it is legal, that only married couples may live together, either in rectories or elsewhere as a clergy couple living in the midst of our faith community.”
The Rev. Christopher Hofer, pastor of the Episcopal Church of St. Jude of Wantagh, New York, was among those who agreed with Provenzano’s edict on openly gay clergy.
“I think his statement was not only fair, but beyond generous. It gives people time, acknowledging that there’s a financial component involved and recognizing that some may not choose to live together,” said Hofer in 2011.
“Now that the state is recognizing civil marriage, we as priests, perhaps deacons too, who are in committed relationships, have a choice: we either live what we preach to become civilly married or we live apart.”
In the summer of 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Provenzano issued a pastoral letter requiring all diocesan staff and clergy to be vaccinated by Sept. 15, with an exemption for any who had medical conditions that might prevent them from doing so.
“Those individuals who cannot receive the vaccine will have to agree to wearing a mask at all indoor gatherings, meetings, and liturgies and agree to be tested every ten days until such time as the COVID-19 virus is no longer a threat to the health and safety of the people we are called to serve,” he stated.
“Sisters and brothers, no one seeks to prolong the tremendous agony that exists today in our world. No one seeks to make life more complicated in the midst of the turmoil of the last eighteen months. Each of us, as members of the Body of Christ, must now do our part to help end this crisis.”
In April, Provenzano was one of multiple bishops to sign a letter objecting to The General Theological Seminary reaching a lease agreement with the Catholic choral group School of Sacred Music due to the group’s theologically conservative views on LGBT issues.
