Careful compassion.

As a mainline denomination, the Protestant Episcopal Church has long taken a more liberal and conciliatory--if not unabashedly supportive--approach to gay rights than its Pentecostal counterparts.

That moderate approach was very much in evidence at the 2.4-million--member Episcopal Church's general conference held in July in Denver. Without actually mentioning gay men or lesbians, the church sidestepped the question of same-sex marriage and released a statement acknowledging that many unmarried church members are "living in other lifelong, committed relationships."

While reiterating "the church's teaching on the sanctity of marriage," it acknowledged that "some, acting in good conscience ... will act in contradiction to that position" and offered "prayerful support, encouragement, and pastoral care" to both types of relationships. Those hoping for a bolder statement will have to wait until 2003, when the church next holds a general conference.