US Episcopal Church turns down ban on gay bishops
-21/06/06
Clergy and lay delegates a
US Episcopal Church turns down ban on gay bishops
-21/06/06
Clergy and lay delegates at the Episcopal Church USA General Convention meeting in Columbus, Ohio, yesterday (20 June 2006) voted down a motion urging dioceses to refrain from electing candidates for episcopacy ìwhose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communionî ñ in effect lesbian and gay bishops.
The language of ìstrainingî the Communion is also weaker than those who regard pro-gay Anglicans as errant would like. They believe the Church should acknowledge ìbreakingî fellowship on the matter.
Although the media are interpreting this as the last word from ECUSA on the Windsor Report, which asked for a moratorium and a genuine expression of regret at the election of Bishop Gene Robinson in New Hampshire, it may not be so. The final day of the meeting may yet prove critical.
Anglican leaders from other world region provinces, and from within the dissident conservative wing of ECUSA, were angered by the 2003 consecration of Robinson, an openly gay Episcopal bishop with a live-in partner. They had asked the Episcopal Church to agree to an (at least temporary) ban on homosexuals leading dioceses.
Observers say that progressives within the Church do not want the sexuality argument to become a defining and ìfirst orderî question, while some close to breaking away from ECUSA may secretly ñ and, in some cases, not so secretly ñ hope that the Church fails the ìtestî which from their perspective a majority in the wider Anglican Communion has set it.
In a complex balloting system, a majority of the Episcopal House of Deputies voted against a measure which conservatives, who still thought it did not go far enough, acknowledged would have signalled that the American denomination understood the concerns of the wider Communion.
Controversy has also been present in response to the historic election of a woman, the Rt Rev Katharine Jefferts Schori, now Bishop of Nevada, as the next ECUSA presiding bishop ñ succeeding the Rt Rev Frank Griswold.
Jefferts Schori, a moderate who is known for her scholarly and pastoral approach, voted for Bishop Robinson but did not attend his consecration. She said today that homosexuality was not a sin. But she has also stressed that she wants dialogue not confrontation with those who disagree with her and each other.
Technically many conservatives would be obliged to agree with her statement, as they distinguish between personhood and sexual expression. But in practice they take the homosexual orientation to be dysfunctional ñ against contemporary medical and psychological opinion.
However the Presiding Bishop Electís chief fault, in the eyes of some Anglicans, is simply being a woman. Ordained female ministry has not been accepted by many parts of the Communion, and the Roman Catholic Church has recently re-iterated that a male-only episcopacy is the only basis for future unity between Catholics and Protestants.
Meanwhile, Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, who is pro-womenís ordination and whose traditionalist theology embraced an affirmative stance to gay people before he took up his position as spiritual leader of the Church, has chosen to emphasise the priority of mutual accountability in trying to chart a way forward.
His orientation is to ask for restraint and mutual listening on all sides, and to argue that the nature of the Church as a unifying and reconciling body ought to enable it to commit to holding together ëin Christí, even as the deep divisions over sexuality and gender are worked through.
For him this means upholding the majority tradition for the time being and backing the Windsor moratorium, a matter which has caused disappointment for those who hoped he would lead Anglicans into a new way of seeing the issues themselves.
ìWe cannot survive as a communion of churches without some common convictions about what it is to live and to make decisions as the Body of Christ,î Dr Williams wrote in a message to the ECUSA General Convention when it began last week.
Whatever the outcome of the Columbus meeting he is thought likely to call for more reflection, more forbearance and to hold out the olive branch of a new ëcovenantalí approach to Anglican politics and polity in the run-up to the 2008 Lambeth Conference of (worldwide) Bishops.
The intense debate in Columbus has also coincided with the Presbyterian Church (USA) discussing today whether to allow leeway on the ordination of gay clergy and lay elders and deacons.
United Methodists and Lutherans in the USA have themselves been embroiled in arguments about the full inclusion ñ or otherwise ñ of lesbian and gay people in their churches.
Baptists and Catholics have been traditionally against, while the United Church of Christ has faced pressure from global partners because of its affirming tendencies.
For many the matter boils down to a question of authority and the Bible ñ with one side saying the Christian tradition opposes homosexuality, while the other side says that the small number of biblical texts quoted against same-sex relationships are actually about abusive sex practices and need to be read in the wider context of the Gospelís creation of a new community.
Bishop Gene Robinson, whose election has been blamed for the controversy, but whose supporters say is merely carrying out his Christian vocation, has remained in good heart throughout the proceedings ñ though in the recent past he admits it has taken a heavy toll on him personally.
Bishop Robinson said after the election of Ms Jefferts Schori as Presiding Bishop (she will be installed on 4 November) that at least the focus had moved away from him. And he joked that he was thinking of wearing a pin-badge announcing, ìItís a girl!î
[Also on Ekklesia: Joy greets the first-ever Anglican woman leader 19/06/06; Don’t practice divisive religion, UN man tells Episcopalians 18/06/06; Worrying new Anglican dispute about David Beckham 19/06/06 Inclusive Church reports on key US Episcopal gathering 16/06/06; Episcopal Church USA faces pressure on Anglican gay split; Lord Carey says ordaining a gay bishop verges on heresy; Conservative Episcopalians break away ahead of Eames report; African bishops say Windsor Report is offensive; Windsor Report does not call for apology; Episcopal bishop rejects Nigerian criticism on gays; Episcopal leader calls for aid focus on Palestine-Israel; Church in Haiti keeps hope alive amid violence and poverty; US Anglicans seek to end Cuban isolation]
US Episcopal Church turns down ban on gay bishops
-21/06/06
Clergy and lay delegates at the Episcopal Church USA General Convention meeting in Columbus, Ohio, yesterday (20 June 2006) voted down a motion urging dioceses to refrain from electing candidates for episcopacy ìwhose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communionî ñ in effect lesbian and gay bishops.
The language of ìstrainingî the Communion is also weaker than those who regard pro-gay Anglicans as errant would like. They believe the Church should acknowledge ìbreakingî fellowship on the matter.
Although the media are interpreting this as the last word from ECUSA on the Windsor Report, which asked for a moratorium and a genuine expression of regret at the election of Bishop Gene Robinson in New Hampshire, it may not be so. The final day of the meeting may yet prove critical.
Anglican leaders from other world region provinces, and from within the dissident conservative wing of ECUSA, were angered by the 2003 consecration of Robinson, an openly gay Episcopal bishop with a live-in partner. They had asked the Episcopal Church to agree to an (at least temporary) ban on homosexuals leading dioceses.
Observers say that progressives within the Church do not want the sexuality argument to become a defining and ìfirst orderî question, while some close to breaking away from ECUSA may secretly ñ and, in some cases, not so secretly ñ hope that the Church fails the ìtestî which from their perspective a majority in the wider Anglican Communion has set it.
In a complex balloting system, a majority of the Episcopal House of Deputies voted against a measure which conservatives, who still thought it did not go far enough, acknowledged would have signalled that the American denomination understood the concerns of the wider Communion.
Controversy has also been present in response to the historic election of a woman, the Rt Rev Katharine Jefferts Schori, now Bishop of Nevada, as the next ECUSA presiding bishop ñ succeeding the Rt Rev Frank Griswold.
Jefferts Schori, a moderate who is known for her scholarly and pastoral approach, voted for Bishop Robinson but did not attend his consecration. She said today that homosexuality was not a sin. But she has also stressed that she wants dialogue not confrontation with those who disagree with her and each other.
Technically many conservatives would be obliged to agree with her statement, as they distinguish between personhood and sexual expression. But in practice they take the homosexual orientation to be dysfunctional ñ against contemporary medical and psychological opinion.
However the Presiding Bishop Electís chief fault, in the eyes of some Anglicans, is simply being a woman. Ordained female ministry has not been accepted by many parts of the Communion, and the Roman Catholic Church has recently re-iterated that a male-only episcopacy is the only basis for future unity between Catholics and Protestants.
Meanwhile, Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, who is pro-womenís ordination and whose traditionalist theology embraced an affirmative stance to gay people before he took up his position as spiritual leader of the Church, has chosen to emphasise the priority of mutual accountability in trying to chart a way forward.
His orientation is to ask for restraint and mutual listening on all sides, and to argue that the nature of the Church as a unifying and reconciling body ought to enable it to commit to holding together ëin Christí, even as the deep divisions over sexuality and gender are worked through.
For him this means upholding the majority tradition for the time being and backing the Windsor moratorium, a matter which has caused disappointment for those who hoped he would lead Anglicans into a new way of seeing the issues themselves.
ìWe cannot survive as a communion of churches without some common convictions about what it is to live and to make decisions as the Body of Christ,î Dr Williams wrote in a message to the ECUSA General Convention when it began last week.
Whatever the outcome of the Columbus meeting he is thought likely to call for more reflection, more forbearance and to hold out the olive branch of a new ëcovenantalí approach to Anglican politics and polity in the run-up to the 2008 Lambeth Conference of (worldwide) Bishops.
The intense debate in Columbus has also coincided with the Presbyterian Church (USA) discussing today whether to allow leeway on the ordination of gay clergy and lay elders and deacons.
United Methodists and Lutherans in the USA have themselves been embroiled in arguments about the full inclusion ñ or otherwise ñ of lesbian and gay people in their churches.
Baptists and Catholics have been traditionally against, while the United Church of Christ has faced pressure from global partners because of its affirming tendencies.
For many the matter boils down to a question of authority and the Bible ñ with one side saying the Christian tradition opposes homosexuality, while the other side says that the small number of biblical texts quoted against same-sex relationships are actually about abusive sex practices and need to be read in the wider context of the Gospelís creation of a new community.
Bishop Gene Robinson, whose election has been blamed for the controversy, but whose supporters say is merely carrying out his Christian vocation, has remained in good heart throughout the proceedings ñ though in the recent past he admits it has taken a heavy toll on him personally.
Bishop Robinson said after the election of Ms Jefferts Schori as Presiding Bishop (she will be installed on 4 November) that at least the focus had moved away from him. And he joked that he was thinking of wearing a pin-badge announcing, ìItís a girl!î
[Also on Ekklesia: Joy greets the first-ever Anglican woman leader 19/06/06; Don’t practice divisive religion, UN man tells Episcopalians 18/06/06; Worrying new Anglican dispute about David Beckham 19/06/06 Inclusive Church reports on key US Episcopal gathering 16/06/06; Episcopal Church USA faces pressure on Anglican gay split; Lord Carey says ordaining a gay bishop verges on heresy; Conservative Episcopalians break away ahead of Eames report; African bishops say Windsor Report is offensive; Windsor Report does not call for apology; Episcopal bishop rejects Nigerian criticism on gays; Episcopal leader calls for aid focus on Palestine-Israel; Church in Haiti keeps hope alive amid violence and poverty; US Anglicans seek to end Cuban isolation]