VIRGINIA: Council welcomes 'loyal Episcopalians,' asks for exploration of optional same-gender blessings
Episcopal News Service. January 29, 2007 [012907-05]
Mary Frances Schjonberg
Delegates to the 212th Annual Council of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, meeting January 26-27 in Richmond, adopted a number of resolutions, including one calling for a commission to discern a possible "emerging consensus" regarding "local option" on the parish level for the blessing of same-gender unions.
Other resolutions addressed day laborers, the resolution process, the Millennium Development Goals, support of faithful Episcopalians and a companion diocese study.
"Episcopalians enter the fifth century as the oldest continuing Christian community in Virginia, as a diocese in communion with Canterbury, respectful of the breadth of our tradition, and centered in our orthodox faith in the risen and ascended Christ," Bishop Peter Lee told the council.
He said that the diocese's clergy and laity share "the mission of reconciliation at the heart of our Christian faith and the unity we have with one another and the Anglican Communion across the world."
"We recognize that some people experience that unity and breadth as insufficient for the exercise of their faith. We respect their consciences but also must respond when people who no longer share our mission, seek to leave and take with them property that belongs to all of us and to our grandchildren in the faith," Lee said. "Our differences with the congregations that have departed the Diocese are not about property but about legacy. The church buildings of the Diocese of Virginia were given by generations past to be Episcopal Churches for generations to come and we are committed to protecting that legacy."
Lee told the Council that the diocese has "strong support" of the Presiding Bishop and the wider church "in seeking to recover the properties now occupied by persons who are no longer loyal to the Episcopal Church and to the Diocese of Virginia."
Lee and the Standing Committee declared January 18 that the property of 11 Virginia congregations had been abandoned after the majority of the members voted to separate from the diocese and the Episcopal Church. Three of the congregations -- St. Margaret's, Woodbridge; St. Stephen's, Heathsville; and the Falls Church, Falls Church -- sent delegates, elected by the remaining members, to the council.
In addition, two members of Church of the Epiphany, Herndon, were present as guests "while the loyalists in that congregation seek to reorganize," Lee said.
The full text of Lee's address is available here (scroll down to find link).
Five constitutional and canonical amendments were discussed on the council floor. A proposed amendment which called for parish-level absentee balloting failed, while two proposed amendments — one concerning the appointment of vestry committees and one on church incorporation — were referred back to the Committee on Constitution and Canons, according to a news release from the diocese.
Delegates adopted new amendments on the inclusion of college students as council delegates and on Commission on Ministry membership.
Council delegates also approved a $4.5 million budget, as well as a petition for parish status submitted by former mission parish Church of the Messiah, Chancellor.
Among the resolutions passed by the delegates were measures to:
- commend elected officials and community leaders for establishing sites at which day laborers are treated "fairly and in a manner which benefits their communities;" and forward a similar resolution to the General Convention of the Episcopal Church for its support and adoption.
- affirm and endorse the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), urge apportioning of 0.7% of its future budgets to agencies and ministries working toward the MDGs, have the bishop appoint a global reconciliation commission with a charge including advocacy of MDGs, and endorse the Episcopal Church's "ONE Episcopalian" campaign.
- call for the commemoration of James Markham Ambler (a member of the diocese who lost his life in the Jeannette Arctic Expedition of 1881 because of his refusal to leave his dying patients) on October 30 in the diocesan calendar and advocate to the 2009 General Convention that his name be added to Lesser Feasts and Fasts.
- recommend the bishop appoint a commission to discern a possible "emerging consensus" regarding permitting "local option" for the blessing of same sex unions, with the commission reporting to the 213th Annual Council, noting that "the Lambeth Conference and Windsor Report have called us to acknowledge and respond with compassion and understanding to the pain and suffering of those who, because of their sexual orientation, endure marginalization and rejection in the church and in the world."
- express support for Lee's actions toward congregations where a majority have voted to leave the Episcopal Church.
- request the bishop to convene a task force to study the establishment of companion diocese relationships with up to four foreign dioceses in the Anglican Communion.
Complete texts of the resolutions and other details of the Council are available here (scroll down to find final texts link).
The Diocese of Virginia comprises about 90,000 Episcopalians worshipping in 195 congregations.