IRELAND: Primate expresses regret over consent to Glasspool's election in Los Angeles
Episcopal News Service. April 7, 2010 [040710-03]
Matthew Davies
Church of Ireland Anglican Archbishop Alan Harper has expressed his "deep regret" that the U.S.-based Episcopal Church has given its consent to the election of Los Angeles Bishop-elect Mary Glasspool.
The decision, Harper said in a statement to the Church of Ireland Gazette, "does not reflect the mind of a majority of those in positions of leadership in the Anglican Communion and it is bound to create even greater stresses within the communion at a time when consultations on an Anglican covenant are at an advanced stage."
Glasspool is the second openly gay partnered priest to be elected a bishop in the Episcopal Church. The first was Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, who was elected in 2003. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori's office on March 17 confirmed that Glasspool had received the required number of consents from diocesan standing committees and bishops with jurisdiction to her ordination and consecration as a bishop.
The Anglican covenant to which Harper refers was first cited in the 2004 Windsor Report, a document that made several recommendations on how the communion might maintain unity amid disagreements over theological interpretations and human sexuality issues. The covenant is currently in its final draft and has been sent to the communion's 38 provinces for formal consideration.
Harper noted that the Windsor Report had recommended that the Episcopal Church "be invited to effect a moratorium on the election and consent to the consecration of any candidate to the episcopate who is living in a same-gender union until some new consensus in the Anglican Communion emerges."
That recommendation, he added, was reiterated at successive Primates Meetings, and most recently with a request in February 2009 for "gracious restraint" in respect of actions that endanger the unity of the Anglican Communion.
"The decision of the Episcopal Church in respect of the confirmation of an election and subsequent consecration of a partnered gay person to the episcopate has clearly signaled the end of 'gracious restraint,'" Harper said. "This is a development which I deeply regret."
The Episcopal Church's General Convention, meeting in July, passed Resolution D025 saying that God's call to ordained ministry is "a mystery which the church attempts to discern for all people through our discernment processes acting in accordance with [its] Constitution and Canons ..." Glasspool is the first openly gay priest to be elected bishop since the passage of Resolution D025.
Harper noted that Jefferts Schori, in a letter to the primates of the Anglican Communion, said that Glasspool's consent "is not the decision of one person, or a small group of people. It represents the mind of a majority of the elected leaders in the Episcopal Church, lay, clergy and bishops, who have carefully considered the opinions and feelings of other members of the Anglican Communion as well as the decades-long conversations within this church."
In the Episcopal Church, a bishop is elected by lay representatives and all the clergy of a diocese. Then a majority of the church's bishops exercising jurisdiction and diocesan standing committees must consent to his or her ordination within 120 days of receiving notice of the election, as required by the canons of the Episcopal Church (III.11.4).
In many other Anglican provinces, particularly those in Africa and England, bishops are appointed rather than elected, resulting in a much less democratic process than in the U.S.-based Episcopal Church.
Harper also expressed his concern that the consent to Glasspool's election will have implications for "extraterritorial interventions by other provinces in the life of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada," acknowledging that a moratorium on such interventions has also been requested by the primates.
"Extraterritorial interventions have been sustained," he said. "They have now been added to by the setting up of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), an overtly extra-territorial province-in-embryo, embracing the national integrities of both the United States of America and Canada. The ACNA is now seeking recognition within the wider Anglican Communion."
Meanwhile, other groups and individuals have expressed joy in the decision, saying it is cause for celebration.
Maryland Bishop Eugene Sutton, whom Glasspool served as canon to the ordinary, immediately heralded the news of the consent as "a great day for the cause of justice and the ministry of reconciliation in the Episcopal Church. I rejoice that a majority of bishops and standing committees have seen in Canon Glasspool what we have experienced in the Diocese of Maryland: that she is an exceptionally gifted pastor, administrator and spiritually centered leader who will prove to be an outstanding member of the House of Bishops."
Sutton said he prays that "the whole church will be open to the Spirit's guidance as we all move forward together in light of this historic event. The time is now for us to remove old barriers of bigotry and exclusion, and recommit ourselves to welcoming all of our brothers and sisters in Christ."
The Rev. Sharon Ferguson, chief executive of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, a U.K.-based advocacy group, "enthusiastically welcomed" news of Glasspool's approval.
The Episcopal Church has "demonstrated a commitment to the inclusive gospel of Christ and have recognized the qualities, experience and deep Christian faith which have characterized Mary Glasspool's ministry thus far," Ferguson said in a March 22 statement.
The group said it "hopes that even those who find this to be a decision they cannot accept will join with her in furthering the cause of the gospel in a hurting world."
Other Anglican primates who have spoken out publicly concerning Glasspool's election and consent include Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini of Rwanda.
"It is regrettable that the appeals from Anglican Communion bodies for continuing gracious restraint have not been heeded," said Williams, referring to calls in late 2009 from the communion's Standing Committee and its Unity, Faith and Order commission.
Williams said that "further consultation will now take place about the implications and consequences of this decision."
Kolini told Ecumenical News International in a March 24 interview, during which he accused Western churches of imposing homosexuality onto the South, that Glasspool's consent will be divisive. "It is clear that those on both sides of the issue are not of the same mind and are not going to work together," he said.
Glasspool's consecration is planned for May 15 and Jefferts Schori will be the chief consecrator.