Reconciliation Themes Set for House of Bishops' Meeting: Theologian Miroslav Volf, Author Richard Rodriguez Will Offer Plenary Talks on the Challenge of 'Otherness'
Episcopal News Service. August 2, 2004 [080204-1-A]
(Note to media representatives: Opening plenary sessions of the upcoming meeting of the House of Bishops, together with related news conversations on site at Spokane's Davenport Hotel, will be open to reporters credentialed in advance. To apply for credentials, please see notes below.)
[ENS, New York, August 2, 2004] - Themes of reconciliation and collaboration are scheduled to engage the Episcopal Church's House of Bishops during its next national meeting, set for September 23-28 in Spokane, Washington.
"Our broad frame continues to be the reconciliation of all things in Christ through the power of the cross," Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold wrote in a July 28 letter to all 297 bishops, active and retired, in the church's 112 dioceses and similar episcopal jurisdictions. "We will continue to explore and inhabit more fully the mystery of reconciliation. Two presenters will address in different ways the continual challenge of otherness: which we experience personally, ecclesially within our own church and across the Anglican Communion, and as citizens and members of a global community."
The bishops' conversations are expected to address ways of deepening collegiality as the church moves forward with the majority of its dioceses having affirmed, by vote of General Convention last summer, an openly gay bishop whose ministry is opposed by nine dioceses aligned in a six-month-old network of affiliation.
The related topic of "Delegated Episcopal Pastoral Oversight" is scheduled to come before the House of Bishops in private conversations Monday and Tuesday, Sept. 27-28, Griswold said, as part of overall proceedings to be held at Spokane's historic and recently renovated Davenport Hotel, 10 S. Post Street (phone: 509.455.8888; website: http://www.davenporthotel.com/.)
The House of Bishops, which has convened since the time of the American Revolution, complements the House of Deputies (elected laity and clergy from each diocese) in forming the Episcopal Church's bicameral legislative body formalized in 1789 and known as the General Convention.
"Together we reflect on what it means to be the body of Christ in the midst of differences, and how we might be called to a new realization of what it means to be members one of another," Griswold's letter continues. "Our time together will be grounded, as always, in common prayer and reflections offered by our chaplains." Morning Prayer and Eucharist will be offered each day of the gathering.
Presenters who have accepted Griswold's invitation are Professor Miroslav Volf of Yale Divinity School, who is director of the Yale Center for Religion and Culture based in New Haven, Connecticut, and author Richard Rodriguez, frequent PBS essayist on the Lehrer News Hour, who is a working editor at Pacific News Service in San Francisco. (For more on Volf and Rodriguez, see ENS article of July 30, 2004, at: http://www.spokanediocese.org/.)
In the role to which he was elected as Presiding Bishop, Griswold will chair the meeting's plenary and business sessions assisted by Hawaii's Bishop Richard Chang, who currently serves the House of Bishops as its vice president. Guiding the planning process for the meeting is the 18-member House of Bishops Planning Committee, chaired by Bishop Mark Sisk of New York.
The gathering is expected to receive official visitors from other provinces of the Anglican Communion, including the primates of Brazil and Mexico, "who remind us that we are members one of another and part of a global communion," Griswold said.
Bishops' spouses will attend joint sessions while also gathered in a separate program under the theme "There's a Wideness in God's Mercy," echoing the hymn of the same title. The spouses' program is planned and coordinated by the Spouses Planning Group, chaired by Phoebe Griswold, wife of the Presiding Bishop. (Note: an upcoming ENS story will preview the spouses' program.)
Members of the general media and the church press who have obtained advance credentials (see information below) are welcome to cover opening plenary sessions scheduled as follows. Additional news conversations will be scheduled at times to be announced.
Plenary sessions begin Friday, September 24 (following dinner the previous evening to welcome new bishops and spouses, who will share in orientation sessions and a late-afternoon community Eucharist.)
Friday, September 24
9-10:15 a.m. Opening plenary session with Miroslav Volf, who will pose a question to be engaged thereafter by bishops in expanded groups.
2:45-5 p.m. Volf reflects on groups' questions/responses and gives a second presentation. After a break, bishops will go into expanded groups with a question provided by Volf.
Volf is the Henry B. Wright Professor in Theology at Yale Divinity School. Recently received into the Episcopal Church, Volf is Croatian by birth and has developed much of his theological reflection out of his experience of teaching, largely in evangelical Christian contexts, in Croatia during the war in what was once Yugoslavia. Two of his books are: Exclusion and Embrace: a Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness and Reconciliation (Abingdon Press) and After Our Likeness: the Church as the Image of the Trinity, (Eerdmans).
Anticipating Volf's presentations, Griswold noted in his letter to bishops: "Given some of our present strains, and what I regard to be a woefully deficient understanding of what it means to be the body of Christ, I cannot think of anyone more appropriate to speak to us and to enlarge our understanding."
Saturday, September 25
9-11:45 a.m. Presentation from Richard Rodriguez, followed by questions and answers. "On Saturday morning we will look at otherness and difference from a very imaginative perspective when we hear from Richard Rodriguez," the Presiding Bishop notes.
A contributing editor to both Harper's Magazine and the Opinion section of the Los Angeles Times, Rodriguez is a commentator on National Public Radio and the Lehrer NewsHour. He is the author of three books, among them Brown: The Last Discovery of America (Penguin Books).
Saturday afternoon and evening are free time.
Sunday, September 26
10 a.m. The Presiding Bishop will preach and preside at Eucharist at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist. (The Very Rev. John S. Smylie, dean; Address: E. 127 12 Ave., Spokane, WA 99202; phone: 509.838.4277 website: http://www.stjohns-cathedral.org/.)
2:30-4:30 p.m. Bishops will reflect on "what we have heard from Miroslav Volf and Richard Rodriquez and the implications our learning may have for our common life," Griswold said.
Sunday evening: Bishops and spouses will attend a picnic hosted by Bishop and Mrs. Waggoner.
Monday, September 27
8:15 a.m. Business session. When the Business Session is completed, the House will begin a private conversation that "will focus our attention on ecclesial matters, among them Delegated Episcopal Pastoral Oversight, and recent events that have caused a number of concerns," Griswold wrote in his advance letter to bishops. An afternoon session will continue the day's private conversation, to which no guests, including media, will be admitted.
Tuesday, September 28
9 a.m. Morning session, including remarks from anglican partners in attendance and presentations by several bishops of their experiences of 'otherness' and reconciliation
2:30 p.m. Afternoon session to conclude proceedings, and, as Griswold wrote to the bishops, to "devote time to gathering up the fruits of our time together and to discerning the way forward in the service of God's mission in which we are privileged to share in virtue of our baptism into Christ and ordination as ministers of reconciliation."
A closing dinner will honor retiring bishops and their spouses.
Noting that the overall schedule will include gatherings of both small and larger groups in various configurations, Griswold added in his letter to the bishops: "This meeting has been put together with an awareness of our individual hopes and expectations, and with great attention given to our collective sense of how we might move forward."
end
Regarding media credentials to cover the House of Bishops' meeting...
Advance credentials are required for representatives of the general media and/or church press seeking to cover the House of Bishops proceedings. A credential application form may be obtained online at: www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_6131_ENG_HTM.htm; 800.334.7626, ext. 5385).