Search the Episcopal Press and News

Episcopal Diocesan Ecumenical Officers Meet

Episcopal News Service. April 20, 1978 [78112]

TULSA, Okla. -- The fourth annual Episcopal Diocesan Ecumenical Officers (EDEO) meeting was held here on April 10-13 in conjunction with the fifteenth National Workshop on Christian Unity.

While EDEO members took part in the workshop seminars and conducted their own study sessions, they also fitted in attendance at the numerous denominational workshops and held their own business sessions.

At the annual dinner, it was announced that the Rev. William B. Lawson, of Lynn, Mass., had been elected the new president of the Episcopal Diocesan Ecumenical Officers. He has held the position of chairman of resolutions for EDEO, and has been Provincial Coordinator for Province I. He is noted for the work he has done with "an outstanding experiment in ecumenical relations in the Episcopal -- UCC dialogue in the Natick (Mass.) Parish."

The plenary business session was held on the third day of the conference. Peter Day, Ecumenical Officer for the Episcopal Church, opened the meetings with an address in which he pointed out that four years ago following Vatican II, in "those glorious years," there was pressure to engage in more local dialogue with the Roman Catholics. After Vatican II there came covenanting parishes, dialogue with other Christians, including the Lutherans, and "all of a sudden, there was some attention given to the Anglican-Roman Catholic dialogues and the apparent closeness of the several Christian bodies. We have come, now, to the point where we must think of the price tag. Now we are faced with the ARC 12 year report," he said.

Four points are central: Papal authority and the Anglican Communion; the role of women in the Church and the world; the complicated question of human sexuality; and, "What is required for access to the altars of the Roman Catholic Church?"

Peter Day said, "It will take a good while to settle all of the problems between us." But somehow, despite the state of relationships, "We make Jesus Christ known to the world. A time of slow down is not a time to wring our hands but to believe that God is leading his Church where he wants it to go."

In the closing business session, numerous changes were made in the by-laws of EDEO, a main one being inclusion of associate ecumenical officers as members of EDEO, and a change in the time when provincial coordinators are selected.

A number of resolutions were considered in the final major work of the meeting. They included a resolution of thanks to the Rev. John Bonner, Chattanooga, Tenn., the first president of EDEO, who now retires from office (but who will be general chairman of the next National Workshop on Christian Unity); thanks to the host for EDEO meetings, Trinity Church, Tulsa; best wishes to the Rt. Rev. Gerald McAllister, on the first anniversary of his consecration.

Approval of a joint task force with the Roman Catholic ecumenical officers (NADEO) also was approved. The more thorny resolutions concerned the Filioque Clause, inter-communion, cross-licensing of clergymen, and cross-ordination. They were debated at length.

A resolution moving for acceptance of the provincial collation, a "Report to Episcopal Diocesan Ecumenical Officers, March, 1978," was adopted. This is to be forwarded to the National Consultation of the Episcopal Church, which meets in Detroit in the fall, and EDEO asks for it to be considered by the 66th General Convention in Denver in 1979.

After heated debate, a resolution concerning the Filioque Clause in the Creed was rejected. It was the feeling of the movers that it should not be locked into the Proposed Book of Common Prayer for both historic and ecumenical reasons. The resolution would have modified presentation of the phrase. It was proposed to retain the Filioque in bracketed form in the Nicene Creed in the new book.

Another resolution coming out of the life of EDEO in 1977-78, in which are reflected concerns over the low priority of ecumenical activity and fear of many about structural matters, was passed. EDEO resolved that an official statement be prepared and circulated throughout the Church, clarifying the position on structure, and pointing out the unity now found in Jesus Christ along with the many ways for bilateral action (i. e., dialogues, covenants, social action, shared resources, etc.).

Finally, three other resolutions were discussed and all passed:

  • Reflecting "that great pain is felt by the inability of Anglicans and Roman Catholics to receive communion at one another's altars... " and that in the Agreed Statements there is substantial agreement, the EDEO meeting moved and resolved that EDEO request the National Consultation (Episcopal) which will meet in Detroit take positive steps to heal this pain and carefully study the 1969 General Convention resolution which contained the clause, "when the discipline of their own Church permits" for its effects on inter-communion relationships.
  • The meeting also moved and resolved that EDEO request that the National Consultation address itself to the problem of cross-licensing or cross-ordination in the "light of our hope for the mutual recognition of ministries as part of the visible unity we all seek."
  • And, concerning Christian-Jewish relations, a draft resolution presented by the Ecumenical Committee of the Diocese of Ohio was accepted and passed. It asked that "this church explore and deepen its commitment to Christian-Jewish dialogue in its many forms and varieties attempting thereby to strengthen mutually the wider Jewish and Christian congregational responses to the one, true and living God."

In closing matters of business, the EDEO members elected Mrs. Phebe M. Hoff, of Richmond, Va., the vice chairman of EDEO; voted to allocate $2,500 towards the National Consultation to be held in Detroit; and announced that over 70 dioceses were represented at the fourth annual EDEO meeting.

The next EDEO meeting will take place at the same time as the National Workshop on Christian Unity which will be held on April 23-26, 1979, in Birmingham, Alabama.

[thumbnail: The Rev. John H. Bonner,...]