Liturgy Bills Go To Convention
Episcopal News Service. August 9, 1979 [79253]
New York -- Issues of human sexuality, discrimination, racial justice, peace, world hunger and poverty will compete -- not for the first time -- with the Prayer Book for the attention of bishops and deputies as the Episcopal Church launches its General Convention this fall.
The General Convention, the highest legislative authority of the Church, meets every three years to act on the work of the interim committees and commissions and on the memorials and resolutions presented to it by diocesan conventions, church groups, bishops and deputies. By early August, these latter groups had submitted nearly 180 memorials and resolutions for Convention's consideration. An analysis of these casts some light on the range of concern of the Church.
By far the greatest number of resolutions concerns the Church's Book of Common Prayer. Thirty-three such petitions are on file. Convention will be asked to give final legislative approval to the Proposed Book of Common Prayer as the Standard Book succeeding the 1928 version. A number of resolutions simply call for this action to be taken,
Twenty-five, however, reflect a feeling among some churchpeople that the Episcopal Church should depart from Anglican tradition and give canonical status to continued use of the 1928 Book. In the past toleration of use of all superceded books of Common Prayer has been a matter of ecclesiastical discretion. Only one resolution goes the other way and seeks an absolute ban on use of the 1928 Book.
One other resolution seeks to amend the Proposed Book by shifting the location of the "Peace" in the eucharistic services. If successful, this would be a substantial enough change so that final passage of the Book at this convention could be jeopardized.
All Prayer Book legislation has been sent to the House of Bishops for initial consideration and these memorials and resolutions will receive the attention of the House's legislative Committee on Prayer Book and Liturgy, chaired by the Rt. Rev. Otis Charles, Bishop of Utah.
The issue of homosexuality and the Church has also been raised repeatedly over the past three years and is the subject of an official report and of at least 13 memorials and resolutions. Six of these seek canonical bar against the ordination of homosexuals. Three attempt to set limits on approved sexual expression while three ask that Convention refrain from legislating on the issues.
All this material -- along with the report of the Standing Commission on Human Affairs and Health -- will be dealt with first by the House of Bishops' Ministry Committee chaired by the Rt. Rev. Robert P. Appleyard, Bishop of Pittsburgh. The Standing Commission is asking the Church not to enact legislation that would declare homosexuality per se a barrier to ordination.
Bishop Appleyard's committee will also be called upon to examine a number of other issues, including employment discrimination against ordained women, lay administration of consecrated communion elements and whether or not a three-year course at an accredited seminary should be declared "the normative" route to ordained ministry.
Other issues that the Convention will face include calls for examination of and reform of the Church Pension Fund, funding for the Triennial Meeting of the Women of the Episcopal Church and the administrative costs of the Presiding Bishop's Fund and restoration of funds for the Church's three black colleges.
A furor raised last summer over actions of a program unit of the World Council of Churches seems to have subsided with only one resolution calling for withdrawl from the World Council.
In social ministries, there are calls for legislation protecting family life, commissions for support of single people, development of hunger programs -- including theological curricula -- support for the Equal Rights Amendment and the Abortion Rights coalition and a call for a Joint Standing Commission on Peace to be established.
The Church will also be called on, through Convention, to examine the ministry of deacons and their place in the polity, the development of lay ministry and the establishment of new dioceses and mission areas.
In a departure from the past, full texts of resolutions have been made available only to the appropriate committee in advance. A number of volumes containing the full texts of all the memorials and resolutions will be available for scrutiny at Convention.