Convertion To Review Ecumeical Issues
Episcopal News Service. June 27, 1985 [85145]
NEW YORK (DPS June 27) -- When the General Convention convenes in Anaheim in September, it will be asked to consider at least 17 resolutions dealing with ecumenical matters. What it will not be asked to do -- some energetic rumor mongering to the contrary -- is to approve any so-called "merger schemes" with other denominations.
The Convention's Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations's busy triennium is reflected in a report that ranges over old matters (the Filioque clause in the Nicene Creed) and continuing concerns (the numerous bilateral dialogues), suggests some streamlining and proposes a renewed national emphasis in ecumenical matters. The report is one of 27 that make up the "Blue Book" (which is gold this year) and form the bulk of legislation the Convention considers. The ecumenical panel is one of the interim bodies -- joint and standing committees, commissions, boards and agencies -- created by the Convention to develop policy and initiate and monitor programs for the Church.
By far the largest part of the Report dwells on the Final Report of the Anglican/Roman Catholic International Consultation, specifically, on the third Agreed Statement which deals with Authority in the Church (I and II).
In 1979, the Convention had affirmed the first two parts (on Eucharistic Doctrine and Ministry and Ordination) as "a statement of the faith of this Church... and [which] form a basis upon which to proceed in furthering the growth towards unity." Two years later, the Anglican Consultative Council commended the entire Report to the Churches and asked for study and specific response, and the 1982 Convention asked the Ecumenical panel to take this on.
The Commission consulted with dioceses and seminaries in preparing the eight-page commentary and response to the questions: are the Agreed statements "consonant in substance with the faith of Anglicans" and "whether the Final Report offers a sufficient basis for taking the next concrete steps towards the reconciliation of our Churches?"
The Report notes what it terms "helpful emphases" in the Final Report, including the emphasis on Scripture and the "work of the Spirit, the concern for Koinonia (communion or fellowship) and the Christocentric nature of the Report and concludes that the Report "is sufficiently consonant in substance with the faith of this Church..to justify both further conversation and also further steps to bring our communions into closer relationship."
The panel goes on to note "questions which need to be clarified; also some dangers on the path ahead need to be identified and avoided."
Most of these are concerned with the last Agreed Statement, where the panel and its consultants found a lack of clarity about the nature and exercise of authority, concepts of papal infallibility, marian dogmas and other details. They noted that, unlike the other portions, no final set of elucidations have been produced on Authority II, since this will be the task of the second international consultation.
Overall, the panel concluded, the underlying value of the last section was that it "is stated in terms of a theological model of convergence towards which both of our Churches may grow. It does not profess to describe the present state of either Church."
The enabling resolution would have Convention affirm this point and assert that the Report "offers a basis for taking further step towards the reconciliation of our Churches."
Another sizeable chunk of the report is devoted to the Latin word "filioque," which translates as "and the son," and rarely have three little words caused so much heated debate and spilled ink at so many meetings of Convention. This Convention is being asked to make a decision, but one that would be implemented only upon the consent of the Lambeth Conference three years hence.
The phrase gradually became an integral part of the Nicene Creed as it was used in the western Church to describe to relations of the Holy Spirit within the Trinity and is viewed by Eastern Christianity as both without conciliar authorization and a symbol of western arrogance.
However, it remains popular, and the General Convention of 1976 refused to go along with the proposal to eliminate it from the text in the Book of Common Prayer. Since that time, the issue has been raised at each General Convention, the 1978 Lambeth meeting, and the 1981 interim meeting of the House of Bishops.
Finally, the Convention asked the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church to arrange a full study of the issue through the dioceses, the Episcopal Diocesan Ecumenical Officers and the accredited seminaries. The study was to involve Orthodox participation, with the Standing Commission to coordinate the work.
The result is an exhaustive review of the history of the clause, the issues and positions under discussion, and a survey of the actions of related bodies. The report takes note that while no one denies the lack of universal authority for the phrase, it has taken on a doctrinal life of its own in the western Church. At the same time, because of the place given to the Creed in eastern usage, the insistence on retaining the phrase is a cause of offense and puzzlement to eastern Christians.
In the 1981 deliberations, the House of Bishops stressed that the Episcopal Church should not act unilaterally on the matter. Four Anglican provinces have voted to restore the original text; one has decided to retain the phrase, and it is under review in seven other provinces.
Convention will be asked to put the Church on record as intending "to restore in liturgical usage the original form of the Nicene Creed... provided that such restoration is endorsed and commended by the Lambeth Conference."
This is another area in which the Commission is not advocating precipitate action.
The Plenary session of the Consultation accepted the revised document, In Quest of a Church of Christ Uniting, and asked for response from participating Churches. In its report, the Commission said that it would be "hasty and irresponsible" to submit the question to this Convention and is asking authorization for a church-wide study and a report to the 1988 meeting of Convention.
The panel is also asking for a similar study before the Episcopal Church joins in the Consultation covenanting process. However, it is also seeking continued authorization for Consultation eucharistic liturgies to be used on ecumenical occasions.
The report notes that both Councils are in the midst of change: the National Council as it tries to hone and implement the recommendations of its reforming Presidential Panel and the World Council as it works out the commitments of the Sixth Assembly in Vancouver, 1983.
There has been extensive Episcopal Church involvement in the development of the Presidential Panel recommendations for more streamlined structure, clearer lines of authority and more focused response to social issues by the NCC, and the Commission asks the General Convention to commend that work and commit the Church to cooperating in "efforts to provide a simpler structure that will be responsive and accountable to its member churches."
Last fall, the Executive Council, at the behest of Presiding Bishop John M. Allin, launched an evaluation of the Episcopal Church's participation in both ecumenical Councils. The Commission notes that it has agreed to coordinate this study and report both to the Council and to the 1988 Convention. Allin's leadership in ecumenical affairs as well as that of the retiring and new general secretaries of both Councils are also commended.
The document Baptism, Eucharist & Ministry, produced by the World Council Faith & Order Commission has become a major force in shaping ecumenical dialogue, and the Convention will receive an analysis of and response to the Statement prepared by the panel.
The analysis, done once again in concert with the dioceses and seminaries of the Church, is generally enthusiastic, noting at one point that much "if not all of the Statement falls within the classical guidelines of the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral." Within this enthusiasm, however, the study brought "certain reservations" to light.
The respondents questioned whether the document was clear enough in its assertion of baptism as full Christian initiation and noted that non-sacramental bodies and churches which do not use a trinitarian baptism formula were purposely being excluded.
The eucharistic section raised question about the relationship of Word to Sacrament and about the "the presence of Christ in the eucharistic elements." In the section on ministry, the report called for affirmation of the ministries of women and open discussion and exploration of the ordination of women.
Two other major pieces of business mark the beginning and end of the Commission report. The body asks authorization for an intensive three-year, seven point national ecumenical emphasis culminating in a second national gathering during the 1988 Quadrilateral centenary. This effort would center on the 1978 document, The Nature of the Unity We Seek, and the "Church's developing understanding of Authority in the Church as 'Authority' has been rethought in the context of ecumenical dialogues."
The Commission is also asking for a restructuring that would pare its membership from 24 to 18 as a cost cutting and efficiency measure.
The Commission report also illuminates the continuing bilateral dialogues with Baptist, Lutheran, Orthodox and Reformed bodies, asking authorization for carrying these talks through.