Women in the Episcopate? Yellow Light Still Flashes
Episcopal News Service. March 20, 1986 [86055]
Barbara Braver, Episcopal Times, Massachusetts
TORONTO (DPS, March 20) -- Though the Episcopal Church in the United States does not need permission to consecrate women bishops, and such action would be considered "just and appropriate," the 28 Primates of the Anglican Communion would like further consultation before any such action is taken.
The Primates gathered at a retreat center near here March 12-15 with this issue very much at the top of the agenda. The question was brought before the gathering by the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, the Most Rev. Edmond L. Browning, at the request, last September, of the Church's House of Bishops.
A statement (Eds.: See DPS 86056 following) on Women in the Episcopate issued at the close of the Primates' deliberations referred to two resolutions from the Lambeth Conference of 1978. Resolution 21 affirms that there are "no fundamental or theological objections to the ordination of women to the historic threefold ministry of the Church."
Resolution 22 recommends that "no decision to consecrate be taken without consultation with the episcopate through the Primates and overwhelming support in any member church and in the dioceses concerned, lest the bishop's office should become a cause of disunity instead of a focus of unity."
The essence of the final statement was to recognize the constitutional right of the Episcopal Church to ordain a woman bishop but to call for continued consultation within the Communion.
Prior to the issuance of the statement, Browning shared with the press the presentation that he made to the Primates in the closed session, saying that the question of the ordination of women to the episcopate "is not just a matter of a theory but it is a possibility in the not too distant future." He said that he wanted to assure the Primates that such an ordination would not be a precipitous action and that "we have no intent of bringing hurt to the Communion."
The Presiding Bishop gave an overview of the history of the decision to ordain women to the priesthood in the United States and what has happened since. "There is no question that the presence of women in ordained ministry has increased the effectiveness and outreach of the Church. The gifts women bring, their individual talents, have greatly contributed to a sense of the wholeness of ministry...and brought the whole ministry of women forward."
He also described the process a diocese must go through prior to an Episcopal election and the approval that is then required by the bishops and standing committees of the whole church. He stressed that this action would have to be "done by the whole Church, and not just one diocese that wants to make an issue."
He further said that the Episcopal Church is in the process of trying to fulfill the Lambeth resolution calling for consultation and that this meeting was part of that.
In addition, he described two resolutions passed by the House of Bishops at General Convention in Anaheim in 1985. (Eds.: See DPS 86056 following). One stated that "the majority of the members of this House do not intend to withhold consent to the election of a Bishop of this Church on grounds of gender" and calls on the Presiding Bishop to "seek the advice of the Episcopate of the Anglican Communion through the Primates..."
The second House of Bishops resolution asked for a special committee to "study and make recommendations concerning the ecumenical and ecclesiological consideration involved in the election and ordination of women Presbyters to the Episcopate..."
The committee, chaired by the Rt. Rev. Edward Jones of Indianapolis, has been appointed and will report to the House of Bishops meeting in 1987 and to Lambeth in 1988.
In a response to the primates (Eds.: See DPS 86056 following) Browning said that he welcomed the statement and that it "reflects the quality of the consultative process within the Anglican Communion..."
Observers felt that the Primates' deliberations and actions did indicate a spirit of unity in the Communion and an ability to go forward in that positive spirit, in spite of differences of opinion.