Bishop Wantland Clarifies Position of Fort Worth Synod
Episcopal News Service. October 4, 1989 [89164]
PHILADELPHIA, September 25 -- "The last thing any of us wants is any division or schism in the body of Christ."
With that statement, the Rt. Rev. William Wantland, bishop of the Diocese of Eau Claire and one of the founding bishops of the Episcopal Synod of America (ESA), attempted to clarify the position of the ESA for the House of Bishops on Saturday. Wantland's remarks were part of a full day's reflection on the Archbishop of Canterbury's Commission on Communion and Women in the Episcopate -- the so-called Eames Commission report.
At the same time, Wantland said, "we must not give up nor cut off debate" on the issues surrounding the ordination of women to the episcopacy. His remarks were made to more than 150 bishops gathered for their annual meeting, which also marks the 200th anniversary of the founding of the House of Bishops in Philadelphia in 1789. Among the bishops attending was the Rt. Rev. Barbara Harris, suffragan bishop of Massachusetts and the first woman bishop in the Anglican Communion.
One of the primary concerns raised by Wantland and others is the interpretation of the terms reception and provisionality as used in the Eames report, which was affirmed by the Primates of the Anglican Communion last spring in Cyprus.
When a new ministry or a foundational aspect of the church is changing or developing, that change is considered to be in a period of reception by the church. Provisionality is interpreted by some to mean that a major change in the church, such as the ordination of women as priests and bishops, cannot be accepted or approved until the ecumenical church has decided that the change is appropriate.
However, the interpretations offered by two members of the Eames Commission, who also reported to the bishops, indicate that the process of reception is ongoing and open and that there is provisionality only about the process itself. That precludes the assertion that women are provisionally ordained.
Wantland said in a press briefing before his address that neither he nor the other ESA bishops would protest Bishop Harris being seated in the House of Bishops. "We are not debating their juridical right to sit," he said. "This is a matter of procedure, not of sacramental validity." At the same time, however, he said he "does not recognize her as a priest or bishop, but as a fine deacon of the catholic church."
The Wisconsin bishop, who has been an outspoken opponent of women's ordination, also outlined again for the bishops the traditionalists' complaints against the Episcopal Church. "We have been alienated, isolated, and marginalized, and so there is danger of separation. Hundreds of thousands have not been allowed a voice or place in the church on both sides of the issue. Traditionalists have felt willing to struggle no more, on the edge of being pushed out of the church."
But, Wantland said, "we must not give up nor cut off the debate. No one should be penalized for their view" because "what unites us is far greater than that which divides us. We intend to find a way to be retained in the body of the church in full membership." The result has been the Episcopal Synod of America, he told the bishops.
Wantland summarized the founding of ESA as based on existing models in the Episcopal Church, such as Coalition 14 (a voluntary grouping of small, rural non-self-sufficient dioceses) and the Convocation of Deserts and Mountains (a trans-diocesan association of Native American ministries).
However, some of the bishops have questions about using those models, according to reports coming out of the bishops' discussion groups, because the ESA has established its own House of Bishops and House of Deputies. The question has been whether the ESA is poised to form a parallel jurisdiction or separate church.
Wantland also discussed provisions in the Episcopal Visitors resolutions as approved by General Convention, the Eames Commission, and the ESA. According to Wantland, the ESA's version allows a bishop to ultimately act according to conscience for intervention in a dispute between a parish and a bishop in which a parish would be forced to accept the ministrations of a women bishop.
"I don't think that would happen," Wantland said, but "I would go, knowing I place myself in judgment of this church.
"I hope we would never have to live in a way in which we must rely on a juridical process" to resolve pastoral disputes. "I am the last of all persons who wants confrontation or to contravene the law," said Wantland, who is a canon lawyer. "That's why I am hopeful -- believing we are acting honorably whether we agree or not."