The Diocese of Fort Worth announced on January 26 that the Rev. Jack Iker has received consents from a majority of the Episcopal Church's 117 diocesan standing committees to be consecrated bishop coadjutor of the diocese. Iker must now receive consent of a majority of the Episcopal Church's diocesan bishops in order to be consecrated.

"In light of the controversy surrounding this election, due to the bishopelect's traditional position on the issue of the ordination of women as priests and bishops, the consents of the standing committees are a clear re-affirmation of the diversity of our church and of our continued willingness to tolerate differences among us on this issue," said a statement released by the diocese.

"I think this is a healing and reconciling thing in the whole church," Iker told reporters following the announcement from Fort Worth. "The votes I received are not an affirmation of my views on women priests, but their [the standing committees'] commitment that I may hold the view," he said.

Iker, rector of the Church of the Redeemer in Sarasota, Florida, was elected on the sixth ballot at a special diocesan convention in Fort Worth on October 2. A supporter of the traditionalist Episcopal Synod of America, Iker has publicly opposed the ordination of women. In an interview with Fort Worth's nominating committee prior to his election, Iker said that allowing women into the priesthood and episcopate was more a result of pressure from women's groups than a theological consensus within the church. His stand has been reinforced, Iker said, "by radical feminist assaults on basic beliefs of the Christian faith."

Iker's election touched off one of the most contentious battles over the consent of a new bishop in recent memory. Ironically, the debate over Iker's consent has something in common with the consent of the Episcopal Church's first woman bishop. Concern in the church over women in the ministry also fueled a controversy surrounding the consent of Barbara Harris, elected suffragan bishop of Massachusetts in 1988.

A group of persons in the Diocese of Fort Worth who support the ordination of women, the Council for the Laity, mounted the strongest opposition to Iker's election and lobbied standing committees across the church to withhold consent.

Despite initial indications that Iker's election was in trouble, and a war of words waged on the editorial pages of several church publications, standing committees gave consent to Iker more than two months ahead of the canonical six-month deadline.

However, some standing committee members said that their consent affirmed the autonomy of local dioceses in episcopal elections -- not Iker's position on women's ordination. The standing committee in the Diocese of Southern Ohio -- where Iker once served parishes -- voted against his consent, but sent an invitation to the Diocese of Fort Worth to begin a dialogue about traditionalist issues "to share our experience and to help forge the bonds of unity." And after intense debate and discussion, several standing committees, including Lexington, Maine, Utah and Southeast Florida, reversed their initial rejection and voted to approve Iker.

Angst over the decision among Utah standing committee members was typical of the debate in other dioceses. The standing committee in the Diocese of Utah initially voted unanimously to withhold consent from Iker, yet later voted 7-5 to reverse its earlier decision.

According to a report of the debate in the January issue of the diocesan newspaper in Utah, the Diocesan Dialogue, standing committee members "stated their mind, debated, and even changed their minds in the course of the day."

"I'm going to vote no. I will not consent," said the Rev. Scott Hayashi in the Dialogue account. Iker's position on the ordination of women, Hayashi contended, "rejects 50 percent of the population based upon not anything that the person has done. I don't think it has any place in the church."

However, the Rev. Canon Alan Tull stated that he would vote for consent "because I'm a liberal and permissive. I have to decide whether to vote by his [Iker's] principles or my principles." Kristin Madden argued in favor of consent, saying, "There should be room [in the church] for diversity for people following their consciences."

Utah standing committee member Julie Keaton, initially expressing concern that Iker would reject candidates for the ministry "simply because they're female," decided later in the day that "I have to respect the integrity of the [Diocese of] Fort Worth process, and I would have to end up supporting [Iker's consent]."

Although the Diocese of Chicago voted to consent to Iker's election, the decision was not a ringing endorsement. In a statement released January 14, the Rev. Clark Grew, president of Chicago's Standing Committee, said that the consent was given with "great reluctance" in view of Iker's opposition to the ordination of women, a stand the committee unanimously rejected.

The committee gave its approval, said Grew, in deference to canon law, which does not require a pro-women's ordination stance as a condition for episcopal election, and out of concern that a vote not to consent, based on disagreement with the bishop-elect's views toward women clergy, would set "an unwise precedent."

The committee also said that it believed that the national canons need clarification regarding the terms under which standing committees can oppose elections. However, a majority of standing committee members felt that "it would be unfair to the people of Fort Worth to withhold consent -- even of a bishop with Father Iker's views -- when the election was within current canonical boundaries," said Grew.

Although Iker's views on women's ordination are incompatible and contradictory with the views of the standing committee, "they are not heretical nor beyond the parameters of permitted opinion in the Episcopal Church," Grew said.

Now that Iker has received consent from the required number of standing committees, he must receive consent from a majority of the church's diocesan bishops. Bishops will have three months to register their consent in order for the consecration to proceed.

Only one bishop-elect has ever failed to achieve the necessary consents to proceed to consecration: The Rev. James DeKoven, who was elected bishop of the Diocese of Illinois in 1875, was denied confirmation by the church's standing committees because of his devotion to Anglo-Catholic beliefs, specifically that Christ is actually present in the Eucharistic bread and wine. Although DeKoven never made it to the episcopal ranks, he did make the list of Lesser Feasts and Fasts, with March 22 as his feast day.