Episcopal Church Will Continue Discussion of Full Communion with Other Denominations
Episcopal News Service. September 7, 1994 [94145]
David Skidmore
Keeping the Episcopal Church on course toward full communion with other Protestant denominations is an important aspect of ecumenical and interfaith issues, the 71st General Convention decided.
After significant discussion in the House of Bishops, a resolution (A-029s/a) affirmed the Episcopal Church's membership in the Consultation on Church Union (COCU) and directs the Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations (SCER) to assist congregations in joint worship and study with other COCU churches. "If the Episcopal Church is going to continue to exercise leadership in the ecumenical movement, we've got to become proactive and less reactive than we have been," said Bishop Edward Jones of Indianapolis. To back off now from the COCU process would be premature, Jones added.
The final resolution commits the church to "continuing open, honest, and candid dialogue" while recognizing that "this church is not ready to enter into covenant communion" as described in COCU's 1988 study document, Churches in Covenant Communion: The Church of Christ Uniting.
In recommending the document to the Anglican Consultative Council for study, the bishops' ecumenical relations committee parted ways with the Blue Book report, which expressed "serious reservations about the theology and polity" of the COCU document.
In its report, the SCER recommended against entering into covenant with COCU churches. But Jones warned the SCER's resolution would send a signal to the COCU churches and "to the wider ecumenical friends [that] we have a certain reserve and unwillingness in the Episcopal Church to continue the dialogue." Bishop Richard Grein of New York said it is time to stop dancing around the issues in COCU. Other denominations have raised questions, he said, and that has not derailed either their involvement in COCU or their bilateral dialogue with the Lutherans.
COCU was formed in 1962 in response to a challenge issued by Dr. Eugene Blake in a sermon at Grace Episcopal Cathedral in San Francisco. Blake, a stated clerk of the United Presbyterian Church, called for American Protestant churches to unite in an ecclesiastical body that would be "truly catholic, truly evangelical, and truly reformed."
Three key questions have guided the Episcopal Church's 30-year involvement in COCU: How would its involvement affect its standing as a province in the Anglican Communion? Are COCU principles consonant with Anglican teaching and the agreed statements of the church's ecumenical dialogues? And should talks aimed at union proceed on a solely national and largely Protestant basis? While keeping the door open to membership in COCU, the convention also urged congregations to study proposals full communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in preparation for a final decision in 1997 (A030).
An official delegation from the Russian Orthodox Church visited General Convention for the first time. Elena Speranskaya, a lay woman, and Archpriest Victor Petlyuchenko visited Indianapolis at the invitation of Presiding Bishop Edmond Browning. They represent Archbishop Alexy II, patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, spiritual leader to 70 million Russian Orthodox Christians. The Rev. William Norgren, the church's ecumenical officer, and Bishop Roger White of Milwaukee introduced the delegation, explaining that the relationship between the two churches, which began in the 19th century, had been limited since the Russian Revolution of 1918 because of communist suppression. Browning's 1989 visit to the Patriarchate of Russia led to the creation of a small joint coordinating committee to strengthen relations. Norgren said the purpose of the committee is "practical cooperation and dialogue." The committee, which has met twice a year since 1990, has sponsored exchanges of clergy and seminarians, lay persons and a dialogue on the episcopate. Several American dioceses have established relations with Russian dioceses. The dialogue deals with some major differences between the two traditions. "Our church has been disappointed in decisions of your church but if we are going to be together, we each have to sacrifice a little for the sake of the dialogue," Petlyuchenko said. "We believe that the Eucharist is the center of life for Christians. If we understand that together, the rest [of the issues that divide us] are not so important."
Five Jewish observers, representing Jewish interfaith councils, also addressed the bishops.
In a short address to the bishops, Dr. Leon Klenicki, head of the interfaith department of the Anti-defamation League of B'nai Brith, shared his hope that Episcopalians and Jews might make their dialogues "free of the political polemics that have hampered our interfaith meetings in the past."
Referring to several resolutions before convention dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Klenicki said he and his colleagues were concerned that the resolutions under discussion might "represent an unfortunate continuation" of past disputes.
With Yom Kippur approaching, a Jewish observance centered around "introspection and inner renewal," the two faiths should be looking over their past relations and applying those lessons to their future dialogue, Klenicki said.
The delegation sought to foster better understanding between the Episcopal Church and Jewish communities, explained retired Bishop David Reed of Kentucky. Two representatives of the Islamic Society of North America had planned to appear with the Jewish representatives, he said, but had to cancel because they needed to prepare for their national assembly.
A resolution (A102/a) urging congregations to enter into dialogue with American Jews and Muslims also was approved by convention.
In other action, convention reaffirmed a decision of the 1985 General Convention to remove the filioque clause from the Nicene Creed at the next revision of the Book of Common Prayer. (A028/a) The filioque clause, literally meaning "and the son," refers to a statement of faith in the Nicene Creed that the Holy Spirit is manifested through both the Father and the Son. It was added to the creed at the Third Council of Toledo in 589 A.D. Disputes over the clause contributed to the split between eastern Orthodox and western Catholic churches in 1054 and complicated more recent discussions with Orthodox churches.