Presiding Bishop Reflects on an Inclusive Church -- and Challenges for the Future
Episcopal News Service. December 14, 1994 [94205]
Jay Cormier, Director of Communications and Editor of The Episcopal Times for the Diocese of Massachusetts
When Edmond Lee Browning began his term as presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church nine years ago, he vowed that there would be "no outcasts in the church." That vow to build a more inclusive church has been a hallmark of his leadership, and the basis of the message he brought to the Diocese of Massachusetts during his November visit.
"I think it's becoming more and more a reality," Browning said in an interview. As one example, he pointed to the church's "growing understanding about the issue of homosexuality." While he admitted that there is still a long way to go, "there's more of a tolerance -- not only a tolerance but an eagerness to include the gifts of gay people within the life of the church. I think we have also been dealing with the issue of racism for a long, long time -- and will continue to do so."
Answering the charge by some that, in its efforts to be more inclusive, the Episcopal Church has lost its identity and its ability to speak definitively about what is right and wrong, Browning's voice becomes firm as he wonders aloud: "How in the world can you lose your identity when you believe that all are created in the image of God, called to live that image in a church that is called to help and support and enable that image in its fullness? What other identity do we have?" he asked.
Browning said that those who challenge attempts to be inclusive are often saying that "they have a vision of the Episcopal Church that is made up of a certain class of people, with a certain power structure in a certain class structure -- and anything that challenges those structures is, in some way, messing with the definition of what it means to be an Anglican. But to me, the very heart of Anglicanism is its comprehensiveness, which deals with inclusiveness from its very origin."
Looking back on his tenure as presiding bishop, Browning says that the major trend he has seen in the church has been a new understanding of baptism as a vocation.
"People are beginning to understand that ministry is more than somebody who wears a round collar, to understand that the laity have ministries that are not confined to what happens inside of a church but that they are carrying out one's Christian life in whatever work they do. In some places," he adds, "it has been hard for clergy to adjust to that kind of growing and power and discernment about what God is calling lay people to be."
Among the most difficult situations he has dealt with during his tenure is his efforts to help the House of Bishops weather the storm of difficult and sometimes acrimonious debate over issues of sexuality and church discipline.
"It started after the Phoenix General Convention in 1991 when we started trying to concentrate on what the House was really meant to be. I think we discovered that you can't be a bishop alone -- you are a bishop with other bishops. You must see collegiality as a gift, not something that is totally restrictive." As a sign that those efforts have borne fruit, he points to last summer's General Convention in Indianapolis. "This past General Convention was a good experience because I really think there was an effort to walk away from there without having winners and losers, there was an effort to hear everyone -- and listen to everyone."
When asked about the decision of General Convention to reduce the term of presiding bishop from 12 to nine years, Browning said that it is "just about right." He said that "12 years is too long -- for the church but also for the person who is asked to do the job. And I think that the change widens the capacity for those who might be elected, especially if you elect them towards the end of their ministries, coming to their time of retirement."
Looking ahead to a new triennium for the church, the election of a new presiding bishop and the dawn of a new millennium, Browning sees the growing sense of parochialism as a danger for the church. "I don't think there's any question about it -- we take care of home before we look anywhere else. And I think the presiding bishop has a very special role in trying to maintain the vision of what the church is all about." His whole ministry is rooted in his belief that "one of the heaviest, most important, obligations as presiding bishop is to serve as the link between your church and the rest of the Anglican Communion -- and holding up the rest of the Anglican Communion for your own church, bringing the struggles and the pain of the other members to the consciousness of your own church."
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