Committee on Women's Ordination Proposes Compromise
Episcopal News Service. May 4, 1995 [95076]
Jerry Hames, Editor of Episcopal Life.
(ENS) Women who wish to be ordained priests but who live in dioceses where the bishop will not license them may receive their licenses from other dioceses, according to a compromise proposal from a General Convention committee that is seeking to end the impasse over recognizing women's ordination.
The proposal would offer the same protection for postulants who, because they do not recognize women priests, may be barred from ordination in some dioceses.
The committee is proposing legislation to give new powers to the bishops of each of the nine provinces who serve as provincial presidents or vice presidents, enabling them to license a woman priest for ministry in a parish that seeks her. Such a change would have to be approved by General Convention, which meets next in 1997.
If approved, the proposal could open the door to women priests for the first time in the dioceses of Eau Claire and Fond du Lac in Wisconsin, San Joaquin in California, and Fort Worth in Texas, whose bishops and standing committees do not consider the ordination of women valid.
At issue is whether Canon 3.8.1, approved in 1976 to permit the ordination of women to the priesthood and episcopate, is "permissive" or "mandatory." Bishop William Wantland of Eau Claire is one who believes it is permissive and therefore does not require him to ordain women. He told members of the committee that if they wish to challenge his interpretation, a presentment can be brought against him, forcing a judicial decision.
General Convention, meeting in Indianapolis last year, avoided a decision one way or the other, fearing that it would cause the resignation of bishops on grounds of conscience and loss of membership. Instead, during the final moments of legislative session, the convention passed Resolution C004sa, which created the committee "to engage in dialogue" on issues connected to the ordination of women priests and bishops.
The committee was charged by that resolution to:
- provide an opportunity for full access for women to the ordination process;
- permit ordained women to carry out their ministries in every diocese;
- permit opportunities for congregations that desire the ministry of ordained women to have access to them;
- propose a way for those opposed to the ordination of women to have access to the ordination process and to be able to minister in every diocese.
While the committee reached a consensus with all but two of its members favoring the compromise proposal, the idea already is facing stiff opposition by leaders of the Episcopal Women's Caucus (EWC).
EWC President Cynthia Black of Kalamazoo, Michigan, said that the committee's proposals will only reinforce the second-class status of women in dioceses where they are not fully able to exercise their ministry. "Dialogue has been going on long enough," she said. "It's been almost 20 years since the canons have been changed (to authorize the ordination of women). It's time they were upheld."
Sally Bucklee of Laurel, Maryland, past president of the caucus, said that the committee "has chosen a convoluted way to do something that is quite simple. It is proposing to set up a separate but equal system that is humiliating to women." She said that if General Convention continues to avoid its responsibility, the matter can be resolved by an ecclesiastical court, bringing one or more of the bishops to trial.
Another of the committee's recommendations also seeks to satisfy congregations that will not accept the sacramental services of their diocesan bishop, if the bishop is a woman. It would give the provincial bishop, after consultation with the diocesan bishop, authority to appoint a third bishop to provide sacramental ministries, such as confirmation.
The committee, which had its first meeting in Pittsburgh on April 17-19, will hear responses at a meeting July 5-7 in Washington, D.C., from bishops and dioceses that do not ordain women, from dioceses that have women bishops, and from individuals and organizations that want to speak at an open hearing. The women's caucus has begun a fund-raising campaign to provide travel assistance to the open hearing for women priests and others who have been refused ordination.
Bishop Robert Rowley of the Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania is the committee's chair, Rita Moyer of Pennsylvania is vice chair and James Bradberry of Southern Virginia is secretary. Other members are Bishops Frank Allan of Atlanta and William Wantland of Eau Claire; the Rev. Canon Gay Jennings of Ohio; Sarah G. McCrory of Upper South Carolina; David Rawson of Pennsylvania; the Rev. Anne W. Robbins of Southern Ohio and the Rev. Rebecca Conrad Spanos of Pittsburgh.