No Appeal Sought in Bishop Righter Case; Issue Moves to General Convention
Episcopal News Service. June 26, 1996 [96-1495]
James H. Thrall, Helen Parmley, Retired Religion Editor for the Dallas Morning News
(ENS) In the aftermath of an ecclesiastical court decision dismissing charges brought against Bishop Walter Righter for ordaining a non-celibate homosexual, the struggle to resolve the issue of homosexuality and holy orders in the Episcopal Church has moved out of the legal arena to the legislative.
The 10 bishops who in January, 1995, charged Righter with holding and teaching false doctrine under the so-called "heresy" canon, and with violating his ordination vows, announced that they would not appeal the court's decision, but would propose a resolution to the 1997 General Convention that would bar clergy from "sexual relations outside of holy matrimony." General Convention, which meets every three years, is the church's chief legislative body.
Righter, the retired bishop of Iowa, was serving as an assistant bishop in the Diocese of Newark when he ordained the Rev. Barry Stopfel, a homosexual in a committed relationship with another man, as a deacon in 1990. A panel of eight bishops ruled May 15 by a seven-to-one margin that Righter's actions had not violated the "core doctrine" of the church and could not be prosecuted under existing canons.
At a press conference at a Dallas airport hotel, May 28, the 10 bishops released a four-page statement calling the decision to dismiss the charges "flawed and erroneous," and presenting their proposed General Convention resolution. They called on those who share their opinion to express their "commitment to biblical faith and practice" to their church leaders, and to "direct their personal resources, as a matter of stewardship, to those ministries that proclaim the historic and biblical Christian faith."
Initially withholding any decision about an appeal, the bishops, represented by A. Hugo Blankingship, Jr., the "church advocate" or prosecutor, announced on June 11 that they would forego their right to ask for a review by a second court. Noting that an appeal would require additional trial proceedings that could continue past the next General Convention, Blankingship and his assistant, the Rev. Charles G. Flinn, said that through their resolution the bishops have instead "proposed to give the 1997 General Convention the opportunity to affirm its acceptance of the authority of Holy Scripture that this court has refused to accept."
"I'm really on top of a mountain now," said Righter, who has retired to New Hampshire. "I'm glad it's over." The 18-month legal process that included appearances before three sessions of the court -- one in Hartford, Connecticut, and two in Wilmington, Delaware -- was "an awful exercise," he said. An appeal would have simply meant "more pain."
Righter said he was "delighted that they're asking General Convention to look at the issue, even though I disagree with the way they are proposing to revise the canons. It seems to me it belongs in General Convention rather than a court. It's legislative rather than judicial."
The majority opinion of the court had strongly indicated that General Convention was the proper forum, he noted. Presumably, he added, other resolutions to permit the ordination of non-celibate homosexuals would also be offered. "I'm sure there will be other voices represented there as well," he said.
Resolutions on both sides of the ordination issue, including canonical changes essentially identical to the language proposed by the 10 bishops, have been considered and rejected by past conventions.
In his statement announcing the advocates' decision not to appeal, Blankingship nonetheless claimed that an appeal would have been justified and warned about the effect of the court's ruling as it stands.
"The net effect of the decision will be to allow local option on all matters of faith and morals," he wrote. "In some dioceses of the American Episcopal Church the decision will be hailed as a license to violate other teachings of Holy Scripture. In those dioceses which adhere to traditional teachings of the Christian Church, the decision may be ignored or rejected. "
The 10 bishops have stated that they will "refuse to ordain, admit or license clergy" who do not subscribe to the requirements of their proposed canon, no matter what General Convention decides. They also proclaimed that they would be creating a "fellowship of Episcopal parishes and dioceses which uphold scriptural authority" to support congregations in dioceses where "the bishop has departed from the standards and norms set forth by the church's teachings."
The American Anglican Congress, proposed as such a network, was scheduled to hold an organizational meeting in Chicago in mid-June.
Bishop William Wantland of Eau Claire maintained that the 10 bishops' call for donations to support "ministries that proclaim the historic and biblical Christian faith" was not a punitive diversion of funds from the national program of the church, but only the exercise of good stewardship. At least one diocese, however, Central Florida, has expressed its intention to send about $100,000 that would have supported the national church mission to other missionary causes.
And while the arena has changed, the bishops made it clear that the issue would not disappear. That questions of human sexuality are dominating the agenda of the Episcopal Church, as well as other mainline denominations, is "no surprise in a culture that is obsessed with sexuality," said Bishop James Stanton of Dallas, a spokesman for the 10 bishops. "It is an issue the church had to face."