Convention Says 'Now, No, and Not Yet' on Sexuality Issues
Episcopal News Service. August 6, 1997 [97-1905]
Jan Nunley, Communications Officer for the Diocese of Rhode Island
(ENS) In the continuing controversy over the place of homosexuals in the pews and pulpits of the Episcopal Church, signals from the 72nd General Convention flashed green, red, and yellow: Now, no, and not yet.
- "Now" to the option of providing health benefits for domestic partners of clergy and church employees covered by the Episcopal Church Clergy and Employees' Medical Trust.
- "No" to extending pension benefits to surviving partners of lesbian and gay clergy.
- "Not yet," to the church's blessing of same-gender unions.
Sexuality issues also forced the church to define what it means by doctrine -- a direct result of the so-called heresy trial of retired Bishop Walter Righter, accused of violating church doctrine for ordaining a non-celibate, gay deacon. Righter was acquitted because the court could not find a specific doctrine on which to base charges.
On the last day, the convention also issued a highly unusual apology to lesbians and gay men inside and outside the church for "years of rejection and maltreatment by the church."
The option of offering health benefits coverage to domestic partners is not mandatory for any diocese of the church. Proposed by the Diocese of El Camino Real (California), the resolution followed a request by the diocese to include domestic partners in its medical insurance coverage by the church's Medical Trust.
The Medical Trust declined to provide the coverage until authorized by General Convention to do so, but deputy Carlson Gerdau of the Diocese of Chicago reported that the trust is "losing dioceses who will not be covered by them because they do not offer" domestic partnership coverage.
Pension fund officials say they will follow definitions of domestic partnership common to the insurance industry. But opponents of the move, both bishops and deputies, argued that was too vague.
"Would this include individuals who have access to marriage but decide not to marry?" Montana deputy Ralph Spence Jr. asked. "If the church later decides to recognize same-sex unions, then should benefits be restricted to those who are married by the church, or have same-sex unions blessed by the church?"
But advocates declared the lack of definition an asset, not a liability, for the plan. "It's not necessarily a gay issue," argued the Rev. Donor Macneice of Hawaii, one of several deputies who declared the health benefits option applicable to other kinds of relationships -- including siblings or widows or widowers who may wish not to jeopardize benefits from a deceased spouse by remarrying.
When it came to extending Church Pension Fund benefits to surviving partners of lesbian and gay clergy, the answer from General Convention was "no." Even a substitute resolution calling for study of the issue was defeated.
Proponents called the measure "a justice issue" unrelated to the theological questions surrounding the ordination of non-celibate lesbians and gay men.
"I certainly do not look forward to a time when I must live alone, but I know that I will have income if that should happen," said deputy Judy Fleener of Western Michigan, herself a clergy spouse. "We all know and acknowledge that there are gay men and lesbians who serve as clergy in our church. Please make survivor benefits available to their spouses now."
But opponents saw the resolution as an end-run around the theological and moral issue of same-sex relationships. "I have a very difficult time having the Pension Fund bureaucratic committee come up with definitions that'll be the teaching of this church," said Robert Royce, a deputy from the Virgin Islands.
The church's "not yet" came in response to a resolution authorizing the development of liturgies for same-sex blessings, a measure defeated by one vote in each of the clergy and lay orders of the House of Deputies.
Instead, the Standing Liturgical Commission has been directed to continue studying the issue and to report to the 73rd General Convention.
The Rev. Gerry Schnackenberg of Colorado called the resolution "a vote to reject the church's doctrine of marriage." Advocates disagreed. "We are not attempting to subvert the sanctity of marriage -- far from it," said the Rev. Jane Garrett of Vermont. "We are asking to join in the support of the sanctity of marriage through full participation in it."
In response to a question from the bishops about whether the measure would mean a moratorium on blessings of same-sex relationships, Bishop Joe M. Doss of New Jersey said, "No."
The vote on same-sex blessings came as anti-gay demonstrators from the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, paraded outside the entrance to the Convention Center with signs reading "God's Hate is Great," "Thank God for AIDS," and "God Hates Fags." The group is the same one that demonstrated at the 71st General Convention in Indianapolis.
Despite a lack of consensus on homosexuality, General Convention issued an apology to lesbians and gay men for "years of rejection and maltreatment by the church," while acknowledging "the diversity of opinion... on the morality of gay and lesbian sexual relationships."
"Being able to apologize is a spiritually healthy thing," declared Dr. Louie Crew, a deputy from Newark and founder of Integrity, an organization for gay and lesbian Episcopalians. Crew said he co-signed the resolution "not because lesbians and gays need this apology, but because the church needs to apologize."
But not everyone agreed. "I do not feel called upon to apologize," said Bishop Charles Duvall of Central Gulf Coast. "It seems to me that if we are going to acknowledge a diversity of opinion (about morality), there is certainly a diversity of opinion... as to whether we have mistreated people."
Several resolutions dealing with canonical changes had their origins in the heresy trial of retired Bishop Righter for ordaining a gay man in a committed relationship. The Court for the Trial of a Bishop concluded that Righter had violated no "core doctrine" of the church in doing so and dismissed the charges.
But at least two resolutions attempted a clearer definition of what constitutes "doctrine" and "discipline" in the Episcopal Church. The first located the "discipline" of the church in "the Constitution, the Canons, the Rubrics, and the Ordinal of The Book of Common Prayer."
The second defined "doctrine" as "the basic and essential teachings of the church" found in the canons of Holy Scripture as understood in the Apostles' and Nicene creeds, and in the sacramental rites, ordinal and catechism in The Book of Common Prayer.
Traditionalist bishops argued during the trial for a broader definition of doctrine that would include other statements, such as resolutions of General Convention and decisions made by the House of Bishops.
The debate over sexuality was noted as much for the resolutions that didn't pass as for those that did.
A resolution from Bishop William Wantland amending Canon III.14 to prohibit clergy from engaging in sexual relations outside heterosexual marriage never made it to the floor.
Another, from retired Bishop Gordon Charlton of Texas, defined immorality to include all forms of extramarital sexual relations but was amended by the Committee on Ministry to prohibit "infidelity, promiscuity and abusive behavior." The resolution was discharged by the deputies.
A resolution that would have endorsed the "statement on sexuality" issued by the Second Anglican Encounter in the South held earlier this year in Kuala Lumpur was referenced to an interim body.
Three resolutions calling for the authorizing of rites of same-sex blessing were discharged or rejected. Two calling for pension benefits for the partners of lesbian and gay clergy were either discharged or rejected. One resolution calling for a 21-year moratorium on official ordinations and blessings of lesbians and gays while allowing "local option" and another allowing local-option blessings were also discharged.
Homosexuality wasn't the only form of sexual conduct under scrutiny by General Convention.
The bishops turned down an attempt by the deputies to rescind Canon I.19.2, which says a bishop can recognize an annulment or divorce determined by a civil court "provided that the judgment does not affect in any way the legitimacy of children or the civil validity of the formal relationship."
A resolution expressing "grave concern" about partial-birth abortion "except in extreme situations" passed the convention. Parishes were urged to teach youth about "sexual abstinence, self-respect, resistance to peer pressure and respect to those who say 'no' to sex before marriage." And the church is being asked to identify resources to combat pornography.
The convention also:
- urged congregations to support "ways to encourage and maintain healthy marriages";
- recognized the importance of fathers in the life of families, and urged congregations to encourage the spiritual development of men;
- continued the Commission on HIV/AIDS;
- urged the church to examine the impact of HIV/AIDS as regards racism;
- continued provincial training in the use of materials developed by the church for the prevention of AIDS among teenagers;
- continued commitment to a Christian response to the spread of HIV/AIDS in the nation and the world; and
- commended the National AIDS Memorial at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City.