Lutherans Moving to Revise Concordat for Full Communion with Episcopalians
Episcopal News Service. November 13, 1997 [97-1995]
(ENS) The top leadership of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has taken the first steps to revise the Concordat of Agreement calling for full communion with the Episcopal Church.
After a meeting with Presiding Bishop-elect Frank T. Griswold at the Episcopal Church Center in Chicago, ELCA Bishop H. George Anderson met Oct. 2-7 with the Conference of Bishops. He sketched proposals which could lead to "a revision of the Concordat in a few key places" in time for the ELCA's 1999 Churchwide Assembly and the Episcopal Church's General Convention in 2000.
The bishops endorsed a proposal to ask Episcopalians -- and Lutherans who voted against the Concordat at their meeting in Philadelphia last summer -- to help in producing "a rewritten document, including rationale, that includes the present outcomes of the Concordat," employing "clearer down-to-earth language."
The revised Concordat Anderson anticipates would include a new paragraph "with a strong, explicit, biblically based emphasis on the priesthood of all believers and would clarify or modify the areas that most troubled the assembly's voting members." Among the areas he said need qualification or explanation he listed: the three-fold ministry of deacons, priests and bishops as the "future pattern" in both churches; the ordination of clergy by bishops; the "life service" of bishops; and the number of bishops present at consecrations/installations in the two churches.
The Conference of Bishops "endorsed a suggestion that a document proposing full communion with the Episcopal Church be developed by a small writing group in dialogue with a larger review panel."
Several bishops made it clear that most of the Lutherans who opposed the Concordat did so out of deep convictions. "We have to acknowledge that opposition to the Concordat was grounded in defense of the Gospel," said Bishop Curtis Miller of the Western Iowa Synod.
"Our experience in Philadelphia was rare in that we debated and discussed an issue for three days without an option for change," added Bishop David W. Olson of the Minneapolis Area Synod. He noted that the time line was "ambitious" in calling for action in two years. "Some anxiety will be created by the pressurized time line. On the other hand, the sooner we have something before folks the better." He concluded that having options "will bring about new energy in the body of our church."
"We want ELCA members to have the opportunity to review whatever proposals are developed at synod assemblies in the spring of 1998," commented Bishop Robert Keller of the Eastern Washington-Idaho Synod.
"If we focus on our confessions and our self-understanding there will be a benefit to all this," said Bishop Paul Blom of the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod. "Let the conversation be about mission, witness and Gospel more than it is about polity and authority."
"The process we're discussing won't be perceived as running over people," said Bishop Peter Strommen of Northeastern Minnesota Synod. "The climate may be much better now."
Anderson said that his meeting with Griswold was crucial "to see what possibilities he is willing to entertain as we proceed to develop the revised text" of the Concordat. In the wake of the rejection of the Concordat by the Lutherans in August, Griswold told the New York Times that he was reluctant "to offer a new invitation without evidence that the Lutherans would respond positively."
At an interview during the New York meeting of the Executive Council in early November, Griswold said that he "is heartened by the urgency with which the ELCA is pursuing further refinements in the text of the Concordat." At the same time, he cautioned that "any significant revisions in the text could require another ratification by the General Convention of the Episcopal Church at its next meeting in 2000 and thereby put off a final vote until 2003."
In clarifying the impact of revisions, the Rev. David Perry, ecumenical officer for the Episcopal Church, said that if the content of the constitutional resolutions are not altered then we can proceed to the second vote in 2000." He pointed out that the Episcopal Church has accepted Anderson's invitation to appoint three members of a drafting committee which, it is hoped, will finish its work and have a new draft ready for meetings of the ELCA synods next spring. And a group will be appointed to promote study and reflection throughout both churches.
"A proposal consistent with the Concordat of Agreement approved by our General Convention is essential for us in order to insure that we can move forward in the process," Browning said in a November 11 letter to Anderson. "I am convinced that we must find ways to know, understand and appreciate one another and our partnerships together at local levels everywhere," he wrote. "The Gospel imperative requires this engagement of us all."
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