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Bishops Model New Style of 'Respectful Conversation' in Dealing with Issues

Episcopal News Service. October 6, 1999 [99-141]

(ENS) About 160 bishops of the Episcopal Church -- joined by 140 spouses -- met at a beach hotel on San Diego's Mission Bay for six days in mid-September and wrestled with skills for "respectful conversation" as a way of dealing with controversial issues.

"We hope we will become a community of wisdom rather than a body of reactions, seeing each other as carriers of wisdom," said Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold in an opening press conversation on September 16. Although the meeting was essentially closed, he said that it was "not meant to be secretive but to create a context in which people can speak frankly and deeply...to insure...graced conversation."

Bishop Charles Duvall of Central Gulf Coast pointed out that "spouses were incorporated into our lives more than ever before, lending their own wisdom and providing some helpful balance." He added that the interim meeting was intended to be "conversational, not legislative."

Under the general theme of "Jubilee Consciousness," sessions dealt with Patterns of Indebtedness, Re-ordering of Relationships, and Sexuality, Mutuality and Fidelity. Chaplains Margaret Bullit-Jonas and Jim Fenhagen helped to explore the biblical aspects of the theme, using the Gospel of Luke.

"He urged us to deal with people as they really are, not as you think they are," said Bishop Chilton Knudsen of Maine. "Too often we deal with others based on a set of assumptions."

A presentation on world debt by Tom Hart, director of the church's Office of Government Relations, was "very encouraging" because it showed how the resolutions from the 1998 Lambeth Conference of the world's Anglican bishops has affected United States policy, said Duvall.

Hart told the bishops that, since Lambeth, there has been "tremendous progress" on the issue. "A worldwide movement is working to address this unpayable debt under the banner of Jubilee 2000, and is now active in 60 countries." Episcopalians have joined 40 other religious and development organizations to create Jubilee 2000 in the USA and "develop legislation to translate the vision of Jubilee into public policy." And the church's Peace and Justice Ministries program has created a booklet for congregational use on how they might participate in the Jubilee celebration.

Racism exposes raw nerve

According to Duvall and Knudsen, who served as press briefing officers for the meeting, the session on racism hit some very raw nerves. Bishops and spouses shared their own "moving, sad, almost angry" testimonies, Duvall said.

"They spoke of present as well as past experiences, in some cases with other members of the House," added Knudsen dealing with ethnically insensitive comments. "It touched a chord of anger." Among the stories was one of shabby treatment of the wives of the church's black bishops when they visit white congregations.

"But we didn't have enough time to process such emotional issues," she said. As a result there was a frustratingly "unfinished" quality to the discussion.

"Illusions and complacency were smashed," added Duvall. And bishops set off some "alarms" in expressing concern about the loss of bishops of color and decreasing enrollment of ethnic minorities at seminaries.

The bishops adopted a resolution to reaffirm the "personal and diocesan commitment" to fight racism "in all of its demonic forms and expressions."

Receiving a witness

A panel of three homosexuals -- a man in a relationship, another in a marriage and a mother now in a committed relationship -- shared stories of how they came to grips with their sexuality.

"It was a very moving day," said Duvall. "There was no debate or discussion, we were just receiving their witness," with small group discussions at lunch. The group then heard a "helpful presentation from two theologians who had a conversation in front of us, modeling respectful conversation," followed by small group discussion.

Duvall said that people in his small group admitted that it was the first time that they had discussed the issue in any depth. He said that Philip Turner, retired dean of Berkeley Divinity School at Yale, expressed his deep concern that "how the church deals with the sexuality issue presents the greatest possibility of schism we have faced in many years."

The speakers seemed to be saying, "Show us a better way," said Knudsen. She described a different spirit emerging from the discussion, not as confrontative, based on efforts to "de-politicize" issues and the atmosphere in which they are discussed.

"If we do not receive a model from this house that is beyond the fractious patterns of the past, then we are without leadership," Knudsen said. "It's not an issue of who is right or wrong but how we will live together." Duvall added, "No one was asked to give up their positions -- just deal with issues differently."

Bishop for Armed Forces elected

In the day set aside for necessary business, the bishops elected the Rev. George Packard of New York as suffragan bishop for the Armed Forces after eight ballots in a close race with the Rev. William Noble, who is an assistant in the office. Assuming consents from standing committees, Packard will be consecrated February 12, 2000, at Washington National Cathedral.

Packard is "a legitimate hero of the Vietnam War, with two Bronze Stars and a Silver Star for valor," said Bishop Richard Grein of New York, who nominated him from the floor. In response, Packard said that "this extraordinary honor confirms a direction in my life first begun when I was a scared and bewildered recruit headed for Vietnam."

During a report to the bishops on the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief, its executive director, Sandra Swan, said that the fund "has been busy" responding to a spate of tornadoes, earthquakes, civil strife and floods. She said that she is "thrilled with the generosity of Episcopalians" in responding, pointing out that church members contributed over $3 million to the victims of Hurricane Mitch. For the first time the Fund has launched a project in its own name, building 95 houses, a clinic and community service facility in Honduras.

Bishop Frank Vest said that the Fund has been frustrated as it receives $30 million in grant requests each year but is able to respond to only a fraction of the requests. The staff and board of the Fund are exploring ways to increase support for the Fund and expand its ability to respond to crises.

"The timing is good because the Fund is held in high regard" throughout the church and has "a great deal of visibility," said Griswold. He also hoped that this period of economic prosperity would encourage church members to share.

Herb Gunn of Detroit, president of Episcopal Communicators, described its members as "a very committed group of journalists who take their craft and take their vocation in the Episcopal Church very seriously...And we are proud that the Episcopal Church maintains a very, very strong reputation of supporting high standards of journalism."

Reporting on the decision by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to move toward full communion with the Episcopal Church, the Rev. David Perry, the church's deputy for ecumenical relations, said, "There is work to be done." He urged the bishops -- and their dioceses -- to study the document, "Called to Common Mission," a redraft of the original Concordat of Agreement that was passed by the General Convention in 1997 but narrowly failed to receive the two-thirds vote from the ELCA's Churchwide Assembly.

A new way of conversation

At a closing press conversation, bishops agreed that it had been an important meeting -- and some credited the spouses with making a big difference. "The spouses humanized the meeting," said Charles Bennison of Pennsylvania, making us "more willing to share our woundedness." He is convinced that "a lot of surfaces have been scratched," and that the bishops moved to "new levels of compassion, sympathy and reluctance to label people according to their camps has emerged."

"That doesn't mean that we have avoided differences," added Chet Talton of Los Angeles. "We are not looking for easy answers but committed to continue the conversation until we come to a place where there is more of a consensus." He said that an important "shift" had taken place at the meeting -- "moving deeper into the issue of racism with more acknowledgement of our complicity in the whole dilemma."

Claude Payne of Texas called it "a creative and powerful meeting. We are on the pathway to wellness, led by the Spirit to work together."

"We are just learning a new way of conversation," said Henry Parsley of Alabama, allowing an "experience of deeper communion in midst of differences" and engaging "real issues and complexities in a way that manifested our oneness."

Knudsen expressed a hope that "the day of passionate confrontation is passing," that it will be possible to "be together in differences, not sacrificing our convictions but simply calling them to be sources of richness, not fragmentation." She pointed out that during Jubilee the land, as it lies fallow, is "extremely busy because, in nature, the system is kept alive by diversity."

Catherine Roskam of New York said that she was aware that she wasn't alone, that "there were a lot of people in the room." She agreed with Griswold that respectful conversation "doesn't mean backing away from the issues, but instead looking for another road, moving forward in a different way."

Looking ahead to General Convention, Griswold said he hoped that what bishops experienced at the meeting "may be useful dioceses, inviting people to see if what the bishops have learned could be used on the diocesan level."