The Acts of Convention

House of Bishops

Original Text of Resolution:

(B047)

Whereas, the Philippine Episcopal Church in Convention (1971) requested the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church of the United States of America for the division of the Missionary Diocese of the Philippines into several episcopal jurisdictions; and

Whereas, in the preamble to the "Plan for the Establishment of a National Missionary Church, and Ultimately an Autonomous Philippine Episcopal Church," the Bishop and Suffragan Bishops of the Missionary Diocese of the Philippines have expressed unanimous intention in the following manner:

We declare as our unanimous intention that the Church as envisioned in this plan shall be one Household of Faith, bound together by the common tradition of doctrine, discipline, and worship which we have most thankfully received from the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, and as we intend in Faith and proclamation of the Gospel of Christ and in the celebration of the Sacraments of the New Covenant. And appropriately realized in this land of diverse cultures, languages and peoples which we have received as our good inheritance, we intend further to reserve to the several dioceses which shall now and in the future time be established, such a measure of pastoral indigenization and episcopal initiative as shall serve to proclaim that the one Church is authentically the Church of each place in which it is established. Thus united as one Church in Catholic Faith and Fellowship before our fellow Christians and before this nation, we seek that measure of pastoral diversity which will enable a more effective witness to the complex society we have been called to serve; and

Whereas, the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church of the United States of America, meeting in Pocono Manor, Pennsylvania, in October 1971, concurred with the expressed intent of the Philippine Convention for the division of the Missionary Diocese of the Philippines into several jurisdictions; and further, has granted permission for the local election of diocesan Bishops thereof; and

Whereas, the General Convention of the Episcopal Church of the United States of America, in 1982, approved the resolution proposed by the National Convention of the Philippine Episcopal Church on the Covenant between PEC and ECUSA as a step towards the ultimate establishment of an autonomous church, the Province of the Philippine Episcopal Church; therefore be it

Resolved, the House of Deputies concurring, That the 68th General Convention of the Episcopal Church affirms the intention of the Philippine Episcopal Church to become an autonomous Province of the Anglican Communion beginning in 1988; Provided, that the respective convention of each PEC diocese in existence or that will have been created on or before the 1988 PECUSA General Convention shall have expressed its consent.

Proposed Committee Amendment:

Add the words "and beginning the three-year trial period in 1986, according to Resolution A162 of the 1982 General Convention" after the words "beginning in 1988."

Seconded by the Bishop of Florida.

Motion carried

Resolution adopted

(Communicated to the House of Deputies in HB Message #119)