Consultation on Priesthood and Sexuality Convened
Diocesan Press Service. October 2, 1974 [74255]
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Several church leaders met here on September 14 to begin "an honest, open, and informed dialogue " on Christian ministry, including the issues of priesthood and sexuality.
The group was convened by the Rt. Rev. John M. Allin, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, as a first step in complying with a resolution adopted by the House of Bishops at the 1973 General Convention in Louisville, Ky., calling for "an ad hoc committee . . . to study . . . the doctrine of priesthood as held by this Church ... and ... provide . . . a report . . . of contemporary Christian sexuality. . .. "
Bishop Allin said that the issue of the ordination of women to the priesthood and episcopate, now a central concern for the Episcopal Church, can be discussed and resolved only in the perspective of "a clearer understanding of Christian ministry as well as human relationships. "
The group spent much of the day drawing up sampling check-lists of topics related to ministry and to human sexuality.
Bishop Allin told the group he feels the Church must be kept together "in a reconciled relationship. " These are the dynamics, he said, through which he sees the Church moving ahead in confronting the major issues of our time.
Members of the group expressed the hope that the entire Church can participate in the discussion of these ministry concerns leading to decision-making at the next General Convention in Minneapolis/St. Paul in 1976.
The group, augmented by others, will meet again on November 6 in New York City.
Participants in the consultation were: Bishop Allin; the Rev. Carol Anderson, St. James' Church, New York City; the Rev. John B. Coburn, St. James' Church, New York City, and president of the House of Deputies of the General Convention; Miss Verner Dozier, educator and theologian, Washington, D.C.; the Very Rev. Urban T. Holmes, dean of the School of Theology, University of the South, Sewanee, Tenn.; Bishop John M. Krumm of Southern Ohio; Miss Elizabeth MacCormack, former president of Manhattanville College and now consultant to the Rockefeller Brothers; Dr. Robert Terwilliger, director of Trinity Institute, New York City; Executive Council staff Executives: Mrs. Ruth Cheney, Program; John C. Goodbody, Communication; Bishop Richard B. Martin, Ministries; and Bishop Milton L. Wood, Administration; and from the Seabury Press, Werner Mark Linz, president, and the Rev. Reid Isaac, senior editor.