Presiding Bishop Reflects on Bishops' Meeting
Diocesan Press Service. October 22, 1974 [74277]
NEW YORK, N. Y. -- The Rt. Rev. John M. Allin, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, said that he hopes the recent action of the House of Bishops in endorsing the principle of the ordination of women to the priesthood "would reassure people on both sides of the question throughout the church. "
Meeting in Oaxtepec, in the State of Morelos, Mexico, October 13 - 18, the bishops by a vote of 97 to 35 with six abstentions, reaffirmed its 1972 endorsement of the principle of the ordination of women to the priesthood.
Bishop Allin said he hopes the "very positive response by a large majority of those present" at the bishops' meeting will assure the church that the bishops were "really trying to work out an understanding."
He said that he hopes the decision of the bishops not to call for a special meeting of the General Convention next spring means that there is acceptance by the bishops "that we really need every month available to us between now and the Minnesota Convention" in the fall of 1976 "to inform the church and engage the church around the resolution of this question."
Bishop Allin said that while the service in Philadelphia on July 29 "may have made the church more aware that this is a burning question," he said he could "find nothing that it did otherwise save to complicate and divide and strain the church."
"If the church had been totally resisting the idea of ordination of women," he said, "and there had been no other way to confront it, that is one thing. But that simply is not the case and that is evidenced by the continuing efforts of so many in the church," he added.
In commenting on a resolution adopted by the bishops calling upon "all church members to restrain from " the ordaining of women priests until General Convention approves, Bishop Allin said that it is his "real hope that no bishop will feel that he must take upon himself to proceed with the ordination or the recognition of an ordination of women to the priesthood" before the legislative action is taken. "All that can do," he said, "is further disrupt the relationships within this church."
He said that the mail that has come to the Presiding Bishop's office has included "many expressions of ardent support for the ordination of women," but "as many or more have been equally concerned about individuals or even dioceses deciding to act on their own."
Bishop Allin said that he has "come to believe that the church will come to the decision to ordain women priests." He said that "while there are some unanswered questions " in his own mind, to which he wants "to continue to find answers," he believes that "on the whole scale of things we are going to learn more about the meaning of relationships and the whole meaning of ministry by proceeding to ordain " women to the priesthood.
"In terms of the urgent call to get on with Christian mission in a desperate world," he said, if ordination of women to the priesthood will enable the church to do this, " I'm eager to get on to it."
He said that as Presiding Bishop of the church he feels it is his responsibility to keep "those on both sides of this issue in communication" and to "do everything possible to get people to coordinate their efforts in resolving" the issue.
"If I can do that," he said, "it doesn't really matter which side I was on" when the bishops voted on the resolution in Mexico. The important thing, he added, is that "the church comes to the right answer, and I really believe in the church's ability to reach the right answer."
Bishop Allin said that he would like to emphasize what he told the House of Bishops concerning liturgy. He said that the General Convention in Minneapolis in 1976 "will bring into being a new Book of Common Prayer," but that it is his hope that while "a new Book will be born there, we will not be preoccupied with burying an old one." He said, however, that he is not proposing "parallel books in the future."
He said he hopes there will be no "unnecessary restrictions on the future use" of the 1928 Book of Common Prayer after a revised Book has been adopted by the Convention. He said that "the key word is no unnecessary restrictions." He said there will be some services in the current Book "which will no longer be of use," such as the services that will be replaced by the proposed Initiatory Rite. But the use of other services, such as Evensong and Evening Prayer," should not be distressing to anybody."
"I'm certain," he said, "there's greater growth and development through freedom than there is through any restrictions."
He said that he thought "it was apparent" at the recent meeting "that the bishops have come to know that we really have to try to work ecumenically on every front in every direction."
"I sensed a greater freedom among them, " he said, "to consider the possibilities of closer cooperation with other church bodies," such as the matters of exchange of membership and cross-ordination, even though certain cautions were expressed.
"I believe we would be drawn closer together with members of other Christian churches if we would really find ways to work together to relieve some of the acute human needs all around us," he said. "If we simply get together occasionally to pray more and hear the Word more, Eucharist will follow."
Overall, he said, he felt "there was a common spirit among the bishops and a desire both to get together and to get on with some specific areas of mission, a major example of which is world hunger."