Trinity Institute Conference Held in New York City
Diocesan Press Service. May 2, 1975 [75167]
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- "This generation is made of the stuff of potential holiness if we would minister forgiveness; offer salvation to men from their strengths as well as weaknesses," the Rev. Michael Marshal preached from the pulpit of Riverside Church, New York, April 21.
Fr. Marshal, bishop-elect of Woolwich, England, opened the Sixth Annual Conference of the Trinity Institute, with a sermon illustrated by Peter's conversion from disciple to apostle.
The Institute, a special ministry of Trinity Parish in the City of New York, held a similar conference in San Francisco at Grace Cathedral, April 27-29, with an intensive day in Chicago in between.
In his welcoming address at the opening Eucharist, the Rev. Robert Ray Parks, rector of Trinity, spoke of the historic unity of the Episcopal Church, which has not broken into sects over disagreements.
He said that there was wide disagreement in the Church now on the question of ordination of women and on Prayer Book revision, but he expected that the Church would remain strong and one after the Minnesota Convention in 1976 when those issues will be decided.
Dr. Parks said that Trinity Parish's clergy staff represented highly diverse opinions, but that it was a strong parish as all are agreed on its central mission and on building its faith community.
Fr. Marshal, in his sermon, said that Peter had brought together the frailty of man and the security of God. Peter said, " I'm going fishing, back to security, " but the Resurrected Jesus turned him around to the risky life of a missionary.
"Jesus has too many disciples, not enough apostles," Fr. Marshal said. "There were crowds of disciples who followed Jesus. Apostles have to do more, have to enter into a living confrontation with the Living Lord.
" Peter had to face what it is to be a Holy man. That is not the same as being a good man. "
The bind is in apostleship, according to Fr. Marshal. "There is no loosing without binding. One of the problems with many of the current liberation movements is that they result in tyranny.
" The paradox this generation finds hardest to accept is that religions are bound. There is no apostolic life without binding, without obedience. "
The subject of the Sixth Annual Conference was "The Gift of Ministry." The Rev. Robert E. Terwilliger, director of the Institute, said that the matter of women's ordination has disturbed and divided the Church, but that the greater issue is "What is priesthood ?"
The Rev. John Macquarrie, Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity, Oxford, said that today the Christian ministry is in search of an image. "The secularization of society has given to others the functions that were once the province of the clergy -- educator, social worker, etc. " At the same time the increased ministry of the laity has eroded these functions.
He said that the constants in ministry are theological; the variables belong to the changing cultural setting of society.
Dr. Macquarrie listed three constants of ministry:
1. Serving. "This is exemplified in the diaconate, the unspectacular service which is at the heart of the Christian Church. Service without recognition. "
2. Overseeing. "This is the role of the pastor, the teacher with authority who provides the leadership. It is proclamation, and if not accompanied by service will bear on hypocrisy. The emphasis is on upbuilding the community. " Dr. Macquarrie said that this was an ordained function: " I wonder if we do not too lightly allow teaching to be done by others. "
3. Priestly. "This function brings together service and proclamation. It is a function associated with the Sacraments. The priest represents Christ and acts in his name. Presiding at the Eucharist most clearly distinguishes this function."
Others who spoke to the topic of ministry included Dr. Terwilliger; the Rt. Rev. Graham Leonard, Bishop of Truro, England, who also discussed the ordination of women, taking the negative side, with the Very Rev. Harvey Guthrie, Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School, Cambridge, Mass.
Also, the Rt. Rev. John M. Allin, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church; the Rev. Myles Bourke, pastor of Corpus Christi Roman Catholic Church, New York; and the Rev. Thomas Hopko, a member of the faculty of St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, New York.
Dr. Terwilliger announced that the Most Rev. Donald Coggan, new Archbishop of Canterbury, would be present in 1976 at the Seventh National Conference.