Episcopal Press and News
House of Bishops Leaders Issue Statement
Diocesan Press Service. May 7, 1975 [75172]
GARDEN CITY, N.Y. -- Leaders of the Episcopal House of Bishops, disturbed by "recent events involving questions of order and discipline, " joined today in a statement which recorded their earlier resolutions on the ordination of women as priests and reminded the Church that they are committed to "due constitutional and canonical process."
The statement was made by the Rt. Rev. Jonathan G. Sherman of the Diocese of Long Island, vice-chairman of the House of Bishops. Joining him were eight of the nine bishops elected to serve as Province Presidents.
Although the House of Bishops has twice gone on record in support of women priests, the House of Deputies narrowly defeated such a move at the last General Convention of the church in Louisville, Kentucky in October, 1973. The action of both houses is needed for approval.
The House of Bishops at a special meeting in Chicago in August, 1974 asked the church "to wait upon and abide by whatever action the General Convention decides upon in this regard." At its regular meeting in Oaxtepec, Mexico in October, 1974, the House of Bishops reaffirmed its respect for "the bicameral system of legislation" and called upon all church members "to refrain from any attempts to ordain women to the priesthood unless and until such ordinations have been approved by the General Convention of this Church. "
The next General Convention will be held at Minneapolis, Minnesota, in September, 1976.
In their statement today, the Episcopal bishops also reminded the Church that "no person, including the Presiding Bishop, is authorized to interpret the resolutions of the House of Bishops except the House of Bishops itself. "
The resolution of the bishops for which interpretation is frequently sought was enacted at the special meeting of the bishops in Chicago last August. This meeting was called to consider "faith and order" questions relating to the four bishops who participated in an ordination service for eleven women in Philadelphia in July, 1974.
The bishops, while recognizing "the genuine anguish " felt by many because women could not be ordained, expressed their conviction that "the necessary conditions for valid ordination to the priesthood in the Episcopal Church were not fulfilled on the occasion in question" and that this issue must be resolved by the action of the full Convention.
The nine Provinces of the Episcopal Church include all of the 93 dioceses in the United States and most overseas dioceses.
Presidents of the provinces are elected by their brother bishops and make up a Council of Advice for the House.
Joining Bishop Sherman in issuing the statement were the following presidents of provinces: The Rt. Rev. Frederick B. Wolf, Maine, Province I; the Rt. Rev. J. Stuart Wetmore, Suffragan of New York, Province II; the Rt. Rev. Iveson B. Noland, Louisiana, Province IV; the Rt. Rev. Albert W. Hillestad, Springfield, Province V; the Rt. Rev. George T. Masuda, North Dakota, Province VI; the Rt. Rev. Edward C. Turner, Kansas, Province VII; the Rt. Rev. C. Kilmer Myers, California, Province VIII; and the Rt. Rev. Melchor Saucedo, Western Mexico, Province IX.
The Rt. Rev. William F. Creighton, President of Province III, abstained. Bishop Creighton is the Diocesan Bishop of Washington, D.C., where an ecclesiastical court is still considering charges against the Rev. William Wendt for allowing a woman to act as priest without Diocesan approval.
