Province II Bishops: 'Keep Debate Open'
Episcopal News Service. July 2, 1987 [87140]
Richard Henshaw, Diocese of Rochester
GENEVA, N.Y. (DPS, July 2) -- The bishops of Province II, meeting here in closed session during the annual Province II Synod, heeded the Presiding Bishop's pleas that church leaders not pronounce judgment on the moral issues currently under debate church-wide before the Church in all its diversity has had a chance to express itself.
Reacting to what they saw as premature rushes to judgment by some other provincial houses of bishops in recent weeks, the Province II bishops resolved that they thought it "appropriate" for the Standing Commission on Human Affairs and Health to carry out its present study of the changing patterns of family life and human sexuality and to "support" the Presiding Bishop's call on the bishops to lead the Church in this endeavor.
Behind the bland wording of the measure, however, is a purposeful statement directed not only at Episcopalians in Province II but at brother bishops as well. In proposing the resolution, the Rt. Rev. Paul Moore, Bishop of New York, was candid in saying that the hasty reaction of bishops in some other provinces is a cause for real concern and will tend to stifle open dialogue in the Church. The leadership of Province II, he said, had an opportunity at this time to help reverse this trend.
The Province II bishops also sought to encourage the Presiding Bishop and the Commission, especially in the wake of the much publicized report on sexuality and family life to the Convention of the Diocese of Newark, which, it is felt, is prematurely polarizing opinions and inadvertently heightening tensions in an already potentially tense debate.
In this context, the Bishop of Newark, the Rt. Rev. John Spong, whose diocese is part of Province II, provided a chronological narrative of the events that led to the extensive publicity surrounding Newark's convention in January.
In January 1987, the report was distributed to convention delegates along with all the other resolutions and reports for that year. (The report was in the form of a "study document," Spong said). On the morning before consideration on the floor of Convention, a reporter from the Bergen County Record, a local newspaper, took an interest in the report and wrote a story on it that appeared the next day on the front page. The networks and wire services took up the story the following morning, and in the course of widespread national and international coverage, there were misleading articles and headlines, Spong asserted.
The Newark convention, he explained, "accepted" the report on the floor, and "recommended it for a year of study." The Diocese of Newark, he said, did not recommend that the Church should bless committed relationships outside of marriage, including committed homosexual relationships, though it did "accept" a report by the diocesan task force that recommended such actions, and Spong said he personally supports such recommendations.
Lay and clerical Delegates to the Synod, meanwhile, voted to "support" their bishops' resolution.
One major piece of legislation was adopted by the Synod as a whole. The resolution will request from the national Church at General Convention in 1988 that the apportionment system be based on the budget of each diocese rather than on the total net disposable income of parishes in the diocese, as is now the case. Each diocese, the resolution stipulates, would have to report its budget to the national Church "in a uniform manner".
This proposal would not alter the amounts received by the national Church but would distribute those receipts more fairly, explained Moore, who introduced the legislation.
The Rt. Rev. William G. Burrill, Bishop of Rochester, told the Synod that the fairness issue was so important to him that he was supporting the measure even though his diocese, among all those in Province II, stands to "loose" the most if it is ever enacted, because two-thirds of Rochester's budget is derived from endowment income.
This resolution passed unanimously in both houses -- bishops and delegates.
In other action, financial support for the diocese of Haiti, which is part of Province II, was the subject of extensive debate, especially in relation to the provincial budget, and, as a result, the Synod asked its bishops to conduct a year-long study as to whether the Province should become more involved in supporting specific programs for Haiti, or any other programs for that matter, given that staff support is non-existent and accountability is difficult to come by.
The keynote address was delivered by the Rev. Dr. Frederick H. Borsch, Chaplain at Princeton University, who introduced a debate on issues that will come before next year's Lambeth Conference. The address inspired the delegates to meet in small groups, on the basis of which they drew up a list of issues they hoped their bishops would address at Lambeth. The theme of the Synod, in fact, was the renewal of the mission of the church. Borsch arrived at the Synod having just returned from Singapore, where he was a delegate from the Episcopal Church to the seventh meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council.
The Rt. Rev. O'Kelley Whitaker, Bishop of Central New York, was elected to succeed the Bishop of Western New York, the Rt. Rev. Harold B. Robinson, as President of the Province.
For the first time, representatives of the Convocation of American Churches in Europe, the newest member of the Province, were present at the Synod.