'Energized' Bishops Triumph Over Agenda
Episcopal News Service. October 8, 1987 [87196]
ST CHARLES, Ill. (DPS Oct. 8) -- As if the Lambeth Conference, human sexuality and women in the episcopate weren't enough, bishops of the Episcopal Church found time in a week long meeting here to scrutinize theological education, address national issues, bid hail and farewell to new and retiring members and issue a pastoral letter.
More than 140 bishops met in a resort in this west Chicago suburb for their Sept. 25 to Oct. 1 1987 interim meeting. They spent five lengthy sessions preparing for the 1988 Lambeth Conference of Anglican Bishops and, in a spirit of energy and conciliation that made light of a schedule allowing only one partially free afternoon, they laid the groundwork for resolution of issues raised last year. Although bishops do not legislate for the Church in interim meetings, the gatherings provide an opportunity for reflection and refinement of material that will go before General Convention, and they allow the bishops to speak collegially to the Church on moral and social matters.
According to many of the bishops, at least some of the energy came from the opening address by Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning, in which he called the members of the House to a reinvigorated exercise of their teaching role. "I am prepared to put forward the leadership that will give direction and support to all our people, so that they can with confidence exercise the personal ministries that will make a difference in our parishes, communities, nation and world. I believe that we are at a place where we can nourish and succor the faithful so that they can do the job that needs to be done. And I am ready to press the connection between being in power and responding to the power of the Gospel," he told them, adding later, "I am here to tell you that the train is leaving the station and it is time to either get on it or continue to sit on your bags."
Browning devoted much of his message to laying down, in detail, the nature of the "mission imperatives" that he promised would shape the decade of his primacy. He told the bishops that he would take to the General Convention next summer in Detroit these imperatives and related programs under the theme of 'With Water & the Holy Spirit: Making All Things New."
His 25-minute address received a long standing ovation from the audience, and a panel of responding bishops praised the comments for "empowering the mission imperatives with faith and conviction." Bishop Theodore Eastman of Maryland told Browning, "you have warmed us by your energy and conviction, which will energize and convict us. " He urged the Presiding Bishop to press hard on the teaching role, adding: "we are your teaching assistants, and we need help in claiming that role for ourselves."
Browning's address capped a long day in which the bishops, their families, staff and guests had traveled into Chicago to celebrate, in Holy Eucharist, the centennial of the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral. The entire House, vested in scarlet and white choir dress, was joined by guests from Protestant, Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches and from the National Council of Churches, the World Council of Churches and Chicago diocesan choirs and clergy.
Worship and reflection nourished the meeting throughout, with daily Eucharists and Morning Prayer and with a sermon by University of Chicago historian and author Dr. Martin Marty and a series of theological meditations by Dr. John Booty of Sewanee.
As noted, much of the meeting was given over to consideration of Lambeth topics, with presentations on the four sections of the Lambeth meeting -- dogmatics and pastoral concerns, Christianity & the social order, ecumenical relations and ministry and mission -- led by Bishop Mark Dyer of Bethlehem, Bishop David Evans of Peru, Archbishop Michael Peers of Canada and Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali of Pakistan. These reports framed a dinner address in which the Anglican Consultative Council general secretary, Canon Samuel Van Culin, briefed the bishops on what to expect from the decennial gathering.
Commenting after adjournment, Browning said the presence of the Anglican partners "had been extremely valuable. They opened us up to new perspectives and, I think, contributed tremendously to the whole tenor of the meeting. This is something we are going to have to consider making a regular part of our meetings."
A three-part discussion on women in the episcopate was also undertaken with one eye on the Lambeth gathering. Indianapolis Bishop Edward Jones had chaired a panel charged by Bishop Browning and the General Convention with developing a report on the considerations involved in such ordinations. Browning asked the same panel -- the actual task fell to a sub-group -- to maintain dialogue with a group of Episcopalians who had asked the House last year for conversations aimed at maintaining the unity of the Church between proponents and foes of womens' ordination.
The panel -- which included men and women theologians and pastors as well as bishops and canonical experts -- had filed its reports early so that the bishops had plenty of time for study before arriving at the meeting, and the debate focussed less on the conclusions (supportive of proceeding with such ordinations) than it did on the process of their study, which was denounced as not inclusive enough. Bishop William Wantland of Eau Claire had prepared a counter statement laying out some of the arguments against proceeding with the ordinations. He argued -- with support of others -- that the "Jones committee" was not inclusive in itself and that their work failed to reflect dissenting views.
After about an hour of give and take, Browning urged that the matter be considered again at a later session and that the committee solicit some additional comments on their work.
When the House reconvened the following day, Jones announced that the panel had agreed to draft a preamble explaining the task and to change some of the language that many bishops had found awkward. He urged the House to approve the report in principle and forward it to their standing committees and to Lambeth. When his suggestion was modified to include a minority report, the measure passed 113-17. The preamble and minority report will be drafted over the autumn.
Throughout the debate, there was a clear sense of the bishops straining to accommodate disparate positions and, at the conclusion, many who opposed the measure assured the House they had "no intention of breaking collegiality." The informal consensus seemed to be that they commit themselves "to living into" this emerging state, as one bishop put it.
The same sense of collegiality seemed to guide the response to the report from the Human Affairs & Health Commission, which is chaired by Bishop George Hunt of Rhode Island. Drafted in response to a call in the House last year for a clear expression of Church doctrine on sexual morality, it is a measured plea for open and thoughtful study of the principles, policies and practices Christians bring to moral issues balanced against a clear restatement of the Church's adherence to standards of marital fidelity.
Although concerned with the whole field of sexual morality, the report does address homosexual practice particularly, asking the Church to step back from premature declarations in order to seek out and understand fully the conditions that nurture homosexuality and under which homosexual Christians live. Hunt urged the bishops to explore a number of studies extant and to advocate that their congregations use a newly issued curriculum entitled Sexuality, A Divine Gift in shaping their pastoral work.
The bishops spent much of the afternoon discussing the report, and their comments were fed back to Hunt for consideration by the whole commission as it prepares its report to General Convention.
Again, commenting after the adjournment, Browning praised the House for what he called the "willingness to engage one another. The reports were superb and the responses thoughtful. I am very hopeful that we are in a position to lead by example and really help Episcopalians discover and want to fill their ministries."
In one of its earliest sessions, the House unanimously elected Bishop John T. Walker of Washington as vice-president. Walker will preside when Browning is absent from the meetings and will become part of the core group that plan bishops' meetings. He succeeds Bishop James Montgomery of Chicago. The post usually goes to a senior bishop and is viewed as a mark of the respect and affection of the members.