Bishops Schedule February Debate
Episcopal News Service. December 8, 1988 [88270A]
NEW YORK (DPS, Dec. 8) -- Two bishops with differing views on many current issues in the Episcopal Church are slated for a debate during the annual Harvey Lectures at the Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas, on February 14.
The Rt. Rev. C. FitzSimons Allison, Bishop of South Carolina, generally perceived as a "conservative" voice in the Church, will square off with the Rt. Rev. Paul Moore, Jr., Bishop of New York, long a "liberal" voice in Church affairs, on the topic "The Nature of the Church and the Authority of the Episcopate."
The event on the 14th will begin with a 9 a.m. lecture by Allison, followed by a brief response from Moore. The lecture audience will then break into small groups and meet at various locations on the Seminary campus to discuss the lecture and response. At 12:45 p.m. Moore will present his lecture, with Allison slated to respond immediately afterward. Then an informal exchange between the bishops and the lecture audience will cap the afternoon schedule. The Harvey Lectures, which will be open to the public, will be held in the Seminary's Christ Chapel.
Moore, who has headed the Diocese of New York since 1972, is a widely known civil and human rights advocate. He serves on the National Board of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and is co-chairman of the Interfaith Committee Against Racism in New York City. Moore has a long-standing record of concern for the problems of the cities. He also has a strong interest in the relationship of the priesthood to psychiatry.
Allison had a distinguished teaching career in Church history at the University of the South and, later, at the Virginia Theological Seminary. He holds a doctorate in philosophy from Oxford University. He left teaching in 1975 to become rector of Grace Church in New York City. He was elected Bishop Coadjutor of South Carolina five years later, becoming diocesan in 1982.
Both bishops are skilled preachers, and both are published authors. Neither is a stranger to controversy.