Bishops Declare Women Should be Ordained in all Dioceses, Decry Mean-Spiritedness
Episcopal News Service. October 19, 1995 [95-1265]
(ENS) Bishops of the Episcopal Church meeting for their fall interim meeting September 22-28 in Portland, Oregon, sent strong signals that "mean-spiritedness" should not be tolerated in the church and that time is running out for bishops who refuse to ordain women or permit them to operate as priests in their dioceses.
Picking up on Presiding Bishop Edmond Browning's opening statement (Text in Newsfeatures) that chided "pressure groups around the church who are doing all they can to create a climate of dis-ease," the bishops condemned the use of "fragmentary and distorted information" to "demean persons and create environments of fear, hostility and distrust." At the same time they welcomed "legitimate criticism and differences of opinion" that are "vital for the shaping of our future." (Text in Newsfeatures)
Following a morning-long debate, the bishops voted 122 to 17, with 18 abstentions, that equal access to ordination for men and women is "mandatory" throughout the church. The "mind of the house" statement endorsed the recommendation of the committee appointed at last summer's General Convention in Indianapolis to "promote dialogue and understanding and to discuss how the canon can be implemented in every diocese of this church."
While the 1976 General Convention of the Episcopal Church voted that canons on ordination should apply equally to men and women, the bishops of four out of the 118 dioceses and jurisdictions currently do not ordain women or recognize their ministry in the church.
The 1997 General Convention still must adopt the actual language suggested by the committee that would clarify the mandatory nature of the ordination policy, but the bishops' statement was seen as a clear indication that those changes are likely to be approved.
"This church is looking to this house to exercise leadership," said Bishop Robert Rowley of Northwestern Pennsylvania, chair of the committee, in explaining why a resolution had been sought. "We need to say as a House of Bishops that we're going to fully implement the canon on ordination. This decision is not being made today. This decision was made 19 years ago."
In opening what proved to be an intense but civil debate, Rowley stressed that the proposed canonical language does not prohibit those opposed to women's ordination from holding that belief as a matter of conscience. But, he said, "You cannot institutionalize your individual conscience" when it contradicts the stated position of the church.
"Our proposal is designed to protect people's conscience," said Bishop Frank Allen of Atlanta. "We can respect one another in our theological differences -- but the notion of conscience has all too often been used to circumvent what we believe, and has been used as a cloak to enable individuals to do whatever they think is right in their own eyes.
Allen continued, "Conscience must be respected but conscience should not be used to erect a barrier to the legitimate calling of women to ordained ministry in any diocese of this church."
"I believe in wriggle room," stated Bishop David Joslin of Central New York, arguing that the proposed canonical change does provide "sufficient room for those who hold minority views to feel welcome in this church."
Bishop William Wantland of Eau Claire, however, one of the bishops who refuse to ordain women, maintained that the vote "says quite clearly that those who follow the traditional Catholic understanding of holy orders are not to be included in this church." The other bishops are John-David Schofield of San Joaquin, Jack Iker of Fort Worth, and Keith Ackerman of Quincy.
Wantland said he expects to resign following the 1997 General Convention, should the canonical changes be approved, adding that "it's a fairly safe bet that it will pass in a fairly short order." He told a local reporter that he expects to be "a thorn in the flesh of this Protestant sect."
Wantland, one of several members of the committee who joined in a producing a minority report, argued that the 1976 ordination canon is "permissive" rather than mandatory. That's just what needs to be clarified, stated Bishop Douglas Theuner of New Hampshire. The matter of women's ordination in the church won't be fully settled, he said, "until we say this law that isn't a law is a law."
Schofield pointed out that he and other three bishops have arranged for women to be ordained to the priesthood through other dioceses, but that he still questioned whether a woman "can represent my ministry" within his own diocese.
Ackerman said during the debate that he regrets that "my entire ministry comes down to moments like this." In urging defeat of the motion he said that "I really do represent the deep pain of Anglo-Catholics" who may feel forced to leave the church.
Iker said that it was "inconsistent" for his position to be recognized as valid but then to turn around and say that "I can't act out my beliefs." He asked, "Why now this urgent need to change the way we have been dealing with this issue?" He said that the resolution would "deprive Ft. Worth the freedom other dioceses had in the past to deal with this in their own time and their own way."
A move by Bishop Peter James Lee of Virginia to introduce a substitute resolution that would have "received" the report, affirmed the ministry of women but given the four dioceses time before the 1997 General Convention to work out their own plans for implementation, failed on a roll call vote of 101 to 57. Later Lee called attention to the fact that all four bishops who oppose the ordination of women voted in favor of the substitute.
On the closing day, Wantland read a Statement of Concern (Text in Newsfeatures), signed by the four bishops and two retired bishops, in which he charged that the house "has abandoned patient dialogue and adopted authoritarian command as the way to solve the ongoing tensions." He added, "A Catholic theological position universally held for almost 2,000 years, and still embraced by a majority of the Anglican Communion, will have been banished from the life and practice of this church."
Wantland alleged that the "repressive legislation" would have a devastating affect and "create a new level of impaired communion, subverting the collegiality of the house and guaranteeing, for the first time in history, that the Episcopal Church will actively prohibit Catholic order."
Acknowledging that enforcing the canon will present difficult choices to those opposed to women's ordination, Bishop Mary Adelia McLeod of Vermont said, "There's been enough pain to last a lifetime and pass to another generation. We can't say that one hurts more than another. But the church has made a decision."
By objecting to the proposed agenda early in the meeting, a sizeable minority of the bishops demonstrated that they were willing to discuss other contentious issues facing the church. Among those identified in their table groups were: management of the Church Pension Fund; the presentment against Bishop Walter Righter; pressures on the presiding bishop; mean-spiritedness; sexuality; embezzlement; implementation of the canon on ordination.
In his opening remarks September 23 (Text in Newsfeatures), Browning outlined the anxiety facing the bishops as they meet for the first time since the decision to move to a heresy trial of retired Bishop Walter Righter for ordaining a non-celibate homosexual in 1990.
"We have been on a journey together, and maybe you are hoping that we have the maps we need for the trip ahead. Maybe you aren't even sure about why you signed up to take this trip."
Reviewing the recent history of the House of Bishops, Browning reminded the 165 active and retired bishops at the meeting that they agreed to change "the way we do business together" after heated exchanges during the 1991 General Convention meeting in Phoenix threatened the collegiality of the house.
Browning warned that "there is pressure to pull apart from one another, to form the power groups, choose up sides to lobby one another, to adopt the win/lose postures again, to revert to the old ways. There is pressure to say: let's decide. There is pressure to force decisions and answer questions that we ourselves have not framed, pressure to force clarity where no clarity is possible." He said that the bishops had "to live in the tension of ambiguity."
More serious than tension, anxiety, or ambiguity, Browning warned, "there is a mean spirit abroad in the church" fomented by "pressure groups around the church who are doing all they can to create a climate of dis-ease, who are willing to attack and diminish our church in order to gather strength for their positions.
"I believe this spirit is intolerable," Browning said. "This meanness dishonors and diminishes all of us. It has nothing to do with building up the church and our mission. It drains off energy, rather than bringing energies around a common goal. I have faith in this house to disown the mean-spiritedness and model a different way.
"We have some choices to make here," Browning said. "We can choose together to find a place on which to stand so we can make our way through difficulties. We can choose to grant one another the safety to be vulnerable. We can choose to meet on the ground of our common faith and ask God's blessing on our enterprise, or we can choose to forget the whole thing."
In its closing plenary the bishops issued a statement (Text in Newsfeatures) in which the bishops joined Browning in "desiring to name and confront this evil wherever it is experienced."
"We must also remember that the Anglican tradition is one of breadth and spaciousness which honors diversity, and is able to contain a wide variety of theological perspectives. In our present day the gift of Anglican comprehensiveness is all the more precious," the statement contended. "It is a gift from God, a gift we are called upon to celebrate and share."
- heard reports on the embezzlement of funds by the former treasurer and the return of Clarence Pope to the Episcopal Church;
- welcomed several speakers on children's issues and visited Portland schools to demonstrate their commitment;
- continued their work on racism issues;
- heard a report from Bishop Don Wimberly of Lexington, chair of the Executive Council's administration and finance committee, about changes in financial policy and procedures at the national level, and from Bishop Charlie McNutt, the church's new chief operating officer;
- discussed in their small groups the qualities the church should look for in the presiding bishop who will be elected at the 1997 General Convention;
- joined the Rev. Margo Maris, speaking for the Committee on Sexual Exploitation, in honoring Browning and Bishop Harold Hopkins of the Office of Pastoral Development for their leadership in addressing sexual abuse, exploitation and harassment in the church.
![[thumbnail: Bishops Visit Schools Dur...]](/e-archives/ENS/photographs/thumbnails/95-1265_thb.jpg) |