DWTX from Anaheim - Episcopal News Service – A majority of bishops, deputies, visitors and others who testified before a World Mission Committee public hearing July 9 indicated they hope the Episcopal Church will move beyond resolution B033.
As many as a thousand people attended the two-hour hearing which began at 8 p.m. in the Pacific Ballroom of the Hilton Hotel. A total of 51 people testified; 41 said they hoped the church could move beyond B033, a moratorium on the consecration of bishops whose manner of life presented a challenge to the wider church. Ten others indicated they wanted to retain B033.
Following the hearing, Bishop Gene Robinson — who was among those testifying — said his “spirit is buoyed” despite stories of pain. “I was overjoyed at the hope and reconciliation people have found in our church. Someone mentioned being a beacon of light. That is a ministry we can reclaim.”
The Rev. Ian T. Douglas, a committee member, said the committee would discuss the hearing in subsequent meetings and decide whether to combine some 13 proposed resolutions about B033 into one or more final resolutions to be considered by deputies and bishops.
“We as a committee have been faithful to the process of both the Committee of the Whole and the hearts, and we have not yet begun to imagine what a resolution might look like,” he said, immediately following the hearing.
Earlier in the day, committee member Randy Dales of New Hampshire offered an outline of the presentations to a House of Deputies Committee of the Whole. Douglas said the hearings were a key component in beginning to figure out a way forward.
The 13 proposed resolutions are: C007, C010, C015, C024, C033, C036, C039, C045, C054, D013, D021, D022, D025, all of which can be viewed by visiting the General Convention website at http://gc2009.org/ViewLegislation/.
Tags: legislative committee, Resolutions
I have long felt that the question of who should be ordained to the priesthood and beyond should be a matter of spiritual discernment. Our Scripture is laden with stories of God choosing the most unlikely of folks to champion His causes. The church is full of those, who for one reason or another, may not be suited to the priesthood (and other ordained ministry). That is a result of failed discernment. So rather than stake the future of our church and God’s work on a pre-set list of attributes (including the “acceptable” sexual preferences) we should work to improve our ability to discern God’s will and be open to His ever changing, challenging and inspiring calls issued to His people. Its certainly harder work than coming up with a check list based on Scriptural teaching, but it seems to me to be the path most likely to lead us into alignment with God’s will.
in the end my prayer has been and always will be this: that we shall never stop loving those whom Jesus will never stop loving.
Far from being a “Beacon of Light”, the issue has become a cloud that is diffusing the light. This issue has the potential of being a thunderstorm whose waters will divide the church once and for all. It will wash away the scriptures and cannons and interject reasoning from both sides of the issue which when rubbed together creates a spark that could become a fire that reduces our church to smoldering ruins. Few would deny that the presence of Christ is felt by all people, but to honor those who turn their backs on scripture and cannons fails the reason test. May God help us all to reconcile our differences so that his commandments to the church is the focus of our actions, not “political infighting” or wordsmithing of cannon to the benefit of one who has been a focus of the spit within TEC and our Anglican Communion.