Day 6, Bishop Lillibridge (click here) reports on resolutions as they begin to leave legislative committees and move to the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies. He touches on A-061 Continuous Cycle of Strategic Planning, A-138 Establishing a Mandatory Lay Employee Pension System, D-025 Commitment and Witness to Anglican Communion, and B012 Pastoral Generosity in Addressing Civil Marriage.
Archive for July 12th, 2009
Bishop’s Audio Report (Sunday, July 12)
Sunday, July 12th, 2009Deputies Lean on Canons to Discern Ordination
Sunday, July 12th, 2009
DWTX from Anaheim – The House of Deputies on Sunday, July 12, passed a resolution that lays the question of the ordination of gay and lesbian persons at the door of Episcopal Church Constitution and Canons. Resolution D025 came out of extensive work by the World Mission Committee and sought to combine the sentiments of 13 resolutions that had been submitted to the committee regarding the ordination of gay and lesbian persons.
After two open hearings, several committee meetings, and two sessions in which the House of Deputies worked as a “committee of the whole” to discuss among themselves, World Mission brought a comprehensive resolution that asks The Episcopal Church (TEC) to remain an active participant of the Anglican Communion, continue the listening process with gay and lesbian people, acknowledge that members of The Episcopal Church and members of the Anglican Communion are “not of one mind” on the issue, and affirm that “God has called and may call such individuals to any ordained ministry in The Episcopal Church, which call is tested through our discernment processes acting in accordance with the Constitution and Canons of The Episcopal Church.”
Title III of the canons states that no person can be denied the process of discernment to ordination because of, among other things, “sexual orientation.”
There has been, said Bishop Gary Lillibridge, an understanding that orientation is different from practice. Many are now questioning whether D025 moves the church beyond acceptance of orientation (and celibacy) to acceptance of behavior.
The resolution explanation from the World Mission Committee included that statement that “The acceptance of the ministry of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender persons is not settled in The Episcopal Church or in the Anglican Communion. While the church continues to discern God’s will in these matters, it is important to remind ourselves that sacramental theology since the time of Augustine of Hippo has affirmed that the validity of sacraments does not depend on the character of the ordained person celebrating those sacraments.”
The Rev. Gay Jennings (Ohio), chair of the Committee on World Mission, said the committee chose this resolution as its vehicle to describe the mind of the church. “It is the best reflection of where we are today as a church on episcopal elections and the Anglican Communion,” she said at the start of debate.
The question of whether or not this resolution overturns Resolution B033, passed at the 2006 General Convention, that called for The Episcopal Church to “exercise restraint” in ordaining practicing gay and lesbian persons to the Episcopate was not clear. When a deputy from Central Florida asked if it did, Chairman Jennings said only that the resolution is “operating within the canons of the church.”
The deputy replied that he took that “as open to interpretation. Some will regard this as ending B033 and some will not; the two bodies that must interpret it are diocesan standing committees and bishops.” He added that when “we send fuzzy signals” to the Anglican Communion, “they get confused about our relationship.”
The 30-minute debate was interrupted frequently by parliamentary maneuverings such as two calls to “divide the resolution” and several motions to amend. The vote was taken by orders, which means that each deputation gets one vote for the lay deputation and one for the clerical deputation. Whether that is a “yes” or “no” vote is determined by a formula wherein if a majority of the members in the deputation votes “yes” it is recorded as a “yes” vote and if a majority votes “no” it is recorded as a “no” vote. If the vote is divided (two members vote “yes,” two vote “no”) that is recorded as a “no” vote. The final vote was 77-31 in favor in the lay order and 74-25 in the clergy order.
The resolution now goes to the House of Bishops where it must be passed without amendment to become effective.
Deputies Urge Committee Member Transparency
Sunday, July 12th, 2009
DWTX from Anaheim – Episcopal News Service – The House of Deputies on July 11 called for greater transparency in the church by adopting a resolution requiring that the names of people serving on elected or appointed bodies be publically available.
Resolution D045, proposed by Deputy Katie Sherrod (Fort Worth), mandates that members be identified within 30 days of appointment or election. Most official bodies within the Episcopal Church would be covered by this resolution, including committees, commissions, task forces, panels or “other bodies” elected or appointed by any body or any leader throughout the Episcopal Church.
Named specifically are entities created by the House of Deputies; the House of Bishops; Executive Council; Standing Commissions, Committees, Agencies and Boards; or by presiding officers or chairs of any of those groups.
The explanation that accompanied the resolution, which was entitled “Committee Member Transparency,” said: “The Episcopal Church should model in its governance and life the transparency and openness all Christians are called to demonstrate.”
This call for transparency comes after questions about a subcommittee appointed by the House of Bishops Theology Committee to study same-sex relationships. The existence of the committee was reported in the “Blue Book” of reports submitted to General Convention, but committee chair Bishop Henry Parsley of Alabama refused to provide the names of sub-committee members.
Executive Council to Discuss Diocesan Resolution
Sunday, July 12th, 2009DWTX from Anaheim - A second resolution sent by the Diocese of West Texas to The Episcopal Church prior to the 76th General Convention has received a reply. At its meeting in McAllen in February, Diocesan Council adopted a resolution entitled, “TEC Litigation Forbearance Policy.” It asks that “all dioceses, parishes, and bishops adopt a policy of negotiation and/or mediation with regard to disputes over property and do everything in their power to resolve such disputes prior to engaging in secular lawsuits with fellow Christians.”
The resolution directed the secretary of the diocese, the Rev. David Read, to communicate the adopted resolution to the Presiding Bishop and Executive Council of The Episcopal Church, and to report to the Council any response received before Convention convenes.
According to Read, the resolution was transmitted to both the Presiding Bishop and the Executive Council. In late June, he received a reply from the Rev. Dr. Gregory Straub, Secretary of the General Convention, saying the Episcopal Church Executive Council will address the resolution at its next meeting, scheduled for October 2009 in Memphis.
Episcopal Church Headed for Full Communion with Moravians
Sunday, July 12th, 2009DWTX from Anaheim - On Friday, July 10, the General Convention House of Bishops passed resolution A073 that calls for full communion between The Episcopal Church and the Moravian Church in North America, Northern and Southern Provinces. The agreement commits the two churches to an interchangeable ministry. “This is not a merger or organic union,” according to information from the Episcopal Church Office of Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations, but is a “relationship” whereby each church could exchange priests and bishops. Although the Moravian Church recognizes the three orders of deacon, presbyter, and bishop, deacons of the two churches would not be interchangeable because of the understanding of that order by the Moravian Church.
Passing the agreement would be the first time three churches (The Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the Moravian Church) have entered into full communion on the basis of separately-negotiated concordats of full communion.
Moravians in America are part of a worldwide Christian communion formally known as as the Unitas Fratrum, or Unity of the Brethren. It was established in 1457 in what is now the Czech Republic but because of persecution found refuge on the estate of German nobleman Ludwig von Zinzendorf. In the 1700s they went through a rebirth and grew into a global communion. Because they had fled from what was then Moravia, they were known as the Moravian Brethren.
In the United State, Moravians are concentrated in Eastern Pennsylvania and North Carolina. There is also a significant Moravian presence in Wisconsin, Ohio, New York, and Minnesota. The membership in the church worldwide is about 700,000 in 19 semi-autonomous provinces. In the U. S. they number about 50,000 under the care of 220 pastors.
The Moravian Church is creedal and liturgical, believing in the presence of Christ in the Eucharist and practicing infant and adult baptism.
The full communion agreement must also be adopted by the Moravian Church provincial synods meeting in 2010.