DWTX from Anaheim - Saying it reflects where The Episcopal Church is at this time, the House of Bishops on Monday passed, 99 to 45, resolution D025 which declares that the process of discerning candidates for ordination follows current Episcopal Church canons.

Basically, D025 affirms the desire of The Episcopal Church to participate fully in the life of the Anglican Communion while continuing to listen to the stories of gay and lesbian persons, and says calls to the ordained ministry are determined through our discernment process.

The crux of the resolution is carried in its sixth and seventh resolves. As it was received from the House of Deputies, the sixth resolve “affirms that God has called and may call such individuals [gay and lesbian persons] to any ordained ministry in The Episcopal Church through our discernment processes acting in accordance with the Constitution and Canons of The Episcopal Church.

A motion by Bishop Dorsey Henderson of Upper South Carolina added that “God’s call is a mystery which the Church attempts to discern for all people acting in accordance with the Constitution . . .”

In proposing the amendment, Henderson acknowledged that “What we do affects each other. I can’t do anything in my diocese that does not affect the rest of the church. I think we have not worked out what it means to be part of something larger. I would hope that this amendment states to the larger church that we are aware of what we do and the effect that has on the larger family, and yet we continue to struggle with these issues.”

Bishop Geralyn Wolf of Rhode Island, chair of the World Mission legislative committee which crafted resolution D025, had advised bishops to reject the measure because it could threaten a proposed Anglican covenant and undermine “mission at home and abroad because it presumes a theological understanding that we have not in fact established.”

But Bishop Mark Hollingsworth of Ohio, who authored a second amendment that added the words “and that” in front of “God’s call is a mystery” and other supporters said the vote is “an honest reflection of who we are as a church and where we are.” Whether or not D025 overturns B033, passed at the 2006 General Convention, “remains to be seen,” said Hollingsworth.

Bishop Henry Parsley of Alabama and others who voted “no” said passage of the resolution would not be well-received by some members of the Anglican Communion.

“I long for us to be an inclusive church, but not a polarized church,” he said. “We need to be a part of the larger Anglican Communion in what we do in this matter. I think it will be interpreted internationally as a rejection of B033. I actually think it’s more nuanced and subtle than that.”

Bishop Duncan Gray of Mississippi reflected that with or without the amendment, the resolution neither overturned nor did not overturn B033. “I’m not sure B033 ever had the weight of a canon,” he said. “It had the weight of mutual trust and forbearance.”

Some bishops said that the resolution assures access to the ordination process but is not a guarantee of ordination. “We are guaranteed access to the process, not the ordination,” said Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, whose election in 2003 was the flashpoint for the past six years of conflict. Robinson said he hopes the church can “avoid some sort of train wreck” over the resolution.

For Bishop Gary Lillibridge, the importance of the resolution lies in the seventh resolve that “acknowledges that members of The Episcopal Church, as of the Anglican Communion, based on careful study of the Holy Scriptures and in light of tradition and reason, are not of one mind and Christians of good conscience disagree about some of these matters.”

“That resolve accurately reflects where we are as a Church,” said Lillibridge. “If it is descriptive, I am in favor of it. But if it is proscriptive, telling me what I can and cannot do as a bishop, that’s an entirely different thing for me.” Ultimately Lillibridge and Bishop Suffragan David Reed voted against the resolution.

Because the bishops amended the resolution as it was received from the House of Deputies, it will now return to deputies for their action.

Tags: House of Bishops

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