DWTX from Anaheim – Episcopal News Service — The House of Bishops on July 15 adopted an amended version of Resolution C061, which would change the canons to say that “all baptized persons” have full access to any ministry, lay or ordained. The amended measure, which proposes a change to Title III, Canon 1, now returns to the House of Deputies World Mission Committee.
The resolution originally included the statement that no person would be denied access to ministry because of “gender identity or expression” – as well as “race, color, ethnic origin, national origin, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, disabilities or age,” as already included in the canon.
Bishops, however, changed the resolution to eliminate all these descriptions, agreeing that they are unnecessary and perhaps even limit the resolution’s primary intent of including “all baptized persons.”
“What is it about ‘all’ that we don’t understand?” Bishop Suffragan Catherine Roskam of New York asked her colleagues. “It’s like trying to thank the ECW. There will always be someone’s name you’ve left off. I propose we go with the ‘all’ and let it be ‘all.’”
– Jerald Hyche
Tags: Canons