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Day Nine, The Last Day (Wednesday June 21, 2006)
Back to Day Eight
by Donna and Rob Ross
For photos of your ECR deputies and General
Convention, go to
http://www.edecr.org/gc2006/gc2006-journal-index.html
On the last day of the 75th General Convention,
bishops and deputies approved a new resolution
that calls on all bishops and Standing Committees
to "exercise restraint by not consenting to the
consecration of any candidate to the episcopate
whose manner of life presents a challenge to the
wider church and will lead to further strains on
communion.
The resolution came in response to the Windsor
Report's request that the Episcopal Church "effect
a moratorium on the consecration of any candidate
to the episcopate who is living in a same-gender
union until some new consensus in the Anglican
Communion emerges."
The resolution was brought to an extraordinary
joint session of the Houses of Bishops and
Deputies. Following the closing Eucharist,
diocesan bishops and deputies met and conferred
informally around conference tables.
Bishop Sylvestre Romero joined the deputies from
the Diocese of El Camino Real. In their discussion
with Bishop Romero, ECR’s deputies realized that
while they were more focused on the issues
addressed by the various resolutions in response
to the Windsor Report, Bishop Romero and many
other bishops were more concerned with the
potential reactions from the world-wide Anglican
Communion.
The joint meeting was then called to order, and
both deputies and bishops listened while Presiding
Bishop Frank Griswold relayed the text of the new
resolution (which had been proposed by Bishop
Henderson of Upper South Carolina, the bishop
chair of the Special Legislative Committee on the
Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion.
Bishops Lee of Virginia, Little of Northern
Indiana, O'Neill of Colorado and Wolf of Rhode
Island endorsed the resolution.)
"What I believe we actually yearn for has not been
adequately reflected through the workings of our
legislative processes," Griswold said, in
presenting the resolution. "Our conversations in
both Houses reveal a much greater complexity. We
must now act with generosity and imagination so
that our actions are a clearer reflection of the
willingness of the majority of us to relinquish
something in order to serve a larger purpose."
The Joint Session then adjourned, and members of
both Houses met separately to consider the
resolution.
Back in the House of Bishops, Griswold told the
bishops, "We are trying to deal with something
that does not fit easily into the legislative
process. I hope we can find a way in which to
maneuver through this that doesn't make us victims
of the legislative process that gets us absolutely
nowhere. If we aren't clear by lunchtime, we might
as well forget the whole thing."
He added, "If we don't have something substantial,
it will be very difficult for the Archbishop of
Canterbury to invite the Presiding Bishop to the
Lambeth Conference. I do know the complexity of
what the Archbishop dealing with, in Communion
terms, and he needs for something clear to come
from the Episcopal Church."
The bishops debated two amendments which would
have given bishops more leeway when giving consent
to bishops-elect whose manner of life presents
challenges to the wider church, until Presiding
Bishop-elect Katharine Jefferts Schori urged
support for the original resolution.
She compared further strain on the relationship
between the Episcopal Church and the worldwide
Anglican Communion as similar to separating
conjoined twins. "Ethically, one cannot proceed to
separate two conjoined twins until one is
reasonably certain both can survive on their own
and live full lives. I don't think we're certain
that the two offspring are capable of living
separately and healthily," she said.
"My sense is that the original resolution is the
best that we're going to do today," she added.
"But I can only support it if we understand that
it's not slamming the door. It has to leave the
door open for further conversation and
consideration in the very near future."
The bishops then passed the resolution sent it to
the House of Deputies.
While the House of Deputies continued to debate
the resolution, Bishop Katharine (as she is widely
known) asked to be invited to speak to the
deputies. The deputies agreed, stopping debate
when she entered the hall and listening in
complete silence. She then repeated the comments
she had made in the House of Bishops, saying that
the image of conjoined twins came to her the day
before when Bishop Jenkins of Louisiana spoke of
there being one church and two minds.
She went on to say that she is "fully committed to
the full inclusion of gay and lesbian Christians
in this church. I certainly don't understand
adopting this resolution as slamming the door. I
think if you do pass this resolution you have to
be willing to keep working with all your might at
finding a common mind in this church. I don't find
this an easy thing to say to you, but I think that
is the best we are going to manage at this point
in our church's history."
For more information on this continuing story,
check the following links:
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/ens/
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-06-21-episcopalians_x.htm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/21/AR2006062100909.html
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