The Episcopal Church ended its ten-day general convention in Phoenix last month in the same way it began: in a muddle about sexuality. Delegates passed a compromise resolution “affirming the teaching of the Episcopal Church that physical sexual expression is appropriate only within life-long monogamous” marriage. However, the same resolution admitted “discontinuity” between traditional Christian teaching “and the experience of many members of this body,” and directed bishops to prepare a pastoral teaching on the topic by 1994.
Some bishops, such as maverick Newark Bishop John Spong, took that as permission to ordain homosexuals. Spong did this once in December 1989 and plans to do it again on September 14. Last September, the House of Bishops “disassociated” themselves from Spong’s first ordination.
“I won’t be the only [bishop],” Spong said. “Gay people have been ordained in [the dioceses of] New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Washington, California, Los Angeles, Minnesota, Chicago … in the past two to three years.”
Spong and others on the Episcopal Left say gay clergy are a hidden but normative part of the Episcopal Church. Numerous gay clergy testified during committee hearings, and a handful of bishops publicly admitted to ordaining them, despite a 1979 general convention resolution declaring it was “not appropriate” to do so.
The church’s inability to stop such ordinations was evident in the House of Bishops meeting, where proposed censure of two leaders (Washington Bishop Ronald Haines and Newark Assistant Bishop Walter Righter), who have recently ordained noncelibate gays, failed. The bishops instead passed a weaker resolution describing “the pain and damage to the collegiality and credibility of this House” by such ordinations.
Self-Discipline
Conservatives pled for bishops to police themselves and obey their own resolutions. “We are pastors not merely to one another but to the whole church,” said retired Texas Suffragan Bishop Gordon Charlton. “Can we be good pastors to the rest of the church if we can’t discipline ourselves? Are the bishops of this House capable of self-discipline?”
Apparently not. Infighting among bishops was so intense that Presiding Bishop Edmond Browning instituted daily executive sessions for some informal episcopal group therapy. Bishops openly declared themselves “dysfunctional” and unable to resolve their differences.
One of those differences revolved around a canonical resolution proposed by Bishop William Frey, dean of Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry, an evangelical Episcopal seminary in Ambridge, Pennsylvania. That resolution forbade clergy to have sex outside of heterosexual marriage. Central Florida Bishop John Howe tried attaching Frey’s proposal as an amendment to the compromise resolution, but for varying reasons, bishops voted it down 93 to 85, with 4 abstaining.
Meanwhile, 756 deputies, alternates, visitors, exhibitors, and bishops signed a “statement of conscience” that objected to the triennial convention’s indecisiveness on sexual morality. Most were from the evangelical, charismatic, and Anglo-Catholic wings of the 2.4 million-member church, and they hope to stem the denomination’s liberal trends and declining membership.
“It’s incredibly bad,” said Fort Worth Bishop Clarence Pope. “The church has embraced positions that aren’t biblical. They’re approaching apostasy.”
Racism was another major issue at the convention. Many delegates attacked Arizona for its failure to institute a paid state holiday honoring slain civil-rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., and the church for having a convention in Phoenix. Thirty-five bishops said they were present in Phoenix “under protest.” The opening-night service included a 45-minute musical composition blended with excerpts from King’s speeches and Scripture readings.
Conservative Concerns
Cohosted by the diocese of Arizona and Navajoland Area Mission, the convention was also heavily loaded with Native American spirituality and ecological concerns. Some conservatives objected to a service that featured a Navajo medicine man praying to “the great Mother Earth, to the great Father Sky, to the great Father above and to the wonderful spirits of the universe.” Episcopalians debated multiple resolutions concerning the environment; conservatives faulted some for containing elements of gnosticism and pantheism.
Episcopal evangelicals also mounted an offensive against the denomination’s new inclusive-language texts, which replace terms such as King, Savior, and Lord (deemed too patriarchal by some) by Christ or our God. They were successful in removing the most controversial doxology; a prayer personifying the Word of God as feminine was sent back for study.
Another bright spot for conservatives was the passage of a resolution establishing an “ecumenical and common marriage policy.” Drawn up by syndicated columnist Mike McManus, the policy describes how clergy from various denominations can unite in citywide groups to set guidelines for required premarital counseling of any couple wishing to be married (CT, Sept. 8, 1989, p. 65). The policy has proved successful in several cities, bringing together pastors, priests, and rabbis to prepare couples better for marriage.
Conservatives at the convention, including some bishops, openly speculated on how their dioceses could begin withholding funds from church headquarters in New York, which is already having budget problems. Others wondered how long the church can avoid a seemingly inevitable split between conservative and liberal wings.
In what some considered a parting shot to convention deputies, retiring House of Deputies president David Collins, an evangelical, quoted Paul in Acts 26:27: “I am innocent of your blood,” Collins said, “for I have declared the whole counsel of God.”
By Julia Duin in Phoenix.
Denominational Scene
Sexuality issues held center stage at many denominational meetings convened this summer. Delegates from the 224,000-member Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) made one thing clear: It is a “distinctly different denomination” from the Presbyterian Church (USA). The PCA said it “reaffirms that sex is a gift from God which should be expressed only in marriage between a man and a woman. Therefore all sexual intercourse outside marriage, including homosexuality and lesbianism, is contrary to God’s Word (the Bible), and is sin.”
The General Assembly of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church reaffirmed “its commitment to traditional biblical teaching on sexual morality,” stating that “sex is appropriate only within marriage, which is designed by God to be a union between one man and one woman.”
At their biennial meeting, the 1.5 million-member American Baptist Churches (ABC) left the door open for further consideration of the issues. Delegates passed a statement of concern on human sexuality by a narrow margin, calling upon the ABC general board to appoint a task force to study the issue on local levels.
Another statement specifically addressing the issue of homosexuality, passed by a two-to-one margin, was more pointed: “We do not accept the homosexual lifestyle, homosexual marriage, ordination of homosexual clergy or establishment of ‘gay churches’ or ‘gay caucuses,’ ” it said. “We affirm that the church should love and minister to the homosexual, but condemn the sin of the practice of homosexuality.”
Other issues
Noting that less than one-half of 1 percent of Church of the Brethren members are black, that denominational body called on its members to combat racism through a series of measures. A resolution urged the Brethren to establish a relationship with a black denomination, add a black staff person to work full-time in black ministries, and give more staff time to urban ministries.
The Reformed Church in America approved specific strategies for placing ordained women in the church and urged congregations to study the role of women in the church. The 333,000-member denomination has ordained 80 women since it voted to allow female ordination in 1973. In addition, the denomination chose, for the first time in its history, a woman to fill one of its top posts.
The 1.6 million-member United Church of Christ said that seriously ill people have the right to take their lives, and their families have the right to withhold artificial life-support systems or terminate the patient’s life. The move marks the first time the top decision-making body of a mainline denomination has gone on record supporting active euthanasia.
