wfn.org | Lutheran, Episcopal Bishops Hear Caution, Encouragement

[ELCANEWS@ELCASCO.ELCA.ORG]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

October 8, 1996

LUTHERAN, EPISCOPAL BISHOPS HEAR CAUTION, ENCOURAGEMENT
96-22-063-FI

     WHITE HAVEN, Pa. (ELCA) -- "I encourage you to maintain the
pastorally responsible caution exhibited so far in what is so
obviously a good venture," the Archbishop of Canterbury George L.
Carey told about 200 bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church
in America and the Episcopal Church meeting here Oct. 3-8.  "Let
us also be courageous in this pursuit," he said.  "Some goals are
so worthy, it is glorious even to fail."
     Carey, head of the world Anglican communion that includes
the Episcopal Church, was referring to a Concordat of Agreement
the two church bodies will consider adopting in 1997 that would
bring them into "full communion."  The practical and theological
implications of such an agreement were at the center of
discussions between the Lutheran and Episcopal bishops and of
presentations to the first gathering of its kind in American
history.
     In a few days many of the bishops had come quite a distance
in understanding what it means to be a bishop in the other
church, said Carey.  "It seemed to me there is still a bit of
theological work to be done on the nature of the episcopal
office," he said.  "Prior to all this must come the mission of
the church.  Will the mission of the church be stronger for
unity?  My unhesitating answer is 'Yes, it will be.'"
     Episcopal ordination is traced back to the early Christian
church through an "historic succession" of bishops.  Lutheran
attempts to reform the Christian church in the 16th century
stressed the functions of ordained ministry -- proclamation of
the gospel and administration of the sacraments -- over any
related tradition.
     The Concordat of Agreement asks the Episcopal Church to
fully accept the ordained ministry of the Lutheran church,
although ELCA clergy are not part of the historic succession.
Episcopal bishops would participate in the future installations
of ELCA bishops until the Lutheran bishops are included in the
"historic episcopate."
     "Lutherans don't like conditions," said Dr. G#nther
Gassmann.  "How can we get into succession without seeing
conditions but gifts?" Gassmann is a Lutheran theologian who
headed the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of
Churches.
     The two churches already share a common mission informally
without full communion, he said.  "If you enter full communion,"
Gassmann added, "it is no longer optional, but it is a commitment
for cooperation and common mission in a society."
     "We need to interpret to ourselves and to our constituents
that the gift of the historic episcopacy is not some additional
requirement," said ELCA Presiding Bishop H. George Anderson.
"'Bishop' is a term that has been used officially in our church
only within the past 20 years," he reminded the audience, asking
that the churches enter into full communion honoring each other's
understanding of what bishops do.
     "What has been accomplished here in a few days has been
amazing," said Anderson.  "Questions have been answered or at
least addressed in a new  light."
     "It's so hard for us to come together first by theology,"
said the Rt. Rev. Richard F. Grein, Episcopal bishop of New York
and a member of the Lutheran-Episcopal Dialogue which drafted the
Concordat.  "When we come together in friendship, it's so much
easier.  That's why this meeting has been so important," he said.
     "I have a deep feeling that much love has been made known in
this house over the past few days," said the Episcopal Presiding
Bishop Edmond L. Browning.  "The trust that was developed here is
a promising sign for the future."
     Browning pointed to the centuries of cooperation and the
decades of dialogue the two churches have enjoyed.  Full
communion is more than just for the good of the two churches, he
said.  "It is reaching out to the brokenness in our world that we
as Episcopalians cannot do by ourselves."
     The Rev. Eric W. Gritsch, Baltimore, emeritus professor of
church history, Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, Pa.,
took the bishops through a brief history of the Lutheran
Reformation in 16th century Europe and described how a movement
to correct certain abuses in the Roman Catholic Church grew to
become a church of its own.  Lutheranism defines itself as "a
reform movement within the church catholic," he said.
     The movement addressed what Gritsch called "ritual abuses
related to a tyrannical church structure" by insisting that "for
the true unity of the church it is enough to agree concerning the
teaching of the gospel and the administration of the sacraments"
without agreement on anything else.  He said, "Lutheranism cannot
exist without its ecumenical intentions."
     The Lutheran response to "a tyrannical church structure"
also addressed the office of the bishop.  "'Bishop' is not an
office," said Gritsch.  "It's something we do."  The "power of
bishops" is to protect the unity of the church and not to govern
the people, he said.
     John E. Booty, Center Sandwich, N.H., historiographer of the
Episcopal Church, told the bishops that "Anglican identity occurs
through the use of the Book of Common Prayer." Booty said, "It is
through the use of the Book of Common Prayer that we are a
peculiar community within the church of God."
     The Book of Common Prayer outlines the orders of bishop,
priest and deacon.  "In this book there are guiding principles
... all acting to promote community in the love of God," he said.
Those principles go beyond the ordained community to include all
Christians.  "The fundamental ministry is Christ's ministry,"
said Booty.

For information contact: Ann Hafften, Dir., ELCA News Service,
(312) 380-2958 or AHAFFTEN@ELCA.ORG; Frank Imhoff, Assoc. Dir.,
(312) 380-2955 or FRANKI@ELCA.ORG