wfn.org | ELCA Bishops Advise Board on Ordination Standards Proposal

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

October 18, 2000

ELCA BISHOPS ADVISE BOARD ON ORDINATION STANDARDS PROPOSAL
00-239-JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Conference of Bishops of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) agreed with a recommendation to the
ELCA Church Council from the ELCA Division for Ministry that a proposal
that would allow the bishops to grant exceptions to the church's
ordination standards be declined.  The proposal was made in reference to
the ELCA's policy that ordained ministers who are homosexual in their
self-understanding are expected to abstain from homosexual sexual
relationships.
     The bishops also said rejection of the proposal should not be seen
as an indication that the ELCA is "stepping away from its commitment to
engage this church in a continuing, discerning conversation regarding
the place of gay and lesbian persons in the life of the ELCA," including
discussion of gay and lesbian people living in committed relationships
and the question of ordination of people living in such relationships.
     The Conference of Bishops is an advisory body that includes the
bishops of the ELCA's 65 synods, the ELCA presiding bishop and the ELCA
secretary.  The group met here Oct. 5-10.
     The proposal originated with St. Paul-Reformation Lutheran Church,
St. Paul, Minn., and was directed to the ELCA Church Council by the ELCA
Saint Paul Area Synod Council. In April the council asked the Division
for Ministry to prepare a response, which was shared with the bishops
this month for their advice.  The division's board will consider the
bishops' advice as it completes its response for the council meeting
next month, said the Rev. A. Craig  Settlage, associate executive
director, ELCA Division for Ministry.
     St. Paul-Reformation Lutheran Church is seeking an exception for
Anita Hill, a lay minister who has served the congregation for several
years and was to complete a master's of divinity degree this year, a
requirement for ordination in the ELCA. On behalf of the congregation,
the Saint Paul Area Synod Council petitioned the ELCA Church Council to
amend "Vision and Expectations," a document the council adopted in 1990.
  The document defines the ELCA's standards for ordained ministers.
     The Saint Paul Area Synod proposed that the Conference of Bishops
be empowered to grant exceptions to the ELCA standards for ordained
ministers.
     The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, bishop of the Saint Paul Area Synod, told
the bishops the synod council "wants a process and is not advocating a
position" on the issue.
     "Part of the synod council's struggle now is not to disconnect
from this vital mission center (St. Paul-Reformation) that wants to be
part of this church," Hanson said. "They (the synod council) are asking
for a process to be established.  If not the Conference of Bishops,
where will this be heard?"
     At least two other bishops -- the Rev. Robert W. Mattheis, ELCA
Sierra Pacific Synod, and the Rev. Paul W. Egertson, Southern California
(West) Synod -- said their synod councils endorsed the request of the
Saint Paul Area Synod.
     "We seem to be bound into a legal system where proposals are
offered and responded to," Egertson said. "Can we address a human
concern without raising legal matters?"  Egertson said his son has been
ready to be ordained in the ELCA for 12 years, but his candidacy
committee won't allow it because of the church's ordination standards.
     "How much freedom are we going to give ourselves about citing the
bylaws versus changing the bylaws?" Egertson asked the other bishops.
     Some bishops seemed interested in Egertson's challenge and
discussed the possibility of helping to create a process for possible
change of the ordination standards.  After much discussion, they took no
action, but referred that issue to the Conference of Bishops'
Theological and Ethical Concerns Committee.
     The bishops agreed with a Division for Ministry draft report,
prepared as a possible  response to the Saint Paul Area Synod, which
said there is no basis in the ELCA Constitution for the Conference of
Bishops to have the authority to grant exceptions to the ordination
standards.  Such authority could only granted by amending the ELCA's
governing documents, the report said.
     The bishops affirmed a recommendation of the Division for
Ministry, which said the proposal from the Saint Paul Area Synod would
make the Conference of Bishops a "court of appeals" for all candidacy
committee decisions, undercutting the committees' constitutional
responsibility and altering the role and authority of the conference.
Other constitutional issues would have to be addressed, the bishops
said.
     "The proposed resolution would not be consistent with this
church's understanding that ordained ministers are to have the same
rights and be held to the same standards, no matter where they are
called," the bishops advised, citing the Division for Ministry draft
report. "Candidates approved for ordination under the proposed
resolution would not truly become pastors of the whole church because
their mobility would be seriously hindered or nonexistent."
     The bishops also noted previous actions of the churchwide assembly
and church council on related matters, and said six churchwide units,
synods, congregations, seminaries and other institutions of the ELCA are
to engage in an ongoing conversation on issues involving gay and lesbian
people and the ordained ministry.
     "Reports on these conversations are to be made annually to the
Church Council and to the churchwide assemblies in 2001 and 2003," the
bishops said. "The Division for Ministry, in consultation with the
Conference of Bishops and in cooperation with other churchwide units,
synods, congregations, seminaries and other institutions of the ELCA, is
committed to providing leadership in this discerning conversation."

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
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