wfn.org | [ENS] Hearings on sexuality resolutions scheduled

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

July 30, 2003

Hearings on sexuality resolutions scheduled

By David Skidmore

[ENS] Two key resolutions addressing the standing of gays and lesbians
in the life of the church will be reviewed in back-to-back hearings by
the cognate Committee on Prayer Book and Liturgy on Friday, August 1,
and Saturday, August 2.

A special hearing on the Diocese of California resolution (C005) calling
for the preparation of rites of blessing for couples in committed
relationships outside marriage will be held Friday evening, August 1, in
the Hyatt Hotel beginning at 7:30 p.m. Noting the growing debate and
media interest around this measure, the committee has allotted two hours
before the hearing for persons to register for testimony. The hearing
will be held in an area with seating for several hundred people.

A resolution asking for convention to withhold action on "pastoral
support of homosexual persons" will be addressed by the committee
Saturday morning, August 2, during its regularly scheduled 7:30 a.m.
meeting. Public comment will be heard by the committee during that
meeting. The resolution (B007), sponsored by the synod and bishops of
Province IV, echoes the key recommendations in the House of Bishops
Theology Committee report. Released at the March House of Bishops
meeting in North Carolina, the report recognizes a diversity of opinion
regarding the participation by gays and lesbians in the life of the
church and the present lack of consensus on ordaining gays and lesbians
or blessing their relationships.

The Province IV resolution, proposed by Bishop Stacy Sauls of Lexington,
affirms the lack of consensus on how the church can pastorally care for
gays and lesbians and what should be "required, permitted or prohibited"
by the church's doctrine, discipline and worship. It further states that
living within the church's constitution and canons will facilitate
conversations in the Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion aimed at
achieving consensus. Attempting to resolve the church's differences and
"diversity of pastoral support" toward gays and lesbians without such
consensus would "imperil the unity of the church and should be avoided,"
concludes the resolution.

In the explanation section, the proposers of B007 share their hope that
the church will move toward implementing a 1991 General Convention
resolution calling for the presiding bishop to organize a consultation
with other Anglican provinces and ecumenical partners on "potentially
divisive issues" of sexuality.

Because the Province IV resolution has "substantial impact" on the
California measure on rites for same sex unions, the convention's
Committee on Dispatch of Business has assigned it to the Prayer Book and
Liturgy Committee. Both measures are now "the property of this
committee" said the Rev. Frank Wade, vice chair of Prayer Book and
Liturgy, in his briefing at the committee's first meeting Tuesday
morning, July 29. His hope for the committee during its meetings and the
hearings, said Wade, will be to model a manner of discussion guided by
grace and mutual respect.

Two members of the committee have agreed to give opening statements at
the Friday night hearing, said Wade. The Very Rev. Samuel Candler, dean
of the Cathedral of St. Phillip, Atlanta, will speak for resolution
C005, while Kendall Harmon, deputy from South Carolina, will speak
against the measure. Each will have 15 minutes to make his case. The
hearing will then be opening to testimony from registered witnesses,
speaking to the question: Shall this church develop rites for inclusion
in The Book of Occasional Services by means of which the church may
express support for all couples living in life-long committed
relationships of mutuality and fidelity outside the relationship of
marriage?

Preference will be given to deputies and bishops who are voting members
of convention. The time permitted for testimony will be determined by
the number who register during the two hours leading up to the hearing.
The hearing will then conclude with summaries by Candler and Harmon.

At their initial meeting, committee members also reviewed some of the 30
resolutions assigned to them by the Committee on Dispatch of Business,
19 of which are from the church's Standing Commission on Liturgy and
Music (SCLM). Resolutions that the committee hopes to review and report
out for the convention's first legislative session, Wednesday, July 30,
mostly address additions to the church's commemorative calendar, the
most controversial being the addition of Charles the Martyr to the
calendar. The committee also plans to report out the SCLM's resolution
on continued use of Enriching Our Worship 1 & 2 , first authorized by
the 1997 and 2000 conventions.

Resolutions slated for hearings of the Committee on Prayer Book and
Liturgy, July 29, Tuesday evening, 7:30 p.m.:
A091	 Continue use of Enriching Our Worship 1 & 2
A093	 Approve Liturgical Calendar Commemorations: Enmegahbowh,
Florence Nightingale, and Philip the Deacon
A094	 Church Year Calendar Inclusions: Janani Luwum, Archbishop of
Uganda; William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury; Clive Staples Lewis,
Apologist and Spiritual Writer
A095	 Authorize Trial Use of Commemoration (Luwum, Temple, Lewis)
A096	 Inclusion in the Church Year Calendar: Philander Chase, Bishop
of Ohio and Illinois
A097	 Authorize Trial Use of Commemoration (Chase)
A098	 Church Year Calendar Inclusion: Florence Li Tim-Oi, first woman
priest in the Anglican Communion
C009	 Church Calendar: Liturgical Commemoration of Tikhon, Russian
C010	 Church Calendar: Liturgical Commemoration of King Charles the
Martyr
C013	 Church Calendar: Liturgical Commemoration of the Rev. Dr. John
Roberts

-- David Skidmore is Director of Communications for the Diocese of
Chicago, and a volunteer reporter for ENS General Convention news
coverage.