wfn.org | [ENS] At South Carolina special convention, eerie echoes of

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"nullification" history

10/7/2003  

At South Carolina special convention, eerie echoes of "nullification"
history

by E. T. Malone Jr. 

[Episcopal News Service] "This is not just another crisis around issues
that time will cure," Bishop Edward L. Salmon Jr. told over 300 lay and
clergy delegates attending a special October 2 convention of the Diocese
of South Carolina at St. Paul's, Summerville. 

The atmosphere was eerily reminiscent of the mood in Charleston on the
eve of the firing upon Fort Sumter in 1861 that launched the South's
military effort to form itself into an independent nation. It was a
lovely early autumn day, a well-groomed, prosperous-looking assemblage
in a light and sunny, high-ceilinged new church meeting hall. And
revolution was in the air...

Andy Brack, a lay delegate from St. Stephen's, Charleston, was even
quoted in the Charleston Post and Courier referring to the majority at
the convention as "secessionists." Undoubtedly, the nature of the
Episcopal Church being what it is, there were delegates in the room who
were descendants of men who signed the Ordinance of Secession in
Charleston on December 20, 1860, when bells tolled from every steeple.

Called by the standing committee and bishops, the special convention was
to consider three resolutions repudiating the actions of the General
Convention of the Episcopal Church this summer in Minneapolis,
Minnesota, in confirming the election of the Rev. Canon V. Gene
Robinson, a gay man in a long-term relationship, as bishop of New
Hampshire and in adopting a resolution that has been interpreted as
permitting local option blessings of gay relationships.

Despite emotional opposition from moderate clergy and lay delegates, all
three resolutions passed by wide margins.

A last-minute fourth resolution, calling upon the Diocese of South
Carolina to "continue as one united body...fully participating in the
Episcopal Church of the United States of America" was defeated by a 229
to 38 margin.

Discussion is ended

Although some delegates called for continued discussions of human
sexuality issues, the Rev. Richard Belser, rector of St. Michael's,
Charleston, declared, "I think the discussion is ended. It ended in
Minneapolis. We need to do something to speak out against [General
Convention's actions]."

Some delegates seemed stunned by what had taken place at General
Convention. "The vote's been taken. The game's over. It's scary," said
one layman.

Bishop Salmon, in an address to the convention delegates, said the
actions of General Convention had "abolished the space of mutual respect
that has allowed people of differing views to co-exist...the middle has
been replaced by a battleground."

He and other speakers cited anecdotal evidence of widespread dismay in
Episcopal congregations throughout the South, with church signs draped
in black in several dioceses, a black flag flown from the cathedral in
Birmingham, Alabama, a funeral for the Episcopal church held at one
Georgia parish the Sunday after General Convention, and prisoners in
Florida refusing to see Episcopal church pastoral visitors.

A permanent deacon who ministers to bikers and street people said, "We
as deacons have to take the gospel outside the church, into the streets.
I don't believe we can take the results of General Convention into the
streets."

Ecumenical repercussions

Several speakers expressed concern about ecumenical repercussions of
General Convention's actions. "We must let not only the national church
but our communities in South Carolina know where we stand," said one
delegate, an attorney.

"I voted against the election because I think that it has been
disruptive to the Anglican Communion," Salmon said.

The Rev. Charles D. Cooper, rector of St. John's, Florence, said, "There
are Christians in other parts of the world who are in mortal danger
because of the actions of the last General Convention."

The Rev. Richard Lindsey, rector of All Saints', Hilton Head, was one of
the few voices attempting to stem the tide of negative comment. "The
game's not over," he insisted. "What we do today is not the end. General
Convention was not the end. This is an issue that cannot be legislated.
This diocese is hurting and we need to come together to share the love
of Christ and its brokenness."

Wrong message?

Agreeing with him was the Rev. Jack Nietert, vicar of All Saints',
Hampton, who said, "We shouldn't turn our backs on one another when
things go wrong. These resolutions are designed to separate us, not
bring us together."

The Rev. Tommy Tipton of Holy Cross/Faith Memorial, Pawley's Island,
read a statement from 17 clergy who were opposed to the standing
committee's resolutions. He said that the resolutions sent the message
that homosexuals were not welcome.

Salmon took issue with Tipton. Noting that he had gay members of his own
family, he said, "Our debate is not whether gays and lesbians are
welcome in the church...If they are not, no one is. Rather, the debate
is around the question of a new creation," a theological innovation
permitting extramarital sexuality.

Diocesan theologian the Rev. Canon Kendall Harmon told the delegates,
"You and I are a threat to this new movement. If we don't have
intervention, we are deeply in trouble."

New understanding of marriage

Salmon argued that General Convention had presented a new understanding
of marriage in which the mystical union between Christ and the church
had been replaced by a "committed relationship defined by those who make
it." He concluded, "That is not acceptable."

He has visited London twice recently in conversations with Anglican
Communion officials. He has asked for intervention, he said, from the
Archbishop of Canterbury, "because we're not going to get it from
within" [the American church]. Salmon characterized the Episcopal Church
as "dead stuck" on the question of human sexuality and incapable of
resolving its impasse within intervention from outside.

He received a standing ovation at the conclusion of his address.

At the close of the convention, Stephen Drake, a lay delegate from St.
Stephen's, Charleston, one of the more racially and theologically
diverse parishes in the diocese, said, "This is a very painful thing
that has happened here today. I sit on the commission on ministry and I
have eyes full of tears."

Salmon replied, "We are not talking about being against somebody, but
opposing a kind of activity that is not normative or moral. I think not
to put the truth on the table is not loving anybody." Salmon said in his
address that he has "no intention of allowing" same-sex blessings in his
diocese.

-- The Rev. E. T. Malone Jr. is a freelance writer in Chapel Hill, North
Carolina.