wfn.org | [ENS] Presiding bishop hopes church can move beyond condemnation

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and labeling

10/8/2003  

Presiding bishop hopes church can move beyond condemnation and labeling

by James Solheim 

[Episcopal News Service] In an October 3 letter to bishops of the
Episcopal Church, Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold expressed his
gratitude for their "pastoral sensitivities, wisdom and grace-filled
leadership" in what he described as "very unsettling and uncertain
days." 

"Regardless of your own views about the consent to the New Hampshire
election" of Gene Robinson as the church's first openly gay bishop, or
the resolution on blessing of same-sex relationships, "you have had to
deal with varying opinions and those who disagree with you, and my own
observation is that this has been done with great grace," he wrote.

Griswold said that he has refused to speculate about the meeting of the
American Anglican Council in Texas, or the Primates' Meeting in London
October 15-16, but said that he is convinced "whatever the outcome may
be, we will be able to live it with the awareness that the church is
never something we can possess and shape according to our own liking."

Among his hopes are that the "strong focus of our recent General
Convention on engaging God's mission both at home and throughout the
world may become our shared passion and common task." 

And he said that he hopes "all of us might move beyond a spirit of
condemnation and reaction," using a vocabulary that avoids labeling each
other. "I hope the events which have caused rejoicing in some quarters
and great unhappiness and confusion in others may continue to provide,
as they have done in many places, new opportunities for clergy and laity
to explore the various dimensions of the faith we share."

Griswold concluded, "I hope that in this world, so full of hate and so
in need of love, the reconciling energy of the divine compassion may
flow through our church and our whole Communion, witnessing to a way of
being that gives hope to our world."

Text of the letter:

October 3, 2003
For the House of Bishops

My dear brothers and sisters:

We are living through some very unsettling and uncertain days which are
making heavy demands on our ministry of care and concern for all the
churches.  I have been in touch with many of you and know something of
the pressures you have experienced since the General Convention.  Over
these last weeks I have had the opportunity to meet with a number of you
- both at the meeting of the 10 bishops here in New York that I wrote to
you about and also at two consecrations.  I have also read many of your
pastoral letters and communications to your dioceses.  I cannot possibly
put into words how grateful I am for the pastoral sensitivities, wisdom
and grace-filled leadership you have shown to the people and clergy who
are part of your diocesan communities. Regardless of your own views
about the consent to the New Hampshire election or resolution C051, you
have had to deal with varying opinions and those who disagree with you,
and my own observation is that this has been done with great grace. 

It is very important that you know my own views with regard to these two
matters.  First, it is my very strong opinion that the consent to the
election of the bishop-coadjutor of New Hampshire does not settle the
questions concerning human sexuality with which we have been dealing for
longer than I have been a bishop.  Instead, the number of questions has
increased.  It is our responsibility as teachers to assist the church in
addressing them. It is also my strong view that resolution C051
regarding the blessing of same sex unions is not about approval but
rather the acknowledgment that there are a variety of pastoral practices
within our common life.  

As the events of these days unfold I am constantly besieged by reporters
to predict the future. The meeting of the American Anglican Council in
Dallas and the gathering of primates in London are immediately before
us, and there have been many views expressed regarding the possible
outcomes of both of these events.  For myself, my answer to those who
ask me to speculate is always the same: that I do respond to
hypothetical questions.  I have found that an opinion can occasion
heated response which may directly affect what I have been asked to
comment upon.  This I know: whatever the outcome may be, we will be able
to live it with the awareness that the church is never something we can
possess and shape according to our own liking.	The church always
exceeds our understanding because it is shaped and formed by the mind of
Christ. 

Though I avoid speculation, I am not without particular hopes. I hope
the very strong focus of our recent General Convention on engaging God's
mission both at home and throughout the world may become our shared
passion and common task.  I hope that there may be an enlargement of our
sense of what it means to be the body of Christ made up of diverse
members who, in faith, hold divergent points of view.  I hope that all
of us might move beyond a spirit of condemnation and reaction.	I hope
we can speak to and about one another with a vocabulary that avoids
limiting categorizations such as liberal/conservative,
reactionary/progressive, orthodox/revisionist.	I hope there may emerge
among us a renewed sense that we are bound together through baptism in
"solidarities not of our own choosing," as the Archbishop of Canterbury
has reminded us.  I hope the events which have caused rejoicing in some
quarters and great unhappiness and confusion in others may continue to
provide, as they have done in many places, new opportunities for clergy
and laity to explore the various dimensions of the faith we share. I
hope the conversations many of you have set in motion throughout your
dioceses may draw people together and be occasions of reconciliation,
not necessarily with respect to opinions and points of view but on the
level of the heart, which is where Christ most deeply meets us and where
the Spirit of communion and truth binds us together in love. I hope that
in this world, so full of hate and so in need of love, the reconciling
energy of the divine compassion may flow through our church and our
whole Communion witnessing to a way of being that gives hope to our
world.	

Please keep me in your prayers as I keep you in mine.  "May the God of
hope fill us with all joy and peace in believing through the power of
the Holy Spirit."

Yours ever in Christ's love,  

Frank T. Griswold
Presiding Bishop and Primate

-- James Solheim is director of Episcopal News Service.