Episcopal News Service March 22, 2007
Bishops comment on invitation to Archbishop of Canterbury, other actions
News conference held at close of House of Bishops' spring meeting
By Jerry Hames and Nan Cobbey
[ENS] In a news conference on March 21 that immediately followed the semi-annual meeting of the Episcopal House of Bishops near Houston, Texas, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said that a meeting with Archbishop Rowan Williams and members of the Primates' Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion is crucial in the mind of many bishops.
"I think that the bishops of the Episcopal Church very much want Rowan Williams and the members of the Primates' Standing Committee to hear directly from us about our concern for all members of this church, those we agree with theologically and those with whom we disagree, gay and lesbian members of our church and those who find it difficult to countenance blessing unions or ordaining gay and lesbian people.
"That the archbishop and the other Primates be invited to hear from us about concerns around polity issues, how this church is governed, that we do not make decisions lightly or easily, but after lengthy conversation and deliberation through a very reasoned process," she said. "I think there is some belief in this House [of Bishops] that other parts of the communion do not understand us very well."
The invitation to Williams and the Primates took the form of a unanimous resolution in which the bishops asked for "three days of prayer and conversation regarding these important matters."
Whether their desire will be granted is yet unknown. "In Tanzania, I invited him," said Jefferts Schori, referring to the meeting of Primates of the Anglican Communion in February. "He indicated that his calendar was too full. I will ask again."
Will teach Anglican identity
A panel of eight bishops joined the presiding bishop in the 45-minute telephone news conference with about 20 journalists. They included Bishops Edward S. Little of Northern Indiana, chair of the bishops' planning committee; Chilton Knudsen of Maine; Dean Wolfe of Kansas; Stacy Sauls of Lexington; Catherine Roskam of New York, a representative to the Anglican Consultative Council; Mark Sisk of New York; Chester Talton of Los Angeles and Richard Chang, retired bishop of Hawaii and vice president of the House of Bishops. Carlos Touche Porter, primate of La Iglesia Anglicana de Mexico, also was present. Not all bishops spoke.
On the second to last day of the meeting, the bishops had approved a "mind of the house" resolution by voice vote. While affirming the desire to remain within the councils of the Anglican Communion, they said a proposed pastoral scheme recommended by the Anglican primates in February would be "injurious" to the church and urged Executive Council to decline to participate in it.
The scheme calls for a vicar to represent the presiding bishop in dioceses requesting alternative oversight -- some seven of the church's 111 overall -- as well as a "pastoral council" to negotiate the necessary structures for parishes that will not accept the direct ministry of their bishop, or of the presiding bishop.
"We didn't separate the two but addressed the pastoral scheme," said Sauls of Lexington. "It would be my opinion that there could possibly be a way to structure a primatial vicar arrangement that would be acceptable to the House of Bishops and meet the needs of our members who conscientiously cannot accept the actions of General Convention in 2003."
The presiding bishop seemed to agree. "My sense is that those details may be part of the discussion we expect to have around the church during the summer and that further conversation will be had at our meeting in September."
What required the bishops to act now on this resolution, said Sisk of New York, was that the primates had called for the creation of a pastoral scheme immediately. "That's the thing that moved us along ... that that it was being enacted immediately -- not later."
Full story and photo:
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_84253_ENG_HTM.htm
-- Jerry Hames is editor and Nan Cobbey is associate editor of Episcopal Life.
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