wfn.org | General Convention: Social policy r

[ENS.parti@ecunet.org]

June 6, 1997
Episcopal News Service
Jim Solheim, Director
212-922-5385
ens@ecunet.org

97-1795
General Convention: Social policy resolutions ask church to demonstrate
its justice concerns

by Jan Nunley
   (ENS) Social policy resolutions--they are often those grand
pronouncements the Episcopal Church makes on how the world is, and
how it should be. They make up a good percentage of the hundreds of
resolutions with which the Church's General Convention must deal at
each triennial meeting and yet it is never clear, even to those who
sponsor them, what difference they make in the life of the church.
   For some they are an important statement about who and what we
believe as a community--the bellwether of our concern for the world in
which we live, the heartbeat of the Gospel translated into action. For
others they are more like the window dressing of General Convention--
everybody looks at them, but very few of them are taken home, or taken
seriously, once the final gavel is sounded.
   In February a churchwide gathering called the Justice, Peace and
Integrity of Creation (JPIC) Summit demonstrated that the commitment to
the church's social justice agenda is very much alive and well, according
to the Rev. Brian Grieves, staff officer for peace and justice at the
Episcopal Church Center. The organizing committee was "startled" to
receive over 550 registrations for the three-day meeting in Cincinnati,
Grieves reported.
   The energy of the conference was just as startling. "There's a lot of
passion for social justice alive in the Episcopal Church, despite other
issues like sexuality and finances that sidetrack us somewhat," Grieves
observed. "And that's going to continue regardless of the changes in
structure that may be voted in during this summer's General Convention
because of the deep commitment of these people."
   Executive Council has already seen a preliminary report from the
conference, and the JPIC committee meets in June to discuss putting its
recommendations into action.

New decentralized style
   Every social policy resolution will be cleared for budgetary
implications before going to the floor in Philadelphia, Grieves pointed
out, and resolutions that don't affect the budget have a greater chance of
passing muster than those that do. If the Church Center's peace and
justice budget continues to be trimmed, "it will affect our ability to
respond" to issues at the national level, he added. Yet the JPIC Summit
revealed a positive result of the cutbacks--an increased willingness to
have the Church Center staff serve as a resource for local and regional
peace and justice groups and networks, providing linkages along
provincial lines. "We don't have the staff or funding to do a lot of
program work here," Grieves said, but the new and more decentralized
mode of functioning gets social justice "into the pews," and not just on
the news.
   Yet it is clear from some of the resolutions already filed that there is
growing frustration with what's perceived as a lack of churchwide
accountability with regard to social policy resolutions. Several
resolutions--on racism, environmental stewardship, and sexism, among
others--pointedly ask for concrete measures to assure their
implementation, and aggressive follow-up on the part of Executive
Council or the Washington Office of the Episcopal Church. 
   Resolutions are a kind of "green light" to Church Center staff, said 
Grieves. "We don't get involved with things that the church hasn't
addressed," he explained. "We need a policy base from which to act."

Religious persecution is big issue
   And there are some touchy issues on which activists on the church's
left and right may agree on the results they want, but not the way to go
about achieving them. "Religious persecution is a big issue this
triennium," Grieves reports. Most of the church sees religious
persecution as an issue of human rights in general, but more conservative
groups frame it as a threat to Christian evangelism in countries where the
majority is non-Christian. That's especially the case in Sudan and
Pakistan, where the suppression of predominantly-Christian ethnic
minorities by Muslim-majority governments hinders Christian-Muslim
dialogue. 
   In China, the issues are particularly ticklish. There are resolutions 
originating in both the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies
calling on China to "end abuses and return self-rule to Tibet." Grieves
said that it is tricky to respond to the situation because "our historically
Anglican partners in China [members of the state-sanctioned China
Christian Council] want us to lay low on Tibet." That makes it difficult
to respond "without jeopardizing their tenuous peace with the Beijing
government," he added. 

Broad spectrum of issues
   This triennium's social policy resolutions themselves cover a broad 
spectrum of issues. Resolutions already submitted and related to 
international peace include a call for the abolition of nuclear weapons 
(D022); for solidarity with persecuted Christian churches, including those

of the Sudan, Pakistan, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Iran and China (D016);
for 
self-determination for Tibet (B013, C001); for refugee status for women 
fleeing the practice of female genital mutilation (C017); and for the 
closing of the U.S. military's School of the Americas, implicated in the 
training of Latin American "death squads" (D009).
   Health and human needs resolutions include a controversial call to
study assisted suicide from the Diocese of Newark (C015). That
resolution may be countered by an upcoming one being pushed by the
Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD) opposing euthanasia,
according to its president, Diane Knippers, an Episcopalian. 
   IRD, a conservative "think tank" that has been critical of what it
perceives as liberal church policies, is working with deputies to
convention to introduce other resolutions related to human needs and
family issues. One, encouraging school choice for poor and minority
parents, "doesn't endorse vouchers or charter schools," says Knippers,
but leaves the possibility for them open. Another resolution recognizes
the importance of fathers in the lives of families and children; a related
resolution calls for the promotion of stable marriages. Both resolutions
ask the support of the Washington office and of parishes and dioceses. 
   IRD is also endorsing a resolution that urges the teaching of sexual
abstinence as the "biblical standard for all unmarried individuals" in
Episcopal parishes. With the National Organization of Episcopalians for
Life (NOEL), Knippers says IRD is working on resolutions opposing
forced abortions in China and legal partial-birth abortions in the United
States. 

And some familiar issues
   Executive Council's Committee on the Status of Women wants the
Episcopal Church's dioceses to keep track of the effects of the 1996
welfare reform legislation, and the Washington office to lobby Congress
about spending priorities (A050). The committee also wants renewed
emphasis on combatting sexism in church structures (A051), a priority
included in a 1991 resolution on discrimination, but largely bypassed in
favor of an emphasis on anti-racism. 
   Another resolution, from the Anti-Racism Subcommittee, complains
of the lack of a method to monitor the success or failure of anti-racism
measures (A039) and calls for an annual report with recommendations. 
   Recognizing that 2007 is the 400th anniversary of the founding of
Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in the New World, the
Episcopal Council of Indian Ministries wants the decade from 1997-2007
declared a "Decade of Remembrance, Recognition and Reconciliation" in
Episcopal parishes and dioceses. The observance is designed to help
congregations reach out to and welcome urban Native Peoples, who are 
frequently unchurched and largely invisible in evangelism efforts.
   Environmental stewardship is another area whose advocates feel it
hasn't been taken seriously enough. Resolutions A040 and A041 call,
respectively, for continuing the mandate of environmental stewardship
and for Executive Council and the General Convention planning office to
"implement this resolution in concrete ways," such as recycling centers,
a ban on styrofoam cups and single-sided copies, and the use of recycled
papers and non-toxic inks.
   General Convention's host city, Philadelphia, comes in for criticism
in a resolution supporting a rehearing for African-American radio
journalist and author Mumia Abu-Jamal, now on Pennsylvania's Death
Row for the killing of a Philadelphia police officer (D018). Another
resolution asks for the release of 15 activists for Puerto Rican
independence who have been held in U.S. prisons since the early 1980s
(D019). Both resolutions are from the Diocese of Chicago. 
   Despite recent advances in treatment and detection, HIV/AIDS
nevertheless remains a critical issue for the Church. Executive Council's
Commission on HIV/AIDS recognizes the relationship between racism
and the spread of AIDS in communities of color (A046) and calls for
province-wide training in AIDS prevention ministries for young adults
(A047). The commission also asks the convention to reaffirm a 1991
resolution endorsing "The Council Call: A Commitment on HIV/AIDS
by People of Faith" (A048). 

Sharing a meal
   And there are plenty of activities in Philadelphia for those interested
in 
Episcopal Church social justice issues. On July 15, the Consultation, a
consortium of social justice groups, will present a lunchtime forum,
"Trying Not to Happen." Integrity, the organization for lesbian and gay
Episcopalians and friends, will hold its Convention Eucharist on July 16,
with the presiding bishop as the celebrant, and a lunch with Bishop and
Mrs. Walter Righter on July 22. The Witness magazine is having a
dinner at the Church of the Advocate on July 18. Sunday, July 20, will
be a busy day for activists, with an morning Environmental Eucharist on
the Schuylkill River and a brunch sponsored by the Episcopal Women's
Caucus. The Episcopal Peace Fellowship Dinner is set for July 21.
   Even after the deputies and bishops have done their best in setting a
social justice agenda for the next triennium, many church members will
still ask whether or not Episcopalians have been faithful enough to its
vision of an inclusive and compassionate church. And they will start to
write a whole new set of resolutions for the next General Convention.

--The Rev. Jan Nunley is a freelance writer and rector of St. Peter's and
St. Andrew's Church in Providence, Rhode Island, and will cover the
General Convention as a member of the ENS staff.