wfn.org | Episcopal Church approves historic

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

97-1903
Episcopal Church approves historic ecumenical agreement, awaits
Lutheran response

by Walt Gordon
     (ENS) Episcopalians declared their readiness to enter into a new
era of mutual recognition and cooperation with Lutherans in an historic
vote by the 72nd General Convention meeting July 16-25 in Philadelphia.

     Attention now turns to the Churchwide Assembly of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) August 14-20, also in
Philadelphia, to see how it will respond to Episcopal approval of the
Concordat of Agreement calling for "full communion."
     The tallies in both the House of Bishops and House of Deputies
were overwhelmingly in favor, with only a handful of dissenting votes.
     "This is the most important ecumenical decision our church will
make in this century," said Prof. J. Robert Wright of New York's
General Theological Seminary, a principal author of the Concordat.
     If the ELCA adopts similar legislation, the two churches will
begin a journey unique in American religion. While they would not
merge, they would fully recognize the authenticity of each other's
ministries and share in mutual consecrations of bishops in both churches. 
     After the passage of enabling resolutions, the agreement would
become fully effective on January 1, 2001, and ELCA and Episcopal
clergy would be authorized to celebrate the sacraments and serve in each
other's churches.
     Approval is less certain in the ELCA where there has been
significantly more opposition to the Concordat. Already, however, the
potential agreement has been hailed as a "breakthrough," "a milestone,"
and "an ecumenical event without parallel."

"Where God is leading"
     Following the General Convention's positive vote, Presiding
Bishop Edmond Browning immediately sent a message to ELCA
Presiding Bishop H. George Anderson. Browning declared his joy at
passage of the Concordat, which he called "our most important legislative
action and one that marks a momentous advance in the movement of
Christian unity . . . . I want you to know that we very much hope that
your vote also can be a positive one," he said.
     At a Philadelphia press conference, Bishop Ralph Kempski of the
ELCA's Indiana and Kentucky Synod, chair of the ecumenical
commission of his church's conference of bishops, said he was "very
excited and very grateful to our Episcopal brothers and sisters for this
significant decision in the life of the whole church. 
     "We in the ELCA must take very seriously where God is leading
us," Kempski said.  "We now have to look for new ways to extend the
gospel to share God's love together, not only in rural areas but also in
urban areas, to every area that needs to experience the embrace of God's
caring love."
     Bishop Edward Jones of the Diocese of Indianapolis, Episcopal
co-chair of the coordinating committee that prepared the final document,
said, "I believe passage of the Concordat shows the deep commitment,
the yearning in the heart, for the unity of the church that exists in our
church today." Even beyond the two churches, he said, "there is a world
out there asking for a clear sign that the church can help us understand
how reconciliation can take place in the world today."

Lutheran vote less certain
     While the delegates to the Churchwide Assembly are not bound
by synod resolutions, recent ELCA synod gatherings have provided a
rough indication of the level of support for the Concordat. 
     Of the ELCA's 65 synods, 30 have taken positions favoring the
Concordat and 15 have voted against it. Approval by the Churchwide
Assembly requires a two-thirds majority vote.
     Despite the opposition of a significant minority, the Rev. Dr.
Richard Jeske, Lutheran co-chair of the Lutheran-Episcopal Coordinating
Committee, said he was confident the Concordat will be affirmed. 
     "The discussion process in the ELCA has been very open;
people's concerns have been heard and their questions addressed," he
said. "I know the Lutherans will go for it because after the vote the
Episcopalians started singing `A Mighty Fortress is Our God,'"a much
loved hymn in both churches, but particularly of Lutherans.
     Kempski also was optimistic that the Lutherans will approve the
Concordat, contending that the laity of his church~which comprise 60
percent of the Churchwide Assembly~would pay careful attention to the
nearly unanimous vote in the House of Deputies, half of whose members
are lay people.
     "This decision encourages not only Christians in our churches but
Christians around the world," Jeske added. "Our churches have never
disagreed on significant matters of theology. We never hurled
condemnations at each other, even in those Reformation times when that
seemed to be the Christian thing to do."
     The Churchwide Assembly also will vote on full communion with
three Reformed churches and an agreement on justification with the
Roman Catholic Church.

Wider significance
     Two aspects of this ecumenical agreement make it especially
noteworthy to all Christians, observed Dr. William Franklin, professor of
church history at the General Theological Seminary in New York and a
member of the Standing Committee on Ecumenical Relations.
     "The first is that it is based on a paradigm of ~full communion'
rather than one of structural and organizational merger.  Full communion
seeks all the benefits of full mutual recognition at the deepest levels of
faith and cooperation in mission without requiring either church to
sacrifice its identity, traditions, or particular ways of expressing the
common faith," he said.
     "The second is that it involves one church which claims the
historic episcopate and one which has not previously claimed it, without
implying any superiority of one church to the other," Franklin said.
"This model has dramatic implications for crossing many other
significant ecumenical divides."
     Introducing the Concordat to the House of Deputies, the Rev.
Canon David Veal of Northwest Texas, chair of the House of Deputies
Committee on Ecumenical Affairs, described it as the culmination of 30
years of hard work and prayer on the part of hundreds of Episcopalian
and Lutheran theologians and leaders.
     "I am convinced that this is the work of the Holy Spirit," Veal
said. "It is a `new ecumenism,' one not of political negotiation and
triumphalism, but of theological humility, of approaching one another
with dignity and confidence and the knowledge of the love of God, in
which each partner seeks what the other has to offer."
     Likening the agreement to a marriage, Veal said the goal of a
marriage is not to change the identity of the other person but to enter into
a relationship of caring and mutual support.

Opening doors
     As the General Convention debate began, a Michigan priest said,
"I really hope we pass this resolution. I function as a Lutheran pastor as
well as an Episcopal priest. And when the Concordat passes, my
Lutheran colleague will also be able to function at the Episcopal altar,
and we will more equally co-pastor our two congregations."
     A deputy from Delaware said his parish had been privileged to
share in an intimate relationship of covenant with their local Lutheran
parish since 1983. It had "opened up doors and opened up visions of our
faith that we never had before." He urged deputies to allow this to
happen in their churches as well.
     Margaret Tinsman of Iowa urged the convention to take its place
in history by approving the Concordat. "For hundreds of years we have
said we are a universal church, a catholic church, but for too long we
have in reality been a collection of splinter churches," she said. "If we
are to be a world church we must exercise our commonality~the life and
teachings of Jesus Christ."

Implementation in stages
     Several parts of the multifaceted agreement will take effect right
away if it is approved by the ELCA. These include the mutual
recognition that "the essentials of the one catholic and apostolic faith" are
found in each church's foundational documents; the establishment of a
coordinating commission to facilitate cooperation and implement the
agreement; and the presence of three bishops from each church at all
future ordinations/installations of Episcopal or Lutheran bishops.
     Two provisions, which require second approval of enabling
constitutional resolutions, will take effect January 1, 2001:
     ~ a temporary suspension of the 17th-century restriction that "no
persons are allowed to exercise the office of bishop, priest, or deacon" in
the Episcopal Church unless they have been ordained by a bishop in the
historic succession; and 
     ~ a provision relieving ELCA clergy of the need to make the
Episcopal declaration of conformity if they have made the promise of
conformity required by their own church. 
     These two provisions facilitate the interchangeability of clergy
granted in principle by the basic Concordat resolution.
     
Ecumenical observers praise vote
     The Rev. Jack Hotchkin, executive director for ecumenical and
interreligious affairs for the National Conference of Catholic Bishops,
praised the vote, saying, "Whenever churches are able to see their way
clear to closer unity, that strengthens the entire ecumenical context for all
churches and makes further progress easier for all."
     The Rev. John H. Thomas, assistant to the president of the United
Church of Christ for ecumenical concerns and co-chair of the Lutheran-
Reformed Coordinating Committee, agreed. "I celebrate the action," he
said. "Any step forward in efforts to heal divisions in the church is a
cause for rejoicing by all who pray for the unity of Christ's church."

~Walt Gordon is a writer, editor and consultant living in Minneapolis,
Minnesota.