wfn.org | Convention says `Now, no, and not y

[ENS.parti@ecunet.org]

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

97-1905
Convention says `Now, no, and not yet' 
on sexuality issues

by Jan Nunley
     (ENS) In the continuing controversy over the place of
homosexuals in the pews and pulpits of the Episcopal Church, signals
from the 72nd General Convention flashed green, red, and yellow: Now,
no, and not yet.
     ~ "Now" to the option of providing health benefits for domestic
partners of clergy and church employees covered by the Episcopal
Church Clergy and Employees' Medical Trust.
     ~ "No" to extending pension benefits to surviving partners of
lesbian and gay clergy. 
     ~ "Not yet," to the church's blessing of same-gender unions.
     Sexuality issues also forced the church to define what it means by
doctrine~a direct result of the so-called heresy trial of retired Bishop
Walter Righter, accused of violating church doctrine for ordaining a non-
celibate, gay deacon. Righter was acquitted because the court could not
find a specific doctrine on which to base charges.
     On the last day, the convention also issued a highly unusual
apology to lesbians and gay men inside and outside the church for "years
of rejection and maltreatment by the church."

Health benefits for domestic partners
     The option of offering health benefits coverage to domestic
partners is not mandatory for any diocese of the church. Proposed by the
Diocese of El Camino Real (California), the resolution followed a request
by the diocese to include domestic partners in its medical insurance
coverage by the church's Medical Trust. 
     The Medical Trust declined to provide the coverage until
authorized by General Convention to do so, but deputy Carlson Gerdau
of the Diocese of Chicago reported that the trust is "losing dioceses who
will not be covered by them because they do not offer" domestic
partnership coverage. 
     Pension fund officials say they will follow definitions of domestic
partnership common to the insurance industry. But opponents of the
move, both bishops and deputies, argued that was too vague. 
     "Would this include individuals who have access to marriage but
decide not to marry?" Montana deputy Ralph Spence Jr. asked. "If the
church later decides to recognize same-sex unions, then should benefits
be restricted to those who are married by the church, or have same-sex
unions blessed by the church?"
     But advocates declared the lack of definition an asset, not a
liability, for the plan. "It's not necessarily a gay issue," argued the Rev.
Donor Macneice of Hawaii, one of several deputies who declared the
health benefits option applicable to other kinds of relationships~including
siblings or widows or widowers who may wish not to jeopardize benefits
from a deceased spouse by remarrying. 

No pension benefits for survivors
     When it came to extending Church Pension Fund benefits to
surviving partners of lesbian and gay clergy, the answer from General
Convention was "no." Even a substitute resolution calling for study of
the issue was defeated.
     Proponents called the measure "a justice issue" unrelated to the
theological questions surrounding the ordination of non-celibate lesbians
and gay men. 
     "I certainly do not look forward to a time when I must live alone,
but I know that I will have income if that should happen," said deputy
Judy Fleener of Western Michigan, herself a clergy spouse. "We all
know and acknowledge that there are gay men and lesbians who serve as
clergy in our church. Please make survivor benefits available to their
spouses now." 
     But opponents saw the resolution as an end-run around the
theological and moral issue of same-sex relationships. "I have a very
difficult time having the Pension Fund bureaucratic committee come up
with definitions that'll be the teaching of this church," said Robert
Royce, a deputy from the Virgin Islands.

Blessings in study~but not on hold
     The church's "not yet" came in response to a resolution
authorizing the development of liturgies for same-sex blessings, a
measure defeated by one vote in each of the clergy and lay orders of the
House of Deputies. 
     Instead, the Standing Liturgical Commission has been directed to
continue studying the issue and to report to the 73rd General Convention.

     The Rev. Gerry Schnackenberg of Colorado called the resolution
"a vote to reject the church's doctrine of marriage." Advocates
disagreed. "We are not attempting to subvert the sanctity of
marriage~far from it," said the Rev. Jane Garrett of Vermont. "We are
asking to join in the support of the sanctity of marriage through full
participation in it." 
     In response to a question from the bishops about whether the
measure would mean a moratorium on blessings of same-sex
relationships, Bishop Joe M. Doss of New Jersey said, "No."
     The vote on same-sex blessings came as anti-gay demonstrators
from the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, paraded outside
the entrance to the Convention Center with signs reading "God's Hate is
Great," "Thank God for AIDS," and "God Hates Fags." The group is the
same one that demonstrated at the 71st General Convention in
Indianapolis. 

Apology 
     Despite a lack of consensus on homosexuality, General
Convention issued an apology to lesbians and gay men for "years of
rejection and maltreatment by the church," while acknowledging "the
diversity of opinion . . . on the morality of gay and lesbian sexual
relationships."
     "Being able to apologize is a spiritually healthy thing," declared
Dr. Louie Crew, a deputy from Newark and founder of Integrity, an
organization for gay and lesbian Episcopalians. Crew said he co-signed
the resolution "not because lesbians and gays need this apology, but
because the church needs to apologize."
     But not everyone agreed. "I do not feel called upon to apologize,"
said Bishop Charles Duvall of Central Gulf Coast. "It seems to me that if
we are going to acknowledge a diversity of opinion (about morality),
there is certainly a diversity of opinion . . . as to whether we have
mistreated people."

Fallout from the Righter presentment
     Several resolutions dealing with canonical changes had their
origins in the heresy trial of retired Bishop Righter for ordaining a gay
man in a committed relationship. The Court for the Trial of a Bishop
concluded that Righter had violated no "core doctrine" of the church in
doing so and dismissed the charges. 
     But at least two resolutions attempted a clearer definition of what
constitutes "doctrine" and "discipline" in the Episcopal Church. The first
located the "discipline" of the church in "the Constitution, the Canons,
the Rubrics, and the Ordinal of The Book of Common Prayer." 
     The second defined "doctrine" as "the basic and essential
teachings of the church" found in the canons of Holy Scripture as
understood in the Apostles' and Nicene creeds, and in the sacramental
rites, ordinal and catechism in The Book of Common Prayer.
     Traditionalist bishops argued during the trial for a broader
definition of doctrine that would include other statements, such as
resolutions of General Convention and decisions made by the House of
Bishops.
     
Resolutions that didn't pass
     The debate over sexuality was noted as much for the resolutions
that didn't pass as for those that did.
     A resolution from Bishop William Wantland amending Canon
III.14 to prohibit clergy from engaging in sexual relations outside
heterosexual marriage never made it to the floor. 
     Another, from retired Bishop Gordon Charlton of Texas, defined
immorality to include all forms of extramarital sexual relations but was
amended by the Committee on Ministry to prohibit "infidelity,
promiscuity and abusive behavior." The resolution was discharged by the
deputies. 
     A resolution that would have endorsed the "statement on
sexuality" issued by the Second Anglican Encounter in the South held
earlier this year in Kuala Lumpur was referenced to an interim body.
     Three resolutions calling for the authorizing of rites of same-sex
blessing were discharged or rejected. Two calling for pension benefits for
the partners of lesbian and gay clergy were either discharged or rejected.
One resolution calling for a 21-year moratorium on official ordinations
and blessings of lesbians and gays while allowing "local option" and
another allowing local-option blessings were also discharged.

Not just homosexuality
     Homosexuality wasn't the only form of sexual conduct under
scrutiny by General Convention. 
     The bishops turned down an attempt by the deputies to rescind
Canon I.19.2, which says a bishop can recognize an annulment or
divorce determined by a civil court "provided that the judgment does not
affect in any way the legitimacy of children or the civil validity of the
formal relationship."
      A resolution expressing "grave concern" about partial-birth
abortion "except in extreme situations" passed the convention.  Parishes
were urged to teach youth about "sexual abstinence, self-respect,
resistance to peer pressure and respect to those who say `no' to sex
before marriage." And the church is being asked to identify resources to
combat pornography.  
     The convention also:
     ~ urged congregations to support "ways to encourage and
maintain healthy marriages";
     ~ recognized the importance of fathers in the life of families, and
urged congregations to encourage the spiritual development of men;
     ~ continued the Commission on HIV/AIDS;
     ~ urged the church to examine the impact of HIV/AIDS as
regards racism;
     ~ continued provincial training in the use of materials developed
by the church for the prevention of AIDS among teen-agers;
     ~ continued commitment to a Christian response to the spread of
HIV/AIDS in the nation and the world; and
     ~ commended the National AIDS Memorial at the Cathedral of
St. John the Divine in New York City.

~ The Rev. Jan Nunley is communications officer for the Diocese of
Rhode Island.