wfn.org | Lutherans Reject "Full Communion" with Episcopalians

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

August 18, 1997

LUTHERANS REJECT "FULL COMMUNION" WITH EPISCOPALIANS
97-CA-21-FI

     PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) -- By a narrow margin the Evanglical Lutheran
Church in America has rejected a proposal to enter into "full communion"
with The Episcopal Church here Aug. 18.  The proposal needed the support of
two-thirds of the ELCA Churchwide Assembly for approval.  It failed by a
vote of 684 to 351 -- six votes short of the 690 votes needed.
     "An opportunity was created, and I regret that we have missed it,"
said Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning of the Episcopal Church.  "The
commitment of the Episcopal Church to the ecumenical movement continues."
     The Rev. Daniel Martensen, director of the ELCA Department for
Ecumenical Affairs, expressed "sadness that our church at this time has not
demonstrated the conviction to move from talk to concrete actions."  He
said the two-thirds vote was meant to avoid "what we are still going to
struggle with ... a serious division in our church."
     The vote also led Martensen to express resolve.  "Our dialogue
continues; our dedication to the ecumenical movement in all of its forms
remains strong."
     "Life will go on in the local churches," said the Rt. Rev. Edward W.
Jones, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis, co-chair of the
Lutheran-Episcopal Coordinating Committee.  "Those close to the talks will
be disappointed."
     Perhaps the main objection to the proposal voiced at the assembly was
that it committed the Lutheran church to incorporate the "historic
episcopate" of the Episcopal Church.  Episcopal bishops trace their
succession back to about the third century after Christ through the
historic episcopate.
     Most of the Lutherans speaking against the agreement expressed strong
reservations with a Concordat of Agreement, the document that describes
steps the two churches would take to implement full communion, and not with
continued close relationships with the Episcopal Church.
     "I speak against the Concordat not against Episcopalians," said the
Rev. Philip M. Larsen, Hoople, N.D.  "I cannot support a document that
tells us only bishops can ordain."
     "The Concordat adds one more things to the necessities of the church
-- the historic episcopate," said the Rev. David A. Weeks, Marshall, Minn.
     "This really does come down to an understanding of what constitutes
the church," said Tony Stoutenburg, Naselle, Wash.  "I believe this
undermines the mission of the church."
     "'Full communion' means affirming that in another church the gospel
is proclaimed and the Sacraments appropriately administered," the Rev.
Walter R.  Bouman, professor of systematic theology at Trinity Lutheran
Seminary, Columbus, Ohio, told the assembly as he spoke in favor of the
proposal.  "It means that we can cooperate with each other fully, do
mission together," he said.  "It means that we adopt agreements by which
churches can exchange ministers."
     "The Episcopal Church required that bishops who participate in the
'historic episcopate' ordain all clergy," said Bouman.  "The Episcopal
Church has bishops who share in this succession.  The ELCA does not," he
said.  "Lutherans don't think the historic episcopate is necessary for
ordained ministry."
     "Lutherans saw that they needed to take some action which would
enable the Episcopal Church to recognize the historic episcopate in our
bishops.  Episcopalians saw that they needed to take some action that would
recognize Lutheran ministry now," Bouman said.
     The General Convention of the Episcopal Church adopted the Concordat
overwhelmingly when it met here in July.  Among the provisions the
Episcopalians agreed to accept  immediately the validity of the ordinations
of ELCA pastors.
     "The Lutheran confessions state that Lutherans have no objection to
the historic episcopate," Bouman said.  "Indeed some Lutheran churches
throughout the world actually have bishops in historic succession."
     "The goal of ecumenism has never been 'You must be like me,'" said
the Rev. Michael Rogness, professor of homiletics at Luther Seminary, St.
Paul, Minn. "The definition of the nature of ministry in the Concordat is
clearly the threefold form" held by the Episcopal Church and not the ELCA,
he said.
     Rogness quoted the Concordat: "We agree that the threefold ministry
of bishops, presbyters and deacons in historic succession will be the
future pattern of the one ordained ministry."
     "It seems obvious to me that the Concordat sets in motion a trend
which will invariably end up in full-fledged threefold ministry," he said.
Rogness said that would contradict actions of the 1991 ELCA Churchwide
Assembly which decided there would be one office of ordained ministry --
pastors -- and bishops would be pastors elected to offices of oversight in
the synods or churchwide.

For information contact:

Ann Hafften, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
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