wfn.org | CCM mirrors original attempts at full communion

[Daphne Mack <dmack@dfms.org>]

For more information:

Episcopal News Service
James Solheim
jsolheim@dfms.org
212/922-5385
http://www.ecusa.anglican/ens

GC2000-097

CCM mirrors original attempts at full communion

by David Skidmore

     (ENS-DENVER) The Called to Common Mission (CCM) document 
adopted by General Convention is a successor to the original 
Concordat of Agreement that the Episcopal Church approved 
overwhelmingly, but which was narrowly defeated by the 
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in 1997.

     Both documents set the same conditions for full communion: 
recognition that both the Lutheran Augsburg Confession and The 
Book of Common Prayer contain "the essentials of the one catholic 
and apostolic faith," a common understanding of baptism, 
Eucharist and the authority of Scripture; and a full 
acknowledgment of the authenticity of each church's ordained 
clergy.

     The major difference between the two is simplification of 
language in CCM, an attempt to address Lutheran objections, and a 
clarification of the Lutheran understanding of the three-fold 
ministry. The ELCA ordains to a single order of ministry. Though 
not required to ordain diaconal ministers under the CCM, the ELCA 
agrees to continue exploring that question. 

     The acceptance of the historic episcopate, in which bishops 
are understood to be linked in a succession to the first 
apostles, has been the chief hurdle during three decades of 
Episcopal-Lutheran dialogue. 

     While bishops have been a staple in the Scandinavian and 
some German Lutheran churches, they are a relatively new 
experience for the main body of American Lutheranism. In the 
ELCA--formed in 1988 from a merger of the Association of 
Evangelical Lutheran Churches, the American Lutheran Church, and 
the Lutheran Church in America--bishops are ordained for six-year 
terms and return to being pastors once they serve out their 
terms. When the agreement takes effect January 1, 2001, however, 
the ELCA will revise its practice to ensure that all bishops are 
ordained through the laying on of hands by at least three bishops 
already part of the historic episcopate. 

     In addition, CCM pledges to have a bishop "regularly" 
preside and participate in the ordination of all clergy. The 
addition of the word "regularly" was one of three amendments 
added during the ELCA's debate on CCM in 1999, and one intended 
to allay concerns of Lutheran pastors. According to the Standing 
Commission on Ecumenical Relations, which authored the General 
Convention resolution (A040) adopting the CCM, the use of the 
word "does not imply the possibility of planned exception but 
allows for pastoral discretion in emergencies."

     The main impact of CCM will be the interchangeability of 
clergy. Episcopal priests might be allowed to serve ELCA 
congregations, and ELCA pastors will be able to do the same for 
Episcopal congregations. In both instances the clergy will be 
required to function in ways consistent with each church's 
doctrine, discipline and worship. In cases where clergy agree to 
a long-term ministry in a congregation of the other denomination, 
they must transfer their residency to the diocese or synod they 
serve and make a vow of conformity to that church's doctrine, 
discipline and worship. For an Episcopal priest serving a 
Lutheran congregation this means reading and accepting the 
unaltered Augsburg Confession, while an ELCA pastor called to an 
Episcopal congregation must conform to the statements in The Book 
of  Common Prayer.

     The CCM's provision for the temporary suspension of preface 
to the ordinal in The Book of Common Prayer is to allow the full 
recognition of the ministry of present ELCA pastors who may 
choose to lead Episcopal congregations. ELCA clergy have not been 
ordained through the laying on of hands of a bishop in the 
apostolic succession--a requirement in Anglican polity dating 
back to 1662. These clergy will be allowed to serve as rectors 
and vicars of Episcopal congregations without any reordination. 
The temporary suspension applies only to ELCA clergy. Clergy of 
Reformed churches in communion with the ELCA will not be 
permitted to serve in Episcopal congregations.

     A joint commission, accountable to the ELCA Churchwide 
Assembly and the Episcopal Church's General Convention, will be 
appointed by the two presiding bishops this fall to implement the 
agreement. 

--David Skidmore is director of communications for the Diocese of 
Chicago.