wfn.org | ELCA Council Reminds Bishops of Their Responsibilities

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

April 11, 2001

ELCA COUNCIL REMINDS BISHOPS OF THEIR RESPONSIBILITIES
01-84-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) passed a seven-point resolution as
"a reminder of the limits in the authority of synodical bishops and
of their obligation to undergird the life and well-being of this
church."  The 5.15-million member ELCA is organized into 65 synods,
each headed by a bishop.
     The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves
as the legislative authority of the church between its churchwide
assemblies.  The council met here April 6-7.  Assemblies are held
every other year; the next is Aug. 8-14 in Indianapolis.
     The council voted:
1.  to express appreciation and gratitude for the crucial
responsibilities and heavy burdens carried by synodical bishops for
the well-being of this church and effective witness to the gospel;
2.  to acknowledge the strategic role of synodical bishops in
fostering a sense of unity throughout this church and nurturing
commitment for the support of the mission to which God is calling the
congregations, synods, and churchwide ministries;
3.  to remind synodical bishops of their promises made in their
installation into the office of bishop to be faithful in office and
to discharge their duties "in accordance with the Holy Scriptures and
the Lutheran Confessions, and in harmony with the constitution;"
4.  to observe that all synodical bishops, as required in the
Constitution for Synods, are to "ensure that the constitution and
bylaws of the synod and of the churchwide organization are duly
observed ... and that the actions of the synod [are] in conformity"
with this church's constitutions;
5.  to underscore the constitutional obligations and limitations of
authority for synodical bishops during their terms of office as well
as their charge to respect the integrity of the ministry of their
colleagues on the territory of the respective synods;
6.  to remind all those ordained ministers, who have retired or
resigned from the office of synodical bishop, they are to respect the
integrity of the leadership and ministry of their successors and not
interfere with or compromise their successors' work;
7.  to urge all synodical bishops to support one another in prayer
and mutual encouragement, and to express the hope that they may be
upheld in their faithful fulfillment of their duties of office by the
prayers and affirmation of the members, congregations, pastors, and
other rostered leaders throughout the ELCA.
     The Rev. Donald J. McCoid, bishop of the ELCA Southwestern
Pennsylvania Synod, Pittsburgh, chairs the ELCA Conference of Bishops
and serves as an advisor to the Church Council.  "We understand the
need to restate what is already stated in constitutional language,"
he told the council, referring to conversations he has had with other
synod bishops.
     Background material the council received said a March 2001
meeting of the Conference of Bishops "underscored the importance to
synodical bishops of fulfilling fully and diligently their
constitutional obligations.  Further, mutual respect and mutual
integrity between and among the members of the Conference of Bishops
are crucial."
     McCoid added that the resolution will take some special
explanation to ensure that bishops understand the resolution's
context and do not see it as a general reprimand.
     At that point in the meeting, several council members asked for
more information about the resolution's context.
     The Rev. H. George Anderson, ELCA presiding bishop, said the
context is "broader than one event."  He named current discussions
within the ELCA comparing the authority of Lutheran bishops and
Episcopal bishops in the United States, and plans to ordain someone,
who has not been approved by an ELCA candidacy committee, at an ELCA
church in St. Paul, Minn.
     "The new relationship with the Episcopal Church has raised fear
in some people" in the ELCA about the "power" of bishops, said
Anderson.  It serves that discussion to restate that Lutheran pastors
serve terms as bishops in a given territory, he said.  Lutheran
bishops do not function as bishops after their terms or outside their
territory.
     "Bishops do not have some personal power to exercise in any
territory of the church," said Anderson.  He said a pastoral ethic --
a pastor cannot return to a former parish and assume the functions of
a pastor without the current pastor's consent -- also applies to
bishops.
     Anderson also applied these standards to plans for three former
bishops and one current synod bishop to be involved in an ordination
at St. Paul-Reformation Lutheran Church, St. Paul -- a congregation
of the ELCA Saint Paul Area Synod.  "We are not judging the
ordination itself but the actions of individuals," he said.
     The congregation's April newsletter said the April 28
ordination of Anita C. Hill will involve four "ordinators:" the Rev.
Lowell O. Erdahl, former bishop of the ELCA Saint Paul Area Synod;
the Rev. Paul W. Egertson, bishop of the ELCA Southern California
(West) Synod; the Rev. Stanley E. Olson, former bishop of the Pacific
Southwest Synod of the former Lutheran Church in America; and the
Rev. Krister Stendahl, former bishop of the Diocese of Stockholm,
Church of Sweden.
     Hill has served several years as a lay minister for St.
Paul-Reformation Lutheran Church and received a master of divinity
degree May 21, 2000, from United Theological Seminary of the Twin
Cities, New Brighton, Minn.  The degree is a requirement for
ordination in the ELCA.
     Another requirement is the ordinand's acceptance of the ELCA's
"Vision and Expectations," which defines the church's standards for
ordained ministers.  It states, "Ordained ministers who are
homosexual in their self-understanding are expected to abstain from
homosexual sexual relationships."  Hill is a lesbian in a committed
relationship with another woman.  The congregation's attempts to
secure an exception to those standards for Hill have failed.
-- -- --
     A detailed report of Church Council actions is available at
http://www.elca.org/os/churchcouncil/actions.html on the ELCA Web
site.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html