wfn.org | [ENS] More that unites than divides, Episcopalians tell ACC

["Matthew Davies" <mdavies@episcopalchurch.org>]

Wednesday, June 22, 2005

More that unites than divides, Episcopalians tell ACC

Presentation addresses sexuality, responds to Windsor Report request

By Matthew Davies

ENS 062205-1

[ENS, Nottingham, June 21, 2005] Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold joined
six
presenters at the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) meeting in
Nottingham
June 21, explaining that while the Episcopal Church includes diverse
views
on sexuality, common mission continues.

"Although certain actions by the Episcopal Church have deeply distressed
a
number of you, we have not come to argue," Griswold said. "I want to be
clear that the Episcopal Church has not reached a common mind. However,
it
is our desire to be faithful to scripture. It is my hope that in the
tradition of classical Anglicanism we will be united in Christ's love
and
called to serve the world in Christ's name."

The presentation came at the invitation of the ACC and in response
specifically to the Windsor Report's request (paragraph 135) to outline
"how
a person living in a same gender union may be considered eligible to
lead
the flock of Christ."

Joining Griswold in addressing the ACC were Bishop Neil Alexander of
Atlanta; Bishop Charles Jenkins of Louisiana; Bishop Suffragan Catherine
Roskam of New York; the Rev. Michael Battle, academic vice president of
Virginia Theological Seminary; the Rev. Susan Russell, president of
Integrity and an assisting priest at All Saints' Church in Pasadena,
California; and Jane Tully, founder of CFLAG (Clergy Families of
Lesbians
and Gays) and a parishioner of St. Bartholomew's Church in New York
City.

Welcoming the listening process as recommended by the 1998 Lambeth
Commission resolution 1.10, Roskam recognized that humility is required
from
those who speak in Western contexts. "Through history we have been more
ready to speak than hear," she said. "It is our desire to hear and learn
the
theological differences of Anglicans around the world. Perhaps mutual
humility is an essential virtue throughout the Anglican Communion."

Roskam acknowledged that the presenters comments may seem surprising or
unsettling to some people, but "there is no intention to grieve or hurt
you
in any way," she said. "We want to serve our God [and] we pray that
whatever
differences there are that they may not be overtaken [by] the
divisiveness
from this world."

The Rev. Michael Battle described how the Episcopal Church has struggled
with the issue of sexuality just as the early church struggled with
gentiles
in its midst. "The inclusion of the gentiles in the early church was of
great controversy," he said. "We have learned to appropriate scripture
differently from many other Christians. We are still learning that this
remains a complex matter as it did in the early church."

The Bible is interpreted in different ways throughout the Anglican
Communion," Battle said. "We need to trust the Holy Spirit in our midst.
We
have learned that scripture is not a threat and it should not be used to
destroy others or categorize others ... We've learned to read scripture
in a
way to make sense of its whole."

He added: "We invite you to continue to listen and we invite you to hear
us
as we are hearing you."

The Rev. Susan Russell, an assisting priest at All Saints' Church in
Pasadena, California, and president of Integrity, a national
organization
for gays and lesbians in the Episcopal Church, addressed the ACC as the
only
gay member on the delegation.

"In some degree I am charged for speaking for countless [gay and
lesbian]
people," Russell said. "I carry many of their stories with me and it is
my
deepest hope that this meeting will be about the beginning of a genuine
listening process ... and making the experiences of the gay and lesbian
faithful more readily available to the wider church."

Russell explained that her parish in Pasadena has flourished and numbers
have greatly increased since the congregation began blessing same-sex
unions. She also acknowledged the witness of people who say they have
been
healed of their homosexuality. "I do not doubt the sincerity of their
witness and I praise God if they have found a place of healed," she
said,
[but] it is not possible to be healed of something that is not an
illness.
What matters to God is not our sexual orientation but our theological
orientation."

A mother of two sons and wife for nearly 40 years of the Rev. Bill
Tully,
rector of St. Bartholomew's Church in New York City, Jane Tully, offered
a
personal account of dealing with homosexuality in her own family. Ten
years
ago the Tullys' younger son announced that he is gay and, at first, Jane
Tully feared for his health and worried that he would face the same
discrimination that many gay and lesbian people do every day.

"I had many questions, but I knew three things for sure," she said. "I
knew
that I loved Jonah, I knew that God made him and Jesus loves him, I knew
that he was the same beautiful, funny person that I know now. Nothing
had
changed, but I had to learn what it meant."

The best way to learn about my son's sexuality was to listen, Tully
added.
"I listened to my son because I loved him, I listened to other people, I
listened to my husband and others in the church [and] I listened to
Jesus
and to my heart," she said. "I learned that my son didn't choose to be
attracted to men. I did not choose my sexual attraction and neither did
my
husband."

Tully explained that people discover sexuality deep within themselves.
"I
believe that this is an essential God given reality," she said. "I
believe
that God made some people to love the same sex and the other sex. It is
pretty clear to me that God loves diversity, just look at the world."

There is much talk about sin and sinners, and Christian scape-goating of
people with same-gender orientation has been going on for centuries, she
explained. "It is deeply hurtful. In my view, the sin is not who you
love,
it is refusing to listen and to see God's love in the people he gave us
and
who are different from ourselves," she added. "We have all paid a great
price for this, and I believe that God is leading us to a new place."

In the Episcopal Church there is a new and growing network of families
like
Tully's, she said "We all went through a process of listening and
learning
when our people told us the truth," she explained. "...Some of us were
angry
and unable to accept the reality in front of us. Some of us were
surprised
but all of us have a lot to learn."

As families this doesn't have to break us apart, it can make us
stronger,
Tully added. "I believe this can be the experience of our Anglican
family
too. Our family has embraced my gay son and it has brought us closer to
one
another and taught us that what we have in common is much more than that
which divides us."

Two bishops from the Episcopal Church, Charles Jenkins of Louisiana and
Neil
Alexander of Atlanta, voted differently to the consent to the election
of
Gene Robinson as the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church.
They
spoke about how it is possible to hold divergent points of view about
sexuality and theological interpretation, yet remain in Communion.

Jenkins, who serves the Presiding Bishop in his council of advice,
explained
that although he did not give his consent to Robinson's election and
remains
convinced that sexuality should be between a man and a woman, "my
presence
is an act of obedience to Jesus who calls his flock to unity."

Griswold and Jenkins are in obvious disagreement, Jenkins said, "but I
believe in every fiber of my being that Frank Griswold would guard my
interest if I could not and I would guard his if he could not. Such
relationships of trust are not uncommon in the Episcopal Church."

Jenkins explained that his presence at the ACC was intended to "give you
a
glimpse how I as a bishop who voted in the minority at the 2003 General
Convention now lives and functions in the Episcopal Church."

"I affirm in all humility that every bishop, and the majority of
bishops,
clergy and laity in the Episcopal Church, want to remain a part of the
Anglican Communion" he added "As Christians we highly value family and I
pray that we may continue with integrity and will remain within the
Anglican
Communion. I do not choose to walk separately from you and I pray that
you
will not walk separately from me."

Alexander expressed his hope that the consultation would be the start of
an
ongoing process to listen as called for by 1998 Lambeth Conference. "I
am
convinced that if we talk more to one another, we will discover the
gifts of
the risen Christ," he said. "I believe that we are called to be faithful
to
the fundamental mysteries of the risen Christ. I believe that ... people
of
faith ... can live together with integrity in spite of different
viewpoints..."

Having given his consent to Robinson's election, "I did so thoughtfully
and
prayerfully and ... with the understanding that the people of the
Diocese of
Atlanta would walk together with me through mission and ministry," he
said.

"As I have reflected on the life of our church I have been encouraged by
the
strength and vitality," he said. "The decisions of the 74th General
Convention have left no one unaffected. We have welcomed the Windsor
Report.
It continues to be the source through which a great deal of exchange has
occurred [and] we will continue to widen the circle of our consultation
and
discernment."

The conversations relating to issues of human sexuality have been hard
with
passionate voices on both sides of the argument, Alexander explained.
"Many
people have found significant common ground. Consensus will emerge in
time,
both within my own church and the Anglican family along as we continue
in
conversation. The key to our life needs to move from beyond conversation
and
consensus to commitment ... I am here because of my commitment to the
life
and work to the Anglican Communion."

Alexander urged people to see this as a season and a time for "a renewed
commitment of our life with one another. It means that there needs to be
a
place in my church for my dear friend Charles Jenkins, because we are
committed to each others interests at all times."

Alexander's collegiality with Jenkins is not unique in the House of
Bishops
of the Episcopal Church, he explained. "It is a commitment that is deep
and
broad and high and a commitment that is shared with our clergy and
laity,"
he said. "I do not know of anyone in our church who does not value the
relationship with our brothers and sisters around the Anglican
Communion.
Our relationships with one another are of the utmost importance.

"I believe that the risen Christ calls us into relationship with one
another
because our mission," he added. "It is to that mission that I am
committed,
that the Episcopal Church is committed -- and for the sake of that
mission
that we seek to set our hope on Christ."

-- Matthew Davies is staff writer and web manager for Episcopal News
Service.

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