Episcopal Press and News
Canonical Reviews Raise Old Issues
Episcopal News Service. September 19, 1985 [85184]
ANAHEIM, Calif. (DPS, Sept. 19) -- At the end of a grueling day, deputies learned that the lay order had refused to go along with a canonical change which would have affirmed the right of anyone -- regardless of sexual orientation, sex, age, disability or origin -- to have automatic access to the ordination selection process.
As part of an extensive review of the Church's ministry and membership laws, similar proposals were suggested for both the membership definition and the ministry canon which would have given canonical status to the Church's position of inclusiveness.
The House of Bishops accepted the phrases in both canons and sent the measures to the deputies, where a good deal of confusion ensued -- especially over the ministry measure and over agreement between the versions of the measure in each House.
After some negotiation, the conflict was resolved and, amid a day of heavy legislative action, the deputies took two votes by orders on the matter. The first affirmed the inclusiveness in the membership canon, but the lay order defeated its inclusion in the ministry canon.
The immediate effect is unknown, since bishops, ministry commissions, standing committees and parishes will continue to recruit and screen candidates for the ordained ministry as they have traditionally done -- on a case-by-case basis, guided by the insights and theological convictions of the diocese and its leadership.
"We are not saying that gay people should be ordained," Bishop Robert Anderson of Minneapolis explained at a press conference. "We simply felt that everyone should have a right to enter the process, to be judged as an individual on his or her own merit."
But the House of Deputies did not agree, and the matter must wait until the next General Convention in 1988 to be reconsidered.
In an otherwise non-controversial convention, how did such a matter come about anyway? After all, convention was only "re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic" as one deputy sneered about the process of canonical revision.
As Deputy Dixie Hutchinson of Dallas, who chaired the Ministry Committee, explained: "Once the issue of the canons was opened up, everyone looked at them in a new way and saw things that they felt needed change." The net result was the conflict over inclusiveness and a number of other debates and actions that -- where they passed -- will shape the Church's definition of its membership and ministry, both lay and ordained.
For example, convention voted to "stretch out the altar rail" by allowing lay persons to take Communion to the sick and shut-ins.
The action reversed the decision of the 1982 General Convention, which defeated a similar proposal.
Some opposition developed when Bishop Cedric Mills of the Virgin Islands protested, "What are the clergy going to do while lay people are out there doing their job?"
But Bishop Leopold Frade of Honduras declared, "We need the help of lay people. We don't have enough priests."
Bishop J. Mark Dyer of Bethlehem saw the idea as "a marvelous extension of the service and parish community which enhances the work of the priest."
It was Bishop Wesley Frensdorff of Nevada who said the practice amounts to "stretching out the altar rail."
The clergy were on the minds of the bishops as they debated Canon 22 on "dissolution of the pastoral relation," a trauma occurring when a parish seeks to dismiss a clergyman. The bishops voted for new wording which, in the words of Bishop John Walker of Washington, D.C., "helps prevent law suits" against Church officials.
Some dioceses already have such a process in their canon laws, but Frensdorff explained that the intent of the new legislation was to aid those dioceses that do not have it. But the action failed in the late sessions of the House of Deputies, so the revision will have to await another convention.
Deputies and bishops also approved a change in Church canons to recognize a baptized adult who is received with the laying-on of hands by an Episcopal bishop as both baptized and confirmed in the Episcopal Church.
The House of Bishops previously approved a one-paragraph resolution which the House of Deputies amended.
Bishop John Coburn of Massachusetts said the revised resolution "strengthens the role of the bishops."
Presiding Bishop John Allin called the first voice vote on the amended resolution negative. A standing vote was called for, but was interrupted by the visit of California Gov. George Deukmejian. After his 15-minute address, the bishops voted again, and the resolution passed, 85 -- 67.
The resolution adds to language of present Church canons to spell out the requirement that bishops be part of the process of bringing members into the Church. Under the approved revision, all receptions, reaffirmations and confirmations will involve the laying-on-of-hands of a bishop in order to strengthen the symbolism of a person's coming under the personal pastoral care of the bishop.
The initial cause for all this, a massive revision of the Title III canons (On Ministry) to bring some logic to the order and consistency to the language, was the element that earned the "Titanic" comment and also a good deal of opposition from deputies who serve as diocesan chancellors. The full package was approved eventually.