Episcopal Press and News
Volume of Legislation Overwhelms Debate of Domestic Issues
Episcopal News Service. July 25, 1991 [91153]
Mike Barwell
A host of domestic issues -- including abortion, medical ethics, domestic violence, economic justice, and aging -- struggled for attention and survival during General Convention. Many succeeded with little debate or fanfare, but several issues may have been lost in the avalanche of paperwork overwhelming the deputies and bishops in the final days.
Debates about abortion and peaceful uses of nuclear energy, for example, were timeconsuming and passionate. Some policy resolutions were defeated in last-minute squabbles about amendments or ignored in the rush to decide more pressing concerns before adjournment.
With 580 resolutions facing committee scrutiny, lively discussions, amendments, adoptions, or concurrence, some issues may have fallen by the wayside and expired of neglect in the desert. A list of casualties may not be available for weeks.
The House of Bishops rejected a resolution that would have supported exploration of peaceful uses of nuclear power (D118).
Offered as a way to "protect the environment, reduce dependence on foreign powers, and assure the quality of American life," the resolution called for the church to "support efforts to explore the peaceful uses of nuclear power through its progressive development as a source of electric power for the United States." Deputies had amended the resolution by urging attention to "a safe and responsible long-term disposal of nuclear waste within the United States."
Despite narrow approval by the deputies, several bishops argued against passing the resolution out of concern for the radioactive waste created by the nuclear industry. Until the industry can dispose of waste in a safe way, the church should not recommend its expansion, they said. The resolution was flawed by not mentioning alternative forms of energy, maintained Bishop Stewart Zabriskie of Nevada, a major site of nuclear testing and repository of nuclear waste in the U.S. Other energy sources, Zabriskie said, "will not create waste to throw in our beautiful desert."
"This will be seen as an endorsement by our church of nuclear power," said Bishop Steve Charleston of Alaska. "While I would be open-minded about talking about some of those ways in which nuclear energy might be explored," Charleston said he was unwilling to vote for a resolution that could be misconstrued.
The bishops rejected the resolution with a clear voice vote.
Following debate about retaining or revising the church's statement on abortion, it was unclear whether a new consensus on abortion had emerged from this convention.
The original resolution submitted expressed "unequivocal opposition to any legislative, executive or judicial action on the part of local, state, or national governments that would abridge the right of a woman to reach the informed decision about termination of pregnancy and that would limit the access of a woman to safe means of acting on her decision." (C-021)
Bishops, apparently unwilling to issue so strong a statement, substituted the policy hammered out during major debates at the 1988 General Convention in Detroit. Deputies decided to frame their own substitute resolution affirming the rights of women to reach informed decisions about the termination of pregnancy but adding the 1988 statement as well. However, both houses approved a resolution opposing laws requiring parental notification for minors seeking abortions.
Economic justice -- the surprise domestic legislative package emerging from the Detroit convention -- seemed to be an almost-forgotten issue in Phoenix.
In Detroit, convention responded overwhelmingly to a plan offered by the Diocese of Michigan calling for creation of a $24 million trust fund to enable the church to respond to the needs of the poor and minorities who are economically disadvantaged.
Overshadowed by the hotter issues, both houses concurred -- with little debate -- to establish an independent National Episcopal Housing Corporation to meet the growing need for affordable housing by accessing federal, foundation, and individual grants. The proposal is a direct outgrowth of the Detroit action.
The resolution directs the Executive Council to form a Housing Organizing Committee to prepare articles of incorporation that would permit the new organization financial and legal independence from the national church and its operating budget.
"An important function of this independent housing corporation would be to access new funding opportunities from federal and private sources," the resolution says. "Such a corporation would greatly increase, expand, and intensify the church's identification with the mission and ministry of housing while presenting no financial obligations to the church."
Other actions approved by convention include the following resolutions, which now become church policy:
- Oppose laws requiring parental notification for minors seeking abortions (C-037s).
- Request continuing education of clergy and support of aging and older adult ministries (C-057a).
- Support the mission and ministry of the Episcopal Society for Ministry on Aging (A-1 14).
- Reaffirm the position taken in opposition to capital punishment by the 1958, 1969, and 1979 General Conventions (D-056).
- Recognize the national crisis in the pauperization of women and children ()-067).
- Support increased funding for the federal Women, Infants, and Children program (C-027).
- Urge Nestle's/Carnation and Bristol-Myers to cease advertising infant formula products (D-057a).
- Acknowledge a "Living Will" as a beneficial document for use before the onset of illness and death (C-008).
- Adopt guidelines in the area of genetic engineering (A-095).
- Decry the inequitable health care delivery system in the U.S. and call upon government leaders to devise a system of universal access for our country (A-099).
- Reaffirm recommendation that married couples considering external fertilization and embryo transfer seek the care and counsel of the church and of professional counselors (A-lOla).
- Remind all church members they have a responsibility for the care of their bodies as the temple of God (A-098).
- Urge the church to give spiritual direction and care to those addicted to substance abuse and their families (A-100a).
- Call attention to the need for increased care of the mentally ill in the United States (D-088a).
- Continue the work of the Presiding Bishop's Task Force on Accessibility (D-084).
- Addressing addiction to alcohol and other drugs should be one of the program priorities for the next triennium (D-172a).
- Limit the acceptable uses of fetal tissues for therapeutic or medical research (A-096a).
- Mandate diocesan compliance with maternity/parental leave policy (D-111).
- Provide medical, dental, and life insurance benefits to all lay employees of the church (A-137s).
- Reaffirm its 1982 resolution to recognize and approve the "Living Will" as a beneficial document (C-008).
- Recommend that every diocese review the reports of the Standing Commission on Health (A-094).
- Set guidelines on foregoing life-sustaining treatment when such treatment "by extraordinary means" prolongs death (A-093a).
- Support the Americans with Disabilities Act (D-089a).
- Urge that state Medicaid offices make funds available to enable use of the Norplant implants by women who choose to use it (D-059).
- Urge members of the Episcopal Church to consider organ donation after death, so that others may live (A-097).
- Urge dioceses to commend and support efforts for peace in the world through the work of the Episcopal Peace and Justice Network (A-161, A-163).
- Endorse federal policies shifting economic resources from military to civilian uses (A-146s).
- Call upon executive branch of the federal government and the U.S. Congress to designate community-based banks as "critical" to the health of the communities throughout the nation (D-023a).
- Calling on the church to exercise debt forgiveness, faithful stewardship, and human liberation as a means of celebrating Jubilee year 2000, with referral to Executive Council (D-070s).
- Express concern to the Department of Housing and Urban Development over deteriorating housing conditions facing low and moderate income residents of the U.S. (D-078).
- Reaffirm the importance of the program of Jubilee Ministry, reflected in its funding as an integral part of the church program (A-124).
- Reestablish the Economic Justice Implementation Committee (A-080a).
- Support the policy of equal pay for work of equal value, otherwise know as pay equity (D-066).
- Support selective conscientious objection as legitimate expression of individual conscience (D-054s).
- Encourage each congregation to support engagement of social, economic, and political issues (A-127s).
- Change the Standing Commission on Peace and Justice to "Peace with Justice (A-162).
- Affirm and celebrate the ordination of women to the diaconate, the priesthood, and the episcopate (D-175s).
- Endorse the United Nations' "Convention on All Forms of Discrimination Against Women," originally adopted in 1979 (A-091).
- Urge the church to support the Ecumenical Decade in Solidarity with Women, in cooperation with the World Council of Churches' venture in securing funding and participation by church leadership (A-057a).
- Encourage Episcopalians to choose entertainment options that don't exploit gratuitous violence (C-045s).
- Renew a commitment to address violence in every sector of society (C-022).