Episcopal Press and News
Browning Dismisses Complaint Against Pennsylvania Bishop Who Ordained Non-celibate Homosexual
Episcopal News Service. September 26, 1996 [96-1564]
(ENS) Presiding Bishop Edmond Browning has announced that he will not proceed with an investigation into a complaint brought against Bishop Allen Bartlett, Jr., of the Diocese of Pennsylvania for ordaining a non-celibate homosexual as a deacon.
Calling themselves "Concerned Episcopalians," two priests -- one from Pennsylvania and one from another diocese -- along with more than 100 lay people signed a complaint in June, 1995, charging that Bartlett violated the discipline of the Episcopal Church when he ordained the Rev. David Morris as a deacon in 1994.
Browning postponed action on the complaint pending the resolution of an ecclesiastical court trial of Bishop Walter Righter, retired bishop of Iowa, for ordaining a non-celibate homosexual as a deacon in 1990. The charges against Righter, brought by 10 other bishops, were dismissed by the court in May.
In a letter in late August to Bartlett and the Concerned Episcopalians group, Browning said that he would not be taking the next step in the investigation of convening a panel of bishops to review the allegations.
Based on the Righter court ruling and an earlier decision by a five-member panel of bishops that dismissed similar charges against Bishop Stewart Wood of the Diocese of Michigan, Browning said, "I conclude that the paper submitted to me by the complainants regarding the ordination by Bishop Bartlett does not on its face charge any 'offense,'" under church canons.
"These rulings have. . . definitively established for the church at this time that the ordination by a bishop of a non-celibate homosexual person is not a disciplinary 'offense' for which a charge may be brought" under the canons covering discipline for clergy, Browning said. "It would be an unwarranted use of the church's procedures -- and resources -- for me to convene a panel of bishops to consider this matter further."
The Righter court in particular made clear, he said, that the issues raised by bishops ordaining non-celibate homosexuals "are appropriate for consideration by the General Convention and not our ecclesiastical courts." General Convention, the chief legislative body of the Episcopal Church which meets every three years, is next scheduled to be held in Philadelphia in July, 1997.
But leaders of the Concerned Episcopalians claimed that the Righter trial has no bearing on their complaints.
In dismissing the charges, Browning is violating canon law, "thus circumventing due process and technically a charge could be brought against the presiding bishop," said Hartley S. Connett, a layperson who signed the complaint.
"The overriding issue in all these charges is a test of the faith of the church," Connett said. "The canons of the church have been designed to help us maintain that faith and we intend to use them for this very purpose."
In a letter to clergy in his diocese dated September 5, Bartlett welcomed the decision saying that it "means that those of us in this diocese and the wider church as well can devote all our time and energies to ministering in the name of Christ to a confused and hurting world, without the distractions of a lengthy investigation and possible trial."
Acknowledging that "some in the diocese and beyond may disagree with the presiding bishop's decision," Bartlett added that "thanks be to God, the Episcopal Church has a better way of addressing serious disagreements about matters of faith than presentments and trials."
Bartlett noted that "some of those most concerned with these matters have already announced plans to bring resolutions" to General Convention. "I have faith that the church gathered in legislative session can discern the voice of the Spirit, through faithful listening to one another, honest sharing, and prayer," he said.