Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold scored a legislative coup for The Episcopal Church’s “diverse center” in the closing hours of General Convention, successfully steering a last-minute compromise resolution through the House of Bishops and House of Deputies designed to keep the church within the Anglican Communion.
The June 21 victory was short lived, however, as within hours of its passage key bishops on both the progressive and traditional wings of the church denounced the resolution, with liberals stating they were ready to defy its strictures and conservatives stating that it fell far short of the minimum requirements of the Windsor Report.
Here’s how the resolution came about:
Day 1
B033 began life on the evening of June 20 following the rejection of Resolution A161 presented by the Special Committee on the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion which had combined “Blue Book” resolutions A161 and A162 into an omnibus resolution.
The amended A161 had called for The Episcopal Church to “not proceed to develop or authorize Rites for the Blessings of same-sex unions”; to maintain a “breadth of responses” for the pastoral care of gays and lesbians; to offer its regret to the Anglican Communion for the actions of 74th General Convention; to urge dioceses to “refrain from the nomination, election, consent to, and consecration of bishops whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church”; and to apologize to those “hurt by these decisions.”
The resolution was attacked by the left and right with one side arguing it went too far and the other not far enough. It went down to defeat in the House of Deputies on a vote by orders.
The Rt. Rev. Dorsey F. Henderson, Jr., Bishop of Upper South Carolina and chairman of the Special Committee, reported the news of A161’s defeat to the House of Bishops. Bishop Henderson suggested the house amend the discarded, but not discharged A162 to bring the issue back for a second vote.
The Bishop of Central Florida, the Rt. Rev. John W. Howe objected. A161 and A162 were substantially the same resolution, Bishop Howe said, and he pointed out the rules of order forbade introducing the same resolution in different guise for reconsideration.
Bishop Griswold suggested this problem could be avoided by declaring it a “mind of the house” resolution.
However, the Bishop of New Hampshire, the Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, said he “desperately” wanted to remain in the Communion, but could not do so “at the expense of my integrity” and at the sacrifice of his “gay and lesbian brothers and sisters in Christ.
“I cannot promise to withhold consent [to election] from a whole category of people, sight unseen and unnamed,” he said. “How can I vote yes on a resolution that deletes gay and lesbian people from the Episcopal gene pool?”
The Rt. Rev. J. Jon Bruno, Bishop of Los Angeles, responded that “Gene’s right” about the discriminatory effects of a moratorium, and agreed that it was problematic to return to the issue of A161 after the deputies had rejected it. However, we “need to answer Windsor,” he said.
An honest response was to admit that the church “cannot agree with what is being asked” of it by the Anglican Communion, said the Rt. Rev. Robert W. Duncan, Bishop of Pittsburgh. A mind of the house resolution would provide “cover” but would not be truthful, he suggested.
The Bishop of Ohio, the Rt. Rev. Mark Hollingsworth stated there was a strong “center” in the House of Deputies that wanted to see something done, while the Bishop of West Texas, the Rt. Rev. Gary Lillibridge, said it was important to adopt a resolution that would support the new Presiding Bishop. “We don’t want to cut off our new P.B.’s legs” before she meets with the primates, he said.
After 17 other bishops spoke for and against bringing the resolution back before the deputies, Bishop Griswold asked the bishops of the Special Committee to meet with their counterparts from the House of Deputies and craft a simple resolution for both houses to review in a special order of business.
Day 2
On the final day of convention, Bishop Griswold gaveled the House of Bishops into order at 11:10 a.m. Following the morning Eucharist, Bishop Griswold had convened a special joint meeting of convention, presenting B033 to both houses in a joint session for consideration and urging its passage.
The resolution accepted Windsor’s “invitation to engage in a process of healing and reconciliation,” and called upon “Standing Committees and bishops with jurisdiction to exercise restraint by not consenting to the consecration of any candidate to the episcopate whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communion.”
The Rt. Rev. J. Neil Alexander, Bishop of Atlanta, urged the house to adopt the resolution without amendment but conceded it “hurts me enormously” to support B033.
The Bishop-elect of California, the Rt. Rev. Marc Andrus, offered a substitute resolution that removed the language of moratorium. The Rt. Rev. Michael Curry, Bishop of North Carolina, endorsed the Andrus Amendment, saying that B033 “would have prevented Barbara Harris from joining this House,” as it set a subjective standard governed by the prevailing church culture.
The Rt. Rev. Robert Ilhoff, Bishop of Maryland, also supported the Andrus substitution, as did the Rt. Rev. Jack McKelvey, Bishop of Rochester, who said he would not “close the door to the spirit that has acted at this convention” and endorse a moratorium.
In a dramatic flourish, the overhead lights flickered as a thunderstorm passed over the Columbus Convention Center when Bishop Robinson spoke in support of the Andrus substitution and responded to the call to heed the concerns of African children.
Some of the suffering children of the Global South “will grow up as gays and lesbians,” he stated, and their needs should not be sacrificed. The Andrus “substitute resolution gives us all room to exercise our conscience.”
The Bishop of Fond du Lac, the Rt. Rev. Russell Jacobus, asked Bishop Griswold whether the resolution had been drafted properly. Bishop Griswold responded that the language of the Andrus substitution was “not in the correct form” and ruled it out of order.
The Bishop of Vermont, the Rt. Rev. Thomas Ely, rose to “protest the spiteful spirit that cannot continue in this house,” and objected to the Presiding Bishop’s dismissal of the substitution on a “technicality.”
Following a recess, Bishop Griswold framed the debate for the bishops, telling them that “if we don’t have something substantial” to show in response to the Windsor Report, “it would be very hard for the Archbishop of Canterbury to invite us to the Lambeth Conference.”
Bishop Andrus then withdrew his substitution to scattered applause.
Presiding Bishop-elect Katharine Jefferts Schori offered an anecdote about “conjoined twins” to illustrate her views on B033.
“Ethically you cannot proceed to separate conjoined twins until both are healthy enough to survive on their own,” she said.
The Episcopal Church’s warring factions were not “ready for that.” she said, and she urged adoption of B033 so as to keep the “body of Christ” alive. She said that she “lamented and grieved” the necessity for B033, but endorsed it only with the understanding that it was not the final word on the place of gays and lesbians within the Episcopal Church.
Following the defeat of two proposed amendments, the Presiding Bishop put the original text of B033 to a vote and after a voice vote failed to give a clear winner, he called for a show of hands and ruled B033 had passed. No count was taken.
The Bishop of Springfield, the Rt. Rev. Peter Beckwith, objected and asked for a roll call vote. Bishop Griswold responded that the matter was closed and moved to the next order of business.
Critics outside the house on the left and right argued that “political expediency” rather than conscience drove the bishops’ vote. The Rev. Canon David Anderson, president of the American Anglican Council, told The Living Church B033 was “significantly inadequate” and was “motivated by having a seat at Lambeth.”
The Rev. Susan Russell, president of Integrity, said she was “appalled” by the B033 vote, and added, “The spirit of fear was clearly sown” by Bishop Griswold when he addressed the special joint session.
B033 was passed on to the House of Deputies where it passed handily on a vote by orders.
Bishop Griswold lauded the passage of B033 at a press conference after the deputies’ vote, saying the “diverse center” had held and that “no longer are we to be tugged about” along the margins. He said he had been in close communication with the Archbishop of Canterbury that morning and was hopeful the work of convention on the Windsor Report would permit continued conversation within the Anglican Communion.
The victory claimed by the Presiding Bishop lingered for about a half hour until announcements from the margins began to be heard.
Through a spokesman Bishop Chane said, “My understanding of my responsibility as a bishop is to live out the integrity of my office. I will defy this resolution by consenting after prayer and careful consideration of any person duly elected by a diocese in this Church.” As the House of Bishops reconvened in closed session, protests began to be lodged. Nineteen other bishops joined Bishop Chane and gave a statement to the house raising concerns “about the integrity of our decision-making process as a Church” over B033.
“Our conversation has been framed in a flawed paradigm,” the statement said, mentioning the choice as either “full inclusion” of gays and lesbians or “our full inclusion in the life of our beloved Communion.”
Two other bishops raised objections to B033, while Bishop Duncan, speaking on behalf of the Anglican Communion Network bishops, rejected B033 as “inadequate.”
General Convention was “misleading the rest of the Communion by giving a false perception that they intend actually to comply with the recommendations of the Windsor Report,” the Network statement said. Those bishops disassociated themselves from “those acts of convention” that did not comply with the Windsor Report.
In a statement released after the Deputies’ vote, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said he was studying the work of Convention and would comment in the coming days.
(The Rev.) George Conger
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