Episcopal Life reports on resolutions coming to General Convention 2009 from the dioceses of The Episcopal Church. A majority of them have to do with blessing of same sex couples and with B033, the controversial resolution from GC 2006 about consenting to the election of bishop “whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communion.”
The President of the House of Deputies, Bonnie Anderson, and the Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori offer ideas on how to approach this issue:
In recent interviews with Episcopal Life, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said she doesn’t think it’s helpful to revisit B033.
“It is far more helpful for us to say something significant about where we are in 2009. Conventions have passed resolutions in the past and they have rarely been revisited. New resolutions have been passed that state where the church is at that point,” said Jefferts Schori.
“Far more productive, I think, to have the hard conversations involved in claiming our current position and identity,” she said.
House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson told Episcopal Life that she is committed to discussing the resolution in Anaheim, saying that the dynamics around its passage “were such that a full and thorough discussion of B033 was difficult to have.”
By the time the convention meets “we will have had three years of reflection time,” she said.
“Whether or not the particulars of the discussion are to repeal B033 or to affirm a ‘no restrictions’ policy for Episcopal candidates is not the foundational question,” Anderson said. “The foundational question is does the General Convention still support the use of ‘restraint when consenting to the consecration of any candidate to the episcopate whose lifestyle poses a challenge to the wider church.'”
Read more about resolutions for GC 2009 here.