The June issue of Washington Window is online.
We’ve got a story on some recent forums on the Windsor Report, and some capsule profiles–culled from Episcopal Life–on the candidates for presiding bishop. We’ve also got some interesting comments from Bishop N. T. Wright, the well-known British Biblical scholar who was a member of the panel that wrote the Windsor Report.
Lastly, I am afixing beneath the “keep reading” button a sidebar on some of the non-Windsor related legislation that the Convention will consider.
In addition to electing a new presiding bishop and articulating the Episcopal Church’s response to the Windsor Report, the 75th General Convention will take up the following issues:
Title III
The Church’s canons regarding ordination
to the deaconate, priesthood and episcopate
(Title III) have been in flux for
some time. The Rev. Frank Wade, chairman
of the diocesan deputation, said when
heterosexual white men were discerning
whether other heterosexual white men were
called to ordained ministry, the task was
relatively straightforward. But, Wade said,
when the church “answered God’s call to
diversity” the job became more complex
and new structures were needed. At the
same time, the church was revising its conception
of ministry in ways that that recognized
ministry as the calling of all
Christians, and that lay ministry was not
inferior to ordained ministry. The proposed
canons attempt to systematize and regularize
the church’s learning. Principal changes
include: regularizing policies regarding the
deaconate, initiating mentoring for new
bishops, and changing the canon which
now requires the House of Deputies to give
its consent to any bishop elected in the
120 days prior to the General Convention.
Under the new legislation, diocesan standing
committees would be the bodies to
offer consent as they are when the election
falls outside the 120-day period. A majority
of diocesan bishops also have to give
their consent for a candidate to be confirmed.
Title IV
“Based in civil and military codes of justice,
the current [disciplinary] canon does
not have the scope, the flexibility or the
goal of bring conflicted persons or groups
to healing and resolution,” wrote the Rt.
Rev. Catherine Waynick, chair of the Task
Force on Disciplinary Policies and
Procedures, in proposing revisions to Title
IV. Waynick, the bishop of Indianapolis,
said church leaders also expressed a desire
“to hold lay members of the church
accountable in their formation and behavior
in leadership and ministry roles.”
While there are widely acknowledged
problems in the current canon-including
the fact that excommunication is currently
the only discipline that can be imposed on
a lay person-there is significant resistance
to the proposed revisions.
The Rev. Tobias S. Haller, a clerical
deputy from New York put it this way:
With the expansion of lay ministries in
recent years, some accountability to the
wider church is surely in order. However,
the present revision also introduces some
troubling elements: no need for a written
and attested accusation; a weaker standard
of evidence and proof; and a removal of
any statute of limitation. This could be a
recipe for an Inquisition if someone wanted
to take advantage of it.”
Streamlining governance
The Standing Committee on the
Structure of the Church has proposed a
number of changes in the formation of the
church’s standing committees, including
standardizing members at 12 (three bishops,
three priests or deacons, six lay persons.)
“There is a lot of waste and duplication
and there are a lot of gaps in the organization,”
Wade said. “So there is a stewardship
issue.”
However, Wade added, reducing the
number of members on each committee
has raised fears of a reduction in the number
of women and minorities involved in
church governance. He also said that while
some committees might operate well with
fewer members, others required input from
numerous constituencies and cultures, and
might require more than 12 members.
Budget priorities
The Joint Standing Committee on
Program Budget and Finance is recommending
an increase of $550,000 in the
church’s support for the Anglican
Communion office over the next three
years. This amount was requested by the
Anglican Consultative Council.
Wade said the money will come from
domestic outreach programs such as
Appalachian ministries, Native American
ministries and funding from historically
black Episcopal colleges. “These programs
are disappearing from the budget under the
weight of the Anglican Communion,” he
said. However, he added that it was
extremely unlikely that the budget would
be successfully amended on the floor of the
convention.