Bishop Duncan Gray of Mississippi has written to the Diocese of Mississippi in advance of the House of Bishops meeting being held later this week in New Orleans. He outlines what he expects will happen at the meeting and how he intends to continue his ministry in the Episcopal Church.
You can expect me to renew my commitment to the requests of the Windsor Report. That should come as no surprise to anyone. I believe there is a place in the Episcopal Church for those like me who hold a more traditional theological position on the current litmus test issues.
You can expect me to continue to work to provide safe places for those who share such convictions within the Episcopal Church.
You can expect me to continue to be guided by the spiritual counsel of our Archbishop of Canterbury. I have come to the conclusion that I cannot be an Anglican without being an Episcopalian, nor can I be an Episcopalian without being an Anglican. To ask me to separate the two would be akin to asking me to separate my maleness from my southern Caucasian heritage. Both have shaped me dramatically, for better or worse, and a separation of the two is fundamentally impossible. You can expect me to share something of this with the Archbishop.
Thus, I trust that in these brief comments you will understand that I have no desire to expend energy in creating a new church. I believe that the Episcopal Church will remain a part of the Anglican Communion through its relationship with the Archbishop of Canterbury. Other parts of the communion may choose to sever its relationship with Canterbury. That is their choice. I have chosen otherwise.
You can expect me to push this church to make real its commitment to diversity. That would mean that we shall be a church of invitation and open to all people. It will also mean that this church must give dignity and safety to those who, through reason of conscience and conviction, cannot accept certain theological and ethical presuppositions of the majority of the church. I believe that is what I am called to do in faithfulness to my vows as your bishop.
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