The New Orleans Statement by the US House of Bishops has generated a wide and contradictory spate of explanatory letters and speeches from the American bishops to their dioceses. While the Primates ACC Joint Standing Committee\u2019s report of Sept 30 argues the New Orleans statement complied with the primates\u2019 request for a moratorium on gay bishops and blessings, liberal and conservative bishops in the US are united in saying it promised no such thing.<\/p>\n
Speaking at San Francisco\u2019s Grace Cathedral on Sept 30, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said the US Church was \u201d\u02dcnot going backward\u2019 on gay rights. \u201cAll people, including gay and lesbian Christians and non-Christians, are deserving of the fullest regard of the church,\u201d\u009d she said, noting the New Orleans statement was part of a larger conversation leading to the full inclusion of gays and lesbians into the life of the church.<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania Bishop Charles Bennison told his diocese he had voted against the New Orleans statement because he would not honour the gay bishop ban. The 2006 statement by the US General Convention to withhold consent for new gay bishops had been \u201d\u02dcrecommendatory, not canonically mandatory,\u2019 meaning that \u201d\u02dccompliance is voluntary\u2019 he said. \u201cI honestly could not promise I would not consent to the election of a gay or lesbian priest to the episcopate,\u201d\u009d Bishop Bennison said.<\/p>\n
Nor would Vermont honour the gay blessing ban. On Sept 28 Vermont Bishop Thomas Ely explained that the bishops had stated that \u201cthe majority of bishops make no allowance for the blessing of same-sex unions. Of course that means some bishops do\u201d\u009d permit gay blessings. Bishop Ely said: \u201cI am one who makes allowance for such blessings, and I intend to continue the current pastoral approach we have in place in the Diocese of Vermont for the blessing of holy unions.\u201d\u009d He added that this was \u201d\u02dcclearly addressed and understood in the House of Bishops\u2019 and that gay blessings would be permitted.<\/p>\n
Writing in the October issue of his diocesan newspaper, Washington Bishop John Chane stated that while his diocese did not yet have an official rite for the blessing of same-sex unions, the New Orleans statement would permit same-sex \u201d\u02dcblessings to continue in the diocese\u2019.<\/p>\n
On Oct 9 the Bishop of New Hampshire Gene Robinson stated the Primates-ACC Joint Standing committee had \u201d\u02dcmisunderstood us\u2019 when it reported the American House of Bishops had \u201d\u02dcdeclared a
\nmoratorium on all such public Rites\u2019 of same-sex blessings. \u201cNeither in our discussions nor in our statement did we agree to or declare such a moratorium on permitting such rites to take place,\u201d\u009d Bishop Robinson said, adding that while it may be true of some dioceses it \u201cis certainly not the case in my own diocese and many others.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
Bishop Robinson said that he had urged the Bishops\u2019 statement \u201d\u02dcbe reflective of what is true right now in the Episcopal Church: that while same-sex blessings are not officially permitted in most dioceses, they are going on and will continue to go on\u2019. He stated that he was unhappy with the final statement that said a \u201d\u02dcmajority of Bishops do not sanction\u2019 gay blessings. This \u201d\u02dcimplied that a minority do in fact sanction such blessings, and many more take no actions to prevent them\u2019. It was a \u201d\u02dcmistake\u2019 not to \u201d\u02dccome right out and [say] so\u2019.<\/p>\n
The conservative bishop of San Joaquin John-David Schofield agreed with Bishop Robinson that the New Orleans statement was \u201cneither [a] prohibition nor [a] restraint.\u201d\u009d It merely turns a \u201d\u02dcblind eye\u2019 to the issue.<\/p>\n
The Bishop of Dallas, James Stanton, was more sanguine than Bishop Schofield about the statement, stating the deliberations surrounding the report had been the most open and frank in his 15 years as a bishop in debating the topic. \u201cBut the final result, I must confess, is disappointing to me. I do not believe the answers requested by the Primates have been given. I do not believe we have moved very far \u201d\u201d if at all \u201d\u201d from where we were before this meeting in terms of the assurances sought,\u201d\u009d he said.<\/p>\n
The majority of US Bishops did not believe \u201cour decisions as a House might be wrong and at any rate ought to be subject to the advice and concerns of our Communion brothers and sisters.\u201d\u009d The final statement, he observed, was an admission that the centre could not hold and that the Church was \u201d\u02dcwalking apart\u2019, Bishop Stanton concluded.<\/p>\n
In a letter to the clergy of Central Florida, Bishop John W Howe stated he had voted against the final statement, saying it did not \u201d\u02dcfully comply\u2019 with the Primates\u2019 requests \u201d\u02dcbut we came much closer than I ever thought we would\u2019. The Bishops had made a \u201cdistinction between \u201d\u02dcpublic Rite\u2019 and \u201d\u02dcprivate blessings\u2019,\u201d\u009d he said. Public rites would not be authorised, but there was \u201d\u02dcan implicit acknowledgement that in some places private blessings are still being offered\u2019, Bishop Howe wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn our failure to do all that the Primates asked of us I was unable to vote for the Bishops\u2019 Statement, but I was grateful to see a far higher level of concern for the unity of the Communion evident throughout our meeting than I have ever witnessed previously,\u201d\u009d Bishop Howe said, adding
\n\u201cwhether or not that level was high enough remains to be seen.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
–This article appears in the Church of England Newspaper edition of October 19, 2007, on page 7<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The New Orleans Statement by the US House of Bishops has generated a wide and contradictory spate of explanatory letters and speeches from the American bishops to their dioceses. While the Primates ACC Joint Standing Committee\u2019s report of Sept 30…<\/span><\/p>\n