Dan
2007-10-04 12:21:54 UTC
Panel Says Episcopalians Have Met Anglican Directive
By NEELA BANERJEE
New York Times
WASHINGTON, Oct. 3 - In a victory for the Episcopal Church in its
effort to remain in the Anglican Communion, a high-ranking Anglican
advisory committee said Wednesday that Episcopal bishops had complied
with a directive by Anglican leaders on same-sex unions and gay
bishops.
The Episcopal Church is the American branch of the 77-million-member
Anglican Communion, which has been torn by disputes over the church's
liberal stance on homosexuality.
Earlier this year, the communion's regional leaders, or primates,
issued a directive to the Episcopal Church to curtail the consecration
of partnered gay and lesbian bishops and the authorizing of rites of
blessing for same-sex unions.
Last week in New Orleans, Episcopal bishops pledged not to authorize
rites of blessing for same-sex unions and to exercise restraint in the
consecration of partnered gays as bishops. Conservatives in the
Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion contended at the time that
the bishops had merely restated past positions and fallen short of
complying with the directive.
But in its report on the bishops' action, the committee, the Joint
Standing Committee of the Anglican Consultative Council and the
Primates of the Anglican Communion, said, "We believe the Episcopal
Church has clarified all outstanding questions."
And, the report concluded, the church has "given the necessary
assurances sought of them."
The presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, Katharine Jefferts
Schori, said she was gratified by the panel's conclusions. "The Joint
Standing Committee report has recognized the hard work of the House of
Bishops," Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori said in a statement, "and
that our responses reflect our repeatedly expressed desire to remain
in full communion with the rest of the Anglican Communion."
But a conservative member of the committee immediately took issue with
the report, saying his input was not included.
"The response of the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church
represents a superficial shift from their previous position," the
committee member, the Most Rev. Mouneer Hanna Anis, primate of the
Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East, wrote in an e-mail
statement. "Therefore I strongly disagree with the report."
Committee members traveled to New Orleans with the Archbishop of
Canterbury, Rowan Williams, the communion's spiritual leader, to talk
to the Episcopal bishops about the tensions in the communion.
The Joint Committee submitted its report to Archbishop Williams, and
he has sent it to all the primates and members of the Anglican
Consultative Council, a representative body of bishops, priests and
lay people. They are to respond to the archbishop by the end of the
month.
"This is one voice, and other voices need to come in and say whether
the Episcopal Church has indeed satisfied" the primates' demands,"
said Canon James M. Rosenthal, spokesman for the Anglican Communion
Office.
The committee carries considerable weight, church experts said. It has
representatives from the communion's two representative bodies, the
primates' group and the Anglican Consultative Council, and it has been
asked by the archbishop to find ways to hold the communion together.
"Its opinion is not decisive, but it is significant," said Joseph H.
Britton, dean of the Berkeley Divinity School, an Episcopal seminary
that is part of Yale Divinity School.
The committee report criticized efforts by conservative primates to
ordain their own bishops in the United States to serve the minority of
Episcopalians who seek to leave the Episcopal Church but want to
remain in the communion.
"The time is right for a determined effort to bring interventions to
an end," the committee said in the report.
Last Friday, bishops from 13 Anglican and Episcopal groups in North
America announced that they had formed a partnership as the first step
to creating a rival to the Episcopal Church.
By NEELA BANERJEE
New York Times
WASHINGTON, Oct. 3 - In a victory for the Episcopal Church in its
effort to remain in the Anglican Communion, a high-ranking Anglican
advisory committee said Wednesday that Episcopal bishops had complied
with a directive by Anglican leaders on same-sex unions and gay
bishops.
The Episcopal Church is the American branch of the 77-million-member
Anglican Communion, which has been torn by disputes over the church's
liberal stance on homosexuality.
Earlier this year, the communion's regional leaders, or primates,
issued a directive to the Episcopal Church to curtail the consecration
of partnered gay and lesbian bishops and the authorizing of rites of
blessing for same-sex unions.
Last week in New Orleans, Episcopal bishops pledged not to authorize
rites of blessing for same-sex unions and to exercise restraint in the
consecration of partnered gays as bishops. Conservatives in the
Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion contended at the time that
the bishops had merely restated past positions and fallen short of
complying with the directive.
But in its report on the bishops' action, the committee, the Joint
Standing Committee of the Anglican Consultative Council and the
Primates of the Anglican Communion, said, "We believe the Episcopal
Church has clarified all outstanding questions."
And, the report concluded, the church has "given the necessary
assurances sought of them."
The presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, Katharine Jefferts
Schori, said she was gratified by the panel's conclusions. "The Joint
Standing Committee report has recognized the hard work of the House of
Bishops," Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori said in a statement, "and
that our responses reflect our repeatedly expressed desire to remain
in full communion with the rest of the Anglican Communion."
But a conservative member of the committee immediately took issue with
the report, saying his input was not included.
"The response of the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church
represents a superficial shift from their previous position," the
committee member, the Most Rev. Mouneer Hanna Anis, primate of the
Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East, wrote in an e-mail
statement. "Therefore I strongly disagree with the report."
Committee members traveled to New Orleans with the Archbishop of
Canterbury, Rowan Williams, the communion's spiritual leader, to talk
to the Episcopal bishops about the tensions in the communion.
The Joint Committee submitted its report to Archbishop Williams, and
he has sent it to all the primates and members of the Anglican
Consultative Council, a representative body of bishops, priests and
lay people. They are to respond to the archbishop by the end of the
month.
"This is one voice, and other voices need to come in and say whether
the Episcopal Church has indeed satisfied" the primates' demands,"
said Canon James M. Rosenthal, spokesman for the Anglican Communion
Office.
The committee carries considerable weight, church experts said. It has
representatives from the communion's two representative bodies, the
primates' group and the Anglican Consultative Council, and it has been
asked by the archbishop to find ways to hold the communion together.
"Its opinion is not decisive, but it is significant," said Joseph H.
Britton, dean of the Berkeley Divinity School, an Episcopal seminary
that is part of Yale Divinity School.
The committee report criticized efforts by conservative primates to
ordain their own bishops in the United States to serve the minority of
Episcopalians who seek to leave the Episcopal Church but want to
remain in the communion.
"The time is right for a determined effort to bring interventions to
an end," the committee said in the report.
Last Friday, bishops from 13 Anglican and Episcopal groups in North
America announced that they had formed a partnership as the first step
to creating a rival to the Episcopal Church.