The House of Bishops released a letter yesterday to the church dealing with the contents of the Windsor Report. The full, uninterrupted text can be found here. Below is my commentary. The original document is in blue.
To the faithful in Christ Jesus, greetings in the season of Epiphany. We
rejoice together with you that God has “caused a new light to shine in our
hearts” revealing God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ our Lord. The
sufferings of our brothers and sisters in the aftermath of tsunamis in South
Asia and flooding and mud slides in California and here in Utah where we are
meeting, make us long all the more for this new light revealed to us in
Christ. We are mindful as well of the suffering around the world caused by
global poverty, HIV/AIDS, malaria, other diseases, and war. In this
suffering world we are called to “serve and signify God’s mission to the
world, that mission whereby God brings to men and women, to human societies
and to the whole world, real signs and foretastes of that healing love which
will one day put all things to rights” (Windsor Report, paragraph 3).
Something to put things in context. Issues on human sexuality are not the biggest problems facing the world or indeed the church.
We decided at our September meeting in 2004 to set aside this time so we
might together begin to receive the Windsor Report with humility. We have
met for a day and a half in Salt Lake City. We welcome with gratitude the
work of the Lambeth Commission on Communion. We realize this is a long-term
effort which will most likely extend beyond our March meeting. In the
meantime, we aim to practice the more intentional consultative processes
called for by the Windsor Report. We also anticipate the Executive Council
of our church joining in this consultation.
They are trying to outline the process by which the Episcopal Church is “receiving” the Windsor Report. The House of Bishops is simply the first institution to do so – the Executive Council will no doubt join in and the next General Convention will probably have a lot to do with it.
In this spirit of intentional practice, we affirm that all need to repent,
as the Archbishop of Canterbury reminded us in his Advent Letter 2004. We
repent of the ways we as bishops have sometimes treated each other, failing
to honor Christ’s presence in one another. Furthermore, too often we have
also failed to recognize Christ’s presence fully manifest in our sister and
brother Anglicans around the global communion. We honor their full voice and
wisdom. We desire mutuality. We recognize our interdependence in the Body
of Christ.
Moreover, we as the House of Bishops express our sincere regret for the
pain, the hurt, and the damage caused to our Anglican bonds of affection by
certain actions of our church. Knowing that our actions have contributed to
the current strains in our Communion, we express this regret as a sign of
our deep desire for and commitment to continuation of our partnership in the
Anglican Communion.
This is the crux. Using the same language as the Windsor Report, the House of Bishops is expressing regret for the damage caused to the Anglican bonds of affection by the actions of ECUSA. It is important to note that there is not an apology for the actions themselves here (nor is that called for by the Windsor Report.) The language from the AOC’s Advent letter is a bit of a surprise. Using the word “repent” is stronger than regret. However, the repentance is about the way bishops have treated each other, not over the issues in question. The bishops express their deep desire to continue as part of the Anglican Communion, as asked in the Windsor Report.
We note here that our decision-making structures differ from those in many
parts of the Anglican Communion and that our actions require conciliar
involvement by all the baptized of our church, lay and ordained. Therefore
we as bishops, in offering our regrets, do not intend to preempt the
canonical authority of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church. At
the same time, we are keenly aware of our particular responsibility for
episcopal leadership.
The bishops are reflecting some of the confusion over just what instrument of the Episcopal Church needs to express regret. They are aware that although they carry a large part of the burden of leadership in the church, that our ultimate juridical authority is General Convention. They feel they do need to speak for the House of Bishops, but want to make it clear that they do not speak for the entire General Convention.
We long for the fullest expression of the gift of communion that God has
given us through Christ. “The communion we enjoy with God in Christ and by
the Spirit, and the communion we enjoy with all God’s people living and
departed, is the specific practical embodiment and fruit of the gospel
itself” (Windsor Report, paragraph 3). We rejoice in our partnership in the
worldwide Anglican Communion and affirm anew our commitment to the
interdependence of this church as a member of the Anglican Communion.
This seems to indicate that we wish to continue to work within a framework of “interdependence” that is used in the Windsor Report to denote a structure that has juridical autonomy, but greater consultation on matters which touch moral authority. It seems to indicate a commitment to working within the Anglican Instruments of Unity.
We agree that one important expression of our communion would be a
Communion-wide study and discernment process on matters of human sexuality
as recommended by Lambeth Conferences of 1978, 1988 and 1998 and are eager
to continue to respond to this challenge. This would be a sign of respect
for gay and lesbian persons in our common life and of our ongoing pastoral
care for them. We also believe that such a process would strengthen our
communion. By doing so, we will be able to share more of the prayerful
conversations and studies on the ministries and contributions of homosexual
persons in the church that have enriched our experience for many years. The
Presiding Bishop has already established a committee to offer a theological
explanation of how “a person living in a same gender union may be considered
eligible to lead the flock of Christ” (Windsor Report, paragraph 135).
They are recommending a real moving forward on the study of the ministries and contributions of homosexual persons in the church. This has been called for by three successive Lambeth Conferences, but has never really gone anywhere. The Windsor Report renews the pressure to actually get something done on this instead of just recommending it. Not a bad thing!
We pray our brothers and sisters throughout the Anglican Communion will
forgive us and that together we may remain in steadfast relationship so we
might open our lives and our hearts to one another and learn how the Holy
Spirit is acting in our different contexts. We are eager to take steps to
make this possible, and particularly would welcome invitations to visit
other Anglican provinces to learn from them the many ways they are vital
witnesses to the healing love of Christ, often in very difficult
circumstances.
This is a real appeal for forgiveness – I like its transparency. As we invited bishops from other provinces to visit us over the last few years to understand our context, so we are offering to visit them. I like this – face to face communication is much better than vitriolic pronouncements.
During this brief meeting we humbly struggled in our deliberations to
discern how best to receive the Windsor Report. We had an extensive
discussion about a “moratorium on the election and consent to the
consecration of any candidate to the episcopate who is living in a same
gender union until some new consensus in the Anglican Communion emerges”
(Windsor Report, paragraph 134). We have only begun a serious and respectful
consideration of how we might respond. Further, we have not had sufficient
time to give substantive consideration to recommendations in the Report
calling for a moratorium on diocesan boundary violations or the call for a
moratorium and further discussion of the authorization of liturgical texts
blessing same sex unions. (Here we note that there are those among us who do
not agree with the statement in paragraph 144 of the Windsor Report that
“the Episcopal Church has by action of Convention made provision for the
development of public Rites of Blessing of same sex unions.”)
The bishops simply feel they have not had enough time to consider a moratorium. After all, some dioceses have been doing same-sex blessings for over 20 years, so it is not an easy thing to simply stop. I think they are being realistic. This leaves decisions on moratoria on boundary crossing and same-sex blessings in the hands of local bishops right now, which is probably a good place for it to be until we have more conversation about it.
The last sentence points out that many differ with the Windsor Report’s assertion that “the Episcopal Church has by action of Convention made provision for the development of public Rites of Blessing of same sex unions.” I agree with this. The General Convention categorically chose not to start developing a public rite of same-sex blessing at this time. It DID recognize that certain dioceses have been doing them and said that doing so was within the rights of the dioceses, but that’s a far cry from endorsing development of rites.
In February 2005 the Primates of the Anglican Communion will consider the
Windsor Report. We commit ourselves to a more thorough consideration of the
range of concrete actions identified in the Report at our House of Bishops
meeting in March 2005. We do not wish to act in haste. We believe it is
extremely important to take the time to allow the Holy Spirit to show us
ways we can engage with people throughout our church in a consideration of
all of the invitations for further reflection and the recommendations of the
Windsor Report.
I like the “We do not wish to act in haste.” They sound like Ents. (Come to think of it, maybe Griswold does have a certain resemblance to Treebeard.) It would be good if everyone slowed down and gave these issues the consideration they deserve. The Spirit does not always act immediately, and hasty, hair-trigger decision-making can result in results that leave the Spirit out of the process.
We seek together the epiphany of Christ’s reconciling love for the world,
which lies at the heart of the mission we share. It is our prayer that along
with Anglican Christians around the world we may be faithful to God’s
mission.
They end with mission, which is where we should always begin and end.
I like this document. It expresses sincere regret for the consequences of our actions on Anglican unity while not overstepping the authority of the House of Bishops and trying to speak for the entire church. I do not know how it will be received. Of course, most of the angry people were saying it is not enough even before it was released. And actually, they are right in the fact that it is not complete, but it is not meant to be the be-all end all of this issue. It is a statement of the mind of the House of Bishops at this particular time. The Windsor Report must be received by the Primates Meeting, the Anglican Consultative Council, and then by our individual provinces. To take major action at this time would indeed be “Hasty” and would usurp the very process that the Windsor Report strives to protect. Patience is a virtue!
David+
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