Live from Columbus - June 20, 2006
Click for a printer friendly version
Volume 2, No. 10
Following a difficult day at the 75th General Convention, Bishop
Lillibridge speaks to the diocese in this evening's audio report.
(Note: This recording is 10 minutes long and about 23
Megabytes. Allow time for downloading.)
A report by Bishop Lillibridge from General
Convention on Tuesday, June 20.
This has been an extraordinarily difficult day
at General Convention for both the House of Bishops and the House of
Deputies. As you no doubt know, the House of Deputies did not pass
Resolution A161 that was before their house regarding refraining
from the consecration of a bishop living openly in a same-gender
union and the agreement not to proceed to develop or authorize rites
for the blessings of same-sex unions at this time.
That resolution failed in the House of Deputies
which was really a crushing blow to the House of Bishops because we
had been working all morning in a productive way to support that
resolution through some casual conversation that we were having
while the deputies debated it.
By the rules of General Convention since the
deputies did not pass it, it cannot come before them again nor will
it come in that form to the bishops.
The House of Bishops has met this evening to
discuss having a Mind of the House resolution from the bishops
supporting the Windsor Report with some language yet to be
determined.
Tomorrow morning the Presiding Bishop, Frank
Griswold, is taking the unusual step of calling us back into joint
session with the House of Deputies to try to somehow to move forward
on this impasse.
It has been reported to us that the deputies
seem to be moving apart from one another rather than towards one
another. In the House of Bishops, at least this morning, we had some
movement towards one another. I am not exactly sure where we are
now, and tomorrow will tell.
One of the things that I urged on the floor of
the House of Bishops tonight and this morning is that we need
clarity in our language -- we don't need watered down language
addressing the Windsor Report. We have had three years of
conversation, and we need to accept the language that is before us
in the resolution that came before the deputies to see whether
indeed we will "refrain from the nomination, election, and consent
and consecration of bishops whose manner of life presents a
challenge to the wider church" and that is a direct quote from the
resolution, as well as not proceeding not to develop or authorize
rites for the blessing of same-sex unions at this time.
I do not know if it is possible to get strong
support of Windsor with that language. One of my concerns tomorrow
is that the House of Deputies has already defeated this and so it is
going to take an extraordinary movement to have some language that
would be acceptable to them and the bishops and then of course those
of us who want this language to be very, very closely tied to the
Windsor Report language.
One of the frustrations here today is that the
legislative process simply is not working when we come into these
kinds of discussions in the church. We are trapped by our process
and this is why Frank Griswold has called us into a joint session.
One of my points is that we really need to try
and support our new Presiding Bishop as a primate. If we do not have
strong Windsor language that will be acceptable to the communion,
she won't even get to her place at the table, I am afraid.
Charles Jenkins, the bishop of Louisiana, spoke
tonight and I want to use something he said. He said we are "one
church with two minds." For me, after all of this debate,
discussion, and conversation, it really boils down to a simple
issue: do we give Katharine Jefferts Schori a chance or not as the
primate. If we water down language it is going to be difficult to
have a chance in this next triennium, this next three year period
before the next General Convention, to really represent us with any
credibility at the Communion level.
My view is that a weak response will lead us
who knows where from here.
Charles Jenkins also talked about the
importance of issuing a minority report as an honest way to deal
with our differences.
So here in a nutshell are some possibilities
that I see tomorrow. Certainly there will be other possibilities;
this is not an exhaustive list.
Number one: we meet in joint session tomorrow
following Eucharist to deal with a resolution or some wording that
the Special Committee of this convention is going to be developing
tonight as they work late into the night.
If the language is strong enough and is
acceptable to this convention, and both houses in joint session can
agree to it, then we are going to be in a better place than we are
today.
I think the possibility of that happening is
rather small, but I am going to remain hopeful.
Second, if that does not work out then there is
the option of the House of Bishops moving back into the house and
the bishops issuing a statement strongly in support of Windsor,
close to the language instead of having a resolution from General
Convention which we would not be able to have if the deputies don't
agree. We could have a Mind of the House from the House of Bishops
strongly supporting Windsor. If the bishops water it down, then
really we are no better than when we came in here in terms of our
position in the Communion and in fact might be even a little worse
off because by not answering according to what we have been asked to
answer it really does give our answer.
We need your prayers. Our deputation is
frustrated by the process and they are back in session tonight.
I would also like to add that we have said
throughout the church over these last three years that there is a
broad middle in this church. And I think there is a broad middle in
the House of Bishops and there is a broad middle in the church at
large in this country. But there does not seem to be a broad middle
in the House of Deputies. The moderates, and by that I mean people
who are a little right of center on our current issues and those who
are left of center, seem to be in a minority. This is purely
subjective, of course, because we have not surveyed all 800
deputies.
I am concerned that in the House of Deputies
there is not a large, broad middle who is going to be able to find
their voice at this convention and perhaps it doesn't exist over
there.
What does all this mean for West Texas? Well I
can only tell you tonight, and I will have much more to say about
this and write about this when I return home, but the Diocese of
West Texas is going to support the Windsor Report regardless of what
this convention does. We have had our highest authority in West
Texas, the Diocesan Council, at our last two Diocesan councils,
overwhelming support Windsor as the way forward.
And so we are going to use that authority that
diocesan Council has given us and that I myself have pledged as
the bishop of the diocese to support.
We will also be waiting to hear from the
Archbishop of Canterbury upon adjournment of the convention as to
what he feels like the next step is.
I have every confidence that any diocese that
is supporting the Windsor Report is going to be in a good position
with the Archbishop of Canterbury. He will at some point beyond this
convention have to make some statement. I don't look for that to be
over the weekend, but at some point he will take all of what we have
done or not done and send us a message as to where the American
church is.
In the meantime I am going to work with a
coalition of Windsor-supporting bishops whose dioceses do see that
as a way forward as we continue to be the Episcopal Church in
the Anglican Communion.
That is as honest as I can give you tonight and
as a thorough a report as to what happened today. This entire day
was consumed with the Windsor Report, and tomorrow will be as well.
Check the website, say your prayers, keep your
perspective. The Diocese of West Texas is going to be in fine shape
because we know what we stand for and where we stand, and our
deputation -- which represents a huge variety of viewpoints on the
issues -- is together that we in West Texas are going to continue to
move forward with the Lord Jesus Christ's mission and his call to us
to be the church.
Thank you very much and God bless you, and we
will have another update for you tomorrow evening.
The Rt. Rev. Gary Lillibridge
Bishop of West Texas
Additional articles and reports will follow at a later time.
|
