Bishops of the 2.4 million-member Episcopal Church last month voted to disavow the widely publicized New Jersey ordination of a homosexual priest, which touched off a furious controversy several months ago.
The bishops voted 80 to 76 during their annual meeting in Washington, D.C., for a statement declaring ordination of noncelibate homosexuals “inappropriate” and criticizing Bishop John Spong of Newark, New Jersey, for violating that policy. Spong, the most outspokenly liberal prelate in the church whose most prominent member is President Bush, has been under attack since he ordained gay activist Robert Williams to the priesthood last December.
The furor grew when Williams publicly ridiculed traditional church teaching on chastity and monogamy, declaring that Mother Teresa of Calcutta would be healthier if she had sex. Williams was pressured to quit as director of a Newark diocesan gay-lesbian ministry; a disappointed Spong suspended him from functioning as a priest. But the controversial bishop reiterated his support for ordaining homosexuals, saying bishops have been doing it quietly for years. Moves to force Spong to face a church trial have been quashed by church authorities.
Bishop William Frey, dean of the evangelical-oriented Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry near Pittsburgh, said the measure was only a mild reprimand. “Some have said this is a gun pointed at the head of Spong,” he said. “It’s actually only a water pistol.”
Bishop William Frey, dean of the evangelical-oriented Trinity School for Ministry near Pittsburgh, said the measure was only a mild reprimand. “Some have said this is a gun pointed at the head of Spong,” he said. “It’s actually only a water pistol.”
After voting to criticize Spong, the bishops passed a motion to “continue studying the implications of the issue of ordaining homosexuals.” And they issued a statement pleading for the church to extend its dialogue on homosexuality, calling it an issue “clouded with stereotypes and preconceptions.”
A Call For Open Minds
The document reads, in part, “We call on you to share our recognition of the inherent faithlessness of a closed mind, one that blocks God from illuminating old truths in a fresh way, from calling us to new understandings or from leading us into new ways of thinking.…
“We recognize that it would not be faithful to the Gospel to ignore the anguished cries of homosexual men and women who feel hurt, rejected and angry by what they see about them. At the same time, we recognize that it would not be faithful to the Gospel to ignore or simply label as homophobic the anguished cries of men and women who feel hurt, rejected and angry that what they see as sin is not being reaffirmed as such.”
No Resolution In Sight
Some expect a clear-cut decision next year on the church’s policy on how to view “faithful same-sex relationships” and ordination of practicing homosexuals; but bishops predicted the church would have to tolerate ambiguity “in these matters for some time to come.”
After the vote, Spong charged that the bishops showed “continuing hypocrisy” for voting to criticize him when they took no action against some of his most vocal critics who refuse to ordain women as priests. He also said the 1979 church statement against ordaining noncelibate homosexuals was “not binding,” adding that sexually active gays exist at all levels of the Episcopal Church, from parishes and seminaries to the House of Bishops.
The close vote, Spong said, is evidence that conservatives lack the muscle to enact an enforceable ban against ordaining homosexuals at the church’s policy-making general convention in Phoenix next July.
By Richard Walker.
