Episcopal Bishops Release Letter on Relief, Homosexuality, Women
The top leaders of the Episcopal Church U.S.A. released a joint letter of concern regarding homosexuality, the role of women in the church, and relief efforts in the gulf-coast states, following their annual fall gathering this week.
“We arrived in Puerto Rico with the suffering from Hurricane Katrina foremost on our hearts and minds,” the Sept. 27 letter from the House of Bishops read. “Hurricane Rita deepened our concern all the more. We altered our agenda in order to focus on this ongoing crisis and our response.”
According to the statement, “a significant percentage of church” in Louisiana, and several properties in Mississippi were damaged – “some likely beyond repair.” In light of such tragedy, the bishops wrote, “we weep with those who weep and mourn with those who mourn.”
The bishops said Katrina “strengthens our resolve to challenge racial, economic and other social injustices, and to respond to unmet needs around the world, as well as close to home.”
Meanwhile, in regards to the tragedy looming within the Anglican Communion over the controversial ordination of an openly gay Episcopal bishop, the House released little new information.
In 2003, the Episcopal Church elected and affirmed the ordination of Bishop Gene Robinson, an openly gay man living with his partner. Since then, the Anglican Communion – of which the ECUSA takes part – faced a difficult task of keeping its more conservative Southern membership and its more liberal Northern membership talking together on the same table. To help the situation, the Communion last year released a “Windsor Report,” which asked the U.S. church questions regarding its controversial decision to elect an active gay man to one of it highest ecclesiastical position.
The bishops’ letter took note of this question, which urges them to explain "from within the sources of authority that we as Anglicans have received in scripture, the apostolic tradition and reasoned reflection, how a person living in a same gender union may be considered eligible to lead the flock of Christ."
They gave no new answers in the letter, but rather said they will “re-engage our own conversation about this report” in March of 2006.
Currently, the ECUSA is banned from one of the key ecumenical bodies within the Anglican Communion, the Anglican Consultative Council, because of this controversial issue. This excommunication was put into effect earlier this year during the most recent Anglican Consultative Council meeting, in Nottingham, England.
In their letter, the Bishops took note of this break in communion, and said they heard both “encouraging and challenging stories” from several bishops who visited churches in Africa.
Meanwhile, with a heavier tone, the Bishops acknowledged the gender-related challenges that remain in the church.
“We heard a troubling reminder about the overall status of women in the Anglican Communion, especially within its decision-making structures,” the Bishops wrote. According to the report, only 30 of the more than 800 persons involved in top Anglican jobs are women.
“Therefore, many concerns of women go unheeded, and their ministries are under-affirmed and not fully supported,” they wrote.
The Bishops said they hope to meet the goal of equal representation for women in governance at all levels.
