Watch Out

Be careful what you read. The spin is on and how it whirls! This was a difficult day and evening on the floor of the House of Deputies. While the budget of the Episcopal Church passed with little debate, the resolutions regarding the Windsor Report was another matter. How some Deputies like to speak at the microphone and how frequently do the same people speak!

When the "Windsor Resolutions" came to a vote, Committee 26 Special Legislative Committee Report #6 on A161 (Anglican Communion Election of Bishops)was defeated. One online headline declares "GC Resolution on Moratoria Defeated Decisively in Deputies". A161 included "to refrain from nomination, election, consent to, and consecration of bishops whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communion". The intent was to prohibit the "consecration of any Bishop living openly in a same-gender union". But, what does manner of life really mean? We are so fixated on sexuality as the touch stone of orthodoxy. I am tired of it. Perhaps manner of life should refer to Christians who live in opulence while so many of God's people live in a daily struggle for food and clean water. Perhaps it could mean many things. Many of us believe that A161 is just a bad piece of legislation. It attempts to conform the American Church to the requirements of the Windsor Report and then concludes "Resolved that this General Convention apologize to those gay and lesbian Episcopalians and their supporters hurt by these decisions". It has also been reported that this resolution was defeated by an agreement between the two extremes to do so. Obviously for different reasons.

I am concerned about a joint session of the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies tomorrow morning called by the Presiding Bishop. Rumor has it that we will be instructed in the "necessary language" to conform to the requirements of the Windsor Report. If something new comes following this "emergency session" it will be a document filled with hazy language that the Episcopal Church will interpret one way with the hope that some in the Anglican Communion will interpret another. I suggest that whatever happens tomorrow that everyone watches out for the reporting of our actions. It will be spun every which way from Sunday.

Dean Hurley