A Word to the Church
The House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church
January 12 - 13, 2005
Salt Lake City
ENS 011305-1
[ENS] 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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.")
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.
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.
