Bishops Confer on Prayer Book Revision, Ministry, Ecumenism
Diocesan Press Service. October 18, 1974 [74276]
Isabel Baumgartner
OAXTEPEC, Morelos, Mexico -- Presiding Bishop John M. Allin has spoken out against "unnecessary restrictions on the future use " of the Episcopal Church's 1928 Book of Common Prayer after a revised Prayer Book has been adopted by the Church's General Convention.
Bishop Allin told the House of Bishops, meeting here October 13-18, that he would like to see the Church "give birth to a new Book without burying the old one."
He said he hopes "we are sufficiently versatile to continue indefinitely providing services from the present Prayer Book for those who desire them, as well as more contemporary services."
Bishop Allin also urged that "the first Eucharistic service in the (new Book) be the exact text of the 1928 Book, with the newly revised rubrics."
His words appeared to take a number of his fellow bishops by surprise; several queried him closely about them later in the meeting.
Bishop Allin replied that the new Book would indeed "be the norm" but added, "This revision process has produced resistance and counter-resistance. Let's remove some of the counter-force. I want us to assure our people that we're not going to bury what we've been accustomed to . . . If we use the 1928 Book with grace (after the revision), usage will solve what legislation can't."
The proposed Prayer Book service considered at length by the House was the updated Initiatory Rite which encompasses Holy Baptism, Confirmation, Reception, and the Affirmation of Baptismal Vows. The House expressed "general approval of directions being taken" with this rite by the Standing Liturgical Commission, suggesting eight more specific changes in rubrics, order, and phraseology.
Bishops who may have heretofore pictured the Commission as a stolid monochrome group saw that mental image shatter when Commission chairman Bishop Chilton Powell of Oklahoma characterized the group as needing three pieces of equipment: "one rake and two buckets -- the rake, to scrape people off the walls -- one bucket for blood, the other for guts."
He said, " The whole Church is revising the Initiatory Rite, and we're caught in the wonderful spot of referee, trying to hold things in balance."
Added suggestions about Prayer Book revision are due by the end of December, Bishop Powell said, with April 1975 as an "absolute deadline." All texts must be ready by July 1975 in order that materials can come off the press several months in advance of the 1976 General Convention.
Under the heading of Ministry, the Bishops considered reports that:
* the number of candidates for ordination is increasing;
* via their Pastoral Development Committee, aids are available for diocesan Commissions on Ministry, and findings of a study of homophiles in the ministry will be discussed at provincial meetings of bishops;
* a survey is in process to define the office, role, and function of a bishop in the 20th century;
* the Absalom Jones Theological Institute in Atlanta offers a one-year study program for black theological students, and a related one-year curriculum for people attending primarily white seminaries.
The House asked the Joint Commission on the Church in Small Communities to outline a possible canon on "cross-ordination" for study at their 1975 meeting. Concurrently the Joint Commission on Ecumenical Relations will explore views of other churches on this concept, which envisions ministers of non-Episcopal churches receiving Episcopal ordination, and vice versa, in certain community situations where it seems warranted.
The House's Committee on Canons was asked to spell out amendments which would reduce from 32 to 24 the minimum age for ordination under Title III, Canon 8, and another requiring the bishop's involvement when a rector calls a particular clergyman as his assistant.
During its daylong consideration of ecumenical matters the House perused the 1973 statement on Ministry and ordination, agreed upon by the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission, and endorsed the statement for churchwide study.
The Bishops also gave attention to two local congregational concepts emerging via the Consultation on Church Union: interim Eucharistic fellowship and generating communities. They voted approval of Episcopal participation in both, noting the importance of following guidelines with care.
World hunger and its urgency claimed the Bishops' attention at some length. Their decision: to institute moves in all dioceses to respond now to this worldwide crisis by any and all devisable means. The House voted to have three bishops appointed to work with the Executive Council's Task Force on World Hunger, set up by the Council recently. The resolution called on bishops to devise their own plans for responding to the crisis and to keep their people informed of needs and opportunities.
A resolution favoring unconditional amnesty for all who for reasons of conscience refused to participate in the Vietnam war was passed by a vote of 76 - 37 after extended debate. A segment of the resolution which declared President Ford's earned re-entry program "falls short of the human goal of healing divisions " was incorporated into it by a more narrow margin, 63 - 42.
The House greeted a number of special guests: Bishop Shannon Mallory of Botswana; the Rt. Rev. Jorge Martinez Martin, Auxiliary Roman Catholic Bishop of Mexico; and the Rt. Rev. Jose A. Gonzalez, Bishop of the Episcopal Church of Cuba, making the first personal contact with this Church permitted to him since the Cuban Church became autonomous in 1966. The House passed a resolution asking the U.S. government to lift the present Cuban embargo and to restore diplomatic relations between the two countries.
The Bishops heard Mrs. Rena Bennally and Thomas Jackson describe the new Navajo Episcopal Council, elected by some 4,000 Navajo communicants in the Dioceses of Utah, Arizona, and Rio Grande to work toward revitalizing the Church's life among them via self-determination methods and training in Christian skills.
The new worldwide Partners in Mission program developing from the Anglican Consultative Council was described as "moving beyond the giving/receiving" idea of the past into shared planning for mission by Anglican Province partners functioning as peers.
The House elected to collegial membership the Rt. Rev. Ralph Dean, former Anglican executive officer now on the staff of Christ Church in Greenville, South Carolina. They re-elected Bishop Jonathan Sherman of Long Island as the House's vice-president.
Bishop William J. Gordon, Jr., who resigned his Alaska jurisdiction last May after 26 years, was given seat, voice, and vote on grounds that his resignation was for "mission strategy" reasons. He described new work he begins January 1, making available to any diocese who requests it "some possible new models for lay ministry" based on the principle that the chief task of seminary-trained clergy should be "to enable every lay person to minister." Said Bishop Gordon, "Shepherds don't make sheep; sheep make sheep."
The House accepted the resignations of five Bishops as follows: Bishop George L. Cadigan of Missouri, April 16, 1975; Bishop Edward G. Longuid of Northern Philippines, June 1, 1975; Suffragan Bishop Theodore H. McCrea of Dallas, January 1, 1975; Bishop George A. Taylor of Easton, January 25, 1975; and Bishop E. Hamilton West of Florida, December 31, 1974. Approval was given to the Diocese of Northern Philippines to elect a Bishop Coadjutor.
The House will meet in September, 1975 in Portland, Maine.
[Contact Archives for Resolution on Amnesty - Ed.]