Moving past Goodbye

From The Living Church-

Reflections on the 77th General Convention have one characteristic in common: an eagerness to interpret the data through the prism of a deeply held ideology. And, if we were to experience for a moment the presence of not only the holy but also the generous Holy Spirit, we might be willing to admit that there is a touch of truth in every perspective.

My prism is family system theory. I ask: “How did we get here?”

The 65th General Convention (1976) was pivotal in the history of the Episcopal Church as it adopted a new Prayer Book (on the first reading and in which there was not one reference to the Anglican Communion) and approved local option for women’s ordination. At the time it felt like a major split could occur. And yet for the most part the Episcopal Church held together, thanks in large measure to public assurances in 1976 and the Statement on Conscience adopted by the House of Bishops in 1977. In effect the bishops and others said that Episcopalians were big enough to embrace those who would ordain women and those who would not, for reasons rooted in conscientious conviction. Lambeth 1978 explicitly affirmed local option for women’s ordination.

This principle was strengthened by Lambeth 1988 which, at the request of the Episcopal Church, expanded the principle of local option to include women in the episcopate. In 1989 the Rt. Rev. Barbara C. Harris became Bishop Suffragan of Massachusetts, and the first woman to serve as a bishop in the Anglican Communion.

I believe the turning point came five years later, in 1994, the 20th anniversary of the ordination of the Philadelphia 11. At a service commemorating that event, Bishop Harris preached directly to “traditionalist Episcopalians” who still opposed women’s ordination. They should recognize that they had been defeated and leave: “If this means saying goodbye to the selective traditionalists in our Church, … God go with you and peace — goodbye.”

Then the 72nd General Convention (1997), acting on the recommendations of a committee led by the Rt. Rev. Robert D. Rowley, abandoned the 1977 statement on conscience. Previous public promises notwithstanding, what had been optional was now mandatory.

More here-

http://www.livingchurch.org/moving-past-goodbye