The Call to Communion
The Windsor Report makes three specific recommendations regarding the Episcopal Church. First, the Report recommends that:
the Episcopal Church (USA) be invited to express its regret that the proper constraints of the bonds of affection were breached in the events surrounding the election and consecration of a bishop for the See of New Hampshire, and for the consequences which followed, and that such an expression of regret would represent the desire of the Episcopal Church (USA) to remain within the Communion (WR 134)
The language specifically seeks public recognition through an expression of regret that the proper constraints bonds of affection were “breached” by the events surrounding the “election and consecration” of Canon V. Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire.
This expression of regret is intended to serve the instrument through which the Episcopal Church will indicate her desire to remain within the Anglican Communion.
The second recommendation is as follows:
the Episcopal Church (USA) be invited to effect 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 (WR 134)
The recommendation specifies two distinct processes to which the suggested moratorium would apply: first, the process of electing bishops and second, the process of consenting to the consecration of elected bishops.
Bishops in the Episcopal Church are elected at the diocesan level. To effect a moratorium on the “election” of a bishop would require 1. a change or amendment to the national canons which would require two consecutive General Conventions or 2. a unanimous nationwide decision, diocese by diocese, to change or amend relevant diocesan canons to prevent consideration of non-celibate homosexual nominees or 3. a unanimous decision by all current diocesan bishops not to call for a coadjutor until “some new consensus in the Anglican Communion emerges.”
To effect a moratorium on the “consent” to the consecration of elected bishops would take far less time and effort. A majority of bishops in the House of Bishops would simply commit not to grant consent.
The third recommendation reads:
While we recognise that the Episcopal Church (USA) has by action of Convention made provision for the development of public Rites of Blessing of same sex unions, the decision to authorise rests with diocesan bishops. Because of the serious repercussions in the Communion, we call for a moratorium on all such public Rites, and recommend that bishops who have authorised such rites in the United States and Canada be invited to express regret that the proper constraints of the bonds of affection were breached by such authorization (WR 144)
This recommendation calls for a moratorium on both the “development” of specific rites for blessing same sex unions and on the “authorization” of the performance of such rites. Both are plainly intended and included in the phrase: “we call for a moratorium on all such public Rites.”
It is noted that the Episcopal Church has “made provision for the development of public rites of Blessing.” This notation is made in reference to Resolution C051: Blessing of Committed Same-Gender Relationships (GC2003), which reads:
Resolved, That the 74th General Convention affirm the following:
…
3. That, in our understanding of homosexual persons, differences exist among us about how best to care pastorally for those who intend to live in monogamous, non-celibate unions; and what is, or should be, required, permitted, or prohibited by the doctrine, discipline, and worship of The Episcopal Church concerning the blessing of the same.
…5. That we recognize that local faith communities are operating within the bounds of our common life as they explore and experience liturgies celebrating and blessing same-sex unions.
6. That we commit ourselves, and call our church, in the spirit of Resolution A104 of the 70th General Convention (1991), to continued prayer, study, and discernment on the pastoral care for gay and lesbian persons, to include the compilation and development by a special commission organized and appointed by the Presiding Bishop of resources to facilitate as wide a conversation of discernment as possible throughout the church.
7. That our baptism into Jesus Christ is inseparable from our communion with one another, and we commit ourselves to that communion despite our diversity of opinion and, among dioceses, a diversity of pastoral practice with the gay men and lesbians among us.
This resolution clearly “affirms” both the development of rites (paragraph 5 “explore”) and the performance/celebration of rites (paragraph 5 “experience” and paragraph 7 “practice”) as occurring legitimately within the bounds of “communion” (para 7) and common life (para 5)
Paragraph 144 of the Windsor Report, therefore, calls for a moratorium on both the celebration and development of all public rites for same sex unions and invites those bishops who have developed or authorized such rites in keeping with C051 to express regret that the proper constraints of the bonds of affection were “breached” as a result of their actions.
As the authors of the Windsor Report acknowledge in paragraph 157, the Windsor Report recommendations remain merely recommendations until accepted by the primates.
We would much rather not speculate on actions that might need to be taken if, after acceptance by the primates, our recommendations are not implemented.
And, as The Most Reverend Dr. Robin Eames noted in his introduction to the Windsor Report, “The Lambeth or Windsor Commission was established in October 2003 by the Archbishop of Canterbury at the request of the Anglican Primates.”
The Windsor Commission obviously recognized that until such time as these three recommendations might be received and accepted by the primates that they would remain mere recommendations.
In February 2005, the primates and the Archbishop of Canterbury met at Dromantine to receive and consider the Windsor Report recommendations. At the end of their meeting they issued a Communique in which they accepted most of the recommendations of the Windsor report including the three requests or invitations above.
14. Within the ambit of the issues discussed in the Windsor Report and in order to recognise the integrity of all parties, we request that the Episcopal Church (USA) and the Anglican Church of Canada voluntarily withdraw their members from the Anglican Consultative Council for the period leading up to the next Lambeth Conference. During that same period we request that both churches respond through their relevant constitutional bodies to the questions specifically addressed to them in the Windsor Report as they consider their place within the Anglican Communion.
Moreover, the primates determined that the venue for the Episcopal Church’s response to the Windsor Requests would be the next meeting of her “relevant constitutional body” known as General Convention.
we request that both churches respond through their relevant constitutional bodies to the questions specifically addressed to them in the Windsor Report as they consider their place within the Anglican Communion. (DC14)
The 75th General Convention was scheduled to meet in June of 2006.
Until then, the primates of the Anglican Communion, including Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, urged one another to:
to use their best influence to persuade their brothers and sisters to exercise a moratorium on public Rites of Blessing for Same-sex unions and on the consecration of any bishop living in a sexual relationship outside Christian marriage. (DC18)
The Windsor Requests, having been received and accepted by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the primates at Dromantine, were then moved as a resolution at the ACC) meeting in Nottingham">Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) meeting in Nottingham in late June 2005.
ACC 13 Resolution 10: Response to the Primates’ Statement at Dromantine
The Anglican Consultative Council:
1. takes note of the decisions taken by the Primates at their recent meeting in Dromantine, Northern Ireland, in connection with the recommendations of the Windsor Report 2004
2. notes further that the Primates there reaffirmed “the standard of Christian teaching on matters of human sexuality expressed in the 1998 Lambeth Resolution 1.10, which should command respect as the position overwhelmingly adopted by the bishops of the Anglican Communion”
3. endorses and affirms those decisions.
This resolution was passed.
Thus, by August of 2005 three out of the four instruments of unity had received and endorsed the Windsor Report recommendations calling the Episcopal Church to express her regret and effect the two moratoria as described above.
The Episcopal Church began her response to the Windsor Report at the meeting of the House of Bishops in March of 2005 subsequent to the Primates meeting in Dromantine in February and prior to the meeting of the ACC in June.
Tomorrow we’ll take a detailed look at that response.
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a clear presentation of not only the central demands of the Windsor Report but also the events and resolutions which have brought us to this place.