What Does the Moratorium Mean for California?

Bishop William Swing has announced his retirement, and a search is being conducted to find his successor. While the standing committee in charge of the search is drafting their response to the March 16 decision by the House of Bishops to withhold consent of any newly elected Bishops, their work goes forward unabated.

Following their meeting in Navasota, TX, the House of Bishops released a covenant statement of their agreed-upon positions. With regard to the election of bishops, they wrote, "Those of us having jurisdiction pledge to withhold consent to the consecration of any person elected to the episcopate after the date hereof until the General Convention of 2006, and we encourage the dioceses of our church to delay episcopal elections accordingly."

Because the House of Bishops are withholding their consent to consecrate any new bishops, any Bishop elected by a diocese must be put forward for approval at the 2006 General Convention. Their decision is simply an assertion of the power structure of the Anglican communion, says Pacific Church News Editor Sean McConnell, "This decision is really about the Bishops showing how the polity of the church works. The Bishops are saying that they don’t have sole authority over the church, which is how the church has been governed for 230 years."

Following the 1888 Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral meeting, the Episcopal Church in the United States and the Church of England came into communion after their split in 1776. This rejoined communion established the power structure of the Episcopal Church, where there is authority placed in the General Convention as a whole. The church is, like the legislative branch of the US Government, a bicameral institution. The House of Bishops shares power with the House of Deputies. Being a communion, there is a diversity of voices at the table, and a variety of interpretations of where the larger organization should go.

The current struggle over the type of power structure the Episcopal Church is to have is at the core of the well-reported schism in the church. A vocal minority of Bishops is looking to unify the diverse church and centralize leadership. One of the flashpoints in this debate has been same-gender blessings. On this topic, the House of Bishops statement reads, "In response to the invitation in the Windsor Report that we effect a moratorium on public rites of blessing for same sex unions, it is important that we clarify that the Episcopal Church has not authorized any such liturgies, nor has General Convention requested the development of such rites."

As this moratorium was crafted by Bishops, it is up to each individual Episcopal Bishop to advocate for or against this decree in their own diocese. They themselves cannot bless same-gender unions, but their clergy can, if that is the will of the Bishop. With regard to authorized liturgies, there have been resolutions put forward to General Convention to create an authorized rite for inclusion in the Book of Occasional Services. One resolution was rejected by the 2003 General Convention, says The Rev. John Kirkley, of St. John the Evangelist, San Francisco, "But it recognized that bishops, with local jurisdiction, can authorize a blessing within their own diocese.

"We are a people of common prayer. What we pray represents our theology. To not have a commonly shared rite, relegates to a second tier status those liturgies."

In his work with Bishop Swing’s Marriage and Blessing Task Force, The Rev. Kirkley is looking at the many diverse issues around same-gender blessings. "[As a Church] we’ve been having these conversations for 30 years, in the American context. In California we’ve been engaged around the issue that whole time, while other dioceses are reeling from the 2003 General Convention because that was their introduction to it."

In the Anglican tradition, then, this heated debate continues in a civil manner as more information is gathered. The Rev. Kirkley describes the situation this way: "More conversation needs to be had before we can be of one mind on the subject. In the interim, the Church neither forbids nor prescribes. It must live with diversity of opinion until such time as we can make a more definitive decision."

For more information on the work of The Bishop’s Task Force on Marriage and Blessing, click here.