US Episcopal Church Rejects Moratorium on Gay Bishops

The House of Deputies of the US Episcopal Church has voted down an unofficial moratorium on the ordination of more openly gay bishops as the General Convention enters its final day.

|TOP|A joint session was held Tuesday by Bishop Frank Griswold to consider a resolution responding to the Windsor Report after Resolution A161 , which calls for bishops and dioceses to refrain from electing bishops “whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church,” was rejected.

The resolution would have also prevented the church from developing rites for blessing same-sex unions although it also apologised for such decisions and affirmed the need to provide pastoral care for gay and lesbian Episcopalians.

The Windsor Report, issued at the behest of the Archbishop of Canterbury, requested that the Episcopal Church “effect 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).

It also urged that the US Episcopal Church apologise for the consecration of the gay Bishop of New Hampshire Gene Robinson 3 years ago and make clear that it opposed blessings for same-sex unions.

But as Episcopalians wake up to the last day of the Convention in Columbus, Ohio, time is running out if the 2.3-million-member US church wishes to revive the matter before the triennial Convention closes Wednesday evening.

|AD|Bishop John Lipscomb of Southwest Florida had originally urged the House to adopt the Windsor Report and to send a message to the House of Deputies but later withdrew the motion to honour the Presiding Bishop's request for the joint session.

He told the House that “God is asking us to make hard decisions, to be as faithful as possible”.

“For God's sake, let's care for one another, bear one another's burdens. Brothers and sisters, it's time we quit debating and get on with the work of the Gospel,” he said.

Bishop Keith Ackerman of Quincy said "we're dealing with a relative impasse. It's extraordinarily painful, but I believe that's what's occurred."

Meanwhile the 2.5-million-member Presbyterian Church USA voted in a new policy that will give local church organisations more leeway in deciding if homosexuals can be ordained as lay deacons and elders as well as clergy as long as they are faithful to the core values of the church.

The 57-43 vote took place at the church’s 217th General Assembly in Birmingham, Alabama.

The Rev. David Miller of Tampa Bay Presbytery called the measure "a wrong turn." He called it "a license...to overlook clear standards that have been set, a license to ignore the larger discernment of the body of Christ and a license to legislate by interpretation."

Meanwhile the Rev Carey of Central Florida Presbytery said approval of the measure would “open the floodgates of controversy”.