ORIGINAL TEXT

Resolution D072

Title:   Substitute Resolution for A160 Expression of Regret

Topic:   Anglican Communion

Committee:   26. Special Legislative Committee

House of Initial Action:   Bishops

Proposer:   The Rev. William H. Stokes (Southeast Florida)

Resolved, the House of _____ concurring, That the 75th General Convention of the Episcopal Church expresses regret and our sincerest apology for the pain others have experienced with respect to our actions at the General Convention of 2003; and be it further
Resolved, That we affirm that the actions taken at the General Convention 2003 were not intended to offend, denigrate, or breach the bonds of affection with our brothers and sisters in the Anglican Communion whom we hold in the highest affection and love in Christ, but rather represent the Episcopal Church’s response to what it faithfully believes is our reverent learning from a “new disclosure of truth” (Resolution #8 Lambeth Conference 1958):  our experience of the faithful lives and ministries of gay and lesbian persons in the Church, our new understanding of the biblical demands of justice, the Lord’s Summary of the Law and the Baptismal Covenant of the Episcopal Church, and how these inform our relationship to gay, lesbian and transgendered persons in the Church; and be it further
Resolved, That the 75th General Convention communicate to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Primates of the Anglican Communion, the Lambeth Conference, the Anglican Consultative Council and our brothers and sisters of the Anglican Communion our love and affection as well as our conviction that for many in the Episcopal Church, questions about human sexuality and the place of gay, lesbian and transgendered persons in the life of the Church and Society represent a vital justice issue and as such have significant  legal and theological implications that we believe cannot be ignored or isolated from conversations about the unity of the Church and the Communion and cannot be divorced from the Communion-wide listening process commended by Resolution I.I0 of the 1998 Lambeth Conference.   
 


EXPLANATION

The mandate of the Windsor Report included a direction to the Lambeth Commission to explore the "legal and theological implications flowing from the decisions of the Episcopal Church (USA) to appoint a priest in a committed same sex union as one of its bishops and of the Diocese of New Westminster to authorize services for use in connection with same sex unions..."  The Lambeth Commission on Communion failed to address issues of human sexuality and sexual identity as issues of justice and to include consideration of this in its exploration of the "legal and theological implications" flowing from the decisions of the Episcopal Church in 2003. Justice is not only a biblical mandate, but a significant theological concern and one of the four cardinal virtues.  To paraphrase St. Augustine, without justice there can be no peace or unity of the church.  The failure of the Windsor Report to adequately address the issue of justice with respect to issues of human sexuality and the place of gay and lesbian persons in the life of the Church produced a flawed document and has resulted in a distorted and unbalanced  response to the actions of the Episcopal Church in consequence. In March 2005, the House of Bishops made a statement expressing regret and repentance, yet failed to articulate a strong rationale for the Episcopal Church's decisions. The statement of the House of Bishop's has been embedded in A160 and yet the language of "repentance" for a decision many feel was made prayerfully, scripturally and justly does not ring true.  While the Special Commission on The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion to the 75th General Convention is to be commended for superior work in its report One Baptism, One Hope in God's Call, this Committee also failed to adequately address the serious omission and flaw of the Windsor Report.  This resolution attempts to remedy this omission.