Wednesday, October 1, 2003
[size=+2]Episcopal split painful for diocese
[/size]
[size=+1]Local believers face painful decisions in wake of controversy [/size]
BY DAVE MUNDAY
Of The Post and Courier Staff
Even those who are most outraged at the Episcopal Church's decisions to approve an openly gay bishop and same-sex blessings are feeling uneasy about Thursday's special convention to distance the local diocese from those actions.
"Any possibility of fracturing the church is a sad event for all of us," said the Rev. Kendall Harmon, the diocese's leading spokesman for three resolutions that will be considered Thursday at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Summerville.
The first resolution asks the top leaders of the Anglican Communion, the Episcopal Church's parent body, to recognize those who opposed the Episcopal Church's actions at its General Convention in Minneapolis in August as "the legitimate expression of the Anglican Communion and Faith in the United States." The resolution also asks the Anglican leaders to intervene and provide pastoral oversight for traditionalists in dioceses where the offending actions have been approved or implemented.
A second resolution asks the Anglican leaders to require Episcopal Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold to explain why he lobbied for the approval of the election of the Rev. Gene Robinson, an openly gay man, as bishop of New Hampshire.
A third one promises to help non-Western church leaders who lose financial support for speaking against the Episcopal Church's approval of homosexual behavior.
The convention will be especially hard for the minority who oppose the resolutions, which were drafteded by the diocese's standing committee with the backing of the bishops.
"I think people are very, very concerned," said Steve Skardon, a lay deputy from Grace Church on Wentworth Street. "It's tearing every parish apart."
The resolutions drafted last month are expected to pass; South Carolina is known as one of the more theologically conservative dioceses in the Episcopal Church.
But nobody knows what will happen afterward, if they do pass. Much depends on what the Anglican leaders, known as primates, decide at a meeting in London later this month. That's why several dioceses, including South Carolina, are passing resolutions asking the primates to take action.
It's a hard time for many members at Grace, a downtown congregation that has built a reputation for being inclusive.
"What worries me is these resolutions would give the green light for the diocese to pull away from the Episcopal Church, if not sever its ties completely," Skardon said. "None of us wants to leave the Episcopal Church."
He said he will vote against all three resolutions.
"First of all, they're too confusing," he said. "Nobody seems to know what they mean. And nobody in the diocese has made any attempt to communicate with us about what the words mean and what the implications are."
It's also a tough time for many at St. Stephen's Church, a small congregation on Anson Street that's generally considered the most inclusive in the diocese.
"This is nonsense church politics and not a focus on what is really biblical and religious," said Andy Brack, a lay deputy and member of the vestry at St. Stephen's. "We are going to continue to be St. Stephen's and loyal members of the Episcopal Church USA, I hope."
Brack plans to vote against the resolutions that distance the diocese from the Episcopal Church. He might vote for the one pledging to support those who lose money for speaking out, if the resolution looks like a freedom of speech issue.
"I think that anybody ought to be able to say anything without fear of reprisal, and that goes double for every priest in our diocese who is scared to speak out against what the secessionists are trying to do," he said.
Harmon says the diocese has no choice but to distance itself from the Episcopal Church because the Episcopal Church has moved away from Scripture. Christian theologians through the centuries have said homosexual behavior is incompatible with Scripture, he said.
"We cannot simply overturn them without a whole new theological basis, and that is what we absolutely do not have," said Harmon, the diocese's canon theologian. "You simply cannot say, 'God loves me, therefore the church should bless this.' That's not theology. That's just a claim. And it's a very cultural claim based on feelings, and it could be wrong."
Such talk sends the Rev. Jack Murray, a retired priest who attends Grace Church, up a wall.
"God's new action always takes place before theology," Murray said.
The resurrection of Jesus and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost forced Jews who followed Jesus to change their theology to include some notion of the Trinity, he said. When the Spirit started falling on Gentiles, Christian Jews had to change their theology again, he said.
The same thing happened later when the church recognized black members and female priests, he said.
"Theology follows the action of God," he said. "The new thing God is doing now is revealing to us that gays should be blessed."
Harmon disagrees.
"Experience plays a role, but how do you evaluate experience?" he said.
Christian experience forced Christians to change their understanding of the church itself, women and blacks; but in each case, Christians found support in the Bible for changing their minds, he said.
"When you evaluate homosexual activity using Scripture, there is no support for it at all," he said.
Dave Munday can be reached at 937-5720 or dmunday@postandcourier.com.
[size=+2]Episcopal split painful for diocese [/size]
[size=+1]Local believers face painful decisions in wake of controversy [/size]
BY DAVE MUNDAY
Of The Post and Courier Staff
Even those who are most outraged at the Episcopal Church's decisions to approve an openly gay bishop and same-sex blessings are feeling uneasy about Thursday's special convention to distance the local diocese from those actions.
"Any possibility of fracturing the church is a sad event for all of us," said the Rev. Kendall Harmon, the diocese's leading spokesman for three resolutions that will be considered Thursday at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Summerville.
The first resolution asks the top leaders of the Anglican Communion, the Episcopal Church's parent body, to recognize those who opposed the Episcopal Church's actions at its General Convention in Minneapolis in August as "the legitimate expression of the Anglican Communion and Faith in the United States." The resolution also asks the Anglican leaders to intervene and provide pastoral oversight for traditionalists in dioceses where the offending actions have been approved or implemented.
A second resolution asks the Anglican leaders to require Episcopal Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold to explain why he lobbied for the approval of the election of the Rev. Gene Robinson, an openly gay man, as bishop of New Hampshire.
A third one promises to help non-Western church leaders who lose financial support for speaking against the Episcopal Church's approval of homosexual behavior.
The convention will be especially hard for the minority who oppose the resolutions, which were drafteded by the diocese's standing committee with the backing of the bishops.
"I think people are very, very concerned," said Steve Skardon, a lay deputy from Grace Church on Wentworth Street. "It's tearing every parish apart."
The resolutions drafted last month are expected to pass; South Carolina is known as one of the more theologically conservative dioceses in the Episcopal Church.
But nobody knows what will happen afterward, if they do pass. Much depends on what the Anglican leaders, known as primates, decide at a meeting in London later this month. That's why several dioceses, including South Carolina, are passing resolutions asking the primates to take action.
It's a hard time for many members at Grace, a downtown congregation that has built a reputation for being inclusive.
"What worries me is these resolutions would give the green light for the diocese to pull away from the Episcopal Church, if not sever its ties completely," Skardon said. "None of us wants to leave the Episcopal Church."
He said he will vote against all three resolutions.
"First of all, they're too confusing," he said. "Nobody seems to know what they mean. And nobody in the diocese has made any attempt to communicate with us about what the words mean and what the implications are."
It's also a tough time for many at St. Stephen's Church, a small congregation on Anson Street that's generally considered the most inclusive in the diocese.
"This is nonsense church politics and not a focus on what is really biblical and religious," said Andy Brack, a lay deputy and member of the vestry at St. Stephen's. "We are going to continue to be St. Stephen's and loyal members of the Episcopal Church USA, I hope."
Brack plans to vote against the resolutions that distance the diocese from the Episcopal Church. He might vote for the one pledging to support those who lose money for speaking out, if the resolution looks like a freedom of speech issue.
"I think that anybody ought to be able to say anything without fear of reprisal, and that goes double for every priest in our diocese who is scared to speak out against what the secessionists are trying to do," he said.
Harmon says the diocese has no choice but to distance itself from the Episcopal Church because the Episcopal Church has moved away from Scripture. Christian theologians through the centuries have said homosexual behavior is incompatible with Scripture, he said.
"We cannot simply overturn them without a whole new theological basis, and that is what we absolutely do not have," said Harmon, the diocese's canon theologian. "You simply cannot say, 'God loves me, therefore the church should bless this.' That's not theology. That's just a claim. And it's a very cultural claim based on feelings, and it could be wrong."
Such talk sends the Rev. Jack Murray, a retired priest who attends Grace Church, up a wall.
"God's new action always takes place before theology," Murray said.
The resurrection of Jesus and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost forced Jews who followed Jesus to change their theology to include some notion of the Trinity, he said. When the Spirit started falling on Gentiles, Christian Jews had to change their theology again, he said.
The same thing happened later when the church recognized black members and female priests, he said.
"Theology follows the action of God," he said. "The new thing God is doing now is revealing to us that gays should be blessed."
Harmon disagrees.
"Experience plays a role, but how do you evaluate experience?" he said.
Christian experience forced Christians to change their understanding of the church itself, women and blacks; but in each case, Christians found support in the Bible for changing their minds, he said.
"When you evaluate homosexual activity using Scripture, there is no support for it at all," he said.
Dave Munday can be reached at 937-5720 or dmunday@postandcourier.com.
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