No new bishops in the ECUSA!

Father Jake is reporting the statement by the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church of the USA, responding to the recent Primates’ meeting in Ireland. The Primates had asked, among other things, that the ECUSA refrain from ordaining any more actively gay bishops. In a very nice response that both accedes to this request and makes a very strong point that the ECUSA is not changing its mind on the issue or admitting any fault, the Bishops have said:

3. The Windsor Report has invited the Episcopal Church “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” (Windsor Report, para. 134)...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. [emphasis added]

So, there will be no new gay bishops in the ECUSA – but there won’t be any new straight bishops, either. Not only that, but the Bishops called on the wider church to stop the conservatives in different churches from interfering in their local diocese by taking control of ECUSA parishes:

5. We pledge ourselves not to cross diocesan boundaries to provide episcopal ministry in violation of our own canons and we will hold ourselves accordingly accountable. We will also hold bishops and clergy canonically resident in other provinces likewise accountable.

In the heated statements and rash actions of many people involved in this debate on both sides, it is refreshing to see such a reasoned, careful and honest statement. I can only hope that it provokes an equally reasoned, careful and honest response from the rest of the church.