Saturday, October 11, 1997

Episcopal bishops find support for conservative agenda

By Jim Jones

Knight-Ridder Newspapers

FORT WORTH, Texas - Episcopal Bishops Jack Iker of Fort Worth and James Stanton of Dallas collected some global support last week for their conservative stands against ordaining gays and lesbians and blessing same-sex unions.

It came during an "Anglican Life and Witness Conference," a Dallas-Fsort Worth event that ended Sunday, during which Iker, Stanton and other Episcopal conservatives hosted 40 Anglican bishops from foreign lands.

The bishops flew in last week from Australia, India, South Africa, Nigeria, Uganda, New Zealand, India, Sudan, Tanzania, Burundi, Uruguay, Chile and Peru.

Iker hosted the opening session of the conference, welcoming bishops Oct. 1 at a reception at St. Vincent's Episcopal Cathedral in the Fort Worth suburb of Bedford.

The American and foreign bishops drew up a statement declaring that the Bible clearly teaches that homosexual acts are sinful.

"Scripture offers no positive examples of nonmarital sex; and it contains specific condemnations of fornication and homosexual practice as sin," the statement said.

"Furthermore, we agree that the church has no authority to set aside clear biblical teaching by ordaining noncelibate homosexuals or authorizing the blessing of same sex relationships."

The statement will be sent to bishops throughout the 70 million-member Anglican Communion, Iker said.

The Episcopal Church in the United States is one of 35 national churches that make up the Anglican Communion, which grew out of the Church of England. Its symbolic head is Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey.

"Many of these (foreign) bishops are embarrassed by what they hear from American bishops on homosexual issues," Iker said. "They would not even consider blessing same-sex unions."

The statement will also be presented at next year's Lambeth Conference in England, a worldwide meeting held once every 10 years during which Anglicans discuss church issues and attempt to set new directions.

"We believe sexuality issues will be a major point of discussion at Lambeth next year," Iker said.

The foreign bishops, many of whom face the dangers of civil war and religious persecution at home, preached throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Some of the visiting bishops had all or some of their expenses paid, sponsors said.

The international coalition of bishops drew up the statement after three days of private meetings at a location near Grapevine in which the clerics discussed many issues, including human sexuality.

The statement devotes an equal amount of time urging the United States to consider forgiving some of the foreign debts incurred by Third World nations.

The Rev. Canon Bill Atwood, rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Carrollton, Texas, and president of the Ekklesia Society, an evangelical group based in Carrollton; said the event was meant to be more inspirational than political.

But Atwood, like Iker and Stanton, has been among those criticizing what they contend is a liberal drift in the leadership of the Episcopal Church in the United States.

Conservative Episcopalians especially condemn U.S. church leaders for not punishing liberal American bishops who have ordained noncelibate gay men and lesbians and who have held liturgical blessings for same-sex couples.

However, Bishop John Spong of Newark, N.J., and other liberal bishops have an almost equal number of American Episcopal bishops calling for a more conciliatory stand on gay and lesbian issues.

Dallas Bishop James Stanton said he was inspired by the foreign bishops, who, in many cases, are presiding over fast-growing churches. Also, he welcomed their opposition to ordination of gays and the blessing of same-sex relationships.

"What this meeting indicated was that this (concern about gay issues) is not just a local matter affecting a few American bishops," Stanton said. "It's a global concern."

(Jim Jones is religion editor of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Write to him at: the Star-Telegram, P.O. Box 1870, Fort Worth, TX 76101.)

(c) 1997, Fort Worth Star-Telegram

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