Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

Last week in my blog I held up our General Convention as an object lesson in applying human reason as a theological authority. With the announcement of the Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson’s retirement I am remembering the most meaningful example of this I ever witnessed.

Early during the 2003 General Convention, the Committee on the Consecration of a Bishop held a hearing on Robinson’s election in the biggest ballroom in the convention’s host city of Minneapolis. 

In addition to the people in the room, others watched from another ballroom on closed-circuit TV. The committee began by asking the Very Rev. Sam Candler, dean of St. Philip’s Cathedral in Atlanta to make a 10-minute speech in support of Robinson’s consecration as the first openly gay bishop in the history of the church. This was followed by a speech by the Rev. Canon Kendall Harmon, diocesan theologian for the Diocese of South Carolina, outlining objections to the consecration. Each was an incredibly crafted statement excellently delivered.

What followed were two hours of two-minute speeches alternating pro and con on the proposed resolution to concur to Robinson’s election, 19 speeches for each side. Floor managers for each side of the opinion aligned people at the microphones to balance the testimony with appeals to scripture, tradition, personal experience and human emotion, Anglican relations, and a range of other approaches. Some of the most touching testimony was offered by Robinson's daughter, Ella, who read a letter from his ex-wife in strong support of Robinson.

Many who spoke simply told their own story. Others crafted eloquent arguments with rhetorical flourish. In each you could tease out what they saw as the final authority for the church’s actions and it was all there – scripture, tradition and human reason.

The rhetorical turn at the end of the evening is what impressed me the most. After all the speakers had been heard, Committee chairs the Rt. Rev. Chester Talton of the Diocese of Los Angeles and the Rev. Carolyn Keil-Kuhr asked the original speakers to talk once more. To close the session Dean Candler framed a new 10-minute speech, this time in opposition to the consecration and Canon Harmon delivered an impassioned speech in favor. Their talks summarized well the arguments we had heard but took us all a step farther by showing we are a church that can truly listen to one another. That has been our challenge ever since that historic day in a ballroom in Minneapolis.