Diocese of East Tennessee: 20th Convention

January / February 2004


Most proposed resolutions respond to General Convention Resolutions adopted on sexuality, U.N. goals

By Sharon Rasmussen
Communication Director

The Convention Committee on General Resolutions - the Rev. Gene Smitherman, chair, Grace Church, Chattanooga; Dr. Mary Nelle Osborne, St. James, Knoxville; Courtney Manrod, St. Stephen, Oak Ridge; and the Rev. Randy Morgan, St. Paul, Athens - held two hearings on eight proposed resolutions.

Though anyone could attend the hearings, only clergy and delegates were invited to speak their minds. Each speaker could take up to two minutes to address the committee. Over the course of the hearings, 15 clergy and 19 lay people commented. Six clergy and seven lay people spoke more than once, with one clergy person and one lay person rising to speak four times. Attendance fluctuated, but nearly 100 people were present by the end of each hearing.

As an umbrella comment at the beginning of the first hearing to his proposal of resolutions Nos. 2-4, Thomas Hale, Ascension, Knoxville, said, "The resolutions I have prepared [are] in the spirit of communicating … they're not about exclusion, not about leaving people out, not about anger against actions of General Convention. They are about concern for what the church is doing. … I have yet to hear any leader of our national church to give any scriptural, biblical or theological reason to change the doctrines this church has held."

At least four comments expressed discomfort with No. 2's proposal to redirect offerings in response to actions of General Convention. Supply priest the Rev. Peggy Blanchard said in part, "Stewardship is not an issue of giving something with strings attached. [If so,] it's not a gift, it's a bribe. By the way, we are the national church." The Rev. Al Minor, retired and associate at St. James, Knoxville, made one of at least two comments that stressed the need to "begin a serious series of conversations on human sexuality."

When Hale introduced No. 3, he said the charter of the network makes clear it will operate within ECUSA. "It's a way to not leave and a way to maintain links to the Anglican Communion," he said.

The Rev. Frank Cooper, St. John, Johnson City, said, "The constitution and canons of the Episcopal Church apply to that church and aren't intended to be an umbrella for any other organization."

A few other comments focused on the potential of schism. But the Rev. Ladson Mills, Ascension, Knoxville, said, "We talk about inclusion, maybe it would be helpful to be a part of the organization," and James Michael Shaw, St. Paul, Kingsport, said, "We need to take a close look and see who is being inclusive, who is being exclusive."

By the time No. 4 was introduced, many of the comments were responding to Nos. 2-4 as a group. The Rev. Canon Thom Rasnick, St. John's Cathedral, Knoxville, suggested all three be tabled. "Human sexuality is an issue that can't be decided legislatively," he said. "We can only get together under the guidance of God's spirit and discuss" the issues.

The need for study and discussion in the diocese was the focus of No. 5, and all those who commented agreed with that need.

The second hearing began at 7 a.m. Saturday with No. 10, a proposal primarily advocating study and discussion. Several speakers focused on nuts and bolts, suggesting specific changes. Then David Linge, St. James, Knoxville, in introducing No. 11, commended No. 10 instead, saying it "has 'teeth,' and I approve of it … Scripture and tradition are calling us into a dynamic process for our own deliberations."

No. 12, proposed by three delegates from St. Stephen, Oak Ridge, was an affirmation of marriage as stated in the Book of Common Prayer. At least five speakers questioned the need for such a resolution. The Rev. George Choyce, St. Timothy, Signal Mountain, said, "I ask this resolution not be considered because it's already stated in the Book of Common Prayer. I just don't get this resolution." And Nancy Mott, St. Luke, Knoxville, asked, "How are same-sex commitments detracting from those made in marriage? The church affirms the value of commitment."

When others spoke to No. 12, one focus was the need for study - the Rev. Perry Scruggs, Good Shepherd, Lookout Mountain, advised reference to the last Lambeth statement advocating study of human sexuality - and another focus was the need for reconciliation. "The main work of the church through Christ is reconciliation," said the Rev. Buckley Robbins, St. Francis of Assisi, Ooltewah. "It doesn't mean opinions get changed, but that we are reconciled in love with one another."

One delegate, Becky McGrady, St. Timothy, Kingsport, rose four times during the hearings to urge the committee to take resolutions on human sexuality to the floor of convention, saying the last time that if they were not, "there will be a whole segment of our diocese who will feel their voices are not being heard. I think it's only right that each side would get a fair chance to express how they feel."

Bob Hooper, St. Raphael, Crossville, responded to her comments and reminded those present of the committee's duty: "The delegates have had the opportunity to speak at these hearings; it is now your [the committee's] responsibility to follow the points as outlined to take what you feel is the appropriate action."

After the hearings, the committee met privately to decide which resolutions they would bring to the convention floor - as is, amended or represented in a substitute resolution. They presented Nos. 2-4 - which Hale had proposed in response to actions of General Convention - and one on an unrelated topic. The committee proposed a substitute resolution for five other resolutions on human sexuality.

On the floor of convention, 10 clergy and nine laypeople commented on the resolutions as presented. One layperson and two clergy rose twice.

The convention tabled resolution No. 2, which proposed redirecting funds away from the national church; it rejected No. 3, to join the Network of Confessing Dioceses and Congregations; it rejected No. 4, to affirm agreement with the October statement of the Anglican Primates; and it adopted the committee's substitute resolution, which acknowledged differences among people of the diocese on the issue of human sexuality and called for study and a report to the next convention. The convention also adopted resolution No. 1, affirming the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals and contributions of 0.7 percent of annual budgets toward those goals.

All five of these resolutions are posted in their entirety.