Presbyterians Follow Lutherans in Establishing Deeper Ties to Episcopal Church

[david at virtueonline.org]

Presbyterians Follow Lutherans in Establishing Deeper Ties to Episcopal Church

News Analysis

By David W. Virtue 
www.virtueonline.org 
7/14/2008

 The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. has unanimously voted to enter into "dialogue" with The Episcopal Church USA in order to establish "full recognition" of each other's' ministries and congregations.

In giving its approval, the General Assembly called for "further study and dialogue in the areas of diaconal ministries, historic episcopate, the office of elder, and other related subjects as a continued effort toward full recognition of our ministries and interchangeability of our ministers."

On January 6, 2001, The Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) entered into a relationship of "full communion" on the basis of a document "Called to Common Mission," culminating thirty years of dialogue with one another. While it is not a merger, both churches are now in full communion, but retain their autonomy and structures agreeing to work together for joint mission and witness in the world. In accord with procedures established in "Called to Common Mission," clergy and laity can move freely between the two churches.

The agreement stops short of the full communion agreement established with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

The agreement must be approved by the 76^th General Convention of The Episcopal Church in 2009. If passed, it would allow Presbyterian and Episcopal clergy to perform ministerial functions in each other's congregations "when requested and approved by the diocesan bishop and local presbytery."

Apparently, homosexuality will not be a bar to ordination as deacon, elder or minister, say representatives to the recent General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A.

Under the polity of the Presbyterian Church, the General Assembly action must be ratified by a simple majority of the denomination's 173 regional presbyteries. That ratification is expected to be completed by the General Assembly's next meeting in 2010.

Bishop Christopher Epting, the Presiding Bishop's deputy for ecumenical and interreligious relations, told Episcopal News Service that the agreement is "the way to take one step forward on a local level" which eventually "helps advance the whole ecumenical cause."

In the midst of an assembly meeting that dealt with many of the same issues confronting the Episcopal Church, especially concerning sexuality and the status of same-gender relationships, the vote on the agreement was "one of those really nice moments," according to the Rev. William Forbes, the corporate secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Pensions and its vice president for church relations. Forbes is an affiliated ecumenical pastor at Trinity Church in Asbury Park, New Jersey.

Prior to the beginning of the June 21-28 meeting, the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, the then-Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, said that proposed agreements with the Episcopal Church, the Korean Presbyterian Church in America, the Catholic Church, and the Moravian Church -- along with consideration of a new PC(USA) ecumenical statement -- were among the top 10 issues due to come before the assembly.

The Episcopal/Presbyterian agreement says that the denominations acknowledge:

* "...one another's churches as churches belonging to the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church."

* "... in our churches the Word of God is authentically preached and the sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist are duly administered."

* "...one another's ordained ministries as given by God and instruments of grace, and look forward to the time when the reconciliation of our churches makes possible the full interchangeability of ministers."

* "...personal and collegial oversight (episcope) is embodied and exercised in our churches in a variety of forms, episcopal and non-episcopal, as a visible sign of the Church's unity and continuity in apostolic life, mission and ministry."

The agreement, when approved, says that the Episcopal Church will invite members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to receive Holy Communion in their churches and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will invite members of the Episcopal Church to receive Holy Communion in their churches.

"We encourage the members of our churches to accept this Eucharistic hospitality and thus express their unity with each other in the one Body of Christ," point 6 of the agreement states.

"We recognize the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) as a church of Christ and we recognize ministers of the PC(USA) as gifts from God," the Rev. Dirk Reinken, rector of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Ewing, New Jersey, told the Presbyterian News Service on June 24 when the committee recommended the agreement to the entire assembly. Reinken participated in writing the agreement.

Clergy will not be interchangeable between the two denominations, as is possible between the Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America by way of the "Called to Common Mission" agreement that has been in force since January 6, 2001.

The agreement also states that the two denominations will:

* continue to discuss the areas such as diaconal ministries, historic episcopate, the office of elder, etc., "that would lead to full reconciliation of our ministries and interchangeability of our ministers."

* encourage diocesan bishops and presbyteries "to provide regular occasion planning, discussing, resourcing for missional, educational, and liturgical life together," and to explore possibilities for new church development and redevelopment together.

* develop a process to support and implement the above recommendations.

"We affirm these proposals mark an important step in moving toward the full, visible unity of the Church," the agreement concludes. "We know that beyond this commitment lies a move from the recognition to the reconciliation of churches and ministries within the wider fellowship of the universal Church."

The Episcopal Church's Standing Commission on Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations has already voted to bring the agreement to the next meeting of General Convention, set for July 8-17, 2009 in Anaheim, California.

In 1961, following a series of cordial fellowship meetings and mission-dialogues, the Philippine Independent Church (PIC), known as the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI), and The Protestant Episcopal Church USA agreed "to establish a concordat of Full Communion."

The Old Catholic Churches of Europe also entered into full communion with the Episcopal Church in 1934, and with the Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar, India (1979).

Increasingly, as mainline Protestant denominations contract and wither, ecumenical efforts will speed up to deal with emptying and graying churches, as resources diminish and endowments vanish.

---The Episcopal News Service contributed to this story.