On the eve of his departure for the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) meeting, Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold said he was eager to be helpful and was confident that the delegation he helped assemble will be able to explain how a majority of General Convention deputies could consent to a “partnered” homosexual person as bishop.

Recently Bishop Charles E. Jenkins III of Louisiana and Bishop Henry N. Parsley, Jr., of Alabama wrote separate letters to their clergy stating that the views to be presented to the ACC were those of the ad hoc group and did not represent the mind of either the House of Bishops or the Episcopal Church at large in any official capacity.

In an interview with a reporter from The Living Church, Bishop Griswold said he took great care to select a delegation that would be representative of the 2003 General Convention. The six-person delegation includes theologians, a “partnered” homosexual person, the mother of a homosexual person, as well as bishops who took opposing positions on the New Hampshire consecration. “I wanted to make it clear that the Episcopal Church is not of one mind on this issue,” he said.

Bishop Griswold said the purpose of the delegation is to supply information, not to have a debate or defend what the Episcopal Church has done. Members of the group also have been encouraged, Bishop Griswold said, to make themselves available to answer questions. “I look upon this from within the context of family relationships,” he said. “We want to do everything we can to foster deepening relationships.”

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