Twenty-two months after the watershed decision by the Episcopal Church to consecrate a partnered homosexual person as bishop, the Anglican Communion focused its attention June 21 on a presentation panel from the Episcopal Church and another from the Anglican Church of Canada which last summer endorsed the “sanctity” of same-sex relationships.

Addressing delegates from the Anglican Consultative Council, presenters from the Episcopal Church again apologized for the hurt its decision has caused within the Anglican Communion, but said its decision was a prophetic one, like the early Church's decision to admit Gentiles without first making them undergo circumcision.

The atmosphere inside the university auditorium in Nottingham, England, was tense prior to the start of the presentations. This was underscored when the room was cleared of delegates, staff and visitors so that a thorough security sweep could be conducted. A lack of air-conditioning and unusually high temperatures have caused extra tension at the ACC gathering, which began June 18.

Following distribution of a supplementary 135-page report (complete with footnotes and bibliography), Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold began with a prayer and went on to emphasize the Episcopal Church’s deep commitment to the Anglican Communion. Bishop Griswold said the Episcopal Church recognizes that its actions on the question of homosexuality have distressed many within the Communion, noting that the Episcopalians themselves have not reached a common mind.

The Rev. Michael Battle, associate dean for academic affairs at Virginia Theological Seminary, said the Episcopal Church’s 40-year dialogue on homosexuality had been characterized by surprise as a number of prevailing presumptions were challenged successfully. The Rt. Rev. Catherine S. Roskam, Bishop Suffragan of New York, asked the council to ponder why there is talk of splitting up the Communion over an issue that seems to be of paramount concern to only a small minority, composed mostly of men.

The Rev. Susan Russell, president of Integrity and executive director of All Saints' Church, Pasadena, Calif., spoke next. Appointed by Bishop Griswold to represent "partnered" homosexual Episcopalians, Ms. Russell likened the current debate over homosexuality to a previous one over women’s ordination. It was not her sexuality that needed “healing,” she said, but rather the Church’s theology.

“I remember having a church with no girl acolytes and no women priests and I count the conflict and pain as part of the cost of discipleship,” she said. “This has broadened our experience of God and our vision of the kingdom. 'The arc of history is bent toward justice,'" as the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said. "The arc of the gospel is bent toward inclusiveness.”

Mrs. Jane Tully of Clergy Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays said she was ashamed when she first learned that her son had feelings for other men, but gradually she realized that he was the same person she had loved since before he was born. The Rt. Rev. Charles E. Jenkins, III, Bishop of Louisiana and president of the Presiding Bishop’s Council of Advice, said he remains convinced the Episcopal Church acted in error at General Convention in 2003, but he remains committed to it and to his brothers and sisters who believe the decision was right and proper.

The Rt. Rev. Neil Alexander, Bishop of Atlanta, acknowledged that the decision had implications for all Anglicans, but said it need not be a Communion-breaking one. He cited his working relationship with Bishop Jenkins as an unexceptional example of the way that most Episcopalians have been able to continue working together for mission.

After a break, the Canadian presentation panel spoke, stressing a number of key themes: a continuing commitment to the Anglican Communion, a detailed explanation of its leadership and governance, a description of the broad diversity found within the Canadian Church and the value it places upon that. During the past 20 years, the Anglican Church of Canada has been strongly influenced by a renewed understanding of baptism and the baptismal covenant. “We believe that one of the central issues in this discussion is the question of biblical authority and interpretation," the Canadians stated. "Within the Anglican Church of Canada, and indeed within the Anglican Communion, there are various ways of reading and understanding scripture.”

There were few questions from the large assembly of media at a press conference after the presentations and an evening question-and-answer session was cancelled, in part because no delegates had submitted written questions in advance. At press time, no announcement had been made about rescheduling the forum for delegates.

To read more from Episcopal News Service on the presentation by the Episcopal Church, click here

To read more by the Anglican Church of Canada on its presentation, click here

Full Coverage From the ACC Triennial:

· Council Somber After Vote to Exclude North Americans

· ACC Suspends North American Churches

· Vote on Resolution to Expel North Americans Scheduled

· Communion's Spotlight is on Presentation Panels

· Archbishop Says Common Ground Still Exists

· Status Quo at ACC Holds on Second Day

· Withdrawn Status of North Americans Noted

· ACC Opening Session Surprise

· ACC Meeting Opens with Dinner and Orientation

· Bishop Roskam to Serve in Two Capacities at Nottingham

Photos from Nottingham

· U.S., Canadian representatives seated apart

· The Rev. Canon Kenneth Kearon, ACC secretary general

· The Rev. Canon Michael Burrows of Ireland

· New Zealand Bishop John C. Paterson, chairman of the ACC

· Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams

· Bishops Moxley and Roskam

To find more news, feature articles, and commentary not available online, we invite you to subscribe to The Living Church magazine. To learn more, click here.