Bishops’ meeting to focus on reconciliation

Less than a year after the consecration of a gay bishop created rifts within the Episcopal Church, bishops from all over the country will convene in Spokane this week to focus on reconciliation.

During their annual meeting – which is being held here for the first time in 21 years – more than 100 members of the House of Bishops will gather for prayer, worship and discussions.

Together, they will weigh in on a number of issues, including how the church can work together while honoring one another’s differences.

The consecration of the Rev. V. Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire last November led dissident Episcopalians to form a protest group that pledged to oppose church leadership.

Nine of the Episcopal Church’s 112 dioceses have also opposed Robinson’s consecration, which was approved by the church’s General Convention last summer.

His elevation to bishop also has been denounced by many leaders of the Anglican Communion, the global federation of churches including the Episcopal Church that traces its roots back to the Church of England.

Despite the heartache it has created, some see this controversy as an opportunity for the church to grow.

“This is an invitation to the church to look even deeper in our understanding of Scripture, in who we are and what we are called to do,” said Spokane Bishop Jim Waggoner, who invited the House of Bishops to meet in Spokane.

During their six-day meeting at the Davenport Hotel, the bishops will hear from two people who will address “the continual challenge of otherness,” Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold wrote in a letter to all the bishops this summer.

Those speakers are Miroslav Volf, a Croatian by birth and the Henry B. Wright Professor in Theology at Yale Divinity School; and Richard Rodriguez, a contributing editor to Harper’s Magazine and the opinion section of the Los Angeles Times.

The bishops also will talk about the highly anticipated report on “understandings of communion” that unite Anglicans worldwide.

Last October, after the uproar surrounding the gay bishop in the Episcopal Church, the Archbishop of Canterbury named Archbishop Robin Eames of Ireland to lead a 16-member commission to seek ways in which the church’s provinces can find “the highest degree of communion possible” despite the differing opinions on gay clergy.

That report is scheduled to be released in October.

According to the Episcopal News Service, the bishops’ conversations also are expected to address ways of working together as the church moves forward. One of the gathering’s highlights will be the 10 a.m. festal Eucharist at St. John’s Cathedral on Sunday.

The public is welcome to attend that service, at which Griswold will be the celebrant and preacher.

The House of Bishops, which has met continuously since the American Revolution, has no final legislative authority. On its own, it can’t change doctrine or teachings of the church, Waggoner explained.

The governing body of the Episcopal Church is actually the General Convention, which is made up of both the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies.

The General Convention meets every three years.

Last year, it met in Minneapolis, where church leaders approved Robinson’s election.

Members of the House of Bishops meet twice a year, at a retreat center in the spring and then at a conference in the fall.

This week’s gathering will be a great opportunity for the bishops to learn more about the Spokane Diocese, Waggoner said.

It also will be a chance for the diocese, which has about 7,000 members, to extend its hospitality, he said.