Remarried Clergy Remark Called Hurtful

The outgoing presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church suggested at the start of the church’s triennial General Convention in Anaheim that divorced and remarried clergy should leave the priesthood--a proposal that was surprising in view of that fact that 10% of Episcopal clergy are divorced and two remarried bishops currently head dioceses.

As the eight-day meeting was nearing its final day today, however, it was clear that delegates were not inclined to inject the suggestion into the denomination’s business agenda. Indeed, several said the remarks by Bishop John M. Allin, who will end his 12-year term as presiding bishop in January, were hurtful.

Allin apparently had not previously made his feelings known about divorced and remarried clergy. “If he had felt that way before, it would have been better to say it earlier,” said Bishop Robert Rusack of the Los Angeles diocese. “To say it so pointedly in his last address as presiding bishop hurt so many people in that position,” Rusack added.

Allin said that clergy are entitled, like lay people, to “the opportunity to replace a lost relationship with one of promise.” But, he added:

“In making such a choice, however, faith and love and courage may be clearer and the church’s mission better served by the willingness to relinquish the role model of clergy and to continue faithfully in a valid form of lay ministry.”

Rusack said that he would not allow a priest who was married for a third time to continue in a parish role. But in the case of a second marriage, the bishop said, the Los Angeles diocese would not have a double standard for clergy and church members.

The newly elected presiding bishop, the Most. Rev. Edmond Browning of Hawaii, said in response to reporters’ questions that “the church has to reach out sensitively to clergy as well as to lay people.”

In Hawaii, Browning said, “We have divorced and remarried clergy. They are among the brightest clergy in office.”

The Rev. George F. Regas, who has remained rector of the large All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena through a divorce and remarriage, said that he “did not take (Allin’s remark) seriously. I don’t think he meant it to be hurtful.”

Allin later told a reporter that he thought remarried clergy should “at least” move to a different parish. Regas also disagreed with that principle, saying that “there are some situations where it would be impossible to stay. But some congregations would want to help the person through the divorce.”

David B. Collins, former Dean of St. Phillip’s Cathedral in Atlanta, was elected the new president of the Episcopal House of Deputies Thursday on the first ballot, handily defeating a last-minute candidate, George Regas of Pasadena, and Robert M. Wainwright, rector of St. Paul’s Church, Rochester, N.Y.

Collins, 62, vice president of the deputies since 1976, received 577 votes to 156 for Wainwright and 114 for Regas. Collins replaces Charles R. Lawrence of Pomona, N.Y., who is retiring after nine years as head of the House of Deputies, which is composed of four lay and four clerical delegates from each of the denomination’s 123 geographical jurisdictions. The other branch of the church’s bicameral General Convention is the House of Bishops; together they set church policy every three years.

Among resolutions passed by the General Convention in Anaheim this week was one calling the church to a more understanding, educated and compassionate approach to persons suffering from AIDS and their families.

The Episcopal Church thus became the first major American denomination to declare its support for victims of acquired immune deficiency syndrome, church officials said. They noted that other churches and Episcopal parishes have begun programs for AIDS victims on a local level but none has approved a nationwide effort.

The resolution “repudiates any and all indiscriminate statements which condemn or reject victims of AIDS” and asks that “programs of awareness, education and prevention” concerning AIDS be developed and funded.

The bishops discussed at length the problems they are having with parishioners who are afraid to take Communion from the common chalice for fear of contracting the disease. But the bishops could not agree about whether to issue a pastoral message on the subject, which, they noted, is the cause of widespread and increasing fear.

“The trouble,” said Suffragan Bishop Oliver Garver of Los Angeles, “is that you cannot deal rationally and factually with people on the matter because they are just desperately afraid . . . for themselves, for their children. We have to deal pastorally, not factually.”

Speaking out on priorities for peace issues, the Episcopal General Convention passed a series of resolutions affirming opposition to the production of chemical weapons or nerve gas, and to the Strategic Defense Initiative, known as “Star Wars.” Rather than being a deterrent to nuclear war, the resolution said, Star Wars is actually an escalation of the arms race.

The Episcopal Presiding Bishop-elect, Edmond L. Browning, wasted no time in setting out on the course of social justice he pledged he would pursue as his church’s new top officer.

In a speech Thursday afternoon to his fellow bishops, Browning said he plans to visit five Central American dioceses of the church, as well as South Africa, during the next year to help identify with oppressed Christians there.

“I encourage us to see the root causes of suffering in Central America in its poverty and injustice, not in communism,” he said to the bishop’s applause.

He also said he will invite South African Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu to attend his installation as presiding bishop on Jan. 11 in Washington Cathedral. Bishop of Hawaii since 1976, Browning has long been a critic of Administration policies on nuclear arms, South Africa and Latin America. He also supports expanded civil rights for racial minorities and homosexuals and greater church roles for women.