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Episcopal Church Convention Maintains Liberal Thrust

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Times Religion Writer

The Episcopal Church, which ended its eight-day General Convention in Anaheim Saturday, maintained its liberal Christian thrust throughout despite the defeat of a measure that would have explicitly barred discrimination against homosexual candidates for the priesthood.

The convention was only four votes shy of approving as church law a provision that said that “sexual orientation” could not be the basis for denying “access to the selection process for ordination.”

In separate balloting, the bishops and clergy delegates passed the proposal, but it failed because lay delegate support fell short of a two-thirds majority, according to results announced Friday night.

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The step would have been unprecedented for a major Christian denomination if the resolution had been adopted, but some bishops said that this will not preclude ordination of professed homosexuals and lesbians.

Episcopal bishops have considerable latitude in their decisions on ordinations, regardless of a 1979 General Convention statement that advised that it is inappropriate for the church to ordain “practicing homosexuals.”

Whereas some bishops might deny the priesthood to a homosexual who refused to promise to remain celibate, Bishop Robert M. Anderson of the Minnesota Diocese said he might decline only if the candidate was found to be “manipulative” or violated the rights of others in his or her same-sex relationships.

Anderson contended that “widespread opinion” in the church favors ordination of homosexuals who are otherwise qualified. The Rev. George Regas of Pasadena, rector of the largest Episcopal parish on the West Coast, declared during debate on the proposed church law that “we have great priests in the church who are gay. We should know that.”

The progressive tenor of the triennial meeting also was illustrated earlier last week by the all-male House of Bishops, which declared that it would not withhold consent if and when a diocese elects a woman bishop. The Episcopal Church, amid controversy, opened the doors to female priests only nine years ago.

The 200 bishops also picked a 56-year-old liberal from Hawaii, the Most Rev. Edmond Browning, to be their presiding bishop for the next 12 years and thus their principal spokesman on peace and social justice concerns. Typical of those concerns were resolutions in Anaheim that ordered the church’s Executive Council to divest itself of $7.5-million worth of holdings in companies doing business in South Africa. A decisive vote also called upon the U.S. government to cease all covert and overt aid to the Contra forces fighting the government in Nicaragua.

Another major concern of delegates last week was their sympathetic attention, on the one hand, to victims of AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) and criticism, on the other hand, of religious claims that the AIDS epidemic is “God’s wrath” against those primarily afflicted--homosexual males.

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In a news conference Saturday, Browning said that he will not attempt to attract new members to the Episcopal Church by making critical comparisons with conservative Protestant churches, which are currently enjoying rapid growth in this country. “I think comparisons are terrible,” he said.

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