ELCA Council Recommends CCM Amendment, Transmits Information

CHICAGO (ELCA) The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) recommended the 1999 ELCA Churchwide Assembly amend a proposed full communion agreement with The Episcopal Church to include a sentence that "the ELCA and The Episcopal Church specifically acknowledge and declare" the agreement has been correctly interpreted by a March 8 resolution of the ELCA Conference of Bishops.
The motion was adopted without dissent at the April 9-12 meeting of the ELCA Church Council here. The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the legislative authority of the church between churchwide assemblies. Assemblies are held every other year; the next is August 16-22 in Denver.
At its November 1998 meeting, the council agreed to transmit to the 1999 Churchwide Assembly the text of the full communion proposal, known as "Called to Common Mission" (CCM). In March, the ELCA Conference of Bishops adopted a resolution that affirms their understandings of CCM. Its primary author was the Rev. Curtis H. Miller, bishop of the ELCA Western Iowa Synod. The resolution was written in response to a variety of concerns raised about CCM.
In addition to the recommended amendment, the council voted 26-5 to "receive and transmit" the March Conference of Bishops' resolution to voting members of the ELCA Churchwide Assembly.
Dale V. Sandstrom, council member from Bismarck, N.D., proposed the CCM amendment. If adopted by the 1999 Churchwide Assembly, the sentence would be placed in the CCM official text. It would make the bishops' interpretation "the official interpretation," Sandstrom said.
"The Episcopal Church, by adopting an amended CCM with that sentence in it will also be affirming that is a correct interpretation of CCM," Sandstrom said.
"The sentence says that the Conference of Bishops has correctly interpreted it (CCM) and that will be used in the implementation of CCM if it's adopted by the Churchwide Assembly. It really puts the interpretation up front," he said.
The council's decision to "receive and transmit" the Conference of Bishops' resolution as information to churchwide assembly voting members followed a lengthy discussion. Council member D. Mark Klever, Dayton, Iowa, proposed providing the information. His original motion also called for "adoption" of the resolution by the council, but that provision was dropped after several members expressed concern about the implications of adoption.
"I think this helps to clear up misunderstandings" of the full communion proposal, Klever said.
Episcopal Church officials reviewed the ELCA bishops' resolution and see it as "in line" with their understanding of CCM, said the Rev. Canon David W. Perry, ecumenical and interfaith office, The Episcopal Church. Perry was present at the ELCA council meeting.
The bishops' resolution makes CCM clearer, said David F. Hagen, council member, Dearborn, Mich. "I have seen other pieces of information not subject to scrutiny or tests of accuracy," he said.
Also in favor of sending the resolution to voting members was the Rev. Fred S. Opalinski, council member from Latrobe, Pa. He said the resolution was "non-confrontational, not taking sides."
Among the five opposed to transmitting the resolution was the Rev. Susan L. Engh, council member, Wayzata, Minn. Scholars she "knows and respects" have critiqued portions of the bishops' statement and raised questions about their accuracy, she said. She questioned the wisdom of forwarding a document that has been questioned.
"We all have evaluations of where this (CCM) is heading at the moment," said the Rev. David K. Johnson, council member, Fargo, N.D. "My take is that this was heading for defeat. The church is divided on this issue. This has a chance of saving it." Johnson voted against transmitting the document because he said he did not have enough time to process the statement "with the people I'm in discussion with."
The Rev. Roy G. Almquist, bishop of the ELCA Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod, Philadelphia, Pa., is one of several advisory bishops to the council. He said he was "deeply troubled" with what is happening in the ELCA and how the debate on CCM is "spilling over" to the Episcopal Church.
"I feel that we have some issues within our own church that we have to address," Almquist said in an interview after the meeting. "They're unresolved issues from the merger and unfortunately they're coming to the surface. The thing that saddens me is that we are, in effect, maligning our Episcopal brothers and sisters as we deal with our ELCA issues. And that's just not right."
"What we are doing to our brothers and sisters in Christ in another denomination is appalling," said the Rev. Karen S. Parker, council member, Huntington Beach, Calif.
CCM is a revision of a similar proposal, known as the Concordat of Agreement, that failed by six votes to achieve a required two-thirds majority at the 1997 ELCA Churchwide Assembly. Both are the result of dialogues involving Episcopal and Lutheran representatives that began in 1983. If approved, CCM opens possibilities for cooperative ministries, including the exchange of clergy.
The ELCA and the Episcopal Church agree on the doctrine of "apostolic succession," an ongoing faithful proclamation of Christ; Episcopalians bring to the relationship the "historic episcopate," a succession of bishops as a sign of unity back to the earliest days of the Christian Church. CCM has generated some opposition in the ELCA, much of it focused on the historic episcopate. Some concerns have been raised in the ELCA about the roles of bishops and Lutheran identity in a full communion agreement with the Episcopal Church.
The council also reaffirmed its own November 1998 resolution that it "promote further discussion, continued education and prayer" on the CCM proposal, and that discussions of CCM "be conducted with honesty, mutual respect and pastoral care for all persons" in the ELCA. Sandstrom proposed the motion, which was approved without dissent.
"What I wanted to do was re-emphasize the importance of a fair, honest and open discussion that listens to all views and is sensitive to all persons," Sandstrom said. "I wanted to reaffirm that as we move to the period of making a decision on CCM."
Earlier the council defeated, by 5-26, a proposal that would have encouraged equal time and representation of differing points of view on the proposed Episcopal agreement at synod assemblies, meetings of assembly voting members and the Churchwide Assembly in Denver. Many council members said they agreed with the motion in spirit, but questioned the practicality of managing equal representation.
ELCA congregations and Churchwide Assembly voting members have been sent copies of CCM and other related materials, said the Rev. Daniel Martensen, director, ELCA Department for Ecumenical Affairs and assistant to the bishop. A number of CCM-related documents are also posted on the Department for Ecumenical Affairs page on the ELCA Web site, he said. The site is at www.elca.org/ea.
"There will be continuing efforts to put on as much material as we can get that is fair and balanced," he told the council.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html