Lutheran-Episcopal Committee Learns of Exception Request

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- A candidate for ordination has formally requested an exception to ordination procedures of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), members of the Lutheran-Episcopal Coordinating Committee (LECC) and staff members from the ELCA and Episcopal Church ecumenical offices were told when the committee met June 3-5 at the Episcopal Church Center in New York.
The committee was established as part of "Called to Common Mission (CCM)," a full communion agreement of the ELCA and Episcopal Church, which went into effect in 2001. The agreement provides for sharing of common ministries and, under certain circumstances, allows for exchange of clergy between the churches. LECC's purpose is to monitor and coordinate full communion activities. Both churches appoint clergy and lay members to serve on LECC.
CCM requires that a bishop must preside at all Lutheran ordinations, a practice not required in the ELCA before CCM. According to a bylaw adopted at the 2001 ELCA Churchwide Assembly, a bishop may consider a request for an exception to the ordination procedure required by CCM.
The 2001 ELCA Churchwide Assembly adopted the bylaw in response to criticism of CMM by some Lutherans. It allows a synod bishop, under certain circumstances, to authorize another pastor to preside at an ELCA ordination. The bylaw requires that a request for an exception be considered by the synod bishop in consultation with the ELCA presiding bishop. The bylaw also requires the synod bishop to seek the advice of the synod council.
The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, confirmed to the a synod bishop for an exception -- as provided for in the bylaw -- to current ordination procedures. The decision will be made by the synod bishop in consultation with the presiding bishop and synod council when the candidate receives a call, Hanson said.
Also at the LECC meeting, members received the report of a diaconal task force, which outlined histories of various forms of the diaconate in the two church bodies, including differences among these forms such as training, liturgical versus service roles, and professional diaconate versus non-stipendiary roles.
Diaconal ministers in the ELCA are lay people commissioned by the church to serve in settings other than those of a traditional pastor. Generally they serve in a specific ministry role.
The report outlined next steps, including the exploration of possibilities and realities for mission, and developing a statement of principles, LECC's statement said. In response, LECC encouraged further discussion of diaconal ministries in the ELCA and Episcopal Church by the diaconal task force, the Lutheran Ecumenical Representatives Network, and members of the two churches.
During the course of the meeting, LECC heard reports from Marcia L. Clark Johnson, associate director, ELCA Department for Synodical Relations; the Rev. Donald J. McCoid, bishop of the ELCA Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod, Pittsburgh, and chair of the ELCA Conference of Bishops; and from the Rt. Rev. Clayton Matthews, director, Episcopal Church Office of Pastoral Development, on a proposed joint training program for new ELCA and Episcopal Church bishops, and continuing education programs for experienced bishops of the two churches. Johnson, McCoid and Matthews also shared with LECC information regarding separate studies on the roles of bishops who have been inaugurated in the two churches, the LECC statement said.
LECC affirmed that just as clergy of the two churches are interchangeable, so is membership. Confirmed members transferring from one church body to the other will be received by a rite of reception without the requirement of repeating confirmation.
On the second day of its deliberations, LECC heard presentations on the response ministry of St. Paul's Chapel of Trinity Church, Wall Street, New York, to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center. Presenters were the Rev. Frederick Burnham, director of the Trinity Institute, and Dr. Courtney Cowart, program associate for Trinity Church's Spiritual Formation Grants Program.
Following a visit to "Ground Zero" and St. Paul's Chapel, 12 of the18 members of LECC attended a midday "Peace Mass" at St. Peter's Evangelical Lutheran Church, near the Episcopal Church Center.
Following a report from Emily Perrow, director of youth ministry in the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut and a member of LECC, members urged the national youth ministry offices of the ELCA and Episcopal Church to collaborate in planning and sharing regional and national youth events as an expression of common mission by the two churches, the LECC statement said.
On the final day of its meeting, LECC heard a presentation by the Rev. Stephen P. Bouman, bishop of the ELCA Metropolitan New York Synod, and by the Rev. William L. Hurst Jr., director of the synod's diaconate program, on the history of the Metropolitan New York Synod's diaconal ministry program. The LECC statement said the program has had a significant role in the synod's dynamic strategy for ministry in the New York metropolitan area's Latino American communities.
LECC will meet again in February 2003 in Austin, Texas. It plans to focus on emerging patterns of cooperative Lutheran-Episcopal theological education, with a special focus in the context of Latino American ministry formation. Reports are expected on ways in which ecumenical studies are being integrated into the curricula of ELCA and Episcopal Church seminaries and divinity schools, the LECC statement said. -- -- -- *Terry L. Bowes, Longmont, Colo., is an ELCA lay member of the Lutheran- Episcopal Coordinating Committee.

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