Bishop Stanton: Dallas 'not leaving anything'
by Douglas LeBlanc
A few themes emerged January 5-6 when several scholars gathered to discuss
governance within the Episcopal Church: It is not Roman Catholic, not simply
Protestant and not very hierarchical through most of history.
Sponsored by the Anglican Communion Institute and the Diocese of Dallas, the conference drew 90 participants to Church of the Incarnation on January 5-6. They explored a favorite theme of the ACI's editorial contributors: Each diocese - not congregations, not the Episcopal Church Center, not Executive Council and not General Convention - is the basic ecclesial unit of the Episcopal Church.
Historian Robert Prichard of Virginia Theological Seminary described General Convention's call, in the early 20th century, for more business-like models of management, which led to organizing dioceses into provinces; changing the Presiding Bishop from the longest-serving bishop to an elected executive; and establishing a national council, now known as Executive Council.
Dr. Prichard noted that The Living Church was the first publication, in response to those changes, to apply the courtesy title "the Most Rev'd," normally reserved for archbishops, to the Presiding Bishop.
The 20th century also led to greater ties with the Anglican Communion, Dr. Prichard said, including the appointment of the Rt. Rev'd Stephen Bayne as the first executive officer of what is now the Anglican Communion Office.
The Episcopal Church's two major trends of the 20th century - greater centralization and stronger ties with the Anglican Communion - are now at odds with each other, Dr. Prichard said.
Attorney and ACI fellow Mark McCall said the Episcopal Church is organized as a voluntary association of dioceses, rather than a corporation.
"Only dioceses can be admitted to General Convention," he said. "A parish cannot join General Convention. An individual cannot join General Convention."
The Episcopal Church's Constitution does not have a supremacy clause, Mr. McCall said, adding that this was a deliberate choice by colonial leaders such as James Duane and John Jay.
Mary Edlund, chancellor of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas, called Anglican polity "much more relaxed" than that of the Vatican. "We speak of a bishop's authority within his own diocese, but we would never use the word autonomy," she said.
William Abraham, a professor of Wesley studies at the Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, described Methodism as a "third articulation of Christian orthodoxy in the West" and a "cross between the Franciscans and the Benedictines."
Professor Abraham said the United Methodist Church's General Conference, which meets every four years, is that church's ultimate authority. Methodist bishops are not a third order of ministry, he said, "but a kind of elder with a slight upgrade." The Rt. Rev'd James M. Stanton, Bishop of Dallas, quoted the diocese's founding bishop, Alexander C. Garrett, who described the diocese as "a perfect integer for growth."
"We belong together so that we can carry out mission, not so that we can know who is in charge or who owns the property," Bishop Stanton said.
Bishop Stanton also spoke in favor of the Anglican Communion Covenant.
"The question is not whether we need a covenant, it seems to me, but 'What is the nature of the Covenant that we already have?' The proposed Covenant is not something external, something that is being imposed on us. It is, simply, who we are."
Amid the conference's frequent emphasis on diocesan autonomy, Bishop Stanton stressed his diocese's intention to remain within the Episcopal Church.
"We do not seek to divide or separate," he said. "Contrary to some critics, this diocese does not intend to leave anything."
—Douglas LeBlanc is a frequent contributor to The Living Church. From that publication's Website.