Posted at the Episcopal Diocese of Washington's site.
We, the undersigned Bishops of this 75th General Convention, in the
confidence of the Gospel and out of love for this great Church, must
prayerfully dissent from the action of this Convention in Resolution
B033 (on Election of Bishops). We do so for the following reasons:
* The process used to arrive at Resolution B033 raises serious concerns
about the integrity of our decision-making process as a Church. In
particular we note that we discussed a resolution, A162 , on Tuesday,
but were never given an opportunity to act upon it. Instead, we were
presented with a different resolution this morning, and were given only
30 minutes for debate and discussion. This resolution bears great
consequences both for the Anglican Communion and the Episcopal Church
and unfortunately was not adequately discussed.
* Our conversation has been framed in a flawed paradigm, forcing us to
choose between two goods-the full inclusion in the life of the Church of
our brother and sister Christians who happen to be gay or lesbian and
our full inclusion in the life of our beloved Communion.
* The process that brought about the reconsideration of this matter
failed to honor the integrity of the House of Deputies by bringing undue
pressure to bear on that body.
* Our witness to justice has been prophetic in this nation and in the
wider Anglican Communion on the issues of the full inclusion of people
of color and persons who are differently-abled. For more than 30 years
women been permitted to be included in the councils of this Church as
lay deputies to this Convention and as deacons, priests and bishops.
This witness to full inclusion has borne the fruits of the Spirit and is
incarnate in the faces and lives around these tables and throughout the
Church. The language of this resolution too much echoes past attempts by
the Church to limit participation of those perceived to be inadequate
for full inclusion in the ordained ministry.
* Any language that could be perceived as effecting a moratorium that
singles out one part of the Body by category is discriminatory.
We are absolutely committed to the future of this Communion and the
process of healing the strain that we readily admit and regret exists,
and has been exacerbated in our own house by events today. We must
participate in this process with our own integrity intact and thus we
are obliged to make this dissent. We intend to challenge the rest of the
Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion to honor the promise to
include the voices of gay and lesbian in the conversations about the
future of the Communion. We pray for the Church, for our Communion, and
for our lesbian and gay brothers and sisters.
The signatories are not yet listed, but we understand there are 30 of
them.
There are no “signatories” as per the Diocese of Washington web site:
“**We are not able to publish “the undersigned” bishops names because the bishops demonstrated their assent by standing after it was read in a closed session of the House of Bishops and it is uncertain exactly who stood up. However, the group at least includes the Bishops of Chicago, Newark, Northern Michigan, Rochester, Vermont, Washington and Wyoming.”
Comment by galong05 — June 23, 2006 @ 8:55 am