Editorials
gender and the church
Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. (Psalm 127:1)
The General Church process in the past year to examine and redefine its policy
about ordination – specifically whether to ordain women into the priesthood
– had one clear goal: to be guided by what the Lord teaches.
The Word and the Writings are not explicit on the subject, so such
questions are left to human study of the doctrines, deliberation, interpretation
and prayer. And so the conclusions are imperfect. A good many people in
the Church – including some ministers – sincerely feel there is support in the
Writings for women in the priesthood. At least they find nothing specifically
prohibiting women from the ministry, which, they feel, argues for equality.
A strong majority of General Church priests continue to believe that the
preponderance of teachings uphold male-only ordination. In our episcopal
form of church government the clergy are charged with determining such
policy. Therefore it has been announced that the General Church will continue
with a male-only priesthood. But this is not the end of the controversy.
A statement from Executive Bishop Brian W. Keith – explaining the
process, the decision, and what to expect going forward – was made public
throughout the Church in late September. Many people already have read it
but we are publishing it on page 504, for anyone who has not seen it, and
as part of the official record on the Church. This statement includes a brief
preface and an addendum from the Bishop, not previously published.
The statement describes the process the clergy committed themselves
to in reaching this decision. This included intensive study, papers presented
on both sides of the issue at the Council of the Clergy meetings last June,
considerable input from the laity, and personal statements submitted to the
Bishop by 73 ministers – mostly in North America, where this is an issue. (It is
not possible to publish these papers, but the Rev. Brian Smith has put together
an impressive collection of them and many others, going back several years.
You can read them at: www.newchurchperspective.com/possible-ordinationof-women/. It is a most useful repository of a wide range of doctrinal studies
and opinions.)
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