In 1976 the General Convention as the Synod of the Episcopal Church made the decision to ordain women as presbyters. This should have brought into operation within the ECUSA, as well as in related provinces of the Anglican Communion of Churches, what was called (in ecumenical circles since the 1960s) "the doctrine of reception" - i.e. the dynamic process of testing the acceptance of women in orders which begins with a synodical majority decision and is finally accepted when everyone ( or say 90 per cent) in the Church accepts it [or is finally rejected when it is clear that a large majority of the faithful do not accept the innovation].
Regrettably, this decision was never treated by a majority of bishops of ECUSA as being a process to be tested and its nature and fruits discerned. It was rammed down throats and eventually the General Convention. in 2000 made it a mandatory belief for office holders. Thus those engaged in what they believed to be the process of reception who had not been able to receive it were sidelined and treated as enemies of the new order.
In 2003 the General Convention made the decision to confirm the election of a bishop elect, Gene Robinson, and because of his personal circumstances, thereby also declared that stable "gay" relationships are acceptable as the dynamic equivalent of holy matrimony. Other decisions about blessing "gay" partnerships confirmed this innovatory doctrine.
Again, according to the doctrine of reception, an innovation passed by a Synod goes out for the process of testing and discernment in the province that passed it and also into other provinces that are prepared to test it. This innovation of same-sex "marriage" is being definitely tested already in Canada (Vancouver area) and apparently in parts of Great Britain and Australia in an unofficial way.
The question facing the ECUSA is this: Is its General Convention prepared to undo this decision about "gay" marriage if it becomes clear that there is an overwhelming majority against it in the Anglican Communion as well as in the ECUSA itself? Reception as a process is NOT completed until it is very generally accepted by the faithful. OR Will the ECUSA, as it did with the ordination of women, exercise its autonomy selfishly (shaking a fist as it were both to God and to the universal Church) to mandate belief in same-sex blessings?
With the meeting of the 38 Primates in mid-October in London, it is possible that they will declare there and then by a vast majority ( say 36-2) that this process of reception is invalid for same-sex marriage because the synodical decisions in Vancouver and in the ECUSA were totally wrong. So there is no basis on which the doctrine of reception can be based and function! The innovation is banned and should cease forthwith!
Let us pray daily and fervently for Rowan Williams and the 37 other primates.
The Rev'd Dr. Peter Toon M.A., D.Phil. (Oxon.)
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