c. 1998 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ The head of the Episcopal Church _ often considered the”bridge”between the Roman Catholic and Protestant faiths _ is challenging churches to jettison outmoded attitudes and strip away non-essentials for the sake of church unity.

Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold, in his first major address on ecumenical issues, said Wednesday night Episcopalians are facing calls from Catholics for”clarity and consistency in our theological discourse”and from Lutherans an”insistence upon transparency of the Gospel”in ordaining bishops.

But, said Griswold in a service at Grace Episcopal Church in New York, an insistence on conformity between church bodies points to”the continual need for all of us to yield our corporate life and our several histories to the purifying fire of the Spirit of truth … revealing to us the elements of our traditions which authentically convey the Gospel and mediate the life of the risen Christ.” Griswold issued his challenge during a service celebrating the centennial of the Lambeth Quadrilateral _ the 1888 statement of faith that supplements the church’s basic Thirty-Nine Articles _ and that many believe set the Episcopal Church on an ecumenical course with other Christian bodies.

The presiding bishop, who was installed in January as head of the 2.5 million-member church, said those dedicated to the unity of Christianity are in”the process of stripping away those things in our several traditions which occlude this unity which underlies not only the life of the church, but the whole of creation as well.” He said that in stripping away the non-essential elements in today’s church bodies, church members must look first at what is”authentic and enduring”and then at”what may have once been essential, but is now in danger of becoming an idol of denominational singularity.” Episcopalians _ the U.S. arm of the Anglican Communion _ have been most prominently engaged in theological discussions with the Roman Catholic Church, from which Anglicans broke in the Reformation, taking with them all sacramental rites, as well as with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America,a key denominational expression of the 16th century Protestantism.

Griswold stressed that Christians, in general, need to see other church members as brothers and sisters.

In a wide-ranging address that quoted liberally from gospel writers as well as Pope John Paul II, Griswold said there should be no walls between Christians.

Quoting John Paul, Griswold said,”The question we must ask ourselves is not so much whether we can re-establish full communion, but rather whether we still have the right to remain separated.””Do we,”Griswold added,”indeed have the right to travel our separate paths giving lip service to `one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all,’ when the life we live gives witness to division and contradiction? The answer clearly is, no.” Some Episcopalians see no difference between themselves and Roman Catholics, while others see themselves as being more evangelical and closer to their Protestant cousins.

For example, Griswold himself in recent months has been criticized by some in his church and supported by others for reportedly taking communion at a Catholic church near the denomination’s headquarters in New York.

The bishop also is a co-chairman of the international Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission, an organization of scholars and church leaders working out differences between the two traditions.

He also supports attempts at full communion between his Episcopal Church and the ELCA, although he has to stand on the sidelines while Lutherans work out their internal differences about the full communion proposal.

A year ago, the ELCA rebuffed the proposal that the two denominations enter into full communion, an agreement that would have allowed each body to exchange ministers and allow members to participate in each other’s sacraments.

Anglicans and Roman Catholics are stalled, among other issues, on the acceptance of women priests in some quarters of the Anglican Communion, including the Episcopal Church.”This is the ecumenical task: To assist one another in an ongoing process of purification ordered to the unity God seeks to reveal to and through us as limbs of Christ’s risen body, the church.” Griswold did not dwell on the specific obstacles with either the Lutheran or Catholic churches, talking instead about the global need for Christians to work together.”Prayer for the sanctification and purification of our several traditions will alone make it possible for us to find the point of ambiguous statements of agreement,”he said. Prayer by individuals in each denomination opens churches to hospitality and to welcome those outside the traditions, he said, adding:”Prayer enlarges our vision and overturns the idols of our own self-righteousness and uniqueness into one new humanity in Christ.”

DEA END BRIGGS