Bishop Arthur E. Walmsley–The Episcopal Church: A Half Century of Turmoil and Transformation

Reluctance to discipline non-conforming clergy and parishes has been a mark of the Episcopal Church’s handling of controversy. As the focus of debate shifted to gender issues and the ordination of non-celibate gay and lesbian ordinands, a resort to disciplinary procedure preoccupied the church as a presentment was made in 1996 by Bishop James Stanton of Dallas on behalf of a group of his colleagues against the Rt. Rev. Walter C. Righter, former Bishop of Iowa and an Assistant Bishop of Newark. Righter, who had ordained to the priesthood a non-celibate gay man in a public relationship with a partner, was charged with “the offense of holding and teaching. . .a doctrine contrary to that held by this Church.”. The Theological Court for the Trial of a Bishop, on which I served as one of its nine members, ruled that although the matter at hand was doctrinal in nature, it was not part of the core doctrine of the church, of creedal or kerygmatic teaching. On the strength of this conclusion, the Court declined to bring Righter to trial and the matter became moot. Although our decision bears on the question of same-sex blessing which must be answered in the vote at your June General Synod, you clearly have had opportunity for deeper reflection on the subject that was available to us in 1996, and I am grateful for the opportunity to see the various papers which have been drafted over what you are asked to conclude, what constitutes doctrine?.

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