Word: ordain
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Such heterogeneity can make for schism. But Anglicanism has also been described by a Lutheran theologian as "the most elastic church in all of Christendom." Last week the Anglicans acted true to form, weaving a middle way on the vexatious issue of whether women should be ordained as priests. Meeting at their once-a-decade Lambeth Conference in Canterbury, England, bishops from all over the world voted 316 to 37, with 17 abstentions, to let each national church choose whether or not to ordain women priests, as long as dissenting voices are considered before any changes are made. On creating...
...Diego decree, approved by a 12-to-l ratio, states that homosexual behavior is always wrong. Given that premise, the conclusion is obvious. The Presbyterians could no more ordain openly practicing homosexuals than they could accept those who continually advocate or indulge in any other life-style that the church regards as sinful. The church thus rejected a liberal policy that had been proposed by a special task force. But the new document says that homosexuality should not be singled out as any worse a sin than pride, greed or adultery, and it denounces "homophobia" (hatred and fear of homosexuals...
...Diego decision will undoubtedly add to the caution in other Protestant denominations now struggling with the problem. The Presbyterians' own perplexity is far from over. The statement fell short of ordering presbyteries not to ordain, and last week the 30-year-old Silver said that he hopes to arrange a call to an experimental ministry in Manhattan...
...United Church of Christ (1,801,000 members). Under local option, the heirs of the Puritans chose to ordain the nation's first openly homosexual clergyman, William Johnson, in 1972. The church has set no national policy on ordination, but an agency is conducting a long-range study. United Church People for Biblical Witness, organized in April, is at work against a new denominational study guide that takes a tolerant view of homosexual behavior. f United Methodist Church (9,861,000 members). A church agency proposed that the 1976 General Conference repeal a four-year-old policy statement that...
...women to become members of the clergy but few statistics. Last week, however, the National Council of Churches reported that an estimated 10,470 women now have full ministerial credentials. They make up 4% of the clergy in the 76 U.S. church bodies (out of 163 surveyed) that ordain both sexes...