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Bishop's Address
125th Convention of the Diocese of Newark
January 29th, 1999
Bishop Croneberger, Bishop McKelvey, Bishop Shimpfky, Bishop Ihloff, Chancellor Rehill, honored ecumenical guests,
lay and clerical deputies to the 125th Annual Convention of the Diocese of Newark and friends.
Grace and peace to you in the name of Christ.
I have sought through the years to place my annual message to you at this Convention into the living flow of human
history. In 1998 we lived in a world where peace was always fragile. In October of 1998 we went to the brink of
war once more with Saddam Hussein in Iraq, then backed away only to strike with military fury in December. The
missiles and bombs ceased in three days as the Moslem holy month of Ramadan began and a fragile peace reappeared.
Even in this limited military action the United States and Great Britain stood alone with little support from the
rest of the world. World opinion against military action has grown in recent years to the point that attempts to
justify this aggressive act to skeptical nations have become increasingly difficult. The United Nations did succeed
in forcing withdrawal of military forces from Kosovo, putting a stop to the genocide of Albanian people, but that
peace also has not held. In that area of the world two steps forward seem to be followed by one step backward.
Western leaders also managed in1998 to bring Mr. Netanyahu and Chairman Yasser Arafat to agreement on a plan that
will exchange land on the West Bank for security in the Middle East, though once again the implementation of that
accord has yet to be accomplished. During the past year we also learned in fresh and dramatic ways how totally
interdependent all human life is as the collapsing economies in Asia and Russia threatened American prosperity
and clipped 2500 points off the Dow Jones Industrial Average in October.
The attention of the nation for most of the year, however, was not riveted on the crucial issues of war and peace
or even on our economic well-being. We were rather consumed with sex in the White House and the issue of impeachment.
The personal bitterness dividing Democrats and Republicans in Congress increased to a level not seen since the
years before the American Civil War. Political casualties have included not just a badly weakened President, but
a resigned Speaker of the House and a resigned Speaker-elect, to say nothing of a compromised Chairman Henry Hyde
and Representative Robert Barr. In this weird Washington world, we even watched Larry Flynt, the American king
of pornography, emerge as an exposee artist. The politics of personal destruction has become so intense that I
believe the stage has actually been set in our nation for the birth of a new third party that could well win the
White House in 2000. Perhaps a new political start without the burden of the past might be a better way to redeem
our present political process. For an independent candidacy to be successful, it will require competent, substantive
leadership and a personal respect that the prospective candidate has already won. This broad-based reconciling
effort cannot be accomplished by a narrowly focused or single issue candidate. We do need to face the fact that
the old political structures have succeeded in alienating so many members of our electorate that less than 50 percent
of the eligible voters of this nation even bother going to the polls. These structures have simply become too partisan,
too hostile, too uncompromising to be flexible enough to do the nation's business effectively. Both parties are
also today too deeply compromised with illegal campaign financing which is why they will always refuse to police
themselves by passing campaign reform legislation. Those are the reasons that I believe the American people are
ready to consider new political alternatives. I call on those political leaders whose personal integrity has enabled
them to stand loose to partisan pressures and above the traditional political structures, to consider an independent
run for the White House. People like former Senator Bill Bradley, a Democrat, and former Governor Thomas Kean,
a Republican, both of whom have the qualities about which I speak should be urged to give serious thought to the
possibility of choosing a running mate from the opposite party and offering an independent fusion ticket to the
American electorate as a fresh alternative that just might deliver this nation from the political chaos that partisan
politics has now given us as its heritage. It is almost a shame that these two superior human beings, Bill Bradley
and Tom Kean, come from the same state which precludes the possibility that they might run together. We must not,
as a nation, continue a pattern of political life that alienates from public service the ablest and most honest
of our citizens.
Much of the political extremism we face in this nation is the deliberate creation of religious convictions where
passion is frequently counted a higher value than either knowledge or truth. It is sometimes amazing how hostile
and how divisive religious extremism can become. That was the mentality which emerged in and dominated the Anglican
Communion at the Lambeth Conference during 1998. Here a combination of American conservatives, English evangelicals
and third world bishops forced upon the Anglican Communion a blatantly hostile stance of rejection directed against
gay and lesbian people. This attitude was expressed in unbelievable rhetoric and in a bitter, negative resolution
that was typically camouflaged in the sweet words of piety and scripture. Those who supported this negative action
revealed that in large parts of the world there is an almost total ignorance of 20th century scientific facts about
the origins and nature of sexual orientation. It also made it clear that in our own land scientific data can be
either ignored or quickly set aside by those whose deep-seated emotional prejudices are allowed to cloud their
judgment! Both of these groups also revealed that in the Anglican Communion there is an unbelievable ignorance
of the biblical scholarship that has been abroad in our world for the last 150 years.
In this debate, as strange as it still seems, appeals were made to those fringe religious organizations who boast
of their ability to change an individual's personal sexual orientation. There is not one bit of medical or scientific
data to back that claim. The American Psychiatric Association has just recently pronounced any attempt to change
a person's sexual orientation to be fraudulent. It is nothing less than "pastoral violence." Yet, appeals
to this practice were used at Lambeth by some who were uninformed and by others who were manipulative and malevolent
to buttress their homophobic attitudes. The sad thing was that in this ecclesiastical setting such blatant ignorance
and uninformed prejudice carried the day. This conference was the most disillusioning experience I have had in
my entire ordained life. I never expected to see the Anglican Communion, which prides itself on the place of reason
in faith, descend to this level of irrational pentecostal hysteria.
The Lambeth Conference also revealed a tragic weakness in our Church in the major positions of leadership. The
Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, cheered this uninformed evangelical takeover of our Communion from his
seat on the stage. The newly-chosen primate of the Episcopal Church in the United States, Frank Griswold, not only
never participated in the debate, but he also then abstained on the most negative vote to the cause of Christ that
I can ever recall in 45 years of attending Church conventions. If our elected leaders cannot stand up and be counted
on an issue this profound, then I see no reason to expect significant leadership from then on any other issues.
If I am to seek to be faithful to the Christ I serve, I have no choice but to stand against the Lambeth resolution
which I indeed intend to do. I pronounce it unchristian, uninformed, prejudiced and evil. This convention may also
wish to state where it stands in relation to the Lambeth Resolutions on human sexuality and to the way in which
Holy Scripture was used in that debate.
To move from the painful to the joyous, the big event in the Diocese of Newark in 1998 was that in a special Convention
this diocese chose The Rev. Canon John Palmer Croneberger to be our Bishop Coadjutor and ultimately the ninth Bishop
of this diocese. He has been a part of our diocesan leadership for eighteen years. He is an able and strong man
with deep convictions, a caring style and a wonderful family. I am delighted. I welcome him to this new role of
leadership and I will be honored to be succeeded by him on February 1st of the year 2000.
Personally, 1998 was for me a year in which I was forced to face the fragility of my health with viral meningitis
in August and stomach surgery in December. Both sicknesses took their toll and forced me to embrace, as I never
have had to do before, the meaning of finitude. I am happy to report to you that I am now much improved and ready
to fulfill my obligations in the plans for this very busy final year of my episcopacy, but be assured I have heard
the warning signs of my own mortality and expect to pay them heed.
We begin at this Convention the celebration of our 125th Anniversary as a separate diocese in the State of New
Jersey. When I step down next February, I will have shared twenty-four of those 125 years of our history. It has
been my privilege to be part of the goodly heritage that marks the Diocese of Newark.
In our years together, we have walked in the shadows of great leaders of the past. I think of Bishop William Odenheimer,
who as the bishop of the whole state which was called the Diocese of New Jersey, had served for 16 years before
calling for the division of the state into two dioceses in 1874. Exercising his canonical prerogative, he chose
to become the first bishop of the new diocese, called then the Diocese of Northern New Jersey, where he served
as our first bishop for five more years. Under his administration Christ Hospital in Jersey City was formed. He
was succeeded in 1879 by Bishop Thomas Starkey who served 23 years and was a strong advocate for adequate clergy
compensation. He also changed the name of the Diocese of Northern New Jersey to the Diocese of Newark. In 1902
Bishop Edwin Lines began his 24-year career as our third bishop. He began the Bishop's Church Extension Fund that
to this day continues to make a significant difference in this diocese. In 1926 Bishop Wilson Stearley became our
fourth diocesan bishop. His tenure embraced the stock market crash of 1929 and the depression of the 30's. During
that time this diocese lost the land in Cedar Grove on which our Cathedral, to be known as All Saints', was projected
to rise. All Saints' Chapel in Episcopal House is the vestigial remains of that project. The longest serving bishop
in our history was Benjamin Washburn whose 26 years as our fifth diocesan bishop carried us through World War II
and into the religious fervor that followed that war. He in turn was succeeded by Leland Stark who served the diocese
as our sixth bishop for 20 years and who turned the post-war religious excitement into rapid suburban expansion.
Bishop Stark also brought this diocese with great integrity through the urban riots of the 60's and the Vietnam
War of the 70's. History has recorded that this was not accomplished without great pain. Yet the leadership of
this diocese was clearly and courageously on the right side of both of those great issues. Bishop Stark also established
the Grant Fund and the Bishop's Loaning Fund. Finally, there was my immediate predecessor, the ever-gracious George
Edward Rath, who served as our seventh diocesan bishop. His was the shortest tenure in our history, but in his
time he established the fund that came to bear his name to assist the children of our clergy with their college
educations. Each of these remarkable human beings made valuable contributions and helped to create this special
community of faith that we call the Diocese of Newark.
When I look back on my years, I see many things we have accomplished together of which I am proud. In my watch
as the Bishop of Newark, the budget of this diocese has grown 440 percent from $608,226 in 1976 to a proposed $2.7
million in 1999. Even more spectacularly the Diocesan Investment Trust has grown 800 percent from a corpus of $5
million in 1976 to almost $40 million in 1999. We are indebted to Eliot Knight for starting us on the road to more
effective investment strategies for the D.I.T. We have conducted two major and one minor capital funds drives during
my tenure. The first, begun in 1979, was the ACTS/VIM campaign, an acronym that means "A commitment to serve
- Venture in Mission," which raised $6.3 million and which established the fund we call ACTS/VIM that is so
vital to our Church today. That fund was created by taking $2 million of the total money raised in that campaign
and investing in a corpus the income from which was to be spent in our diocese on congregational development. That
original corpus has grown to $3.2 million today. From the income from this fund, we have already invested by direct
grants over $2.8 million in the program development of our churches The second capital campaign was begun in 1984
and raised the money we now call the Ward J. Herbert Fund. It was designed to assist our congregations with the
costs of the physical maintenance of our structures. The original corpus of this endowment was just over $1 million,
but it has grown to the place where today that corpus is in excess of 3.7 million dollars. So far we have given
away just under $1 million in matching funds from this fund, which means that almost $2 million has been invested
since this fund was established in our physical structures. So from these two funds we have invested, beyond our
diocesan budget, just under $4 million dollars in our churches in the last twenty years and we still have an income-producing
corpus of appoximately $7 million. That growing source of income will be present in perpetuity to assist our congregations.
The third capital funds drive was to pay down the debt on Episcopal House. It was almost done privately. I called
on less than 50 families, and we raised approximately $350,000. We have an indebtedness today on our diocesan headquarters
of only $700,000. Had we stayed in our former building, we would have faced the need for major renovations which
would have left us with in indebtedness of more than $2,000,000. In addition to that the worth of our new building
is considerably higher than the worth of 24 Rector Street. In fact, in time we will discover that we occupy one
of the most valuable pieces of real estate in the city of Newark. The decision to make this move, driven primarily
by our Chancellor Michael Rehill, has proven to be a wise one in our goal of being good stewards of our financial
resources.
In other financial matters, this diocese, under the primary leadership of the Rev. Harry A. Smith and John Zinn,
two of the most dedicated and remarkable human beings I have ever known, instituted a program of proportional giving
in which we did away with assigned quotas and shares. We took this step because it was consistent with our view
of stewardship. In every year since this program was begun, the giving of the people of this diocese has gone up
and to my knowledge ours is the only diocese in the country today that has no assigned quotas. Others have tried
it, but failed. We have succeeded because we have learned to trust one another.
It has ofttimes been painful, but we have, nonetheless, addressed responsibly in the last 24 years the over supply
of church structures that was draining our life and resources. We combined three moribund churches in Hoboken into
a small single parish called All Saints', which is today one of the strongest churches of our diocese. We have
just recently put together three churches in southern Jersey City and plan to build St. Augustine's as the new
church into which all three will be folded. We merged Epiphany with Grace Church in Orange to produce a strong,
vibrant congregation which, along with All Saints', gives us two vital parishes in that city. We merged St. Agnes'
in East Orange with St. Paul's in East Orange, making an exciting new congregation which, along with a revived
Christ Church, gives us two thriving churches in East Orange. We brought Resurrection, East Rutherford, and St.
Paul's, Wood-Ridge, together and created a multi-cultural and multi-ethnic congregation that has proved ever so
beautifully that in Christ there is no east or west. We have experimented with other not merged, but cooperative
ministries like the Bergen Episcopal Area Ministry and the Ridge Ministry in our search for effective forms of
church life for the future.
Yet we also had to close churches that simply did not issue in a resurrected life. Among these were St. Joseph's
Church Byram Township, Trinity Paterson, St. Thomas' Newark, Mediator in Edgewater, St. John's Englewood, St. John's
and Ascension in Jersey City. But to balance that, at least to some degree, we have opened and rebuilt St. Thomas'
in Vernon, established Messiah in Long Valley and have developed churches that minister to our Indian and Korean
constituents. We also moved Christ Church from Stanhope and rebuilt it in Budd Lake and we moved Good Shepherd
Church from Hamburg and rebuilt it in Wantage. We have revived churches that were all but dead in Union City, Secaucus,
and the Van Vorst section of Jersey City. We have begun plans for the future expansion of St. Peter's in Washington.
We have supported churches that were seeking a new way of being the Church in our world, like Redeemer in Morristown.
These are the ways in which we have sought to address the statistical slide that began in this diocese in the early
60's. We are smaller today than we were when the post-World War II religious decline began, but I believe we are
today stronger and more vibrant. I know we are dedicated to our future and ready to receive the leadership of the
9th Bishop of Newark.
Caring for the clergy of our diocese and guaranteeing the highest quality of ordained leadership is a major responsibility
of every bishop, so I am happy to observe the changes in this area of our life that have occurred since 1976. When
I came to this diocese, the minimum clergy annual cash stipend range was between $9,500 for a deacon and $11,950
for a priest with 14 years or more of service. Today that range is from $22,000 for a deacon to $29,000 for a priest.
Even at that level, when one factors in the cost of living in this metropolitan area, we rank no higher than about
40th among the dioceses of our nation.
When George Rath retired, the fund that bears his name, designed to provide college assistance for clergy children,
had a corpus of only $60,000. We have built that corpus to a place where today it totals over $540,000 and in those
intervening years we have given $363,900 in college scholarship assistance to the children of the clergy of this
diocese.
We also added dental insurance to our clergy benefit package. We have moved to have our congregations cover 50
percent of the Social Security Tax paid by our clergy as self-employed people under the IRS code. We have established
the Rectory Equity Sharing Fund for clergy who live in rectories so that they will have some equity to enable them
to buy a house at the time of their retirement. We have instituted a sabbatical study leave program of three months
for every five years of service. All of these new provisions have been endorsed by this Convention and they have
served to help us recruit the finest clergy in the United States to serve here. That claim is buttressed by the
realization of what the clergy from this diocese have gone on to achieve. During my tenure as Bishop five of our
clergy - Herbert Donovan, Richard Shimpfky, Jack McKelvey, Robert Ihloff and John Croneberger - have been elected
to the Episcopate. Four of our clergy - David Gillespie in San Francisco, Richard Bower in Syracuse, Dan Rigall
in Burlington, Vermont, Cynthia Black in Kalamazo, Michigan - have gone from this diocese to be cathedral deans
or the rector of the cathedral congregation. We could also add to that list Richard Demarest, who is now the Dean
of the Cathedral in Boise, Idaho and John Smylie, who is the Dean of the Cathedral in Spokane, but they were not
elected to those positions while serving in this diocese though I ordained both of them deacon and priest and they
are clearly children of this faith community of whom we are justly proud.
Beyond these signal accomplishments, clergy alumni of this diocese now serve in the largest Episcopal parishes
in the Diocese of New Jersey in the person of Leslie Smith, in the Diocese of Western Massachusetts in the person
of Mark Beckwith, in the Diocese of Southern Virginia in the person of Jim Sell and in the Diocese of Kentucky
in the person of Lucinda Laird. Our alumni are today across the street from the White House at St. John's, Lafayette
Square, in the person of Luis Leon, and at the church serving the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, in the person
of John Nieman. One of our alumni also serves the whole Church as the Vice President of the Church Pension Fund
in the person of David Hegg, and one of our priests, George Allen, is the only chaplain in the Air Force Reserves
who holds the rank of Brigadier General. The accomplishments of these and so many other members of our clergy family
are worthy of our notice and recognition. Despite this generous gift of leadership from our diocese to the larger
Church, we still have a wonderfully diverse and talented group of clergy whose future leadership, not only in this
diocese, but throughout the whole Church is all but guaranteed. I believe I see at least four new bishops in the
ranks of our clergy at this moment. Time will tell. The deepest pride I have had as a bishop has come from recognizing
and helping to develop the talent pool present among the clergy who have served here. I might add that the deepest
appreciation that has been expressed to me about what this diocese has meant comes from our clergy alumni.
We have, through the years of my episcopacy, sought to recognize the accomplishments of the leaders of this diocese
at this annual convention by instituting Certificates of Merit, the Church of the Year and the Canterbury Scholar
awards. Presenting the Bishop's Cross, our highest symbol of appreciation, has always been a particularly gratifying
moment in our history for me. Recipients of the Bishop's Cross read like the roll call of the saints of this diocese.
Ward J. Herbert, Marge Christie, Eliot Knight, Harry Smith, Michael Rehill, Gerrie Jeter and Bill Heick.
Other things that I believe deserve a mention in this final address are that we changed dramatically the shape
of this Convention so as to empower the deputies. When I arrived in this diocese, the convention was a one-day
event held on a Saturday morning, meeting either in the Cathedral or in one of our other churches. It began with
a Eucharist at 8:30 a.m., which did not conclude until about 11:00 a.m. It had an hour of business and then adjourned
for lunch from 12 noon to 1:00 p.m. It resumed for business at 1:00 p.m. and hardly had a quorum by 2:30 p.m. as
people drifted off. There were no hearings on the budget, no real debate on resolutions, no meaty reports to challenge
the leadership of the people of the diocese, and almost no way that an individual delegate's witness could be heard.
To change the nature of our Convention, we went to two days, established open hearings, gave major assignments
to task forces, initiated pre-convention meetings, and made this banquet the setting for the Bishop's address and
the introduction of new clergy. In the process we also made the voice of this Convention well informed, dynamic
and real. Our Convention has exercised enormous leadership throughout the Church on more than one occasion. In
1985 we appointed the Task Force on Changing Patterns in Sexuality and Family Life that was chaired by the late
Nelson Thayer, one of our finest priests. That Task Force made its report at our Convention in 1987, which commended
its findings to a year of study before adopting its recommendations at our Convention in 1988. That report forced
the issues of human sexuality onto the agenda of our national church in a way that no other diocesan report has
ever done. We received enormous abuse from many people over this initiative but the work of that Task Force prepared
the way for our National Church to begin the dialogue that will surely issue a full acceptance for the gifts of
homosexual persons, both clergy and laity, and we will be a more authentic and Christ-like body when that change
is complete. But change is not always without pain for this report also set the stage for the Church-rending heresy
trial of our assisting bishop, Walter Righter, who, acting on my request and with my authority, ordained a gifted
gay man named Barry Stopfel to the diaconate. We need to recognize that this trial ultimately changed the face
of our Church by forcing us to make what I call inclusive gospel decisions. It also made Walter Righter and Barry
Stopfel, along with Michael Rehill, our chancellor who defended Bishop Righter, household names throughout this
entire communion. When the court voted 7 to 1 to exonerate Bishop Righter, the Church was newly defined as an open
and inclusive faith community. We owe Walter Righter, Michael Rehill and, above all, Barry Stopfel and his life
partner,Will Leckie, an enormous debt of gratitude for standing in that breach and for bearing the abuse of that
moment. They have served as change agents for the whole Church, a role never free of pain.
With other task forces this diocese, through this convention, has also addressed such critical issues as physician-assisted
suicide, abortion, corporal punishment and the proper use of the Bible, each of which brought this diocese to the
attention of many people, including, in one instance, the Congress of the United States who, because of our report,
invited me to testify on the morality of physician-assisted suicide before its Sub-Committee on the Constitution.
Interestingly enough, that Sub-Committee is part of the Judiciary Committee which framed the articles of impeachment:
so Henry Hyde, Barney Frank, William McCollum, and Charles Canady, were present to interrogate me on that occasion.
In 1977 at the request of our clergy we initiated the New Dimensions Lecture Series in this diocese as a form of
continuing education. This series was designed to bring the best minds in Western Christianity to Newark to interact
with our clergy and lay leaders on a regular basis. I have, over the years, enjoyed that series and the guests
we have sponsored more than I can say. It has kept the clergy and laity of this diocese facing the theological
cutting edge of our faith. I hope people recognize how unusual this opportunity has been. The clergy of no other
diocese in the entire Anglican community can boast of their opportunity to interact in significant dialogue with
such people as Hans Kung, Raymond Brown, Mortimer Adler, Elaine Pagels, Karen Armstrong, Krister Stendahl, James
Forbes, Keith Ward and many, many others. I do hope that you have enjoyed feasting on this unusual and rich intellectual
diet.
I have also treasured those opportunities provided to me to be one of the New Dimensions lecturers, as well as
to do public lectures each fall and during Lent. I hope you recognize that every book that I have published during
my Episcopal career has been born in public lectures given first in this diocese. You have encouraged me in my
attempt to push the boundaries of this faith tradition we cherish, to find a way to reach those disillusioned by
the theological constructs of the past, and to fulfill my vocation to be a teaching bishop. In the process you
have enabled me to grow into being a person I could not even have imagined being when on March 6, 1976 George Rath
called to tell me that you had elected me to be the bishop of this diocese. For that great gift I need to express
my gratitude.
We have, as a diocese, over these past twenty-four years, battled consistently, but not always successfully, against
institutional racism. It has been a struggle waged against a deeply entrenched and powerful foe. In my first 18
years as a bishop, we had in this diocese only one Afro-American candidate ordained to the priesthood and he left
this diocese 18 months after his ordination. It was not a good omen. We recruited two gifted Afro-American women,
Gayle Harris and Angela Ifill, only to lose them when the positions to which they were called were terminated.
For far too long we had very few Afro-American lay people involved in the structures of our diocese, and no Afro-American
clergy serving in predominantly white parishes.
I believe I can say that our persistence in this struggle has finally begun to pay off. These realities are at
last beginning to change. Black clergy have now served as president and members of the Standing Committee, and
as vice president of our Diocesan Council. We have ordained two Afro-American candidates to the priesthood in the
last two years. We have several others in the pipeline. We have recruited Mildred Solomon, an Afro-American woman,
to work in the city of Newark. It was St. Paul's Church in North Arlington that became the first predominantly
white congregation in this diocese to call an Afro-American, the Rev. Tom Logan, to serve as its priest in charge.
A native American priest, Rickey Edwards, is today the vicar at St. Gabriel's in Milton/Oak Ridge. An Indian priest,
Jacob David, is vicar of our church in Wood-Ridge. Another Indian priest, Prince Singh, is an associate on the
staff of St. Peter's, Morristown and still another, Sunil Chandy, is assisting in All Saints', Hoboken. An outstanding
seminary graduate originally from the African country of Ghana, Chief John Thompson-Quartey, was called two years
ago to be the assistant in Christ Church, Ridgewood, and this year another gifted new black ordinand, Dana Rose,
has been called to be assistant in St. John's, Ramsey. Black seminarians, in the persons of Dana Rose and Dorothy
Fowlkes, have served on the staffs of churches in South Orange and in Secaucus. A native of Bangalore in central
India, Jacob David, sits on our Standing Committee. Two Afro-American laymen, Michael James and Robert Simmons,
are today on the steering committee of the Diocesan Council. A black veteran of Wall Street, Howard Mackey, is
on our Diocesan Investment Trustees Board. Many other Afro-Americans serve on our various boards and committees.
The anti-racism dialogue has touched many in this diocese. We await a new Dean who will surely be the fourth black
dean in the United States, three of whom will have been dean of our Cathedral. The leadership given to this diocese
today by our black clergy is gratefully acknowledged. Perhaps, finally, the frozen and almost immovable object
called racism has begun to melt. But there is much that still needs to be done and vigilance must be observed lest
we slip back into the paths of the past.
We have been open to women clergy as few dioceses in this nation have been. I hope our women clergy do not take
that for granted or assume that the attitudes present here are necessarily universal in this Communion. Twenty-eight
of our churches in this diocese are today under the leadership of women priests, including two of our five largest
churches, and eleven women priests serve in assisting roles. This diocese had the first female archdeacon in the
Anglican Communion in Denise Haines, one of the first female honorary canons of a Cathedral in Nancy Wittig and
today we boast of Canon Elizabeth Kaeton who heads up our Oasis Ministry. Lay and ordained women have been and
are in every conceivable position of leadership in this diocese. We have even ceased to be self-conscious about
that achievement.
We have also been open to the gifts of self-accepting, out-of-the-closet gay and lesbian clergy. Twenty of our
congregations are today served by gay or lesbian clergy as rectors, vicars or interims. Other openly gay clergy
serve as assistants and as the heads of special diocesan ministries. Two of the members of the core staff of this
diocese are homosexual persons. Openly homosexual people have been elected by this Convention to be members of
our Standing Committee, Diocesan Council and deputies to General Convention. Beyond the ranks of the ordained,
we have watched many gay and lesbian lay leaders emerge as wardens, treasurers, lay readers and stewardship chairs.
They have given freely of their talents to their Lord and to this Church and we in this diocese have the privilege
of receiving their gifts and of honoring their contributions.
I sometimes wonder what aspects of my episcopacy will enter into the folklore of the Church's corporate history?
I suspect that I will never escape the designation "controversial," though I will wager that the issues
that have appeared to make me controversial in my time will be the consensus values of our Church in a very few
years. My contribution has been simply that I was willing to walk a bit in front of the developing consensus. I
suspect I will be known as the author of books, though the content of my books will be difficult for most people
to recall in ten years. I hope that the organization known as Christianity for the Third Millennium, the formation
of which was basically the work of my wife Christine and two non-Episcopalians, will continue to expand its witness
and its ministry of providing educational resources. I suspect that my personal discomfort with copes and miters
will continue to get some notice, usually amid laughter, as well as my unwillingness to sit in a chair called a
"throne" so that people can kneel before this sitting prelate to be confirmed or ordained. I will probably
be the last bishop in the Anglican Communion who did not like to wear copes and miters. I really have tried to
adapt to these customs as George Bowen, Gaylord Hitchcock, Brian Laffler and Don Shearer will attest, but every
time I put on that attire, something in me rebels. It simply is not who I am, nor does it reflect my understanding
of the bishop's role. I want to be the servant of God's people, not their crowned king or ruler. Besides that,
I seem to have developed a habit of passing out whenever I wear a cope and miter. But I am content to realize that
young clergy of the future will smile when they are told about the peculiar Bishop of Newark who had trouble wearing
the traditional Episcopal garments of his office.
My hope is that in my professional life I will be best remembered as one who wrestled publicly with our faith,
trying to free it from the shackles of the past so that it could live into the future. My last book, Why Christianity
Must Change or Die," is the summation of that theological struggle. I hope people will miss my monthly columns
in The Voice, even the ones that infuriated some readers. I hope our clergy will appreciate that my purpose as
a bishop was to support and undergird their ministries. That is why I asked them to process beside me into their
churches and not in front of me. Some of my clergy critics just thought I did not know better, but I was seeking
to make a statement. The clergy are part of the bishop's office. That is why I placed them behind my crozier when
I was in their churches. There is one other clergy habit at which I will take my final shot. I never could bring
myself to put a cross beside my name when I wrote it. I could never be "plus" Jack.
I hope you have noticed that Bishop McKelvey and I have worked closely and lovingly in our Episcopal ministry together
since 1991. He has been my friend, my pastor, my much admired colleague. He and his wife Linda are two wonderful
and special people. I could never have asked for a more satisfying or fulfilling professional relationship than
the one I have enjoyed with Bishop McKelvey. His ministry will, I pray, continue to enrich this diocese for years
to come.
I also hope you will recognize that I have been assisted in this office by five extraordinary secretaries - Beverly
Anderson, Sally Kemp, Wanda Hollenbeck, Lucy Sprague and Lyn Conrad. No one could have asked for more. I pray every
day that Lyn will not retire before I do.
The thing I most want the people of this diocese to remember personally about me is that I adore my wife Christine.
She has been more deeply my partner in every area of life than I would have ever dreamed possible. I cherish those
moments when I have introduced her in your churches as "the most beautiful woman in the world" and then
watched as some indignant man in the congregation turned to his wife and said "No, she's not, dear. You are!"
What joy that brought me! I am happy to tell you that we are celebrating our anniversary this very night. We have
been married 9 years and 28 days today. We expect to have another anniversary tomorrow. There is no relationship
so wonderful as the one human beings can have with the person to whom our lives are most deeply committed. That
ultimate relationship is worthy of the highest honor we can bestow on that person who is our spouse and that person
should be the recipient of the deepest investment that we can make of ourselves to another human being. If I can
be remembered in this diocese as Christine's husband, that will be the greatest compliment you could convey to
me and it would be the fulfillment of my highest ambition.
I have indulged in these reminiscences only because this will be my final State of the Diocese address, but please
don't rush me. I do not plan to abdicate my Episcopal responsibility for one minute nor do I plan to coast toward
that day of retirement which will occur at this Convention next year when at this banquet I, like you, will listen
to Bishop Croneberger outline his vision for the future in his first presidential address. My highest agenda in
this final year is to do everything possible to enable Bishop Croneberger to be the greatest bishop who has ever
served this diocese. I pledge to you and to him that I regard nothing as more important than that. Beyond that
wonderful opportunity, we have other important work still to do. We have two reports of magnitude that will come
before this Convention for decisions this year and next. One is on the shape of ordained ministry for the Church
as we enter the third millennium. Should we rethink the possible use of the permanent diaconate? Shall we seek
to develop ordained sacramentalists under the provisions of the national canons to serve developing ethnic ministries
of faith or isolated communities? Should we develop more worker priests to serve those small congregations that
cannot pay full time salaries? Those are crucial decisions that will determine the shape of this diocese for years
to come and we will have the chance to address these issues at the Convention of the year 2000.
The second task force report that will be before us this year is known by the impressive title of "A Sabbath
for a New Millennium." This group, chaired by Fletcher Harper, will attempt to show the number of ways in
which the Sunday morning programs of our congregations can be significantly enriched. The success of this report
will depend on how seriously the leadership people of this diocese take its recommendations. At the risk of repeating
my oft stated convictions one more time, I am convinced that a church that does not offer real and provocative
educational opportunities for adults, young people and children on Sunday mornings will never win the battle to
convert the hearts and minds of the present generation to the wonder of Christ, nor will they ultimately survive.
I do not understand churches that believe they can run an effective church school simultaneously with the 10:00
service. Professional educators regard that as a waste of everybody's time. I do not understand clergy who believe
that a 12 to 15 minute sermon constitutes adequate adult education for their congregation. Furthermore, I am still
convinced that a church which insists on setting its Sunday worship hours at 8:00 and 10:00 a.m. has done nothing
less than to elect to die. Yet those hours remain the holy hours in most of our churches. That schedule simply
precludes an effective education program for either children or adults. We must ask our people for a minimum of
two hours every Sunday and then we must fill those two hours with quality education and quality worship, which
must include quality preaching. The task force on "A Sabbath for a New Millennium" poses these issues
with powerful and provocative rhetoric and raises our consciousness to the magnitude of the opportunities we face
and the inadequacy of so much or our own response. Please listen to their recommendations and heed their warnings.
Bishop McKelvey is today leading a state-wide initiative in New Jersey to focus the opposition of the religious
community to the death penalty. I applaud that initiative and pledge him my full support. This Convention might
offer its endorsement to this campaign by reaffirming the oft-stated opposition of the Episcopal Church at every
level to the violence of capital punishment and commend to our churches the study of the issues involved in this
great debate.
I also welcome the opposition that our Task Force on Public Education has raised to those programs of school vouchers
with which the Whitman administration flirts or the development of charter schools that are advocated by the mayor
of Jersey City. Both of these proposals, in my mind, constitute daggers aimed at the very future of public education
in this state. Public schools remain the best vehicle we have for offering hope and a realistic future to every
child of this state. Yes, our public schools are in trouble, especially in our urban areas of Newark, Paterson
and Jersey City, but the way to address troubled public schools is not to abandon them in favor of vouchers and
charter schools, but to undertake the hard task of fixing them so that they work for all our children.
I rejoice that the prospect of having our own diocesan camp and conference center is now a reality. I spoke to
that dream in my first state of the diocese address in January of 1977. It is a tremendous Christian education
resource. I am a child of the diocesan camp in North Carolina. My vocation to the priesthood was significantly
shaped by a place we called Camp Vade Mecum. I look forward with pleasure to our joint effort with the Lutherans
to develop the site now known as Beisler/Eagle's Nest into a major center for our diocese and for the Lutheran
Synod of New Jersey. Bishop McKelvey has been the primary force bringing this project to fruition. He deserves
our deepest appreciation.
I hope that our clergy and people will continue to claim our leadership role in the institutions of this diocese
like Christ Hospital, Youth Consultation Services, Heath Village and the House of the Good Shepherd. I especially
call to your attention the recent expansion of the House of the Holy Comforter in West Orange, now called Canterbury
Village. This facility is today capable of providing beautiful and convenient retirement living to forty senior
citizens at rates well below those of similar facilities. Canterbury Village now offers private rooms with private
baths, fully air-conditioned, and yet it remains small enough to continue its family-like, loving atmosphere. This
is a resource that this diocese should support with joy and enthusiasm. I am indebted to the chair of that board,
the Rev. Wade Renn, the chaplain, the Rev. Donald Shearer, and the entire board of that institution for their competent
and effective leadership.
My brothers and sisters this is a good diocese with a good history. The Diocese of Newark is a faith community
of which we all should be proud. I rejoice that it has been my privilege to live the major part of my ordained
life as part of such a place. You have honored me deeply by electing me to this office. I urge you to spend this
125th year of diocesan history celebrating our life together and pledging ourselves to be faithful to our vision
as we enter the next millennium.
God bless you all. Amen.
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