Channel: Living Church
Author: George Conger

The House of Bishops affirmed the virginity of Mary the Mother of God during its July 16 morning legislative session at the 76th General Convention.

In a jocular debate that spoke to the exhaustion many of the bishops are feeling on the ninth business day of the convention, the bishops amended resolution A099 Lesser Feasts and Fasts: Additional Commons, adding the word “virgin” before the name of the Mother of God in collects offered for the use by the church.

The Rt. Rev. Wayne Smith, Bishop of Missouri, presented the resolution, noting that there had been some concerns expressed in committee hearings about the commons used for the Mother of God. There were “three ways to refer to her: Mary the God-bearer, the theotokos; Mary of Nazareth; and the Blessed Virgin Mary,” he said. Bishop Smith said using these varied terms underscores the theological diversity of views held within the Episcopal Church on the person and charism of Mary.

Bishop Michael Smith of North Dakota stood and said “I rise in defense of our Lady,” eliciting guffaws from the house. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori noted, “I don’t think she needs it,” to more laughter from the bishops. Bishop Michael Smith then offered an amendment inserting the word “virgin” before Mary’s name where used in the new collects, stating that the church’s teaching on the virginity of the Mother of God should be underscored in the new rites.

The Rt. Rev. Otis Charles, retired Bishop of Utah, spoke in opposition, stating “the term theotokos stands by itself.” Mary the god-bearer was a term of “long tradition and honorable to Our Lady.”

Bishop Wayne Smith accepted the amendment, suggesting that Mary be styled, “the Blessed Virgin Mary, the god-bearer.” The Charles amendment was accepted by voice vote, with limited opposition.

The Bishop of Albany, the Rt. Rev. William Love, rose to support the amended resolution saying he could “imagine all the spin that would come out of this convention” if the resolution was rejected. He said the headline “Episcopal Church Denies the Virginity of Mary” was one he did not wish to read, eliciting cries of shame from the bishops present.

Bishop C. Franklin Brookhart of Montana reminded the house of the words of the Chalcedonian Creed: “Mary the Virgin, the God-bearer, the theotokos,” and urged adoption of the resolution. It passed unanimously.

(The Rev.) George Conger reporting from General Convention in Anaheim.
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Thank goodness this passed! While I definately do not always agree with Bishop Love, he was spot-on when he spoke of “the spin that would come out of this convention” if the resolution was rejected.

As long as the long form is styled “ever-blessed Virgin Mary,” not “ever-virgin Blessed Mary,” it really doesn’t rankle me one way or the other on this matter.

Really. This discussion by the bishops was a time-waster. No matter what we put into the collects, people are going to believe what they want. And, believe what they want what the word “virgin” means in this case.

There are now enough people who don’t think they are crossing their fingers or committing perjury when saying the Creed without believing in a physical virginity of Mary that this resolution really doesn’t make any difference.

And, ++KJS is right. Mary doesn’t need defending.

It is perhaps a sign of the bishops’ defensiveness on the issue that such a resolution was let through. In the past such resolutions were generally set aside as unnecessary.

I dunno…when one looks at the list of resolutions, what has been rejected, what has been tabled, and what has been affirmed, it seems to me that TEC is trying to present itself as creedally orthodox, while maintaining a liberal line on the matter of SSBs.  It’s an interesting form of self-presentation; the message sent by GC is, in the end, that “we want to be part of the Anglican Communion, and we want to maintain our liberal push towards same-sex blessings while also leaving the door open to discussing other issues of sexual orientation/s.”  While no one is going to call TEC a rigorously thoughtful institution, it seems to me that it is very intentionally and self-consciously pushing itself to be, in the United States of America at least, a liberal version of the Catholic church.  If it is going to succeed in this, however, it is going to have to do something drastically different in terms of its administrative depth and integrity, both in terms of keeping its own young people in the church, and in terms of evangelizing out so that others come in.  Perhaps, more than anything, it is going to have to put forward a coherent argument as to who it is and what its goals are.  GC 2009 could be the beginning of this, but the sincerity of the move will have to be proven over time, and not simply set forth in resolutions that may or may not be indicative of actual dogmatic commitments.

Bob Chapman wrote:
“As long as the long form is styled “ever-blessed Virgin Mary,” not “ever-virgin Blessed Mary,” it really doesn’t rankle me one way or the other on this matter.”

Well, her perpetual virginity was quite an early belief as well.  And I am content to address her as “beatae Mariae semper Viegine” in the Confiteor before Mass!

A friend of mine expressed relief that the bishops kept the word Virgin: “Once she loses her virgnity she can’t get it back!”