This book - Centro de Estudos Anglicanos

EMERGENCE OF THE MODERN CHURCH 115clear that Presbyterian teaching elders would not have to be re-ordained as priestsby Episcopal bishops. The American Church Union, which had been formed in1936 to promote Anglo-Catholic principles within the Episcopal Church, voicedespecially strong opposition to that point. How could the church maintain itstraditional faith and order, Anglo-Catholics asked, if such a plan was implemented?The Living Church, a popular Anglo-Catholic journal in the Midwest,also attacked the ecumenical proposals as an attempt by liberal Protestants to takeover the Episcopal Church. In addition, Wallace E. Conkling, the bishop of Chicago,worked persistently to derail the proposal, while William Manning assertedthat no Episcopalian could in good conscience accept any scheme to unite withthe Presbyterians. 14Statements by leading pro-union Presbyterians inadvertently made mattersworse during this period. Presbyterian traditionalists, who believed that John Calvinhad restored the faith and polity of the New Testament after centuries ofobscurantism and corruption, were fearful that liberals in their denominationmight capitulate to high church Episcopalians about the importance of the episcopate.As a consequence, liberals addressed the concerns of their conservativecolleagues by reemphasizing that the distinctive teachings and practices of Presbyterianismwould remain intact after the merger. While these statements placatedPresbyterian traditionalists, they deeply offended high church Episcopalians andmade it difficult for the plan’s proponents to claim that the concerns of Anglo-Catholics had been safeguarded during the negotiations. 15The continuation of the dialogue with the Presbyterians became one of themain subjects of deliberation at the 1946 General Convention. Whereas Episcopaladvocates of union pressed for an affirmation of the ecumenical venture, someleading Anglo-Catholics worried that they might have to secede from their denominationif that course of action was upheld. There was no point in consideringan ecumenical process, they said, that would “move us farther and farther awayfrom any of the great historic Catholic Communions” and make the EpiscopalChurch “a laughing stock before the eyes of Christendom.” 16 After considerabledebate, the 1946 convention passed a resolution that, while not directly challengingthe idea of union with the Presbyterians, effectively scuttled any further debateabout its merits. In the resolution, the unity commission was directed to preparea statement on ecumenical relations that was in harmony with the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral—that is, that emphasized the importance of the historicepiscopate. For its part, the Presbyterian General Assembly never brought thematter of church union to a vote, for the majority of Presbyterians bristled at theidea of bishops. Thus, while the decision of the Episcopal convention allowednegotiations with the Presbyterians to continue, the two sides had reached animpasse that brought their discussions to an end. 17RESPONSE TO THE GREAT DEPRESSIONAs the noted journalist Walter Lippmann observed on the eve of the stockmarket crash of 1929, American society was becoming increasingly secular and