Iker is Consecrated Bishop Coadjutor in Fort Worth

April 30, 1993 In Mix of Celebration and Protest, Iker is Consecrated Bishop Coadjutor in Fort Worth 93075

Episcopal News Service
Jerry Hames, Editor of Episcopal Life

The Rev. Jack Iker was consecrated bishop coadjutor of the Diocese of Fort Worth on April 24, despite protests of six people during the service and a demonstration of nearly 100 others who lined the sidewalk outside the church, some wearing gags and carrying placards in support of women priests.

Iker, 43, who helped to establish the traditionalist Episcopal Synod of America (ESA) in 1989, has said that he does not accept women priests and bishops and that arguments in favor of women in the priesthood are an effort to rewrite the faith according to a feminist perspective.

Katie Sherrod, a local radio and television commentator and member of Trinity Episcopal Church in Fort Worth, said that she had organized the protest at the church entrance in order to witness to the positive contribution of women priests and the fact that their ministry is denied in the diocese.

"We are asking to have the consciences of everyone recognized," Sherrod said, as she and others distributed buttons, handouts and T-shirts. "In this diocese, they [the leadership] recognize only one side. We are making no attempt to stop or disrupt the proceedings. We are standing in solidarity with the national church."

Protests made with 'patience, respect'
Inside, more than 1,500 people crowded Fort Worth's Stephen's Presbyterian Church, site of the consecration. At an appointed time during the service, six people, including a woman priest from the Diocese of Washington, lined up at the microphone to register their protest and ask that the service not proceed. When it came time for the protests to be read, the members of the congregation heeded the request of Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning to listen with "patience and respect."

The Rev. Philip Cook of St. Gregory's Episcopal Church in Fort Worth, one of several clergy wearing a purple and white ribbon in support of women priests, told Browning that the consecration would force Episcopalians in the diocese to live "in a double bind," choosing obedience either to their church or to their bishop.

The Rev. Lauren Anne Gough from the Diocese of Washington, one of five women priests at the consecration and a native of Fort Worth, told Browning she is effectively exiled from priestly ministry in her home area. "If we allow this consecration, we strike at the fundamental communion of our church," Gough said. "For in his [Iker's] refusal to accept women duly ordained as presbyter and bishop, he repudiates the sacramental acts of other bishops and presbyters."

Does 'Conscience Clause' work both ways?
Cindy Hearne, a member of Trinity Episcopal Church in Fort Worth, told Browning that, in not recognizing women priests, Iker was breaching the oath "to conform to the doctrine, discipline and worship of the church."

Hearne said that the so-called Conscience Clause, adopted by the House of Bishops in 1977 which stated that no Episcopalian should be coerced or penalized for his or her objection to, or support of, General Convention's action to allow the ordination of women, must work both ways. "If Mr. Iker can be consecrated because of the Conscience Clause, he cannot then deny permission to a congregation to call a well-qualified rector on the grounds that the candidate is a woman," Hearne contended. "That would 'penalize' the parish for its support of ordained women."

Kathryne McDorman, a professor at Texas Christian University, said that the diocese, although it has the key for healing, sits mired in divisiveness, petty accusations and name calling. "Frankly, as a historian, I find it shocking that in our church laws can be passed which do not apply to everyone, rules are made that only apply to those who want to follow them and resolutions can be resolved, but not ever entirely," McDorman said. "Such eccentricities have proven in the past to spell disaster for the societies that have built such irrational and wayward regimes."


It took more than a half-hour for the statements to be read; then the objectors returned to their seats.

Browning calls for spirit of reconciliation
Browning told the congregation that he would proceed with the service because the bishop coadjutor had been duly elected by the diocese and received consent from a majority of standing committees and bishops across the church.

However, Browning said that Episcopalians in the Diocese of Fort Worth must not ignore or dismiss reservations that had been raised during the consent process both within the diocese and beyond. A narrow margin of 62 of the 119 diocesan standing committees had consented to Iker's election -- several with messages that they had consented despite their disagreement with Iker's position on women in the priesthood.

Browning reaffirmed his support for the new bishop, saying that he was impressed by Iker's ability, sensitivity and earnest desire to serve all of the people of the diocese.

Healing the diocese's divisions
However, Browning also warned that it would require "great leadership and sensitive ministry" to heal the diocese's divisions. He urged the diocese not to isolate itself from others which have women priests and bishops, and urged parishes in the dioceses not to distance themselves from one another over the issue.

"Finally," Browning said, "it would distress me beyond measure if men and women both inside and outside this diocese who have been raised up and canonically certified as clergy could not, despite their differences, respect each other and the mutuality of their shared calling to serve the one Christ."

Minutes after his consecration, Iker asked for the texts of the protests that had been read. He also said he plans visits throughout the diocese to foster better communication, and expressed his hope to meet soon with leaders of the Council of the Laity, a local organization that had urged standing committees to withhold consent to the election. "A lot of animosity can be overcome if we establish that," Iker said.

Women bishops were absent
Neither Bishop Barbara Harris, suffragan of the Diocese of Massachusetts, nor Bishop Jane Dixon, suffragan of the Diocese of Washington, were among the 26 bishops who participated in the consecration. The Rev. Terry Cairo, the only woman priest who resides in the diocese and who serves as a deacon in her Fort Worth parish, was seated with visiting clergy from other dioceses.

Iker, who has been rector of the Church of the Redeemer in Sarasota, Florida, for the past 14 years, will become bishop of Fort Worth when Bishop Clarence Pope retires. Pope, 63, has not yet announced his retirement date.

Iker Receives Bishop's Consents

March 17, 1993 Iker Receives Bishop's Consents 93049A

Episcopal News Service

The Diocese of Fort Worth has announced that the Rev. Jack Iker has received consent from a majority of the Episcopal Church's bishops and that he will be consecrated bishop-coadjutor on April 24, 1993. The announcement ended a contentious consent process that centered on Iker's opposition to the ordination of women as priests and bishops. Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning will serve as chief consecrator of Iker, and Bishops Clarence Pope (Fort Worth) and John Krumm (retired bishop of Southern Ohio) will be coconsecrators.

Iker Receives Standing Committees' Consent

February 2, 1993 Iker Receives Standing Committees' Consent; Bishops Must Consent to Fort Worth Election 93018

Episcopal News Service
Jeffrey Penn

The Diocese of Fort Worth announced on January 26 that the Rev. Jack Iker has received consents from a majority of the Episcopal Church's 117 diocesan standing committees to be consecrated bishop coadjutor of the diocese. Iker must now receive consent of a majority of the Episcopal Church's diocesan bishops in order to be consecrated.

"In light of the controversy surrounding this election, due to the bishopelect's traditional position on the issue of the ordination of women as priests and bishops, the consents of the standing committees are a clear re-affirmation of the diversity of our church and of our continued willingness to tolerate differences among us on this issue," said a statement released by the diocese.

"I think this is a healing and reconciling thing in the whole church," Iker told reporters following the announcement from Fort Worth. "The votes I received are not an affirmation of my views on women priests, but their [the standing committees'] commitment that I may hold the view," he said.

Iker, rector of the Church of the Redeemer in Sarasota, Florida, was elected on the sixth ballot at a special diocesan convention in Fort Worth on October 2. A supporter of the traditionalist Episcopal Synod of America, Iker has publicly opposed the ordination of women. In an interview with Fort Worth's nominating committee prior to his election, Iker said that allowing women into the priesthood and episcopate was more a result of pressure from women's groups than a theological consensus within the church. His stand has been reinforced, Iker said, "by radical feminist assaults on basic beliefs of the Christian faith."

Contentious debate in standing committees
Iker's election touched off one of the most contentious battles over the consent of a new bishop in recent memory. Ironically, the debate over Iker's consent has something in common with the consent of the Episcopal Church's first woman bishop. Concern in the church over women in the ministry also fueled a controversy surrounding the consent of Barbara Harris, elected suffragan bishop of Massachusetts in 1988.

A group of persons in the Diocese of Fort Worth who support the ordination of women, the Council for the Laity, mounted the strongest opposition to Iker's election and lobbied standing committees across the church to withhold consent.

Despite initial indications that Iker's election was in trouble, and a war of words waged on the editorial pages of several church publications, standing committees gave consent to Iker more than two months ahead of the canonical six-month deadline.

However, some standing committee members said that their consent affirmed the autonomy of local dioceses in episcopal elections -- not Iker's position on women's ordination. The standing committee in the Diocese of Southern Ohio -- where Iker once served parishes -- voted against his consent, but sent an invitation to the Diocese of Fort Worth to begin a dialogue about traditionalist issues "to share our experience and to help forge the bonds of unity." And after intense debate and discussion, several standing committees, including Lexington, Maine, Utah and Southeast Florida, reversed their initial rejection and voted to approve Iker.

Angst over the decision among Utah standing committee members was typical of the debate in other dioceses. The standing committee in the Diocese of Utah initially voted unanimously to withhold consent from Iker, yet later voted 7-5 to reverse its earlier decision.

Changing their minds
According to a report of the debate in the January issue of the diocesan newspaper in Utah, the Diocesan Dialogue, standing committee members "stated their mind, debated, and even changed their minds in the course of the day."

"I'm going to vote no. I will not consent," said the Rev. Scott Hayashi in the Dialogue account. Iker's position on the ordination of women, Hayashi contended, "rejects 50 percent of the population based upon not anything that the person has done. I don't think it has any place in the church."

However, the Rev. Canon Alan Tull stated that he would vote for consent "because I'm a liberal and permissive. I have to decide whether to vote by his [Iker's] principles or my principles." Kristin Madden argued in favor of consent, saying, "There should be room [in the church] for diversity for people following their consciences."

Utah standing committee member Julie Keaton, initially expressing concern that Iker would reject candidates for the ministry "simply because they're female," decided later in the day that "I have to respect the integrity of the [Diocese of] Fort Worth process, and I would have to end up supporting [Iker's consent]."

Not a ringing endorsement
Although the Diocese of Chicago voted to consent to Iker's election, the decision was not a ringing endorsement. In a statement released January 14, the Rev. Clark Grew, president of Chicago's Standing Committee, said that the consent was given with "great reluctance" in view of Iker's opposition to the ordination of women, a stand the committee unanimously rejected.

The committee gave its approval, said Grew, in deference to canon law, which does not require a pro-women's ordination stance as a condition for episcopal election, and out of concern that a vote not to consent, based on disagreement with the bishop-elect's views toward women clergy, would set "an unwise precedent."

The committee also said that it believed that the national canons need clarification regarding the terms under which standing committees can oppose elections. However, a majority of standing committee members felt that "it would be unfair to the people of Fort Worth to withhold consent -- even of a bishop with Father Iker's views -- when the election was within current canonical boundaries," said Grew.

Although Iker's views on women's ordination are incompatible and contradictory with the views of the standing committee, "they are not heretical nor beyond the parameters of permitted opinion in the Episcopal Church," Grew said.

Bishops' turn to vote
Now that Iker has received consent from the required number of standing committees, he must receive consent from a majority of the church's diocesan bishops. Bishops will have three months to register their consent in order for the consecration to proceed.

Only one bishop-elect has ever failed to achieve the necessary consents to proceed to consecration: The Rev. James DeKoven, who was elected bishop of the Diocese of Illinois in 1875, was denied confirmation by the church's standing committees because of his devotion to Anglo-Catholic beliefs, specifically that Christ is actually present in the Eucharistic bread and wine. Although DeKoven never made it to the episcopal ranks, he did make the list of Lesser Feasts and Fasts, with March 22 as his feast day.