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.