The new statement, drafted by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, is apparently a response to suggestions that members of the two communities might now be able to celebrate the Eucharist together. At its recent convention, the Episcopal Diocese of Maine addressed population issues and the urgent challenge they pose to the global environment and to spiritual values affirmed in the church's Baptismal Covenant. Churches are excellent places to help people recognize the spiritual dimensions of those issues, the committee argued. Top church leaders are also telling local leaders in a letter not to put up any new sites until the church can develop a policy governing the use of the Internet that would apply to all 28,000 congregations worldwide. There were rumors that the action was taken, at least partially, because the names of persons excommunicated by the church were appearing on-line at unofficial sites.
Early signs indicate that local sites seem to be slowly complying with the church directive.
Some contained brief notices of the suspension and mentioned that guidelines and policies were being formulated. In a historic, three-day meeting at the Vatican, Presbyterians and Roman Catholics sorted out some of their differences and affirmed their commitment to the search for Christian unity. Our history has been to set episcope against conciliar understandings of oversight. The 25th anniversary of the decision to ordain women to the priesthood and episcopate of the Episcopal Church will be celebrated across the nation on September 16, 2001. The celebration is spearheaded by the national Executive Council's Committee on the Status of Women.