The Nation - News from July 12, 1988

Delegates to the 69th General Convention of the Episcopal Church in Detroit reaffirmed the church’s opposition to abortion and narrowly upheld a policy that lets dioceses decide whether to bar homosexuals from the priesthood. A resolution expanding “access to the selection process for ordination” for all people, including homosexuals--but refusing to recognize a right to ordination--fell one vote short of passage by lay members of the House of Deputies. The 900-member House of Deputies, divided between lay and clerical church members, and the 200-member House of Bishops establishes policy for the 2.7-million-member church, whose nine-day convention ended Monday.