Ten Episcopal bishops who brought ecclesiastical charges against a fellow bishop for ordaining a non-celibate homosexual as a deacon will not appeal on the Church court's decision dismissing those charges.
An ecclesiastical court announced May 15 that it had dismissed charges that Bishop Righter violated Church teaching and his ordination vows when he performed the ordination, with the court's majority ruling that no "core doctrine" of the Church had been violated. The court strongly suggested that the question of ordaining non-celibate homosexuals should be resolved by General Convention, the Church's chief legislative body that next meets in 1997.