Tuesday, November 28, 2006

jordan hylden in 'first things'

No one thought it possible, but there is a wave of nostalgia sweeping through the ranks of conservative Episcopalians for their old presiding bishop, Frank Griswold. Of course, he may well have been heretical, but no one could really tell for sure. His statements were a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside a bureaucracy, raising what commonly is known as “Episco-babble” to something of an art form. By and large, we conservatives could confidently ignore what he said, resting assured that no one understood him anyway.

But those days, alas, are now gone. Our new presiding bishop, Katherine Jefferts Schori, is by comparison a model of clarity, and within the span of a month has managed to offend a rather astonishing range of people, including Catholics, Mormons, individuals without a graduate degree, and mothers with children.... In short, from her recent actions and public statements, it is reasonable to infer that her term is likely to tear the Episcopal Church in two—and, what’s more, that that is precisely what she intends.

Read it all here.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I like this article, though I don't like the feeling of impending doom I get when I read it. At least the call for clarity, which came loudly from both extremes before GC06, has been answered. I'm not sure if I like clarity as much as I thought I would. I'm continually amazed by how little the ideal of Catholicism is guiding or even influencing decisions at 815 2nd Ave.

Interesting reading from Zechariah this morning: "Thus said the LORD my God: Be a shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter." It continues with the taking of two staves, one Grace, the other Unity by name. Both end up getting broken, and the covenants with God annulled, because the shepherds persist in preying upon the flock and do not fulfil their responsibility genuinely to care for the sheep. Not precisely analagous to TEC, perhaps, unless schism from the church Catholic counts as exploiting the sheep. Which it may.

Anonymous said...

Her Orwellian language and sheer vulgarity astound me.

Anonymous said...

Every time I think about her/the entire situation I get the urge to slice my own face off. :(

Continuing Home said...

Though it sorrows me to see it, as one who left (P)ECUSA a long time ago, in an odd way I am glad to finally see something like clarity from ECUSA/TEC.