May 07, 2006

The Episcopal Church Stands Down

The Diocese of California declines to elect an openly homosexual bishop.

As I noted the other day, had one of the three gay candidates been elected, it most probably would have sparked a shooting war within the Anglican Communion, something most of us still very much do not want to occur.

Most people I've talked to agree that about 10% of the Episcopal Church on either side of the issue want to have it out here and now, while the other 80% continue to maintain a vague hope that the whole thing will just somehow go away in fluffy compromise. An internecine war would certainly be very nasty and I can well understand the natural desire to avoid it. On the other hand, I continue to believe that the decline of the Episcopal Church is directly linked to its modern tendency to reason itself into virtually any kind of accomodation. Sooner or later, the peace maintained by such exertions is no longer going to be worth it because the Church itself will be effectively meaningless.

Posted by Robert at May 7, 2006 08:52 AM | TrackBack
Comments

When there is no sin, there is no need for a church. It might be time to consider a path to Rome.

Posted by: Basil Seal at May 7, 2006 10:35 AM

Hmph. They should stop calling themselves a church; they're just another country club with a cross at one end.

Posted by: DaveP. at May 7, 2006 11:50 AM

From the RC cheap seats IMHO: the Episcopal Church appears to have forgone doctrinal rigor for the sake of avoiding conflict. In the case of Bishop Robinson, what may have pushed the issue too far was Robinson's characterization of his extra marital relationship as sacramental and so placing it the same level as a sacramental marriage.

This forced what may have been otherwise "its nobody's business" (ignoring the problem) to where the demonination will have to state clearly "what is marriage?". The scriptural definition is clear and the unavoidable question then posed is what role does the Bible have in Episcopal teaching?

Posted by: KMR at May 7, 2006 05:46 PM

. . . and this concludes our test of the Episcopal emergency broadcast system. Had this been an actual ememrgency, you would have been given instructions to go to the nearest Roman Catholic parish offering the RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults) course . . .

Posted by: The Colossus at May 8, 2006 12:12 PM