That's My Church!

That ripping sound you hear is the Episcopal Church USA beginning to break apart:

Dallas Bishop James M. Stanton is among the leaders of seven Episcopal dioceses who have rejected the authority of the denomination's incoming national leader, Nevada Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, as the debate over the Bible and gay relationships tears at the church.

The move, prompted partly by Jefferts Schori's support for gay relationships, falls just short of a complete break. But in October, Dallas-area Episcopalians will meet to more fully consider their future in the denomination.

The six other dissenting dioceses - Central Florida; Fort Worth, Texas; Fresno, Calif.; Pittsburgh; Springfield, Ill., and South Carolina - are having similar internal debates.

What's interesting about this story is that the dissent is at the diocesian level. I expect that if you look at the other diocese around the country (including my own), you will find battle lines drawn up on a parish-by-parish level and also within each congregation. If some kind of formal split does occur, it won't be neat and clean, but instead will be very ragged.

(I'd like to discuss this article with my own rector tomorrow. Unfortunately, I have to get on a @#)($*@# plane at @#$( seven in the morning to go out of town for a @#$)(#$ deposition and won't get back until @#$)@#*$(# late tomorrow night (yes, a @#$*&(@# Sunday deposition - don't ask), but that's a @#*$&@#( different @#$()*# story.)