Father Jake posted the following on his site, but since haloscan is not letting me post a comment, I thought I'd move the whole thing over here, where the cool guys and gals are. Faddah Jake post dis stuff:
The Right Leader at the Right Time
From a NYT article on Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori:
...In an interview in her office last week, Bishop Jefferts Schori said the conflict was more about "biblical interpretation" than about homosexuality.
"We have had gay bishops and gay clergy for millennia," she said. "The willingness to be open about that is more recent."
She said that what she wanted to convey to her fellow primates was that despite the highly-publicized departure of some congregations (a spokesman said 45 of 7,400 have left and affiliated with provinces overseas), the Episcopal Church has the support of most members, who are engaged in worship and mission work, and not fixated on this controversy.
"A number of the primates have perhaps inaccurate ideas about the context of this church. They hear from the voices quite loudly that this church is going to hell in a handbasket," she said. "The folks who are unhappy represent a small percentage of the whole, but they are quite loud"...
...Bishop Jefferts Schori said that if she is rebuked at the meeting, it will not be anything new; she experienced that before as an oceanographer: "The first time I was chief scientist on a cruise, the captain wouldn’t speak to me because I was a woman."
Asked how she would respond if primates walked out on her, she said, "Life is too short to get too flustered."
I find such statements alleviating some of my anxieties regarding next week's Primates' Meeting. Even reports of a band of clerics lurking in the shadows has little effect on my sense of peace.
Pray for the Church.
J.
Yo contesto:
Presiding Bishop Katherine is way too cool. How the heck did the Church in the U.S. get such a great Presiding Bishop? The Holy Spirit must be working overtime!!! Cuidado, Most Blessed Primates of the Global South; you have met your match, and the Holy Spirit is working with her.
6 comments:
Of course, she's a CDSP grad!
God Bless +Katherine, the way she has already been a blessing to us.
Hah! I got in on Fr. Jake's comments and said pretty much the same thing!
Except, you know, only snottier because about 70% of the commentators over there make me want to rip out my nose hair.
I wrote Fr Jake that I couldn't get into Haloscan either. I haven't heard back though nor have I tried to write anything. Maybe it's the Padre Mickey Dance Party people.
I couldn't get into Haloscan either. Here's the comment I wrote:
I feel optimistic about the future of the Episcopal Church, whatever happens in Tanzania. We'll continue.
I do believe Akinola wants to split and become archbishop of his own communion, so I don't see any concession or any argument mollifying him -- kind of like the Network bishops at GC 06.
Fine, OK with me if he goes. I'll stay right here and continue worshipping God, in a slightly smaller Episcopal Church, if that's what it takes.
I need to point out that her name is spelled Katharine . . . That's Katharine with an "A"
And yes, she's the right person for the job. She will need our prayers this week; but then again, so will the whole lot of us, from ++Akinola on down to . . . oh, whoever's last on the alphabet list.
Pray for peace.
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