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Rumble In Minneapolis

For those of you following along at home who are Episcopalian/Anglican, you are probably aware of the developments of this week in which an openly gay man was confirmed as bishop of New Hampshire at the General Convention of the ECUSA. Jack and I have been emailing each other about the convention all week, and I can recommend his multiple links to Episcopalian websites if you're interested - just go to his site, they're listed on the left. Jack aptly described the convention as "a knife fight in a phone booth."

I'm going to admit that my feelings about the election are ambiguous. Don't hit me: my church benefits from the presence of many wonderful members of our congregation who are gay and lesbian. They donate their time, energy, money and creativity to the church, and I don't know what we would do without them. I also know two gay priests who are outstanding people, committed to serving God. I firmly believe they are following their true calling, and the thought of one of them not being able to be a bishop because of their sexual orientation really bothers me.

But when I read these words, from the Bishop of Pittsburgh's statement following the election, they struck a chord with me:

Those who rejoice at this moment will, I pray, at least understand what has been stolen from us: unity with the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church ecumenically; unity with our brothers and sisters in the Anglican Communion across the globe; unity with the Faith once delivered to the Saints.

Tradition isn't everything, but it is meaningful. The reaction of Gene Robinson and his backers has been, "We don't want anyone to leave the ECUSA, but if they do it's their decision, not ours." I don't think that's good enough, and I don't think it's an attitude that bodes well for the future of the Episcopal Church.

The bright spot for me this week has been this article, which I found via VodkaPundit:

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, today responded to efforts by the American members of the Anglican Communion to elect an openly gay bishop by declaring the Episcopal Church of the United States of America to be in schism with the Church of England and ordering its members to be arrested and burnt.

"The old sweetie's really got a bee in his mitre over this one," said Canon Douglas F.X. Ramsbottom, a Lambeth Palace spokesperson. "It's not so much the gay thing, I mean we are British clergy, after all; it's the power thing. Rowie doesn't like the Americans thumbing their noses at him. Deep down, he really wants to be like the pope, you know, infallible and everybody kissing his ring, so every now and then he's got to flex a little muscle."

Whether based on scripture or the worst case of papal envy since Archbishop Thomas Cramner went one-on-one against Clement VIII and wound up being burned at the stake for his trouble, the directive to begin burning Episcopalians as heretics has the full force of canon law and is expected to result in somewhat of a strain in the relations between England and the United States. Indeed, two American tourists have already been arrested while touring the Tower, imprisoned in one of its unused cells, tried, and condemned.

A quick-witted Beefeater spotted Mr. and Mrs. Peter Fairworthy as likely Episcopalians when they appeared to be the only middle-aged Americans tourists in London who were not dressed in tee-shirts, shorts, and shower clogs. Under questioning from the Archbishop of Canterbury's Inquisitors, Mr. Fairworthy seemed somewhat vague as to whether he in fact belonged to any church, until his wife reminded him that the answer to their enquiries might well call for the place he intended to attend every Christmas, when they were not visiting St. Barts, and every Easter, when the weather was not suitable for golf.

The Brits do religious satire better than we do.

posted by Dr. Alice at #