The Diocese of New Westminster’s new bishop, Rev. Melissa Skelton, is aware that her new diocese has a few problems:

How much work do you have to do in healing the effects of the same-sex union issue?

In my first year, that’s something I’ve got to figure out. I’ve heard there’s still a sense of hurt and difficulty in parishes around that. I have an organization development background, and I think the first thing one does in any kind of organization development work is what, in some ways, is called diagnosis.

To help with the “diagnosis” I’d like to point out: the blessing of same-sex unions in the Diocese of New Westminster precipitated a split in the Anglican Church of Canada, a split which has made a significant contribution to worldwide Anglican schism; the loss of thousands of Canadian Anglicans to ANiC; the loss of the largest congregation in Canada; acrimonious lawsuits; a substantial loss of revenue for the ACoC; the firing of clergy – including the world’s best known Anglican evangelical theologian – by the diocese; and the unedifying spectacle of ACoC bishops and clergy behaving like spoiled children who don’t get their own way.

Still, I expect all that is pretty obvious to someone with an “organization development background”; enjoy your new organization and keep us all posted on how the healing is going.