Tag Archives: TEC

What’s the difference between a Christian and an Episcopalian?

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I have no idea, but even a secular sports writer recognises that they are not one and the same (my emphasis):

This is not simply about Tebow’s play, this is personal.

And even if he ends up being the worst quarterback in the history of quarterbacks, why are we OK with turning his Christianity into a punch line? If Tebow were a devout Muslim, would we snark about tenets of his religion? Or if he were Jewish? Or Buddhist? Or atheist? Or Espicopalian?

Maybe, but those cracks would be flagged by the PC crowd almost immediately. Christianity is fair game.

Is it just my imagination, or is the bold sentence a list religions in the order of the strength of their belief in an omnipotent, supernatural, omniscient God? Descending order.

Episcopal bishops gleefully welcome New York same-sex marriage

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The news that a law permitting same-sex marriages in New York has been approved is all it took for bishops in The Episcopal Church to fall over themselves in their eagerness to slavishly follow the world’s lead. In contemporary ecclesiastical parlance, this is called being prophetic. It used to be called being relevant but that is so 1990s.

You can read more on their enthusiastic rejoicing here:

At least one U.S. Episcopal Church bishop in the state of New York has said that clergy in his diocese may solemnize same-gender marriages as soon as the state’s recently passed Marriage Equality Act goes into effect.

“The Episcopal diocese of Long Island will engage this new law with a generous and open response allowing, under the provision of our General Convention, the use of rites for same-gender marriage by priests of this diocese who believe they are called to preside at the exchange of vows, once the law has taken effect in 30 days,” Bishop Lawrence Provenzano said in a June 25 statement.

Meanwhile, Bishop Prince Singh of Rochester said in a statement e-mailed to Episcopal News Service that he would soon set up a diocesan task force “to help us chart our course to engage this journey reverently, deliberately and in congruence with church law.” Singh told ENS that he was “working on some more specific direction for the diocese.” He had actively campaigned for at least two years for passage of the law.

Diocese of Western New York Bishop William Franklin said in a statement welcoming the law’s passage that he will be holding meetings soon “for members of our diocese to listen to how Episcopal churches in Western New York might integrate this decision into our life.”

Diocese of New York Bishop Mark Sisk said in a statement that “the legislation, as enacted, appears to be closely aligned with the long standing views of this diocese that the civil rights of all people should be respected equally before the law.”
All four praised passage of the act. The bishops of Albany and Central New York did not respond to ENS requests for comment.

 

TEC doesn’t want to include James McGreevey

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From here:

The Episcopal Church denied priesthood to former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey, according to The New York Post. McGreevey may be famously remembered for resigning from his governor post in 2004 after coming out as a “gay American” and a series of gay flings despite his marriage to then-wife Dina Matos McGreevey.

A statement regarding his rejection for priesthood has not been formally announced or commented on by the Episcopal Church, but The Post cites the Episcopal Diocese of Newark explaining, “It was not being gay but for being a jackass.” The Episcopal church welcomes gay and lesbian priests and has since the organization lifted the ban in 2009.…..

Now living as an openly gay man, McGreevey resides with his partner, Mark O’Donnell, in New Jersey where they share a mansion, according to NBC News

This is surprising since McGreevey has the all the qualifications that TEC values: he had gay flings while being married to a woman; he came out; he lives with his gay partner; and he’s even a jackass. He sounds like bishop material to me.

TEC North

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The Rev. Canon Gordon Baker is suggesting that the Anglican Church of Canada changes its name. He is not proposing to take the obvious and needed step to avoid prosecution under the false advertising act:  remove the word “Church”. Instead he wants to align with the other sinking ship south of the border, The Episcopal Church. In the popular vernacular, I think it means Fred would become Katharine’s bitch – assuming he isn’t already.

From here:

So I raise the question, “Is it time for a name change from The Anglican Church of Canada?” After all, we changed it once before, in 1955, from The Church of England in Canada to The Anglican Church of Canada. This was done to recognize and proclaim our existence and autonomy as something other than a colonial religious outpost. However appropriate the use of the word “Anglican” was at that time, it is now more than 50 years later, and our church has changed in its understanding of itself and its mission in a greatly changed Canadian social context.

Today we are developing new mature relationships with the aboriginal peoples of Canada and they are our sisters and brothers in faith and mission. Our clergy in Quebec are becoming totally bilingual so as to work comfortably within a French culture. The tag in western Canada of being the “English Church” no longer holds true.

I submit that it is time for us to be fully grown up and give thanks for all we have received from the Church of England, and others, but have a name that more truly expresses who we are. I believe that the name, “The Episcopal Church of Canada,” would do just that.

 

Episcopal Church does Lenten series on Islam

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From here:

Islam is the second largest religion in the world — and the fastest growing — yet few Americans know anything about it.

That, according to the Rev. Peter Whalen of Episcopal Church of the Redeemer and pastor Kent Lewis of Christ Lutheran Church, could be a grave error, and the root of future misunderstanding.

Together, the two churches will be hosting a five-week class about the religion every Wednesday night during Lent except Ash Wednesday. The first class will be March 16, beginning at 7 p.m. at Church of the Redeemer.

And why not? The Episcopal Church has misrepresented Christianity long enough; it’s time for Islam to have a turn.

 

The obvious incest question

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From here:

The attorney for David Epstein, a Colombia university professor charged with incest with his adult daughter, is defending sex between family members by appealing to homosexual “rights” as a precedent.

Epstein’s lawyer, Matthew Galluzzo, told ABC News that “It’s OK for homosexuals to do whatever they want in their own home. How is this so different? We have to figure out why some behavior is tolerated and some is not.”

“What goes on between consenting adults in private should not be legislated. That is not the proper domain of our law,” Galluzo told the Huffington Post, which publishes Epstein’s articles. “If we assume for a moment that both parties are consenting, then why are we prosecuting this?”

I would like to see one of the Anglican denominations that is advocating the legitimacy of same-sex marriage make a defence of why an incestuous relationship between consenting adults is not equally legitimate. I don’t expect to see it soon, though: since the ACoC and TEC have discarded Biblical injunctions against homosexual activity, any appeal to a similar prohibition against incest would be beyond the practiced sophistry of even the most senior bishops.

The Episcopal Church faces a “life or death decision”

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From here:

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori challenged the Episcopal Church’s Executive Council Oct. 24 to avoid “committing suicide by governance.”

No need to worry about governance, the Episcopal Church is already using the method much preferred by Anglicans: suicide by heresy.

Jefferts Schori said that the council and the church face a “life-or-death decision,” describing life as “a renewed and continually renewing focus on mission” and death as “an appeal to old ways and to internal focus” which devotes ever-greater resources to the institution and its internal conflicts.

Does that mean Jefferts Schori will stop using ever-greater resources to sue recalcitrant parishes into submission? No, that is not a serious question.

Later in her remarks, Jefferts Schori said “we need a system that is more nimble, that is more able to respond to change,” calling for “a more responsive and adaptable and less rigid set of systems.”

Good idea, a less rigid set of systems would allow for so-called cross-border interventions.

In case anyone wonders what “mission” means to TEC, the following clarifies that it has nothing whatsoever to do with winning souls for Christ and everything to do with marrying homosexuals:

For example, the ongoing work of the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music to respond to General Convention Resolution C056’s authorization to collect and develop theological resources and liturgies for blessing same-gender relationships is what she called the work of mission.

As for the future:

Jefferts Schori said “we don’t know what the future will look like … but what we do know, if we’re honest about it, it will look different than it did last year or 10 years ago.”

It will look different: there will be even fewer TEC Anglicans.

US Bishops march for open borders – but not for Anglicans

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From here:

The Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops has called for a halt to the enforcement of US immigration laws, calling upon Episcopalians to join with other members of the religious left in “actively protesting” racial stereotyping and demand a halt to “practices that treat undocumented workers as criminals.”

In a pastoral letter and discussion paper released at the close of their Sept 16-21 meeting in Phoenix, the bishops said the starting point for a debate on illegal immigration begins with “an obligation to advocate for every undocumented worker as already being a citizen of God’s reign on earth and one for whom Christ died.”

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It’s a little ironic that US Bishops are all for open borders in the secular realm, but when it comes to open borders for Anglicans it is quite another matter:

Schori told the press that she found the cross-border interventions “painful and destructive.” She said, “It destroys pastoral relationships….It does spiritual violence to vowed relationships.”

The inclusive Anglican church

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Let’s include everyone!

The Episcopal Church must open its doors to become more inclusive and find ways to make itself relevant beyond Sunday mornings, its presiding bishop said Friday as she prepared to take part in the Diocese of Milwaukee’s annual convention.

Let’s include atheists, paedophiles, pagans, neo-pagans, Muslims, Universalists, Druids and polyamorists. Oh, hang on, we already do: we make them bishops.

Mary Glasspool consecration: no-one objected

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During the consecration of Anglican-nouveau lesbian bishop, Mary Glasspool there came a point where those attending could object:Add an Image

There was a moment on Saturday when even the usually unflappable J. Jon Bruno, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, held his breath.

It was the point when the 3,000 people at the Long Beach Arena were asked if anyone had any objections to the ordination of the region’s first two female bishops, one of whom is the first lesbian bishop ordained by the Episcopal Church.

There were 3000 people present – many of whom were clergy – but when the moment of truth came, no-one objected. Why? After all, orthodox Christians who remain in TEC and the ACoC are supposedly working for reform from within by holding steadfastly to the faith once delivered; surely there would have been at least one person prepared to politely object to the consecration? Apparently not. And therein lies the flaw of trying to reform Anglicanism from within an apostate province: in practice, it isn’t happening, a stand is not being taken and the heterodox juggernaut blunders on unhindered.

Those who made it conspicuously apparent that they would object were expelled from the assembly – presumably in the name of inclusion – before reaching the point of potential embarrassment. The ejected placard wielders might have made a more strategically effective statement by waiting for the appointed moment for objections – although I can sympathise with their impatience and applaud their enthusiasm.

And early in the service, shortly after Bruce and Jardine had taken the stage, a man seated near the front of the arena stood, waved a placard and begin shouting: “Repent of the sins of the homosexual! Repent of the sin of abortion!”

As the audience stirred, a woman yelled sharply: “Sit down!”

As security guards led him off, the man continued yelling. “It’s an abomination! Repent! The Bible says homosexuals will not enter …” and his voice trailed off.

As the ceremony resumed, a young boy in a white shirt stood up, holding aloft what appeared to be a Bible. “Repent!” he began yelling to the startled arena. “Repent!” As he was led out, a voice called out, “We’re praying for you!” The audience applauded.

Praying what for you, one wonders, and to whom?