An unprecedented visit to Peoria on Saturday by the top leader of the Episcopal Church was welcomed by some local churches but was largely ignored by the 19 that have broken away from the national organization.
The presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, Katharine Jefferts Schori, called a special synod at St. Paul’s Cathedral to name new leadership within the Peoria-based Diocese of Quincy and “to get the diocese back on its feet.”
“It was remarkable to experience this synod,” Jefferts Schori said after the special convention. “Everything passed unanimously, which is rare.”
It’s not all that difficult when the group is so small. This article indicates the “reorganized” diocese has all of 4 parishes, with the prospect of several more at best. It’s pretty obvious that this is all about creating a vehicle to file more lawsuits. No one can seriously maintain that these 4 parishes can ever consititute a diocese…
Everything passed unanimously, which is rare.
Heh.
Yes — it is simply wonderful to live in this glorious unified church now that the troublemakers are gone. It’s tinier — but so beautifully unified.
Forgive me for being cynical, but this just leads me to believe that unless your Remain Episcopal membership was paid up, there was no way you were “elected” to be a delegate to this “convention.” Even the bishop elect of N. Michigan was only able to get 88% running unopposed.
Thought this from the comment section was interesting:
[blockquote] Did you know KJS didn’t celebrate the Eucharist at the Cathedral for Synod? She preached at morning prayer. Mmmm….sounds like perhaps they aren’t all that crazy about her BUT she brought money.
She did celebrate at All Saints in Moline. Can’t wait to hear about that. [/blockquote]
Group-think tends to produce unanimity.
At their recent House of Bishops meeting, they had a presentation on “The Big Sort”, of how Americans are self selecting into homogeneous groups and not even having contact with others–“Blue” people often don’t even know any “Red” leaning folks.
So for her to rejoice that “everything passed unanimously” is simply to see a Big Sort happening in Peoria, as it is in San Joaquin, Fort Worth, etc. I wonder if KJS heard the presentation on The Big Sort, and realized that she is a big part of that sorting process??
Bill:
I would say that our current PB is the most ideological one we have ever had, mirroring the ideological rigidity of our church quite well. My experience in working with such people (and I have worked with her in the past) is that they are essentially incapable of learning when the idol of Ideology is under fire. We clutch what we most value to the end. For KJS and many others, being sorted according to ideology is the highest value, for it reveals who the elect really are. It is just another form of heresy, with arrogance and vicious clarity sitting where love and holy mystery are supposed to be enthroned.
Isn’t the idea of a presiding bishop showing up and “Attending Morning Prayer” indicate the parish is just really, really low church? I mean, they probably did Holy Communion *last* month. We aren’t Papists, you know!
The parish isn’t low church.
There may be a few uncomfortable about having her be the first woman to celebrate at the cathedral, or in the diocese for that matter