Work to do up there for the right person – one of the least religiously inclined parts of the country.
Sadly, TEC tends to pander to what the secular are already enjoying – and so there’s no need to add church life. LibProt religion adds nothing of value.
Ah Yes, Oregon.
That is where Neff Powell (Bishop, S.W.VA.) hails from.
Voted FOR Robinson. Voted FOR Forrester. Voted FOR allowing bishops to use disgrace…uh…discretion to adapt the Prayer Book to “marry” same gender people. Voted FOR allowing same-gendered partnered clergy to have total access to all offices of clergy. Doesn’t like the Anglican Covenant. Was the Chairman of the Board of Planned Parenthood of the Blue Ridge in Virginia.
….all of this, thanks to one of the least religiously inclined parts of the country.
Wow. Not much info on the candidates’ spiritual lives and outlooks. I guess I’m used to the processes down here in the Lone Star State, where each candidate is asked to respond substantively in writing to several questions and we can read all of the responses.
Since the minimal information provided by the diocese is indeed mere cotton candy or “fluff” (as #2 and 6 rightly noted), I guess it will be up to independent news sources and blogs like this one to dig up all the information possible on the three candidates and make it available to all those interested in this election. Inevitably, when so much important information is withheld, it undermines trust in those controlling the whole election process.
Isn’t this the diocese that got burned by the short, contentious episcopate of +Itty? The India-born liberal who “retired” in his 40’s?This puzzling way of announcing the nominees to replace him suggests to me that there are still unresolved issues lurking around.
And Fr. Tim (#4), as usual I’m in hearty agreement with you about the vacuousness of liberal Protestantism (or should I say, Protestant Liberalism?). If I might add what I hope is a friendly amendment to your comment, TEC especially tends to pander to those that the founder of Liberal Protestantism, Friedrich Schliermacher, aptly called religion’s “cultured despisers” (1799). That is, to the social elite that is not only quite secular and worldly, but actually suspicious and cynical about passionate religious devotion of any sort. As the Master said, [i]”You can’t serve both God and Mammon[/i]. And faced with the choice between the two, the leaders of TEC have generally chosen…
Mammon, of course. And yes, there is a particularly high proportion of cultured despisers of Christianity in the Pacific Northwest. Any Christian leader in that highly de-churched part of the country has to be able to swim upstream against a very powerful social current, much like the ocean salmon do there.
I’m a little surprised there are no finalists from the diocese itself.
To piggyback on Tim’s exhortation, there are more reasserters in Oregon than one would have thought – because they are being very quiet, having been for all intents and purposes excluded by default. “Well, no one’s banging down my door about it”, would be the liberal progressive attitude of not searching out the conservative voice. Oh, the irony.
Yes, there are notables who have come out of Oregon (this is “western” Oregon, everything west of the Cascade mountains, including the agricultural Willamette Valley, the rugged, last-gasp Hippy enclave of the southwest, some remaining logging communities in both, the artsy and fisherfolk Pacific coast, and the Portland metro) on the “revisionist” side of things – let us not forget the influence of Marcus Borg. And Kevin F. But there have been others also out of Oregon: Dan Martins, myself, and some who are now serving in ACNA or Southern Cone capacities, Dean Carlos Raines, Fr. Jim Thompson, etc. Oregon was highly influenced by Cursillo, and the early decades of the ECF/ERM movement. These influences remain.
Oregon is a mixed bag, and to use Kendall’s recent quote about TECUSA in general, a bit incoherent. One thing seems sure, TECUSA in Oregon is just as susceptible to political wranging and manipulation as the state populous is in general, and has been for a long, long time. As a result, trust has been, and still is after the Bp Itty episcopate, a virtue burned often.
This should be a brief attempt providing some background to inform your prayers, and, hopefully, to see to the awakening necessary.
“What Rob (#10) said.”
I was just in Oregon and had my ear to the ground. Don’t forget that the Oregon SC voted “No” on KTF consent. There is a remnant of orthodoxy there. Probably not enough to influence the outcome of the election. Probably what all the candidates have in common is that they have demonstrated potential for knuckling under to the power elite in the Portland metro area. Itty, who was not a certified liberal alienated the true liberals for that reason, and alienated everybody by an authoritarian leadership style (sending out invoices to parishes for ALL the offerings collected on his visitations, including that in pledge envelopes). So he ended up with no political base, and by all accounts didn’t really like the job. But maybe there’s a Beckett among the nominees, eh?
Okay you quiet Oregon folks. Here are official excerpts that will inform you of how to accomplish the petition nomination if none of the three finalists from the search committee rock your world.
The folks in Georgia know how fast this short time frame comes and goes, so you’ll have to get on it. If your minds are blank as to who you might nominate, just put the word out here or perhaps at StandFirminFaith, and ask for private messages in return.
First, quickly put out the call for suggested names.
Second, immediately find your like-minded endorsers (see below). If you need names for endorsers, let that also be known here. Send me a private message, too.
Third, get permissions from 2 potential nominees if you have enough endorsers to go around. Get the nominee to produce responses to the search questions.
Fourth, collect all data and signatures on hard copy, and mail or hand deliver to the diocesan office (I suggest driving it in personally to the office and then drive over to the Standing Comm president’s office and hand her a copy).
Fifth, let people know confidentially that a petition candidate has been submitted and you are waiting for background checks. As soon as the background checks are done, and ok is given, start beating the bushes for all those quiet Oregonians.
At each step, pray for awakening, and God’s will.
“Nominee by Petition
“In addition to the nominees selected by the Search Committee who are introduced in the attached document, further nominees may be added by petition. Because background checks are required of all nominees before the election, nominations from the floor may not be made. Furthermore, to allow sufficient time for background checks to be carried out, ….petitions should be addressed to The President of the Standing Committee and must be delivered in hard copy to the Diocesan Office at 11800 SW Military Lane, Portland, OR 97219-8436 no later than Friday, August 28, 2009.
“Each Petition Nomination must be accompanied by signatures of at least four (4) clergy persons and four (4) lay persons from at least three (3) congregations and two (2) convocations, and
Petitions must be accompanied by all the information that is required of Official Nominees, including answers to all questions.
Among Oregon clergy I remember the Rev Doug Hadley hung out at TSM in the early 1990s before taking a parish in Oregon and that the Rev Gene Horn was an orthodox, charismatic/evangelical in Albany Ore who locked horns with the Bishop and eventually left TEC. Perhaps you remember these two Rob+?
Fr. Doug Hadley brought me into the church through an Alpha Course in 1999. Doug was Rector at St. James in Tigard, OR, a suburb of Portland. Doug was eventually run out of the diocese and finished his career w/TEC at St. Luke’s in Seattle, where he baptized one of my sons on his last Sunday w/TEC. Doug has moved on to the Orthodox Church. Doug was very disappointed w/TEC when he left. St James is a shadow of what it used to be in terms of ASA and impact in the community. There were waves of departures; my family and I left St. James and TEC in 2006.
You should expect that the eventual choice will be very liberal; much more so than Itty. The standing committee recommended “do not pass” to a resolution in favor of same sex marriage at the last diocesan convention – it passed anyway. KJS is very influential in Oregon as you might expect. Borg and Spong are widely read and respected. Cursillo is still influential in Oregon, but Alpha is not through TEC. There is a small, twenty church, “Citywide Alpha Invitation” we are working on with no TEC influence although Bp. Itty previously endorsed Alpha – along with the Via Media program.
I am aware of only St. Matthews in Portland having AAC and ACN connections and am not privy to their plans.
We are talking with folks from the Diocese of Cascadia ( in formation) and we are meeting with AMiA and Bishop elect Todd Hunter and his “Churches for the Sake of Others” initiative. You can see Todd Hunters AMiA initiative and information @ C4SO.ORG.
You know Rob, I would have been interested in a petition effort a few years ago – now it is difficult to even care having been gone a while. We have our ministries going and are waiting for ACNA or AMiA to get it together here. We figured early on that we would be one of the last geographic areas to get help, and that has proven to be true. Until we get a couple of church planters with the spiritual covering and administrative support of one of the ACNA organizations we are very much still in lifeboats here.
Dave,
How are you doing?
Rick shared some personal spiritual indebtedness re: Doug; Doug came to Tigard, and the diocese of Oregon in 1994 five years after I left St. Paul’s, Salem, to head to Tulare, so I didn’t really know him. I think he came in from parts Iran, Michigan and Idaho, and then landed, as Rick said, eventually at (the) St. Luke’s, Seattle. I believe he retired back in Tigard.
Gene is another matter. I knew him and his family pretty well while I was there, and he was at Albany. Locking horns, so to speak, was part of Gene’s identity. I believe at one point Gene tried to start a parochial mission in Portland, while rector in Albany. Get your map out….
Rick,
It’s been almost a year, hasn’t it. I don’t blame you for continuing to develop other avenues and options. Still, you know the players, and if nothing else, your prayers and those of the fellowship with which you meet will be essential. Shake a few trees, too. You can keep your focus on seeking God’s mercy for his Bride, and to take solace in the fact that God will not be mocked, and His kingdom come.
re: #10…
Marcus Borg has been asked by St. John’s Pro-Cathedral in Roanoke, VA. to come and lead a forum there. This is in the Diocese of S.W.VA.. Bishop Powell originates from Oregon.
Is there a theme going on in TEC with the barely religious Northwest bringing their taint to the mainstream? Since it hasn’t worked yet, why do they keep pushing their agenda as though it has life?
So far, this is the only information we have been given on these candidates. We are left to Google searches until the “walkabouts”. http://www.diocese-oregon.org/bishopsearch/transitioncommittee.html#walkabout
So, if any of you find any substantial information on them, please point us to it. The only odd thing so far is that there were supposed to be a slate of four nominees. No explanation has been given for there only being three. I wonder what the story is there. As for Marcus Borg, he has just been made the canon theologian at the catherdral.
There’s a good html version of this info here if you don’t want the PDF:
http://bloggingpriest.blogspot.com/2009/08/nominees-announced-for-10th-bishop-of.html
Nothing to reveal their beliefs…biblical or theological…it is all fluff.
Wonder of wonders, a post GC-09 slate of episcopal candidates in a liberal diocese and all are allegedly heterosexually married!
Work to do up there for the right person – one of the least religiously inclined parts of the country.
Sadly, TEC tends to pander to what the secular are already enjoying – and so there’s no need to add church life. LibProt religion adds nothing of value.
Ah Yes, Oregon.
That is where Neff Powell (Bishop, S.W.VA.) hails from.
Voted FOR Robinson. Voted FOR Forrester. Voted FOR allowing bishops to use disgrace…uh…discretion to adapt the Prayer Book to “marry” same gender people. Voted FOR allowing same-gendered partnered clergy to have total access to all offices of clergy. Doesn’t like the Anglican Covenant. Was the Chairman of the Board of Planned Parenthood of the Blue Ridge in Virginia.
….all of this, thanks to one of the least religiously inclined parts of the country.
Wow. Not much info on the candidates’ spiritual lives and outlooks. I guess I’m used to the processes down here in the Lone Star State, where each candidate is asked to respond substantively in writing to several questions and we can read all of the responses.
It does not seem that they will change the complexion of the House of Bishops much.
Don’t forget Jerry Lamb and KJS came from Oregon.
Since the minimal information provided by the diocese is indeed mere cotton candy or “fluff” (as #2 and 6 rightly noted), I guess it will be up to independent news sources and blogs like this one to dig up all the information possible on the three candidates and make it available to all those interested in this election. Inevitably, when so much important information is withheld, it undermines trust in those controlling the whole election process.
Isn’t this the diocese that got burned by the short, contentious episcopate of +Itty? The India-born liberal who “retired” in his 40’s?This puzzling way of announcing the nominees to replace him suggests to me that there are still unresolved issues lurking around.
And Fr. Tim (#4), as usual I’m in hearty agreement with you about the vacuousness of liberal Protestantism (or should I say, Protestant Liberalism?). If I might add what I hope is a friendly amendment to your comment, TEC especially tends to pander to those that the founder of Liberal Protestantism, Friedrich Schliermacher, aptly called religion’s “cultured despisers” (1799). That is, to the social elite that is not only quite secular and worldly, but actually suspicious and cynical about passionate religious devotion of any sort. As the Master said, [i]”You can’t serve both God and Mammon[/i]. And faced with the choice between the two, the leaders of TEC have generally chosen…
Mammon, of course. And yes, there is a particularly high proportion of cultured despisers of Christianity in the Pacific Northwest. Any Christian leader in that highly de-churched part of the country has to be able to swim upstream against a very powerful social current, much like the ocean salmon do there.
David Handy+
I’m a little surprised there are no finalists from the diocese itself.
To piggyback on Tim’s exhortation, there are more reasserters in Oregon than one would have thought – because they are being very quiet, having been for all intents and purposes excluded by default. “Well, no one’s banging down my door about it”, would be the liberal progressive attitude of not searching out the conservative voice. Oh, the irony.
Yes, there are notables who have come out of Oregon (this is “western” Oregon, everything west of the Cascade mountains, including the agricultural Willamette Valley, the rugged, last-gasp Hippy enclave of the southwest, some remaining logging communities in both, the artsy and fisherfolk Pacific coast, and the Portland metro) on the “revisionist” side of things – let us not forget the influence of Marcus Borg. And Kevin F. But there have been others also out of Oregon: Dan Martins, myself, and some who are now serving in ACNA or Southern Cone capacities, Dean Carlos Raines, Fr. Jim Thompson, etc. Oregon was highly influenced by Cursillo, and the early decades of the ECF/ERM movement. These influences remain.
Oregon is a mixed bag, and to use Kendall’s recent quote about TECUSA in general, a bit incoherent. One thing seems sure, TECUSA in Oregon is just as susceptible to political wranging and manipulation as the state populous is in general, and has been for a long, long time. As a result, trust has been, and still is after the Bp Itty episcopate, a virtue burned often.
This should be a brief attempt providing some background to inform your prayers, and, hopefully, to see to the awakening necessary.
“What Rob (#10) said.”
I was just in Oregon and had my ear to the ground. Don’t forget that the Oregon SC voted “No” on KTF consent. There is a remnant of orthodoxy there. Probably not enough to influence the outcome of the election. Probably what all the candidates have in common is that they have demonstrated potential for knuckling under to the power elite in the Portland metro area. Itty, who was not a certified liberal alienated the true liberals for that reason, and alienated everybody by an authoritarian leadership style (sending out invoices to parishes for ALL the offerings collected on his visitations, including that in pledge envelopes). So he ended up with no political base, and by all accounts didn’t really like the job. But maybe there’s a Beckett among the nominees, eh?
Okay you quiet Oregon folks. Here are official excerpts that will inform you of how to accomplish the petition nomination if none of the three finalists from the search committee rock your world.
The folks in Georgia know how fast this short time frame comes and goes, so you’ll have to get on it. If your minds are blank as to who you might nominate, just put the word out here or perhaps at StandFirminFaith, and ask for private messages in return.
First, quickly put out the call for suggested names.
Second, immediately find your like-minded endorsers (see below). If you need names for endorsers, let that also be known here. Send me a private message, too.
Third, get permissions from 2 potential nominees if you have enough endorsers to go around. Get the nominee to produce responses to the search questions.
Fourth, collect all data and signatures on hard copy, and mail or hand deliver to the diocesan office (I suggest driving it in personally to the office and then drive over to the Standing Comm president’s office and hand her a copy).
Fifth, let people know confidentially that a petition candidate has been submitted and you are waiting for background checks. As soon as the background checks are done, and ok is given, start beating the bushes for all those quiet Oregonians.
At each step, pray for awakening, and God’s will.
“Nominee by Petition
“In addition to the nominees selected by the Search Committee who are introduced in the attached document, further nominees may be added by petition. Because background checks are required of all nominees before the election, nominations from the floor may not be made. Furthermore, to allow sufficient time for background checks to be carried out, ….petitions should be addressed to The President of the Standing Committee and must be delivered in hard copy to the Diocesan Office at 11800 SW Military Lane, Portland, OR 97219-8436 no later than Friday, August 28, 2009.
“Each Petition Nomination must be accompanied by signatures of at least four (4) clergy persons and four (4) lay persons from at least three (3) congregations and two (2) convocations, and
Petitions must be accompanied by all the information that is required of Official Nominees, including answers to all questions.
“Anyone wishing to make a petition nomination should download the Bishop Search Procedures and Nomination by Petition packet.
see http://www.diocese-oregon.org/bishopsearch/bishopsearch.htm“
Among Oregon clergy I remember the Rev Doug Hadley hung out at TSM in the early 1990s before taking a parish in Oregon and that the Rev Gene Horn was an orthodox, charismatic/evangelical in Albany Ore who locked horns with the Bishop and eventually left TEC. Perhaps you remember these two Rob+?
Fr. Doug Hadley brought me into the church through an Alpha Course in 1999. Doug was Rector at St. James in Tigard, OR, a suburb of Portland. Doug was eventually run out of the diocese and finished his career w/TEC at St. Luke’s in Seattle, where he baptized one of my sons on his last Sunday w/TEC. Doug has moved on to the Orthodox Church. Doug was very disappointed w/TEC when he left. St James is a shadow of what it used to be in terms of ASA and impact in the community. There were waves of departures; my family and I left St. James and TEC in 2006.
You should expect that the eventual choice will be very liberal; much more so than Itty. The standing committee recommended “do not pass” to a resolution in favor of same sex marriage at the last diocesan convention – it passed anyway. KJS is very influential in Oregon as you might expect. Borg and Spong are widely read and respected. Cursillo is still influential in Oregon, but Alpha is not through TEC. There is a small, twenty church, “Citywide Alpha Invitation” we are working on with no TEC influence although Bp. Itty previously endorsed Alpha – along with the Via Media program.
I am aware of only St. Matthews in Portland having AAC and ACN connections and am not privy to their plans.
We are talking with folks from the Diocese of Cascadia ( in formation) and we are meeting with AMiA and Bishop elect Todd Hunter and his “Churches for the Sake of Others” initiative. You can see Todd Hunters AMiA initiative and information @ C4SO.ORG.
You know Rob, I would have been interested in a petition effort a few years ago – now it is difficult to even care having been gone a while. We have our ministries going and are waiting for ACNA or AMiA to get it together here. We figured early on that we would be one of the last geographic areas to get help, and that has proven to be true. Until we get a couple of church planters with the spiritual covering and administrative support of one of the ACNA organizations we are very much still in lifeboats here.
Dave,
How are you doing?
Rick shared some personal spiritual indebtedness re: Doug; Doug came to Tigard, and the diocese of Oregon in 1994 five years after I left St. Paul’s, Salem, to head to Tulare, so I didn’t really know him. I think he came in from parts Iran, Michigan and Idaho, and then landed, as Rick said, eventually at (the) St. Luke’s, Seattle. I believe he retired back in Tigard.
Gene is another matter. I knew him and his family pretty well while I was there, and he was at Albany. Locking horns, so to speak, was part of Gene’s identity. I believe at one point Gene tried to start a parochial mission in Portland, while rector in Albany. Get your map out….
Rick,
It’s been almost a year, hasn’t it. I don’t blame you for continuing to develop other avenues and options. Still, you know the players, and if nothing else, your prayers and those of the fellowship with which you meet will be essential. Shake a few trees, too. You can keep your focus on seeking God’s mercy for his Bride, and to take solace in the fact that God will not be mocked, and His kingdom come.
re: #10…
Marcus Borg has been asked by St. John’s Pro-Cathedral in Roanoke, VA. to come and lead a forum there. This is in the Diocese of S.W.VA.. Bishop Powell originates from Oregon.
Is there a theme going on in TEC with the barely religious Northwest bringing their taint to the mainstream? Since it hasn’t worked yet, why do they keep pushing their agenda as though it has life?
So far, this is the only information we have been given on these candidates. We are left to Google searches until the “walkabouts”.
http://www.diocese-oregon.org/bishopsearch/transitioncommittee.html#walkabout
So, if any of you find any substantial information on them, please point us to it. The only odd thing so far is that there were supposed to be a slate of four nominees. No explanation has been given for there only being three. I wonder what the story is there. As for Marcus Borg, he has just been made the canon theologian at the catherdral.