The Rev. Frank Kirkpatrick, a professor of religion at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., and author of a book on the Episcopal Church’s divisions, predicted the election of a new gay bishop would not cause more parishes to break away.
“I think the people who wanted to leave have already left,” he said. “Sure, I think it would anger some people. But (Robinson’s election) is when the inflamed passions on this came to the fore. Everything after that is a footnote.”
The Rev. Kendall Harmon, canon theologian of the Diocese of South Carolina and a prominent Episcopal conservative, said it’s unclear whether more U.S. parishes will leave if a new gay bishop is elected.
But, he said, “It will continue to drive a wedge between dioceses like mine and dioceses like Los Angeles.”
I’m always in favor of more, rather than less clarity.
[blockquote] Starr said it is impossible to assuage the concerns of the Anglican Communion’s most conservative dioceses. He pointed to the Ugandan diocese, which has resisted calls to oppose a bill in the Ugandan parliament that, according to Reuters, would impose life imprisonment for same-sex relations and the death penalty for repeat offenders.
Some of the U.S. breakaway parishes have affiliated with the Ugandan diocese.
“No matter what we do, they’re not going to be happy,” Starr said. “They’re so far out of the mainstream, it’s incredible.” [/blockquote]
Only two ?
the ugandan diocese??? singular???
It is unjust and “far out there” to tar American Episcopalians with a wish for the death penalty for homosexuals. I’m getting tired of being tarred with revisionst brushes. I personally oppose the death penalty. Period. Is that so far out there, Mr. Starr? Dr. Harmon considers that the election of a homosexual bishop would further drive a wedge … I don’t see him calling for executions either.
For my fellow pew sitters:
Mark these L.A. diocesan liars well. They move about honest people talking about justice and peace and producing neither. They talk about religion and desecrate it to suit their impulses. They lie at a press conference and say “no SSBs with MY permission..” and then keep lying about it until time lapses and LO! now priests are MARRYING same sex couples in Massachucetts. Such people are liars, plain and simple and the truth is not in them. They will be known for coming history as the overindulged generation that stopped at nothing to make a Church into their own images to gain respectablility that they could not earn elsewhere. Yet we too are sick for contributing attention and finances and respect for the lies and those that tell them.
Have some guts, won’t you, and have some people over to your homes and expose this stuff and talk about it. Lean on your vestries to withhold funds. Stop analyzing and start acting parish by parish until these liars are iced out back from whence they came.
Or else…just be quiet.
Screwtape noted the “peculiar clarity which Hell affords”. All clarity is not created equal.
Better yet, Choir Stall, I encourage people to go online and read, then sign, the Manhattan Declaration…….then live it! Spread the word, and encourage others to do the same!