Mark Harris Tries to Play Shoot the Messenger
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* South Carolina,
Blogging & the Internet,
Episcopal Church (TEC),
Instruments of Unity,
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Same-sex blessings,
Sexuality Debate (in Anglican Communion),
TEC Bishops,
TEC Conflicts,
TEC Conflicts: Los Angeles,
Theology
Kendall,
Obviously, he does not like your statement but that is no surprise. Nor is it any surprise what the Diocese of LA has done. They knew exactly what they did and why. But when you or anyone else point out the reality of what they have done and challenge their theological agenda which they have no biblical argument to support, they turn to personal attacks.
Keep up the good work Kendall and God bless.
Tee hee.
But isn’t it fun to see all the outraged congregate over there and comment endlessly about how nobody cares what you write?
; > )
And Mark Harris writes a post about how irritating it is that news people will quote you in various places? But that . . . nobody cares. And he’s writing a post solely to say that nobody cares, Kendall.
You gotta admit there’s a certain satisfaction in viewing that little congregation of the chattering.
The comments are priceless — sullen and childish in their envy. It’s like taking a little snapshot of the insecure and pettish — and just think, many of them “clergy” of our church.
Perfect representatives of TEC.
Mark Harris is a cause of the problems in this Church. Period.
Coming from a diocese that can’t even keep its own cathedral alive, he plays at knowing God’s will in the Executive Council and he doesn’t mind saying so. He’s truly not going to be contented until the entire Church laps up his brand of revisionism and otherwise vibrant, yes, Bible-adhering parishes and dioceses are as irrelevant and weak as what is found in Delaware. Via Media has been corrupted by Canon Harris and others like him mainly because so many well-intentioned people have surrendered the interpretations to the loud and obvious voices among us who don’t have any intentions to be true to it.
Kendall you naughty boy- stop ‘acting above your pay grade’
Don’t you realise this ‘inclusive’ lot only listen to grand bishops? You are ONLY a Conservative blogger….imagine if you were ONLY a peasant born in a stable- yoi might be ignored altogether then, even defied!
Enjoy the flack- it suggests your words are carrying weight and making people uncomfortable with their actions and thoughts. That is good as it is the first step on a path to conversion
No one–not Harris, not any of his commenters–bothers to argue with a single thing you said. Instead, all they can do is call you a poopyhead and scream “I’M RIGHT! I’M RIGHT! I’M RIGHT! I’M RIGHT! I’M RIGHT!” Pathetic.
My own favorite:
“Kendall Harmon is a fine person, a good priest, and all that. He is also working well beyond his pay grade. Granted he is Dr., he is Canon Theologian. In reality he is only a major conservative blogger.”
And what exactly does this make Mark Harris? Have no idea what his academic credentials are, but I know he is no one’s canon theologian- so what exactly is Harris’ pay grade? I guess that just makes Harris a minor revisionist blogger with a major ego. “Preludium,” c’mon!
Canons to the left of us, canons to the right of us, into the valley of decision marches the bravado of The Episcopal Church.
The canons have fired. When will the cannons fire?
Well I have read Canon Harmon’s quote on the BBC, in the Times, CNN, Time, and a number of other major US and UK papers and blogs, which is presumably what the Reverend Canon Dr. Mark Harris finds so galling.
“In reality he is only a major conservative blogger.” Well this is an important point – people have not really woken up to the fact that major bloggers are an important and increasingly influential source of news in the New Media. In many ways they are leading the mainstream media, breaking stories, bringing stories buried away to more prominence, and through comments allowing a variety of readers [some of whom are very well informed indeed] to bring in further information.
It is not just blogging, influence in the media is spreading into instant information exchanges like Twitter [the Iran protests], Facebook etc. No doubt these developments will grow and continue to impact the church and its mission. Indeed maybe we are only just beginning to think about the opportunities for mission they represent.
All this of course is a challenge to traditional vested interests, and goodness how they hate and fear it, whether a tyrannical police state or 815. But the reality is that the genie is not going back in the bottle and this is the world they and Fr Harris are going to have to get used to. After all, why have we heard of Mark Harris?
Thank you and well done Canon Harmon; you and your ministry on the internet are a blessing to us all, those of us in the US and those like me who are overseas.
So, practically speaking, what does his “only” mean? As opposed to . . . what? Is it that you have to be a member of the House of Deputies to have a meaningful opinion? That you should be a seminary faculty member? It may have been a thoughtless, throwaway, belittling line, but in his intention, it meant something. I really do wonder what.
I am fascinated by +Bruno’s statement that we would have more reason to deny consent to him for having been divorced that to a candidate who is faithfully committeed to their same-sex relationship. That certainly opens up an interesting angle of reflection — again, though it was no doubt said with confidence that no one in the consent electorate will want to go there (horse left the barn, etc.). But is there some fundamental insecurity that nudged that statement out of his mouth?
I’m not wanting to be (or encourage) snarky — i’m really curious about this.
“Is it that you have to be a member of the House of Deputies to have a meaningful opinion”?
Answer: Yes!
Remember the Church-wide poll of over 1,000 respondants that came out recently? How Social Justice ranked below the top 5 concerns of the cross-sections of this Church? How evangelism, solid liturgy, and Christian education ranked well before liberal agenda causes? Well, rest assured that Canon Harris and the Executive Council have taken note of the Poll and are choosing to….wait for it….wait for it…. do ….nothing.
RE: “Well I have read Canon Harmon’s quote on the BBC, in the Times, CNN, Time, and a number of other major US and UK papers and blogs, which is presumably what the Reverend Canon Dr. Mark Harris finds so galling.”
Heh. So true.
RE: “Is it that you have to be a member of the House of Deputies to have a meaningful opinion?”
No — you need to be a member of the Executive Council and you need to at least fancy yourself to be scholarly and intellectual, not to mention wonder why others don’t give you the respect and promotion that you so richly deserve, as well as quotes in the BBC, in the Times, CNN, Time, and a number of other major US and UK papers.
; > )
Read the comments and the long screed Priscilla directs at John for “throwing stones” at Fr. Mark when John questions whether he might just be feeling a bit crabby, and whether magnanimity might not be a good idea.
Read how it is insinuated that Fr. Harmon is connected to dragging black people behind pickup trucks.
And no one is complaining about that particular commenter, either. Is he “throwing stones” at Fr. Harmon? No, he is one of the elect; Fr. Harmon needs to be “converted.”
Amen Sarah…
Well that lot seems to have sat down to some mighty soggy cornflakes.
And Kendall I bet you feel just awful getting above yourself as you have. You really ought to let your betters do all the heavy theological lifting. For your own good, you know. You might strain your canonicals.
Thanks for all you do Kendall.
Kendall+, as a Scots-Kiwi priest friend of ours would say, “Good on ya!”
Judging from the number of news services picking up your quotes, and the poorly-disguised whining, wailing, and gnashing of teeth over at Preludium (especially from Kaeton), you obviously hit a raw nerve!
The more they try to minimize it, the more light they shed on it.
I agree completely with Mark Harris’s final thought. OF COURSE Ms Glasspool was elected a soi-disant suffragan bishop because of who she is. That would be that she is lesbian in her professed sexual orientation.
Ah, that Kendall- he’s not the Messiah – he’s only a major conservative blogger.
I’ll second Karen B.: Thank you, Kendall, for everything you do.
“he’s only a conservative blogger”…..ah there’s the rub….those “only conservative bloggers” are reaching too many people……luv it
Gee, I thought this was the part that jumped out:
[blockquote] The Rev. Dr. Mark Harris, Canon, Episcopal Church of the Philippines, and D. Humanities, Trinity University of Asia, none of which titles do anyone, including me, any good at all.[/blockquote]
By his own admission, that. Makes me think that being a canon in most TEC dioceses is like being a professor of music at Gallaudet University: lovely, but not central to the mission, really.
HAVE WE IGNORED THE OBVIOUS PROBLEM THAT WOULD PREVENT CONSENT?
1. Sex outside of marriage is adultery.
2. California has not passed same-sex marriage, and has, in fact, rejected it.
On THESE two counts, the new bishop-elect is violating the Book of Common Prayer. So, if all of you revisionists want to flee back to the canons and Prayer Book, be sure that you have finished rewriting both before you demand that people quote them and drop for them.
The lady is living in sin according to our standards. How can she lead a state that has rejected her lifestyle and will not legalize it?
(Flip, flop coming from the Left Coast….wait for it…here it comes:….”Oh, we must be prophetic in the case of this injustice so our canons on marriage and adultery cannot be quoted here.”)
{sarcasm on}
Did Mark renounce his orders in TEC in order to receive the titular honor of Canon of the ECP?
{sarcasm off}
Choir Stall, you don’t REALLY expect our bishops (with precious few exceptions) and Standing Committees to actually pay attention to the relevant canons, or the BCP, or, for that matter, that musty hateful old book that fundies love to refer to (aka the Bible)?
As someone noted in another thread, Ms. Glasspool should never have made it to the diaconate or Holy Orders, based on her lifestyle. That she did, and has now been elected as suffragan, demonstrates that the only authority in TEc’s hierarchy is the will to power. And, so no one thinks I’m picking on openly gay folks, my views on her unfitness for the priesthood/episcopacy include anyone who is sexually active outside of Holy Matrimony. I really don’t see where one can fulminate against her election when the Diocese of California has a twice-divorced bishop.