With respect to the Archbishop of Canterbury, he has a personal relationship with the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, and I leave that in their realm. Certainly, I’m not ignorant of issues in the culture and the church, so yes, I can say I anticipated some kind of reaction. You never know what kind of reaction.
I want to be quick to say that personally, I have received hundreds, maybe a thousand at this point, and one negative e-mail among all of them. I’ve received e-mails from all over the world ”“ from an 18-year-old gay man in Auckland, New Zealand, who said how proud and thrilled he was for the church. Episcopalians in the Diocese of Dallas, which is one of our more conservative dioceses, and a married couple, lay people, who wrote and sent their congratulations. A Lesbian couple who are Roman Catholic in England who said they were having such difficulty in their own church and they were so proud that the Episcopal Church was taking leadership in this way, demonstrating not only the reality of who we already are, but the inclusiveness of Jesus’ love for all people.
Yet another person who believes theology is determined by popular vote!
The ABC, oh, yes, that friend of Susan’s? Well, we needn’t bother about him or the rest of the Anglican Communion, need we? We are the TEC, the mighty, mighty TEC.
Well, if Ms. Glasspool’s e-mails are any indication, there should be something like a thousand new congregants for every one that departs TEC over this. I mean you can just feel the overwhelming support out there.
Uh-huh.