“The Episcopal Church is vibrantly engaged in missions in most places that I go. It is not growing numerically in most parts of the United States, but it is growing in most of our overseas dioceses,” Schori told WRAL’s David Crabtree.
“The Episcopal Church is vibrantly engaged in missions in most places that I go. It is not growing numerically in most parts of the United States, but it is growing in most of our overseas dioceses,” Schori told WRAL’s David Crabtree.
ACI has in its queue a brief statement on just this issue, viz., growth in places like the ‘six nations in Europe.’ The American Covocation of Churches is about one-tenth the size of the Diocese of Europe of the CofE. I don’t recall the Church of England belaboring the point that it is an ‘international church’ and the same can be said of other Provinces (the one the PB is about to visit, when she goes to NZ, comes to mind). I suppose the Church of England could call itself the ‘England-based Anglican Church’ (US-based Episcopal Church is the new lingo) but then, since it is the actual historical reason for there being an Anglican Communion, that would make little sense. I wonder what the next preamble to the ‘US-based Episcopal Church’ will read?
“Not growing numerically in most parts of the United States” must rate as the understatement of the century.
[b][i]2. RomeAnglican[/i][/b],
I don’t know that I would agree with your observation. After all, if one wishes to be precise, “numerical growth” expressed as change in numbers (of members, pledge & plate, [i]etc[/i].) with respect to time is an inherently mathematical quantity. It also, quite obviously, is a signed number, [i]i.e.[/i], it can be positive (greater than zero), zero, or negative (less than zero). So I would argue that it is not so much an understatement as it is a misstatement. But then, I would inquire whether that is particularly surprising, given the source being quoted.
Pax et bonum,
Keith Töpfer
#2-3,
Downplaying the sharp decline of TEC isn’t the only misleading part of that part of the interview. When the PB says that everywhere she goes, she finds congregations “vibrantly engaged in [b]missions[/b],” you have to wonder what kind of “missions” to which she is referring. Most likely, they are the sorts of “progressive”, activist, social gospel efforts at transforming society that she favors. Being an open universalist, I’m pretty sure she isn’t endorsing evangelistic sorts of mission. For ++KJS, it doesn’t appear to matter that TEC is imploding and withering away rapidly. She may even glory in that, as some in TEC do, as the expected result of the “prophetic” stands TEC’s leaders have taken.
Mostly, this sstatement appears to be a diversionary tactic, a smokescreen, as the PB tries to evade acknowledgement that TEC is stuck in a perhaps fatal but clearly accelerating slide into its new status as a very minor and unimportant denomination.
David Handy+
Since Mrs. Schori has stated in the past that her multitude of lawsuits are indeed a mission then I would agree with her that they are quite vibrant indeed.
Intercessor
This is sort of an odd point, but I think she sees TEC’s increasingly small footprint as going hand-in-hand with missions. KJS has described in glowing terms her visits to tiny parishes. She views them as boutique congregations for religious liberals who otherwise would eschew conservative religion and simply not go to church. In that, she sees TEC as missional.
re 6. That certainly is viewed as missional. In fact, in the 80s, Bp Reed of Kentucky published an ‘evangelistic’ pamphlet primarily extolling the virtue that his diocese was/is an alternative to conservative Christianity. And for several months this year, that diocese’s website featured the banner across the top of every page of its site which read, “Engaging Christ, Embracing the World”– I speak the truth and lie not. They eventually changed it, but not for several months! That’s the Church of St Katherine J-S for you.
That’s a big “missionary” activity amongst TEC revisionists.
If interested, see ‘The 16 Countries of TEC’ at the ACI site.
I hope someone will provide a transcript of this interview.
For the record
David Crabtree, the interviewer is an ordained Deacon in the TEC. Wouldn’t expect any hardball questions.
TEC in 16 countries — umm, sounds like border crossing.
This raises a question that I’m hoping one of you can answer: the Anglican Church in Central America was spun off of TEC several years ago. It includes Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador. Why is Honduras still in TEC but not in the Central American province?
EEEWWWW! Too close for comfort. I hope she is not planning on spending any time in the state just south of North Carolina….
I never noticed tis before, but she and her mentor Jerry Lamb have the same eyes.
14. A Senior Priest,
The video was sponsored by the Laser Eye Center of Carolina. Maybe they both had their work done there. I think she still suffers from myopia though.
[b][i] 15. Fr. Dale[/i][/b],
She certainly suffers from spiritual and psychological myopia. It is my non-professional opinion that she also (heartily) supports [i]dystopia[/i]—to the extent that she strews it where’er she treads.
😉
Pax et bonum,
Keith Töpfer
[b][i]14. A Senior Priest[/i][/b],
You wrote [blockquote]…she and her mentor Jerry Lamb have the same eyes…[/blockquote]
Of course, rather than laser surgery, there is an alternative explanation, although most folks would consider it extremely eerie. One of my fellow Catholics, a novelist, wrote a book about the phenomenon, which was adapted into a screenplay for a 1973 movie. You may remember it—[i]The Exorcist[/i]. Lamb being, of course, the possessed victim.
Come to think of it that would explain quite a few of the otherwise puzzling anomalies in the behavior of quite a few leaders in TEC—people alleged to be Christian.
Of course, this is a purely speculative conjecture on my part.
😉
Pax et bonum,
Keith Töpfer
#17 MA,
Thanks for the new word (dystopia). I can always count on you for some such stuff.
What is “speculative conjecture”? is this an even more anemic form of conjecture or are you just being redundant?
[b][i]18. Fr. Dale[/i][/b],
You are most welcome.
By speculative conjecture, I meant to distinguish my conjecture (as a layman) from that of a qualified psychologist (a professional), so the adjective simply reinforces or increases the uncertainty of the noun. In the case of the noun used, it could also be taken (correctly in this case) to imply that the the evidence is even more incomplete than using the noun alone would suggest. And it sounds better to my ear than using a more general adjective.
Pax et bonum,
Keith Töpfer
A puff piece. The Presiding Bishop describes the members of the Anglican Communion as adolescents. Perhaps this is projection.
#10. value8,
[blockquote]David Crabtree, the interviewer is an ordained Deacon in the TEC.[/blockquote] This reminds me of the new White House approach of having in house interviews for folks such as Elana Kagen. This way there are no surprise or difficult questions.