What gives you hope for the future in this church?
That what was true for the apostles is true for us. The Holy Spirit is guiding us. My episcopal motto is “Nothing is Impossible with God.” That continues to be true. That doesn’t mean we can rest on our laurels. We have many challenges that we have to face. One of those challenges is how do we best use our resources to grow the church of Pittsburgh? It means we are going to have to look at things differently. We must also be very serious about the very distinct roles in the church for the ordained and the lay people. We have to continue to look for appropriate ways that we can work together and not always look to just the models of the past.
I have so much trust in the movement of the Spirit already in Pittsburgh. I don’t have any intentions of turning back on initiatives that are already here. Initiatives are in place and won’t be stopped. They are the work of the church and we need to move ahead with them.
There was a great deal of superb leadership under Archbishop Wuerl. Bishop Bradley has done a splendid job, too. I’ve said to Bishop Bradley how grateful I am that we have a partnership and that we will be working together.
In many ways we have to think outside the box and look for the ways in which the Holy Spirit is calling us to be church. One of the important roles that I have as shepherd of this church is to listen carefully and make decisions based on prayer and on what I’ve heard. We always must be in union with the universal church. We must always walk together toward the kingdom of God.
I am very impresed by the RC Bishop of Pittsburg.
He is obviously a leader. He has a clear vision for his diocese and is fully aware of the secular culture that threathens the souls of those within his diocese.
Our own bishops within ECUSA should be expressing such leadership. But, most of them are not. Instead, most of ECUSA’s bishops, who are not revisionists, are being intimidated by and manipulated by the revisionists who are running ECUSA. I sense that they lack the courage of their convictions to dedicate themselves fully to Christ, regardless of the consequences to their careers within ECUSA and to the potential financial consequences of their Christian witness.
And if some of you are questioning whether I have ‘walked such a walk’ of personal integrity at high levels of responsibility, my answer is a resounding YES.
Those of you wishing factual confirmation are invited to contact me.
While the bishop enunciates catholic doctrine well, I do worry about his noun-adjective confusion problem:
Sound more like an episcopalian marine biologist than a Catholic bishop. Maybe he’s trying to soothe the jangled nerves of tie-dye catholics, overwrought at the resurgence of the Latin Mass.