Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori opened an hour-long live internet interview with a prepared statement recapping the events of last month’s House of Bishops meeting in New Orleans and its controversial response to the primates’ communiqué.
Wearing reading glasses and a dark jacket and looking directly into the camera, she acknowledged on Oct. 16 that progressives and conservatives had been disappointed by portions of the statement, but that its scope was intended to be broad. “That is an Anglican stance,” she said. “It recognizes that the body is larger than any one of us.”
She defended continued membership in the Anglican Communion, tying it to the church’s ability to witness to a broader audience on behalf of the normalization of homosexuality. She concluded the statement by declaring, “There will be no outcasts in this church, whether because of sexual orientation” or theological belief.”
“She defended continued membership in the Anglican Communion, tying it to the church’s ability to witness to a broader audience on behalf of THE NORMALIZATION OF HOMOSEXUALITY.” There you go…..she spilled the beans right there….that’s what it’s all about. That certainly is clarity. The Episcopal gospel has become the legitimization of perversion.
[blockquote]that its scope was intended to be broad. “That is an Anglican stance,â€[/blockquote]
Ah, yes, the Larry Craig defense.
[blockquote] I don’t believe there is any wide willingness on the part of Episcopalians to go backward. I believe we understand that our vocation is to keep moving forward … In some parts of the world where people don’t want to think about embracing gay and lesbian people it’s going to be a challenge, in other parts of the world it’s going to be a challenge to think we are going to wait still longer for full sacramental inclusion. [blockquote]
Don’t go backward. Keep moving forward. People don’t want to think about it. To listen to the Presiding Bishop today is to hear a unified message that (1) it is only a matter of time until everyone agrees with the American Church on these issues, because after all, the American Church is out front, leading the way forward and not backward, and (2) the only reason people have not yet come on board with the American Church’s leadership is that they do not want to think about the issue. This plays well with the stated goal of the House of Bishops, that (3) the rest of the world only needs time to catch up with the American Church’s teachings and will be able to do so only if they spend more time in the listening process, i.e. listening to the experiences of the American Church and its wisdom.
It really seems that those of us who do not agree are backward, fearful, unsophisticated, standing in the way of justice, progress and the church. You know, how dumb can we be?
It was interesting to listen to the latter half of the webcast.
Next steps for the Anglican Communion:
“Hermeneutics project”
“Theological education”
Lambeth will be a bible study in the morning followed by examining how that bible study relates to some modern issue facing the church.
Maybe I am just a cynic, but what she’s really trying to say is “All our differences are just because of the uneducated clergy in some parts of the world. We just need to educate them, and then everything will be fine”
Its becoming clear why the Anglican Communion is losing its way. Its run by a bunch of academics.
[blockquote] “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty” [/blockquote]
If only they would get out of their books for a second and stop trying to analyze every word or the bible to make it conform to their world belief!
Its simple folks. You don’t need a masters degree to understand the bible. The Old Testament is a picture painting the story of Jesus. The New Testament is the fullfillment. We are not good enough. We can’t make ourselves good enough. As Moses lifted up the serpent, and everyone who looked at it was healed, so Jesus was raised up on a cross, and all who look to Him will live.
Its not about good works! Its not millenium development goals! Its looking at what Jesus did for us, and when we do that we get a new heart. We learn to love Jesus. We get to know Him. Its all about divine relationship, not learning! Thats why the church in Africa is growing… they have found the answer and its real and its touching their hearts. Thats why the church in the first world is dying. They have lost the relationship… they are trying all sorts of things to get there, anything but true Christianity (Buddist meditation, labyrinths, doing good deeds). Its time to read the bible again. Plainly. Not trying to make it say what it doesn’t say. It will change your life! It has mine…..
If pecusa had believed and acted upon this statement at GC03 by not agreeing to consecrate VGR the Anglican Communion wouldn’t be in the current crisis.
“That is an Anglican stance,†she said. “It recognizes that the body is larger than any one of us.â€
[blockquote]“There will be no outcasts in this church, whether because of sexual orientation†or theological belief.â€[/blockquote]
Which is not quite the same thing as saying “There will be no differentiation in the leadership of this church whether because of sexual orientation or theological belief.†The conservative laity is invited to hang around. It just shouldn’t expect anyone in leadership to agree with its conservative theology. The old world view must be expunged. No place for bigotry, doncha know.
carl
There will be no outcasts because of theological belief? This is an astounding thing for this – this – this – person to say. In TEC you can believe what you want and still be an Anglican? Yes, yes, I am repeating myself, but this is what it means to say that the only standard is no standard. Well, at least the battle lines are clearly drawn now, and we should enter this battle knowing clearly where the fronts are and who the enemy is. Now all we need is the courage to enter the battle. Tell me, Kendall, are you going to enter the lists on the op ed pages and carry the war to the enemy, or are you going to be nice and speak in measured and balanced tones, thanking the enemy for being honest? Are you going to tell me that we should love our enemies as justification for leaving ourselves undefended? iN short, are you willing to do what Williams is not willing to do, namely, act? That dreadful woman has thrown down the gauntlet. Who has the courage to pick it up? Really Miffed in Maine
“There will be no outcasts in this church, whether because of sexual orientation†or theological belief.†Well that’s kind of true. You don’t even need to believe that Jesus was the unique Son of God, any of the traditional Gospel or anything at all, if you want. You can even be a Muslim. Maybe someone can develop a Wiccan rite.
To paraphrase Monty Python:
“There’s nothing an Episcopalian can’t do if she doesn’t know whether she believes in anything or not.”
Does ++Schori really believe this is about who is an outcast and who is not? Does she honestly believe that the reasserter objections are personal? Like we made them up ourselves? Like it was our idea?
I’m with Larry in Maine, this is the most frustrating statement simply because it is obviously directed at placating the left, not warning the right. Woe to all of us who refuse to acknowledge an authority higher than our own sensibilities, and right now, they seem to be leading the pack.
KTF!….mrb
“It recognizes that the body is larger than any one of us.â€
(meanwhile…back at the ranch) SSB continue everwhere ANYONE wishes…
There will be no outcasts in this Church because of theological belief? Then who and what does she think we reasserters are?
Condescension on stilts.
This woman does not know that she does not know, nor does she know what she does not know.