Bishop [Jefferts] Schori, in her fourth year of a nine-year term, said the Episcopal Church is eager to see the project move forward near 132nd Street and West Center Road.
“The Tri-Faith Initiative … is really one of the leading examples in the Episcopal church of what’s possible in terms of Abrahamic reconciliation and understanding,” the bishop said. “It’s a story that I tell frequently because people don’t know that something like this is possible, and here it is in Omaha, in the center of the United States. It’s a witness and an example to the rest of the nation and to the rest of world. There is nothing like this in New York City, Washington, D.C., or Chicago. There are small initiatives that are usually bilateral ”” Jews and Episcopalians … but this is the only intentional community that involves all three.”
The Presiding Bishop’s statement: [i]There are small initiatives that are usually bilateral — Jews and Episcopalians … but this is the only intentional community that involves all three.â€[/i]
is ABSOLUTELY UNTRUE. What hubris to think that TEC has some kind of exclusive ministry in this area.
A few links off the top of my head:
– The Yale Reconciliation Program – which promotes dialogue and reconciliation among Jews, Muslims and Christians based on a study of the person and teachings of Christ
http://www.yale.edu/faith/rp/rp.htm
http://www.yale.edu/faith/rp/rp_hope.htm
– Peace Catalyst International –
http://www.peace-catalyst.net/
http://www.peace-catalyst.net/programs
I know quite a bit about those two ministries. But then of course, there is, for instance, the inter-faith foundation Tony Blair started…
http://www.tonyblairfaithfoundation.org/
Or the work of the National Prayer Breakfast in promoting peace and understanding of Christianity by routinely inviting Muslim and Jewish leaders – including heads of state – to attend the prayer breakfasts. (See here for more info: http://ricklove.net/?p=750 )
So how KJS can claim this program in Omaha is the only one of its kind is beyond me.
Just to be explicit, I don’t intend my comment above to express any support for or approval of the tri-faith initiative in Omaha, which I really know nothing about other than what’s said in the article. I just wanted to point out that TEC has not invented this wheel.
Inter-faith dialogue and reconciliation efforts are fraught with peril and can too easily lead to compromise “We all love God, that’s what really matters.”
There are a few Christian ministries that promote reconciliation, understanding & peacemaking without compromising their belief in and proclamation of Christ. However it is hard to do.
Is it really only her 4th year as PB? Makes one wonder how much more damage she’ll cause in the remaining 5.
“Jews and Episcopalians”– maybe her version of Episcopalianism really is a distinct religion.
#3 It sure looks like a different religion. I was interested to learn that the children of Abraham share understanding and reconcilliation.
That Tri-Faith initiative is the biggest financial boondoggle the diocese of Nebraska has come up with in years. It is several hundred thousand dollars so people can sit around and have dinner parties.
I think it is really telling–perhaps more than she intends–when the PB says, “Mission is the active part of our ministry as Christians, what we are to do to make the world look more like the reign of God.” She is very correct that “mission” (read: social justice activism) is the only active part the Episcopal Church, not evangelism, education/formation, worship, witness, etc…. I say this not with any gladness or spite, but with great sadness. May her reign end soon!
KJS applauds any faith except the faith which was delivered once for all to the saints.
The PB was in Omaha last weekend to consecrate J. Scott Barker as bishop. Both made positive comments about the Tri-Faith Initiative which is nearby the site of the consecration.
“The real work of reconciliation and learning to love one another has to happen in a single worshipping community,†he [Barker] said. “If it’s too big, it wouldn’t be real people.â€
Aside from the obscure meaning of the last clause, the laudable aspirations concerning reconciliation and learning to love one another ring hollow to anyone even remotely familiar with the the PB’s persistent initiative to silence orthodox dissent within TEC to her social and political agendas (notably in the DSC). How can one reasonably claim to have the spiritual resources to learn to love Jews and Muslims who are farther from the Gospel when one refuses to live at peace with one’s own Episcopal brothers and sisters in Christ in South Carolina? More to the point as the Apostle John put it, “If we do not love a fellow believer, whom we [u]have[/u] seen, we cannot love God, whom we have not seen. And he has given us this command: Those who love God [u]must[/u] also love one another.” (1 John 4:20-21)
Lord, show us the way and give us strength…