In response to Resolution A049 from the 77th General Convention of the Episcopal Church in 2012. I have decided that use of the provisional rite, “The Witnessing and Blessing of a Lifelong Covenant” for the blessing of same-sex relationships approved in that resolution will be permitted in some congregations according to conditions provided in detail in the document “Process, Application and Policies” accompanying this reflection. Since that General Convention, I’ve openly discussed the outline of this decision in print and in congregational forums across the Diocese….
Let the exodus begin.
There’s a shocker everyone saw coming.
There’s Waldo … right where everyone knew he would be. The wonder is it took so long for the decision to be revealed. It was never in question that it would happen, despite pretences to the contrary. His dialogue with the tradition was one-sided. All hail, Zeitgeist, hail.
I have a few reflections of my own but they are too lengthy to put here. As I was writing up a blog post on this, I got the feeling that my Bishop’s theology paper would not get a passing mark from a real Theology professor, but then I thought again and realized that most TEc Bishops probably never encountered a real theologian while in seminary.
Given the soap opera agonizing at GC2012 about his diocese just not being ready yet to accept same sex marriage, one assumes Waldo has managed to get enough trust documents signed and cardinal rectors replaced that now it is ready.
This document really is a snake oil sales pitch in a long form. The utter contempt shown for the intelligence of the reader is astounding- to assert that Scripture and Holy Tradition (any real Anglo Catholic is just horrified to see the term abused as it is here) prove that the diocese must forge on into the abyss of same sex marriage. What utter drivel.
If you are in USC, you should get about the business of finding a bishop (there is a real one not that far away), in the true meaning of the title, not the local manager of the TEC real estate investment trust.
Gee, all that energy and effort to justify and approve what Scripture clearly condemns.
[i]Gee, all that energy and effort to justify and approve what Scripture clearly condemns.[/i]
Which has been the trademark of the whole TEC enterprise effort. Really, the easy path, and the path through the narrow gate was one which had been paved by the righteous lives of Christians for 2000 years. Yet they would not trod that path; they have worked overtime to convince themselves and as many others as they could [or depose, inhibit, expel those they could not] that the Holy Spirit was doing a new thing, a thing the Holy Spirit could not do, so as to ignore the narrow gate. Best part is, Jesus told us they would do that.
How silly. I forwarded it on to Dr. Robert Gagnon. Kudos to +Waldo for acknowledging Dr. Gagnon, but +Waldo did a lame job of engaging Dr. Gagnon, bringing a metaphorical plastic spoon to a gun fight.
86 pages. Astounding.
I read as far as:
And then I realized, “Oh, yeah, this is why I left the Episcopal church because it can’t be bothered to do any theological heavy lifting.
#10, yes, I was astounded by that analysis of 1 Cor 6.
I wonder if he’s shared this comment with KJS or David Booth Beers and exhorted them about their unchristian behavior.
By the way, anyone interested in this topic MUST read the Underground Pewster’s (he is a TEC member in Dio USC) analysis.
http://lowly.blogspot.com/2014/05/excerpts-from-bishop-waldos-pastoral.html
Not sure whether it is better or worse than the diocese in which I live. The self proclaimed “conservative” bishop suddenly discovered last year that his one time view that same sex unions could not be blessed, was no longer his view. No discussion, no conversation, no theology: apparently, just an announcement to the clergy and we’re off: he’s blessing same sex partnership of a senior cleric in a week or two.
Michael,
Do you have a link of the exchange between Waldo and Dr. Gagnon? I’d love to see that.
Fr. Will McQueen
WIll+ – No, I do not. We exchanged notes on Sunday. He couldn’t open the file, and I couldn’t cut the one section. Odd. I sent him the original link from the Diocesan webpage. Hopefully he takes the time to read it. No question, Dr. Gagnon would skewer +Waldo’s silly logic (and poor reading of Scripture).