I have steadfastly refused to cover two topics in detail on this blog. Sex and politics. Why? I think most people would agree it’s hard to get agreement on either. For the record, I’m a conservative (Republican) who knows marriage is between a man and woman. That being said, it’s a shame I am reluctant to talk about these topics. Largely, I can hear my wife’s voice in the back of my head. “Your future employer will read this information.” Or, “MY future employer will read what you wrote!” I can understand her concern. This is a blog about ministry and technology after all. I know how quickly something can spread across the web and remain for eternity, future employers, political aspirations and embarrassed children not withstanding.
So, what made me change my mind about covering the more incendiary of the two? The recent decision by the folks at All Saints Waccamaw, South Carolina to make amends in a Christian manner. I won’t go over this in detail, but in a nutshell, the parish did not agree with the Episcopal Church’s (TEC) implementation of the Dennis Canon which implicitly placed their church property in trust for TEC. The parish pre-dated the founding of TEC and held title to the land and buildings. They won at the South Carolina Supreme Court and ultimately settled with folks in the parish who desired to remain in TEC even as the case was appealed to the US Supreme Court. [For more detail, read this post.]
Why is this a big deal? Well, because in many Episcopal diocese around TEC, that kind of Christian resolution has not won the day.
It matters to me, because, even though I have only been in this tradition since 2004, I have put my entire family into this church. As a youth minister, husband of a Sunday School director, father of children attending said Sunday School, godfather of nieces I ferry to church, uncle of a nephew who once attended and owner of a checking account that sends tithes and building fund offerings, it matters a lot.
As a former Catholic, I can appreciate the Episcopal model of church organization. There is still a top down approach, but the laity are much more involved. I have represented my church at council, voted on resolutions, and even voted in the election of our Suffragan Bishop. I have served on the Bishop’s Committee (church council for small churches), serve on the diocesan IT committee and am the current youth minister. All of these things would not be easy to accomplish in my former life as a Catholic. For this ability to participate in the daily life of the church, I am very pleased with the church.
However, this church is also organized just like a legislative body. We have parishes (like cities), a diocese (like states), House of Deputies (House of Representatives) and a House of Bishop’s (Senate). When anything is changed in TEC, it must be approved by both the Houses of Deputies and Bishop’s. Sound familiar? In keeping with the US political model, TEC also has a Republic lived out in a Democracy. We have the Constitutions and Canons that govern our life together and we get to vote on our Deputies before each triennial TEC convention. (Remember, we also vote for Bishop’s as mentioned above.)
The biggest problem is when the Republic’s laws are not followed by the Presiding Bishop (not quite like a President, but will work here). The Presiding Bishop (PB), currently Katherine Jefferts Schori, is charged with keeping things running for the time being between each three year cycle of conventions. As someone still acclimating myself to the church and its traditions, this has been a part of my experience since being “accepted” from the Catholic tradition.
What the PB has had to contend with are diocesan bishop’s leaving TEC and joining other provinces while taking their church property, priests and huge numbers of laity with them. This is entirely in response to the election and consecration of a homosexual bishop and TEC’s insistence on expanding the role of homosexuals throughout the church.
<history>TEC is the US presence of Anglicanism. These other provinces are essentially the Anglican communion’s presence in that country. By design, our basic unit of organization is the diocese consisting of a bishop and churches. By tradition, a bishop’s geographical area of responsibility can not be “visited” by another bishop without permission. This has implications for all the liturgical churches that recognize bishops having overlapping geography, but is, in reality, ignored. According to Christian tradition, bishops stay in their part of the world and don’t traipse all over one another. If we had only “Christian” bishops, there would only be one bishop per region. However, we have Christian denominations/traditions and that causes there to be many bishops in the same area. Here in San Antonio, we have at least one of the following bishops: Catholic, Episcopal and Methodist. But, not more than one of the same denomination.</history>
Unfortunately, there are not only diocese leaving TEC, but a clear plan of response from the PB on how to deal with these departures. The PB is essentially defrocking these diocesan bishops as they leave or seek to leave (this only has some effect in TEC as other provinces continue to recognize the bishops). Exacerbating this situation further, she is also seeking to replace the bishops with those loyal to her. The last part of the plan is to then sue the former diocesan bishop (who, in almost all cases, has not physically left their diocese but rather transferred association to another province) and diocesan officers in order to acquire all former “TEC property” that has now been transferred to another province.
It is because of this policy and the negative will it has created around TEC that I was pleased to read about the resolution of the South Carolina case. Does it bode well for current and future cases? I don’t know. I hope it does, but it appears as though the current policy will remain in place. The South Carolina bishop has a convention to lead this weekend and his comments on this issue will interest me. I also fervently hope and pray Christian love and Paul’s teaching about communal living will be at the heart of any discussion prior to another diocese leaving. I can’t in good conscience make someone stay in TEC, but I also don’t have to be mean when they decide to leave. Especially when they are only responding to the issue of homosexuality in the same manner as many provinces outside of TEC.
Wish us peace and luck as we endeavor to continue serving him and anyone who wants to worship alongside us.
