The former Bishop of our neighbors in Iowa, Chris Epting, has posted some comments from the House of Bishops meeting.
On Sunday, he visited a small Louisiana parish and met with the members. Here are a couple of his comments:
"So, I did what bishops do every Sunday in the 50 minutes we are given in adult forums like this…trying to summarize decades of biblical scholarship, cultural differences, Anglican polity — things which parish clergy should have been doing for years in little places like this!"
Translation: He thinks that local churches should be teaching seminary abstractions and theories instead of the plain word of the Bible, and that locals need to know more about how Episcopal Church bureaucracy works.
"Where I live, in New York, we bishops will be pilloried if we make any concessions in a conservative direction."
Translation: You rubes in fly-over country are messing up my social life with your whining. Shut up and join civilization.
Like many dioceses, Iowa was shrinking on Bp. Epting's watch. His comments explain some of that. With leaders who care only for an inner circle of pals, and who look down on so many of their people, no wonder The Episcopal Church is dying.
1 comment:
Alice --
I think this post is inaccurate, as well as unnecessarily harsh.
God loves folks in New York, benighted as they may be. In fact, He seems to have a special affection for the benighted. And in a small-c catholic church, there will be a wide range of opinion, far wider than a single group or a single congregation. (Whether there are such problems in large-O Orthodoxy may best be reserved for another time).
It is true that stumblebums do not serve as models for church leadership. These bishops have not distinguished themselves in personal veracity or in sound doctrine. But Christ did die for all men, including those who pillory the poor bishop "for making concessions in a conservative direction."
Lou.
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