Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Episcopal Church Native American Ministry - Disarray? Out of touch? Don't care?

Janine Tinsley-Roe has left the position of missioner for Native American and Indigenous Ministries, effective immediately, announced the Rev. Canon Brian Grieves, senior director for mission centers and advocacy center director... (full ENS story).

Then there was the Presiding Bishop's strange summer photo op on a South Dakota Reservation. You can read the official Episcopal version of it
here. See if you can find a single word about suicide on the Reservations. Suicide is engaging Tribal Leaders, the State and Federal Governments and the media... but the Presiding Bishop of the church with the Reservation missions comes out and gabs about same sex relationships, United Nations goals... the usual.

And let's not forget that the Executive Council bureaucrats who now run the Episcopal Church
cut funding for Native American ministry while pumping bucks into lawsuits against Christians.

Earlier this month, our blog broke the news that The Diocese of South Dakota is going to
"dispose of" nine mission churches on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

2 comments:

Dr. Mabuse said...

Does TEC really WANT Indians to be Christians? Aren't they really embarrassed about that whole "conversion" business a few hundred years ago, and are now trying to right history through neglect? I think if we began to hear about South Dakota native Indians starting to renounce Christianity and revert to some form of animism, TEC would be there in a flash with "outreach" funding to facilitate this wonderful new "Movement of the Spirit".

TLF+ said...

Well, TEC did take part in the destruction of the tribal culture here. There were (are) some horrific acts of the glorious, prophetic, infallible General Convention that dismantled tribal family units among other things. Like the government and media of the time, the church got too wrapped up in making Red people turn White instead of placing all under the cross of Christ.

But even with the gaffes, TEC attempted to bring Christ to the tribes, not just as a vestige of white culture, but as the life-giving Lord over all cultures. There are many beautiful and heroic stories in the history of this Diocese.

What TEC wants today are just enough Indians in the church for Schori and the like to come out for photo ops. They like having paper dioceses "where most of our members are Native American". The gay, gray clergy in their bureaucrat-for-life urban appointments can reassure themselves that they are truly diverse and inclusive.

And there will be "smudging" and other indigenous rites done by and for gullible, trendy urban whites who feel no remorse about dabbling in other cultures a bit, finding "spirituality" here and there but never coming to Christ.