Welcome to Dallas, Bishop Katharine!

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church in the U.S., was on hand yesterday to bless a community garden at St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Dallas. This was Bishop Katharine's first visit to Dallas in her capacity as Presiding Bishop. The small, social justice-minded congregation will use the fruits (and vegetables) of their labor to help fill inventories at local food banks.

Three Cheers for St. Thomas parish! Three Cheers for Bishop Katharine! Y'all come back now.

TEC named official denomination of MLB

Episcopal Cafe is reporting today that The Episcopal Church has been named the official denomination of Major League Baseball, narrowly beating out the Baptists and the Catholics.

Selig said that Episcopalians bring the right mix of arcane tradition, an appreciation of minutiae and a tolerance for long stretches of relative inaction that make them "a good fit for us."

Play ball! Happy April 1.

Bishops held accountable

It's been a strange couple of months in the Episcopal church, what with the Diocese of San Joaquin voting to unaffiliate with TEC and affiliate with a South American province, and Fort Worth and Pittsburgh setting the stage to do the same.

Last Friday the Bishop of San Joaquin, John David Schofield, was inhibited on abandonment charges by the House of Bishops.

Yesterday we learned that Bp. Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh will be brought up on abandonment charges (although he was not inhibited from performing episcopal acts in the meantime).

And it looks like the storm is headed for Fort Worth. Bp. Jack Iker received a second warning from Presiding Bp. Katharine Jefferts Schori that he will face disciplinary charges as well if he continues to lead people to believe that parishes and dioceses can leave the Episcopal Church. In TEC, people are free to come and go, but parishes and dioceses may not.

Katie Sherrod has some more thoughts about what it's been like to live with +Iker in Ft. Worth.

Apparently Bp. Iker feels threatened by the correspondence from the Presiding Bishop. And he's in discussions with my bishop, Bp. James Stanton of Dallas, about providing for those parishes that don't want to go along with his plan to flee for South America. Stanton should not be aiding Iker's bad behavior, IMHO.

Here's the take from Fr. Jake, who has covered all of the above wonderfully. Jake's place has been a virtual refuge for those faithful Episcopalians living in hostile dioceses, and provided a forum for getting people together to plan for life after the blustery bishops. Mark Harris' commentary is here.

All this activity, while upsetting and sometimes troubling, gives hope to those folks who have weathered the storm in these areas. Because when the dust settles they will be free to be comprehensive broad church Episcopalians, welcoming all of God's children.

"A series of personality cults"

That's how Frank Schaeffer describes evangelicalism, as pointed out in a column today by William McKenzie. As an East Texas boy who was raised in the Southern Baptist tradition (now recovering) I can concur. Lots of folks become attached to a charismatic leader rather than a faith. Then when that leader lets them down they have to find another charismatic leader to follow.

It is frightening the kinds of things people will believe if their chosen leader tells them. I had a college Sunday School teacher who taught on nothing but the end times and how current events were biblically prophesied. He was an obsessed man, and was an intelligent attorney but badly misguided. And he misled many others. This is a dangerous obsession, if it is not obvious, because people will stop trying to bring about peace and justice, stop caring for their fellow humans, and stop caring for God's creation. Because after all, God's judgement is about to come down hard and this earth will pass away.

Another great quote from Schaeffer regarding the big name evangelical leaders: "Big-time American Christianity is incompatible with the Gospel. It is part of the entertainment business. No matter what you think you are doing, you are really just another celebrity in a celebrity-obsessed culture."

Every church has its problems, including my spiritual home, The Episcopal Church, but I really like our emphasis on welcoming inclusiveness, social justice, and embodying God's Kingdom. In our baptismal covenant we promise "to seek and serve Christ in all persons." And our worship is centered not on preaching and sermons (or preachers), but on Eucharist: Thanksgiving, the holy meal that binds us together with Christ and each other and strengthens us for service to the world.

Hope for rebirth in Ft. Worth

Writer Katie Sherrod gives us a good sense of what life is like for faithful Episcopalians in the Diocese of Fort Worth, where she makes her home. I highlighted earlier the diocese's convention which would consider the first reading of a constitutional change to disaffiliate from the Episcopal Church (it takes two annual votes for a constitutional change to take place).

This all stems from women's ordination, which has never been allowed or recognized in Ft. Worth, as well as TEC's welcoming stance toward gays and lesbians. Having a female Presiding Bishop (sort of the pastor in chief for The Episcopal Church) seems to be the last straw. Fort Worth seems to be moving to affiliate with the Province of the Southern Cone. (Follow the link; you won't be disappointed.)

Well, the amendment passed and now we wait. It won't be an easy journey for those who choose to remain Episcopalian in FW. From Katie's post:

So now we enter a time of terrible uncertainty, a time when pressures will increase exponentially on those few clergy who ain't leaving, and on lay people who are trying to understand all the ramifications of what their leadership is telling them.

In a sad way, I guess I'm glad we've finally reached this point. Maybe once the flames of all Bp. Iker's and his followers rage has burned out, and all the court cases are settled, those of us Episcopalians left can start over.

A new diocese will rise from these ashes. But getting from here to there is going to be a long hard painful journey.

I pray God will give us the strength, wisdom, and fortitude to overcome our history and create a new healthy place where all people can grow in God's love and grace.

Please pray for us.

Prayers for you and for the Church, Katie. May our national leadership have the wisdom to respond quickly and appropriately - and to help the remaining Episcopalians in Ft. Worth regain some certainty and a path forward.

Paging the Diocese of Ft. Worth

Snarky Friday comment
Says here that Ft. Worth is becoming a gay mecca. Bishop Iker will not be pleased to hear this.

By the way...
I have to put this on here. The Diocese of Ft. Worth is currently in convention considering amendments to disassociate from the Episcopal Church. They have been put on notice by Presiding Bishop Katharine. Sadly, it is best to get this over with, charge Iker with abandoning communion, and let the property battles commence. The lawyers are licking their chops. Father Jake has more.

Bonnie Anderson receives Texas welcome in Dallas and Fort Worth

This post may not be for everybody. Again, this blog is about stuff I'm interested in, so stop complainin' already!

Bonnie Anderson, President of the House of Deputies of the Episcopal Church (TEC) spoke at our parish yesterday. She was here in the Diocese of Dallas by invitation of our church, but I think the real reason she was in town was to speak in Fort Worth on Saturday at the invitation of Ft. Worth Via Media and Brite Divinity School at TCU.

According to our rector, she was not in the town of the cow to “rabble-rouse” but answered questions from many concerned Episcopalians who have been living with an antagonistic bishop who derides the Episcopal Church that consecrated him at every opportunity. I can attest from listening to her speak that Bonnie Anderson does not seem like the type of person to go about stirring up trouble. She is very professional and straightforward, she knows her stuff, and she has a kind demeanor. Bishop Iker has already issued a statement denouncing her visit and suggesting that she visited without his permission. Of course as a lay person talking to other lay people, Anderson does not need to request permission of Bishop Iker to be in the boundaries of the Diocese of Fort Worth.

On Sunday morning at Transfiguration, Ms. Anderson preached on the Gospel text and did not drag church politics into the pulpit. The reading was the difficult bit about hating your own family in order to be a disciple. Bonnie talked about the need to change and leave behind what is comfortable to follow God’s call to us. Of course there is something in there that applies to the Recent Unpleasantness, whether it is explicitly spelled out for us or not. She ended the sermon with poetry that I would like to be able to reread and digest.

Between services, Anderson took questions from the congregation in a packed Roper Hall. From my recollection (no direct quotes here), among the notable points addressed were as follows:
* What will happen if Bishop Iker or another bishop tries to take their diocese out of the Episcopal Church? Anderson replied that this cannot happen as dioceses are the creation of General Convention. It would require an act of General Convention to allow this, and that won’t happen. If Iker were to renounce his orders and leave for another church (probably an African Anglican church), then the bishop’s seat would be declared vacant and a new bishop would be elected. To me this didn’t address the likely scenario that Iker would try to have it both ways and remove the diocese from TEC without formally renouncing his orders. In that case I believe he would have to be charged for violating his vows to uphold the doctrine, discipline, and worship of TEC.

* If congregations cannot leave TEC, why was Christ Church Plano allowed to do so by Bishop Stanton of Dallas? This one took a few of our clergy to help answer, but it seems that Bishop Stanton may have violated some canons in allowing Christ Church to depart with their property, even though there was a financial settlement. There apparently is no plan by the diocese to plant a new Episcopal Church in Plano. (Someone made the pronouncement in asking a question that Plano was one of the most dynamic cities in the world. All I can say is, how small is our world…)

* If TEC gets “kicked out” of the Anglican Communion, how will we do mission without our mission partners around the globe? “Who is going to distribute the mosquito nets?” It is much more difficult to expel a province from the Anglican Communion than some of the louder voices would lead one to believe. The process is outlined here. But regardless of who declares TEC to be out of communion or heretical, our mission partners do not care and we will continue to have those relations so we can continue to do relief and development work throughout the globe.

Mary Frances Schjonberg of Episcopal News Service was traveling with Anderson and files her story on the President's Texas Hoedown here. Father Jake has this report. Episcopal Cafe has an entry as well with good info on the FW gathering.

Bishop Stanton shakes finger at Chicago Episcopalians

Warning, I’m diving into religious waters this morning, which for some reason I have been reluctant to do in the maiden days of Filibuster Vigilantly. I'm no expert or theologian. Just a pew-sitting Episcopalian.

When I clicked on Unfair Park this morning ("link") I was surprised to see a picture of my Bishop, the Rt. Rev. James Stanton, staring back at me (I love the caption under his picture). It appears he gave a quote to the Chicago Sun Times for a story they reported on the Rev. Tracey Lind, a finalist for bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago. There are four other finalists, but of course the article is about Rev. Lind because she is a lesbian. And Bishop Stanton doesn’t like it one bit. I’m not sure how they chose Stanton for the anti-gay quote, but here ‘tis:

Bishop James Stanton of Dallas, a catalyst in the global effort against gay bishops, called Lind's nomination distressing.

"It's an action that says Chicago really doesn't care what the rest of the Anglican Communion says," he told the Sun-Times.

Allow me to respond (since this is my blog). First of all, Rev. Lind has not been elected yet, so I’m not sure why her being a finalist is so distressing. Of course, she could be elected and then what? I suppose then we’re really going to be in trouble with those African Archbishops who have already set up shop in the United States against the wishes of the Windsor Report, the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church (TEC), the Archbishop of Canterbury, a handful of other official statements from the Communion, and of course against good catholic order. I’m sure they will write more nasty letters with help from their American friends about the Episcopal Church and how we’ve abandoned the Christian faith delivered once and for all to the saints, and we’re heretics, and (my favorite) apostate. So since that’s already happening, what’s the difference?

The difference would be that TEC would be taking a stand to say that we welcome all of God’s children warmly and that all orders of ordained ministry are open to faithful Christians, their sexuality notwithstanding. We would be stating that we intend to stand by our non-discrimination rules that already state that we will not bar the door to a candidate based on their sexual orientation.

And most importantly, we would be sending a message to the world that proclaiming God’s radical welcome is more important than staying in the good graces of blustery bigoted Archbishops who would require nothing less than our repentance of this welcome. I think the majority of TEC has already made this choice. Let’s not be shy about proclaiming it, with God’s help.

UPDATE:
Father Jake has a snippet from each of the nominees that they wrote to introduce themselves. Looks like a good slate of candidates. God bless them and the Diocese of Chicago as they call their new bishop.