Foot'n Mouth Disease

She's making things difficult, she really is.  For ten days or so I've been kicking around an article arguing that it's time to stop following what TEC's Presiding Bish says and just get to work.  ++KJS is not the cause, I'd argue, she's the result of decades of filters that reformers and zealots have snapped down.  You've got to be - for Prayer Book reform, for WO, against Viet Nam, for civil rights, for abortion (ooo, ugly word, let's call it reproductive rights), for inclusiveness, and on and on.  These positions are held as the New Revelation, beyond critique.  She's the result of a result of a shift in theological education that avoids anything that might challenge the New Revelation, trivializes our connection with the past, and has nothing but ill-disguised contempt for the saints who have gone before us.  So what if, in a battle of wits with the likes of estimable Dr. Witt, she'd be unarmed?  She's a result, a product, not the cause of the problem.  I was even going to offer a mild defense for the misanthropy she sometimes expresses - she was of the leading edge generation of women moving into the sciences.  You would not believe some of the things that gatekeeping, senior men would say and do to the young women who were trying to make their way into fields where no woman had gone before.  So, I was going to say, let's not pay too much attention to the product of 50 years of root-and-branch radical deformation.  We've got work to do.

But Oh, no.  Squiddy had to go off and swallow her leg up to her knee.

Episcopalians aren’t interested in replenishing their ranks by having children?

No. It’s probably the opposite. We encourage people to pay attention to the stewardship of the earth and not use more than their portion.

Say what you will about Frank's vaporings, he wouldn't have managed that combo shot in a million years. She managed to be arrogant and smug at once, the Piskie version of John Kerry.  Later today I'll look at what Amy's commenters have to say:  I'll wince, but I'll read 'em:  think of it as a sort of Anglican cilice.  As I write, Stand Firm is just starting to simmer; Christopher, as he would say, goes yard; T19 is getting cranked up. 

So I give up.  ++KJS is a free fire zone.  What do they call it?  A target rich environment?  Weapons are free, but don't stop praying for her, and don't neglect the work of reconstruction. 

BTW, who else has a hunch that when the Pope and the ABC meet, and after the public stuff is over, the two of them will spend most of their time talking theology?  It'll be a nice change for both of them.

And another thing, for any Catholic visitors who might drop in:  if you want to know what the other side of the Feud is saying, watch What Is God Doing (Bp. Duncan) and read Bp. Iker's convention address. 

 

Comments

[Karen B.]

Oh Cap'n. I think you need to label this post "unsafe at work!"

I read this line:
But Oh, no. Squiddy had to go off and swallow her leg up to her knee.

and just burst into LOUD hysterics. My colleagues think I have totally lost my sanity. They may be right...

[Terry]

Bishop Jefferts Schori’s interviews always feature softball (or even NERF-ball) questions. Here are some questions I would like to see a reporter ask her (I can dream can’t I...)

In your papers and press releases prior to your election as Presiding Bishop, you made a big point of “el buen Samaritano” and your deanship of the “Good Samaritan School of Theology.” Yet, you have admitted both of these were inflated terms. They have also disappeared from any post-election materials (such as the Episcopal page ‘Who is the Presiding Bishop?’). Why did you lie on your resume?

Why were you elected? On paper, even with your inflated claims, you were clearly the least qualified candidate. Were you elected solely because of your gender?

During your tenure as Bishop of Nevada, you used the Kairos Prison Ministry materials inappropriately. This organization considers the breaches significant enough that they are suing the Nevada Diocese for copyright violations. Would you care to comment?

The Kairos organization feels that their approach of gender-specific ministers for prison populations is both sound Biblically and practically? Would you care to comment.

What happened to “el buen Samaritano?”

Reporters seem to be very impressed by your experience as an oceanographer and as a pilot. Why are these relevant?

During you tenure as Bishop of Nevada, how much did the diocese grow? In that same period how much did the state of Nevada grow? Why do you think the Episcopal percentage is so much lower?

Jesus said, “No one comes to the father except through me.” What does that mean?

The Episcopal Church has been losing members for many years, why?

Do you really think, as you said in a New York Times Magazine interview, that the conservatives (such as Catholics) are “outbreeding” the Episcopalians?

Is it not possible that the liberal social gospel and ordination and promotion of gay ministers bears some responsibility for the membership loss?

In recent memory, two ministers confessed to breaking their wedding vows, one left his marriage and one did not. Why has one been made an Episcopal bishop and the other has resigned his position in disgrace. Compare and contrast - Vicki Gene Robinson’s marital breakup and Ted Haggard’s fall.

You state in the New York Times Magazine interview that we “are all hypocrites.” Isn’t the Christian belief that “we are all sinners?”

What is sin?

The Episcopal Church in America was at one time named the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States. With this Protestant background, how is “deeds-based evangelism” consistent with the Protestant principle of “faith alone?”

Why was one of your first acts as Presiding Bishop the formation of a committee to make sure property does not leave the TEC when parishioners leave the TEC?

Why does all material related to the issue of gay sexuality refuse to include references to Dr. Gagnon’s work. For example, the study guide prepared by the association of Episcopal Seminary Librarians has expressly excluded Gagnon’s work. This is so, even though Biblical scholars consider it a masterful treatment of the Biblical issues.

If the Millennium Development Goals are so important, why is the TEC allocating only seven-tenths of one percent of its budget to them?

If the MDGs are a sign of our deeds-based evangelism, how do you justify the buildings, salaries, and budget of the TEC bureaucracy?

Why have you singled out eight dioceses as “problem dioceses?” What exactly is the problem?

Has the Dennis Canon ever been tested and upheld in a court of law?

You and your supporters often criticize the African Bishops for turning a blind eye to polygamy. Where is the evidence of this?

You have an “honorary” doctorate from CDSP. The African Bishops, as a group, have a significant number of earned doctorates from major Western theological schools. Why should we listen to your theology rather than theirs?

Why is the Episcopal Church in Nigeria one of the fastest growing churches anywhere on earth?

Who is Jesus?

In what way is threatening churches consistent with deeds-based evangelism?

Two churches in Virginia have just proposed leaving the TEC. Their Average Sunday Attendance exceeds that of the entire Nevada Diocese. Shouldn’t their concerns be taken seriously?

In your New York Times interview, you discuss the relative childlessness of Episcopalians in terms of stewardship of the Earth’s resources. In light of this stewardship, what percentage of the TEC budget could be reduces if the offices at 815 were moved to say, Topeka or Omaha? In this day of instant communications and the Internet, surely a less expensive and wasteful location could be found for the headquarters of such an environmentally responsible church.

Why should I be Episcopalian rather than sleep in on Sunday morning?

I understand your mother became an Orthodox Christian in the 1970’s. What was that like?

You have criticised some for placing God in a “little box.” Jesus speaks of the “eye of the needle” and the “narrow way.” Compare and contrast your and Jesus’ viewpoints.

Why has the outreach to LGBT individuals been such a failure in terms of growing the Episcopal Church?

A significant portion of Christianity (Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy) does not allow women to be priests. What is your response to this fact?

At your investiture, I noticed that none of the major celebrants nor you had any cross symbols on their vestments. Was this intentional?

What is the Resurrection?

[Allen Lewis]

Captain,
Yes, I will continue to pray for her. Yes, I will continue to work for reconstruction, but I am afraid that there may not be much left to reconstruct with after the new Episcopal Berserkers get through with the denomination.

Bishop Jefferts Schori is an apt representative of that class.

[Fuinseoig]

Well, speaking as an ignorant Romanist, I thought it was a fairly elegant way of insulting both Mormons and Roman Catholics in one go and making us both go "What? You're comparing us to *them*?"

I can understand the swipe at us Papists; that's pretty much what you'd expect. But what have the Mormons ever done to the Episcopalians? Or to Kate? The only thing I can figure is that she was trying to make a stealth propaganda pronouncement - 'the RCs are only a small sect like the Mormons; in their home bases they're a big thing, but as a part of mainstream American life, they're not that big a deal, unlike us who represent all right-thinking and normal Americans'.

It certainly makes the upcoming meeting between the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Pope more interesting, doesn't it? Seriously, does TEC have nobody in charge of press releases or PR or whatever to monitor what she's going to say? Either they're all in perfect agreement with it, or she's insisting on doing it her way with no tactful editorial intervention by a third party who knows how to spin a message.

[Rob C.]

I don't understand your comment that Benedict XVI discussing theology would be a novelty.

Given his past, I imagine that thoelogy is the primary thing he does each day, especially if you pay any attention whatsoever to what he says each week.

[captainyips]

Jokes are no good once explained. Both of these gentlemen were full time theologians in the past, and very profound ones at that. Both must now spend most of their time being administrators. Ergo, it would be refreshing for them both to take a break from administration and politics to discuss topics closer to their hearts.

[Dr. Mabuse]

I was a little mystified by the reference to Mormons, as well, until my husband pointed out that she HAS been living in Nevada for some years, so they would be very familiar to her. So her comments were a combination of traditional upper middle class Protestant snobbishness and constricted provincialism. If she'd been bishop of Central Pennsylvania, she'd have pointed to the Amish as an example of over-fertile religious folk.

[Elmo]

Is she saying that you’ll have fewer kids if your smart? Is she implying that only undereducated people have many children? It certainly seems that way. She’s telling us that if we want to have a big family, we’re being poor stewards…essentially that we’re going against God’s will. And what do “portions” have to do with this topic anyway? Apparently each couple is allotted a certain amount of the worlds resources, and should breed accordingly. If you have more than two kids you’re stealing someone else’s food…and air. She’s saying that the leaders of the Episcopal church are better Christians and better teachers than those of Catholics, Mormons, and “some other denominations” (i.e. Baptists and Pentecostals). I don’t even know why Mormons are included, since they don’t believe that Jesus was God. I will stop referring to them.

Her arrogance is incredible! As is the arrogance of her PR staff, but I’ll get to that later. Bp. Schori is incredibly skilled at manipulating language, using loaded terms, and making action that she wants to take seem like inaction, thereby convincing her opponents that they are fussing over nothing. This is evident in her NPR interview.