Who Are These Guys?

It's just plain wrong to characterize generally any group larger than 2, so the comments that follow apply not to some abstract thing called The House of Bishops, nor to the individual members, some, maybe many, of whom are people of intelligence, grace, and devotion.  The lazy tendency of people younger than I to speak of "Boomers" as consistent as a mound of mashed potatoes always irritates me.  So lets try to avoid that.

The HoB is maybe more like a neighborhood in a city called TEC.  A bunch of people live in the neighborhood, and some are really committed to keeping the place neat, pretty, crime-free, and thriving.  Some are creative artists and musicians, some gardeners, some handymen.  But there's also a gang element, bossy and bullying, and hiding out in basements a few mad bomber anarchists.

The city as a whole is not a very healthy place.  People are moving out and no one is moving in.  The civic leadership doesn't know what to do.  A lot of the towns nearby have similar problems, including the one across the river that looks good to a lot of folks but has some real problems in government.  Still, there are a lot of neighborhoods in TEC City that are healthy and well maintained.  Others have fallen into the hands of vandals.

Having thus bent the metaphor as far as I can, a side benefit of the close inspection of the late HoB meeting is the title of this post.  Who is making these decisions?  What dim bulb came up with the idea of reading off lists of departed priests and parishes and then repeating the party-line fib that hardly anyone has left?  Who came up with Mothering God?  Direct attacks on the Archbishop of Canterbury?  Ruth Gledhill - not the most liberal religion reporter out there, but no conservative either, asks the real million-pound question,

What puzzles me is, given the small numbers still attending The Episcopal Church, why are we giving them all this attention?

Exactly.

I often (especially when talking to the Offspring Unit about a number of issues) about the need to have an Inner Editor, the voice that tries to catch mistakes before they happen, that prevents me from writing things like, say, "TEC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Integrity (see how I snuck that past the Inner Editor.  It's a nice sound bite but it's not wholly true.  Just true enough to sound good)."  The Inner Editor prevents writing, "This premise under video surveillance."  The Inner Editor also governs the tongue in public speech, curbing both cruel and inane speech (I hope).  Too many of these guys don't have inner editors.  Why didn't +Bruno just shut up?

All in all, a sad performance.  If the Bishop of Pittsburgh succeeds in establishing an viable new Anglican structure, I hope we can come up with a better way of selecting bishops. 

Comments

[Anglican Paplist]

A better way. Yes. Find three Godly men, enter into a time of prayer and fasting, put their name into a hat and choose. Trusting in the Holy Spirit would have to be better than the feeding frenzy, political "I'll be anything you want" process we have now.

[Lou.]

Captain --

We all enjoyed the Aunt Matilda analogy so much more. ;o)

I think one obstacle few of us admit to is our USA-centricity. The world is wide, and the trials of a well-fed minority in one niche church are, well, trivial to the world at large. Your quote from Ruth Glenhill speaks to this point. It actually is amazing that the rest of the Communion, and especially the GS, have devoted so much time to our plight. I suspect they will do so no more, and that the Anglican Communion will just move on. We are going to have to fend for ourselves, with whatever lifeboats or pastoral provisions are available.

Finally, what strikes me most about the bishops' last session is how little the notion of catholicity plays into TEC's understanding of itself. Indeed, Rowan Williams' appealed to this concept and was roundly rebuffed. The current regime seems to feel it is an option, a consumer choice, and not a full and complete expression of the visible Church in time and space. People are welcome to go so long as they leave their money behind. (Maybe THAT is the true meaning of the slogan). Benedict XVI may have been right and we all should start referring to "TEEC" (The Episcopal Ecclesial Community).

Then again, your new analogy may be right on -- TEEC does not try to be a shining City on a Hill but just a town down by the river.