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| "The former Church of the Good Shepherd building is now the Islamic Awareness Center." Photo: Jamie Dean |
Archbishop Justin has welcomed news that the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, is to be awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity by the University of Oxford. He said "This award, richly deserved, reaffirms Bishop Katharine’s remarkable gifts of intellect and compassion, which she has dedicated to the service of Christ."
Read about her "dedicated service to Christ" here in the case of the former Church of the Good Shepherd which was sold to become the Islamic Awareness Center rather than let orthodox Anglicans buy their own church building.
"A.S. Haley of Curmudgeon blog fame wrote on Sept. 2010, "We thus arrive at an estimated total of some Twenty-Six Million, Six Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dollars ($26,650,000) dedicated thus far by the Church of Katharine Jefferts Schori to lawsuits and illegal disciplinary actions. That is quite a negative achievement for someone who has been in office for not even four years yet." He now estimates the figures to be between $30 million and $33 million. "If the spending continues at the same rate, by the time her term is up in November 2015 (and assuming her last budget is like those before it), she will have committed the Church to an impossible-sounding Sixty-Four Million Dollars in legal costs." http://accurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2010/09/just-how-much-has-ecusa-spent-on.html"
Archbishop Welby added: "Prior to becoming ordained, Bishop Katharine pursued a career in oceanography, and her enduring deep commitment to the environment has evolved into a profound dedication to stewardship of our planet and humankind, especially in relieving poverty and extending the love and hospitality of Christ to those on the edges of society. As Archbishop Desmond Tutu once said of Bishop Katharine, 'In her version of reality, everything is sacred except sin.'
"It must be noted, too, that Bishop Katharine’s achievements serve – and will continue to serve – as a powerful model for women seeking to pursue their vocations in the church."
If the Presiding Bishop is "a model for women seeking to pursue their vocations in the church" it is not difficult to see why Anglicanism is where it is.
Through our Baptism we are all incorporated into the priesthood of Christ ,but through Holy Orders a priest becomes incorporated into Christ and is given the power to act in persona Christi in terms of the functions given to him by Christ.
ReplyDeleteChristian stewardship is acknowledging that everything belongs to God: as Desmond Tutu said. We are all stewards for Christ ,and for the laity this is often thought in part,in terms of giving financially to maintain the church, but it is,of course, greater than that.But a priest when ordained becomes a spiritual steward and is given power to act in persona Christi in spiritual matters.
Archbishop Welby added: "Prior to becoming ordained, Bishop Katharine pursued a career in oceanography, and her enduring deep commitment to the environment has evolved into a profound dedication to stewardship of our planet and humankind, especially in relieving poverty and extending the love and hospitality of Christ to those on the edges of society. As Archbishop Desmond Tutu once said of Bishop Katharine, 'In her version of reality, everything is sacred except sin.'
All that Archbishop Welby says about Bishop Katherine describes her as fulfilling that which is required of her as a steward of Christ through Baptism. But becoming a priest is not merely a 'job application'!
Archbishop Justin confuses the act of Christian Stewardship per se and the stewardship which is spiritual and handed through the Apostolic succession. Thus the Synod and the Governing Body of the C in W have adopted a secular meaning to ' qualification' for ordination ,and believe that because a person ,whether male or female,exhibits excellent qualities of stewardship ( of the environment,for example) and compassion,then they are eligible for the priesthood. That is not enough. We must all subscribe to that which Jesus laid down,and He chose male Apostles to act in his name and to continue in the line of succession.
Jesus was born a male, and for a female to act as a spiritual steward of Christ confuses the teaching of the whole origin of our faith.
Dr Jefferts Schori possesses no significant theological qualifications, and this is evident in many of the things she says and writes, which literally verge on the heretical. But worst of all she is on a power trip, the Episcopal Church having changed its constitution at her behest to turn the Presiding Bishop into an absolute monarch with a court of star chamber. As such she has deposed without trial some 800 bishops and clergy who are merely perceived to disagree with her, and has spent some $34m to date on pursuing lawsuits against congregations who no longer wish to be affiliated to TEC. In some of the cases individual church members have been sued for large sums merely for exercising the rights and duties of their office as vestrymen. Property which she has managed to seize has been sold at a loss to muslims rather than allow it to be used by orthodox Anglican congregations. The Episcopal Church is a rapidly declining shadow of its former self.
ReplyDeleteShe very much resembles the white witch in Lewis' Narnia Chronicles, in whose kingdom it is always winter, and Christmas never comes. And now some misguided Oxford dons have nominated her for an honour which should only go to the brightest and best - not to the megalomaniac and spiteful.
Perhaps I should have qualified what I said about Dr. Katherine Schori to say that her work in the care of the environment may perhaps permit one to say she displays Christian Stewardship, but maybe better described as self- fulfilling benevolence. However, I do absolutely agree that her 'work' as the presiding Bishop in the Episcopal Church denies her any right to be an example and "a powerful model for women seeking to pursue their vocations in the church", as Archbishop Welby puts it. So I am saying there is more than one reason why this person should not be honoured in any way ,whether by the Oxford University or with Holy Orders.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that both Welby and Oxford don't get it is sad commentary on both institutions.
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