No second term for Jefferts Schori

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori

George Conger of Anglican Ink has reported (here) that the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church of the United States, the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, will not stand for re-election as Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. You can read her statement here and watch a video of George discussing the news with Kevin Kallsen on Anglica TV's Anglican Unscripted here.

That this oceanographer has had so much influence across the pond has been a tragedy for Anglicanism in Great Britain, particularly for the Church in Wales where Archbishop Morgan has aped her methods. 

Here is a selection of previous entries by way of explanation: 

February 8, 2014      Honoured and lauded, for what?

January 21, 2014      The US Episcopal Church: the feminist effect

October 19, 2013      Self-serving Senior Women and the Church

July 12, 2012            Why is the Episcopal Church near collapse?

January 6, 2012        Archbishop's heretical mentor

December 20, 2011  New Anglicanism

October 19, 2011      Church in Wales set to abandon the faithful!

July 24, 2010            'Great' Minds Think Alike!

I shall be interested to read what Barry has to say in tribute to his heretical mentor.

Misconduct charges filed against Katharine Jefferts Schori

A Washington-based conservative group, the American Anglican Fellowship has filed charges against the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, the Most. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, alleging her $30 million legal campaign against church conservatives is an abuse of office and violates church canons. - HT Anglican Ink; story here.

Honoured and lauded, for what?

"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. 

More stories here, here, here, here and here among others. Here is an extract from a recent entry :

"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.

Postscript [09/02/2014]
For further background information watch Anglican Unscripted video newscast, Episode 91, here.

More here from VirtueOnline correspondent Mary Ann Mueller [10/02/2014]

See also How TEC funds Facilitated Conversations from TitusOneNine (here) [11/02/2014]

Faith, hope and charity?

"And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity". Perhaps some of the most familiar words in the Bible and it seems, the most readily forgotten. Compare these words with those used in the statement by the House of Bishops: The House recognised and felt the profound and widespread sense of anger, grief and disappointment experienced by so many in the Church of England and beyond. 'Beyond' could well refer to the Episcopal Church of Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori who shows a complete lack of charity towards those who disagree with her here, here, here and here. I could go on but for the latest read Anglican Ink here. 

If ever there were a need to heed warning signs! But the fractured liberal wings of the Anglican Communion are so obsessed with (some) women in the church and sexual equality that they flap around ignoring the wider spiritual direction of the universal church and risk ending up in a protestant Cul-de-sac completely separated from the Catholic church of East and West of our creed.

Unrepresentative liberal bishops constantly use selective figures to justify their actions while ignoring the reality of the position in which they find themselves having become slaves of WATCH. I was particularly interested to read the statement put out by Reform in response to the announcement about the working group on women bishops: Prebendary Rod Thomas said he was ‘nonplussed' as to why the membership of the working group does not contain anybody who shares our convictions about male headship – despite the fact that this was a key concern underlying the vote on 20th November. 

This comes hot on the heels of an excellent article here about the Church failing to respect its minority voices. But I would add a note of caution to a suggestion repeated in the article: One of the ways forward might be to look at what the Church in Wales is trying to achieve in having separate arrangements for both matters and not having one without the other. Read the reality of the position in Wales here.

The working group must recognise that the 'majority' view regarding the ordination of women is a minority view in the wider church beyond the Church of England. Within the C of E a significant minority opposed to the ordination of women on theological grounds are also loyal members of the Church of England and in all charity deserve the right to test their resolve in arrangements designed to suit their needs. Anything else is not only unethical, it is unscriptural.   

Postscript
Typical of the double standards employed by liberal bishops, the Archbishop of Wales says he does not want a ban on gay marriages in the Church in Wales. He said: "I am not sure we want that kind of protection which makes us out to be very unwelcoming and homophobic". It is not homophobic to believe that marriage is between one man and one woman but his attitude to the 'traditionalist' minority within his own church is already very unwelcoming. Dr Morgan added: "It is not that I am advocating that the Church in Wales is right to perform gay marriages but that decision needs to be made by the Church in Wales, it’s not for the State to decide for us." As with his proposals for woman bishops, my guess based on previous form is that he wants to make same-sex marriage legal and sweep up the opposition afterwards.

Why is the Episcopal Church near collapse?

In a postscript to my previous entry I quoted the Rev Dr Miranda Threlfall-Holmes' suggestion that female bishops from countries whose Anglican churches already allow them into the episcopate – such as the US or Australia – advise the Church of England bishops "as equals". I drew attention to just two examples of why we should not.

As if more convincing were needed, one only has to read this report on the near collapse of the Episcopal Church in the US under the leadership of the Archbishop of Wales' hero, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori. The Archbishop of Wales is to have a leading role in the nomination of the next Archbishop of Canterbury. At least the American born, former Chair of WATCH should be pleased since it is all pointing towards the sort of anything goes church she envisages for us.

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[ Click HERE to sign the Rev John P Richardson's petition to retain Clause 5 (1) c ]