Fr. Timothy Fountain opines on the narrowness of pecusa's inclusivity

Horrors! A North American Anglican Sect for "True Believers"?

"This statement does not represent the end of Anglicanism, merely another chapter in a centuries-old struggle for dominance by those who consider themselves the only true believers."
Katharine Jefferts Schori

The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopalian religion intones a creed: There are bad people who want to "dominate" the church with clear statements of Christian faith and practice - "true believers." Schori wants an open-minded church defined by which of its insiders are entitled to specific territory, property and bank accounts.

The emerging Anglican Church in North America, to the horror of the good Episcopalian insiders, is "based on theology" rather than titles and geographical boundaries.

But it turns out that Schori's Episcopal Church (TEC) is itself based on a "theology for true believers" who share non-geographical affinity.

In 2006, an Episcopalian insider told a Seminary gathering that TEC is guided by a "theology of inclusion" and that the election of Katharine Jefferts Schori herself came from this belief. And this theology is based on affinity groups rather than parishes or dioceses: "I firmly believe we will continue to see the results of this 'mainstreaming' in the flowering of Asian, Black, Latino and Native American ministries along with the growth of women, youth, gay and all ministries which were once marginalized," said the bureaucrat.

But this "theology of inclusion" serves a much narrower group than the lofty words admit. "Youth ministry" is pretty much non-existent in old, gray TEC. Native American ministry is a disaster. Historic Black parishes are shutting down. Notice that the insider did not include un-sexy, inconvenient special needs people in his list of the "marginalized." In fact, TEC as a whole is withering.

If you do a bit of unpacking, you find that the "theology of inclusion" is about the campaign of one small group of "true believers" to dominate TEC - to rid it of inconvenient people and keep lots of money and property to serve itself.

* Google "Theology of Inclusion" and most of the entries you will find are about giving homosexuals titles in the church.

* Quoted yesterday in The New York Times, another Episcopalian true believer says that TEC's unique "niche" is to be a place to "worship with gays and lesbians."

* The Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles is the latest to demand that TEC remove any traditional restrictions on homosexual leadership entitlements.

If you visit the blogs or attend any Episcopalian functions, you know that I could go on and on listing examples.

The point is this: TEC curses what it has become. It is a narrow sect, dominated by true believers.