DOUBLING DOWN

from Midwest Conservative Journal by The Editor

For some reason, Katharine Jefferts Schori wants to speed up the decline of the organization she heads:

The Episcopal Church must open its doors to become more inclusive

Now that’s just crazy talk. There’s already every conceivable shade of human opinion in the Episcopal Organization right now, from people who reluctantly support homosexual priests and bishops to people who enthustiastically support them.

There are whites who don’t think homosexual activity is sinful, blacks who don’t think homosexual activity is sinful, Hispanics who don’t think homosexual activity is sinful and Vague, Ambiguous, Deity Concept knows how many others from how many other lands who don’t think homosexual activity is sinful.

There are whites who think that whites suck, blacks who think that whites suck, Hispanics who think that whites suck and Vague, Ambiguous, Deity Concept knows how many others from how many other lands who think that whites suck. There are men who think that men suck and women who think that men suck.

I don’t see how it’s posssible for the Episcopal Organization to be any more diverse than it already is. If TEO was any more diverse, everyone would look exactly the same. Whatever that means.

and find ways to make itself relevant beyond Sunday mornings, its presiding bishop said Friday as she prepared to take part in the Diocese of Milwaukee’s annual convention.

Do nice stuff, in other words. Because nobody else in the world is doing nice stuff.

Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, chief pastor of the world’s 2.4 million Episcopalians,

If by 2.4 million, you mean 1 mill if you squint and look at TEO sideways. Said it before and I’ll say it again. The Roman Catholic Church could reach into its sofa cushions and pull out more peeps than worship in Episcopal outlets.

downplayed the schism that has rocked the church over its liberal views on homosexuality and gay clergy,

It’s not a problem anymore since the trads bailed.

and emphasized the importance of mission and ministry both at home and abroad.

“We need to speak the good news where people can hear it,” said Jefferts Schori, who planned to visit some of the local diocese’s poverty ministries – The Gathering meal program, the Red Door clothing ministry and an indigent burial program – during her stay.

“One of my jobs is to tell the story of the good works being done here,” she said in brief remarks to local media at the diocese’s All Saints Cathedral downtown.

How old is the Lions or Optimist Club in your town? How long has the Masonic Lodge been there? I’ll bet they do a lot of good work, don’t they?

Toy drives, canned food drives, that kind of thing. And all kinds of fund-raising activities as well. The Lions here throw a great Fourth of July carnival every year that many people in this area prefer to the one downtown and Webster Masons put on an outstanding fish fry.

Point being, of course, that if Mrs. Schori thinks that pointing out all the good that TEO does is going to get people through the doors, she doesn’t understand what people go to church for.

If you simply want to do good works, you don’t need to go to a church. Churches grow and thrive when people understand the Reason for the good works those church members perform. Not before; let your light so shine before men and all that.

Jefferts Schori, elected in 2006, is the first woman to head a province in the 77 million-member Anglican Communion, which traces its roots to the Church of England. She has presided during one of its most tumultuous times as the church’s stance on sexuality prompted hundreds of conservative parishes to break away and drew criticism from more conservative provinces in the broader Anglican Communion.

Jefferts Schori said Friday that the Episcopal Church has more relationships within the Anglican Communion than it did a decade ago, and that archbishops around the world are more concerned with life and death issues within their own provinces than sexuality issues in the Episcopal Church.

“The level of confrontation has come down significantly,” she said. “The number of conversations are beginning to have some impact.”

That’s one way of putting it. Those of us still in the real world might say that the Anglican provinces that still matter have stopped talking to the Episcopalians entirely.

More important, she said, has been the Episcopal Church’s work in places such as Haiti, after this year’s devastating earthquake, and in Latin America, where it’s seeing its greatest growth.

Granted, we’re not pulling anywhere near Pentecostal numbers. But those people take just about anybody.

At home, she said, the church is making inroads, particularly among Hispanic women, who are drawn by its sense of inclusiveness and opportunities for women in leadership roles,

AKA the LibCat factor. Or Hispanic women getting done by former Catholic priests.

but that it must do more to improve diversity.

“The challenge for most Anglo congregations,” she said, “is to find the space and generosity to invite others into the worship.”

Kate? Just say “English-speaking,” okay? Because if you drop words like “Anglo,” people are going to think that you’re nothing more than a rich, white, American, liberal poser.