Beloved in Christ Jesus,
The controversy over TEC Diocese of Northern Michigan's choice of a bishop who is a Buddhist/Episcopal Priest continues to grow. The local diocese's choice now is being sent to diocesan bishops and standing committees of TEC dioceses for their ratification.
The interesting thing is that TEC's House of Bishops illegally deposed a number of faithful bishops, charging them with "abandonment of communion with this church," but now they are poised to confirm a Buddhist. The bishop-elect, Kevin Thew Forrester, at first confirmed he was a Buddhist, but now that TEC spin doctors have talked with him he has changed his tune. Now he is saying he is an Episcopalian who simply and occasionally uses Zen forms of meditative prayer. Truth within some of the TEC bishops corps is highly elastic--it is whatever it needs to be for the moment to accomplish the desired end. Meanwhile, we're not sure what happened to Forrester's ordination as a Buddhist--a few months ago he was rather proud of it, and now he doesn't seem to want to mention it.
Leaders from the Northern Michigan diocese say, "We are confident that Kevin will guard and defend the faith of the Church while inviting us to ever fresh expressions of that faith." The question we are left with is, what exactly is the 'faith of the Church' that Forrester will be guarding and defending? Now if he were to renounce his Buddhist faith and repent, then we would be at least be on a more familiar footing. Christian syncretism with Buddhism we don't understand.
Christian journalist George Conger reports that an investigation by the Archbishops' Council and the Church Commissioners has concluded that poor planning, inexperienced management and weak financial controls contributed to a £288,000 deficit for the 2008 Lambeth Conference. Their report in polite Brit-speak describes the financial fiasco in such kind and apologetic terms that one is almost led to feel sorry for the bumblers that lost all this money. Who appointed these people? Who thought they possessed the skills needed to manage this complex Lambeth event? Wait, wait, don't tell me. It is the Archbishop of Canterbury who is the convener of the Lambeth Conference, the same person who devised the Panel of Reference, and various other schemes that seemed predestined to fail.
In reality, things have to be kept in perspective, as they have only misplaced £288,000, and when that is compared with the membership of the Church of England that has gone missing, it is a trivial number. What needs to be accounted for is the number of church members of the C of E that no one can find in church. From a claimed membership of approximately 24 million souls, they can only find some 800,000 each week in church. Being generous, if you double that number, the truthful membership of the C of E is more like 1.6 million, meaning that 22.4 million church members, people that the English bishops are charged to watch over, have gone missing. It is far more serious to lose 22.4 million Christian souls to who knows where than it is to lose £288,000.
How can the primate of all England, whose office (not personally) has sustained such a spiritual loss, continue as primate inter pares of the Anglican Communion? When will the Anglican Communion become a real Communion (again)?
Where do we turn for hope? With God, all things are possible! By His sovereign Will and Holy Spirit the church can yet be put under the Lordship of Jesus Christ and prosper. Or as Holy Scripture says in another place, "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord."
Blessings and Peace for this fifth Sunday in Lent,
+David
The Rt. Rev. David C. Anderson, Sr.
President and CEO, American Anglican Council
_________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment