Can you read the following and really believe that pecusa is still a church?

Message from Bishop David Anderson  Bishop Anderson Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, The American Episcopal Church (TEC) is in trouble again, but this time it's not about sex - not that those issues have gone away, they have just been normalized - this time it's about money, and either money or sex will normally get an article on page one, maybe even above the fold. TEC has a General Convention every three years, made up of two houses, the House of Deputies comprising laity, priests and deacons, and the House of Bishops comprised of, well, bishops. This summer it is time again for General Convention, which will meet in Indianapolis, Indiana, and part of the business will be to deal with serious questions such as "Why is TEC's church attendance so low?," and "Why are contributions to TEC so low?"," and "What is most important for the church to be doing with its limited resources?" (I would suggest they consider stopping suing people and churches!). In between General Conventions, there is an Executive Council which is authorized to make interim decisions and carry out any mandates from General Convention. Additionally, there is a President of the House of Deputies who has some administrative duties, and the Presiding Bishop who has other administrative and episcopal duties, and there is a constantly shrinking staff, all based at TEC's headquarters at 815 2nd Avenue, New York, at the lower end of Manhattan. This group is often referred to collectively as "815," and is the denomination's bureaucracy, for good or ill. The Executive Council is supposed to submit a proposed triennial budget to a committee called Program, Budget and Finance (PB&F) in time for proper consideration, possible amendment, and then presentation at the General Convention. The budget is intended to embody both the expected income and the expenditures based on mission commitment. Inherent in any sensible budget are careful and cautious projections of future income and expenses. When expenses are manipulated up or down to further an end, or when projections of income are unrealistically altered to produce a desired outcome, it ceases to be a budget and becomes propaganda.

Something apparently went wrong and the current draft budget didn't get to the right people in sufficient time, and then there were numerous proposed budgets being offered from different entities, including one the Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori put together herself. Now the question is whose missional priorities will be given the green light, which budget will be presented to General Convention, and will there be any debate allowed on the open floor over the budget(s)? Apparently the postmodernism of TEC, which didn't bother them on such subjects as human sexuality, the authority of Holy Scripture or the person and work of Jesus Christ, where you have your truth and I have mine, all of a sudden is not acceptable with it comes to money. Down here in Georgia, we would say, "Well, bless their hearts!" One TEC writer, posting on his blog, objected to the nonsense that there could be one truth in one budget and another truth in another budget. Fr. Michael Russell, a clergy deputy to General Convention from the Diocese of San Diego, is apparently frustrated with the games about truth being played in what is left of the Episcopal Church. In his recent posting he said, "I'd like the truth, please." That seems like a reasonable request, and I'm sure that most Episcopalians would join him in such a plea. He goes on to note, "We now have wildly different versions of events from the Presiding Bishop, the Chief Operating Officer, Katie Sherrod and other members of Executive Council. I expect all politicians to lie, but I do not expect leaders of my church to "spin" events to their own purposes.  What we have here is the perfect post-modern meltdown, I suppose, in which multiple perspectives are somehow masked as truth.  It is one of the reasons that postmodernism is so unsatisfying, it allows saints and sinners to all cloak themselves in notions of personal truths." I'd love to tape record that comment and turn back the clock to General Convention 2003 in Minneapolis and subsequent General Conventions, when issues on the person and work of Jesus Christ, the authority of Holy Scripture, and human sexuality were raised, and the mantra of "your truth/my truth" was pushed at those of us who were more conservative and wanting to hold onto the historic truths of the church. Fr. Russell suggests firing everyone: "If I had my way I'd fire everyone and start over.  I do not want to waste the time it would take to adjudicate the competing claims." If Fr. Russell can figure out how to do that, it is more than the orthodox Episcopalians could figure out, so most of us just left and started over. An additional comment of his in a different venue was "Someone among the leadership of the church is not telling or owning the truth about his debacle." Many of us have felt that way for some time, though on different issues. Do read Fr. Michael's article, as it reflects considerable frustration in the Episcopal Church, at least among those who know what is, or isn't, going on. A "progressive" TEC writer, Fr. Mark Harris, an Episcopal priest from the Diocese of Delaware, on his blog addresses the same issue from a slightly different angle, looking at the tensions within the TEC leadership over power and who is trying to take it away from whom. He writes "The skunk is on the table and fear and loathing is in the offing. The Budget of The Episcopal Church... a thing required by Canon... is coming soon to General Convention, ready or not. How it will get there is increasingly a matter for fear and loathing, mostly related to the sense that budget matters are more and more part of the larger re-visioning schemes being proposed and the way the budget is produced and how it is shaped is shifting the way various groups in the church exercise leadership." Fr. Harris continues, "Katie Sherrod, has written a powerful post on her blog in which she has put the skunk on the table. In "Balancing act" she makes it clear that the issues are not simply about the budget and its preparation, but about the extent to which budget development is carried out without any transparency and with motives that look very much like power plays. She writes, "Is this restructuring by budget? The presiding bishop is not elected by General Convention, but by one house as their presider. Do we want our budgets coming from the PB's office or from a more widely representative body?" Ms. Sherrod, who serves on the Executive Council, goes on to further highlight some of the unseemly battles going on within top TEC leadership, "Several recent events, including the recent Commentary on the budget by the Rt. Rev. Stacy Sauls, chief operating officer [COO] of The Episcopal Church, and the budget recently proposed by the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop [PB] and primate of The Episcopal Church, have raised quite public questions about the Council's competency. As a member of that body, I confess to being shocked by these developments - not because of the criticism (that comes with the territory), but because of concerns these developments raise about the direction of The Episcopal Church." There have been serious suggestions that the church headquarters move out of pricey Manhattan to a less expensive and more centrally located city such as Chicago. Having the office in lower Manhattan means that everything costs more, including the salaries of the employees who have to be paid enough to live in such an inflated economy.  All of the so-called mainline church denominations have been downgraded from their previous prideful place of prominence in American culture and society, and that is hard to re-adjust to. Where TEC once went first class, they now need to think economy or even tourist class. Fewer people in the pews means fewer dollars in the offering plate and fewer Episcopalians in prominent offices in all three branches of government. I hope that Deputy Michael Russell's request for truth is honored by his church in this summer's triennial gathering. I think the bottom line is it is hard to change the corporate DNA after it is set. I pray fervently that the new Anglican Church in North America can set its DNA in a godly manner so that we can stay true to the one who said that He is...THE TRUTH, Jesus Christ himself. Blessings and peace in Christ Jesus, +David The Rt. Rev. David C. Anderson, Sr. President and CEO, American Anglican Council