Benedict Rips Episcopal Church's use of 'local options'
News Analysis
By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
4/21/2008
The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Mrs. Katharine Jefferts Schori, was not in town when Pope Benedict came to New York. She was invited, but she had previously scheduled appointments. Bishop Mark Sisk Bishop of NY and Bishop Christopher Epting, deputy for ecumenical and interfaith relations for the Presiding Bishop, represented her, according to Neva Rae Fox of the Episcopal News Service.
According to a Roman Catholic priest who was there and who emailed VOL, other Episcopalians present, in addition to Bishop Sisk, were the Archdeacon and Vicar General of the diocese of New York, as well as Fr. Barry Swain SSC of Resurrection NYC, Fr. Andrew Mead of St. Thomas Fifth Avenue NYC and Fr. Michael Brandt of St. Michael's NYC.
Mrs. Jefferts Schori was at St. Mark's Cathedral and at the opening of the new Episcopal Church Center of Utah (ECCU) in Salt Lake City, Utah. She was not in New York City as the leader of The Episcopal Church to greet His Holiness. The snub was apparently not deliberate. Some Protestant dignitaries who did not show up to meet the Pope also had representatives.
The Pope did meet Bishop Sisk, but he was dead last in the line to be called up to meet His Holiness, a signal in itself just how much respect the Roman Catholic hierarchy has in New York City for the Episcopal Bishop. Sisk recently went on record trying to put his predecessor, Bishop Paul Moore, on a pedestal for his social justice stands even though he was involved in scandals that included both adultery and homosexuality.
Here is how it went.
It was at St. Joseph's Church on New York City's Upper East Side, that Pope Benedict XVI met with a number of Christian leaders. Bishop Sisk was there and presented to him, but at the very end of the line.
The first to be introduced were a number of Orthodox hierarchs who were called up by name; then, clergy of various Protestant denominations were called up individually by name. A minister representing Mark S. Hanson, Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, was in attendance. The ELCA bishop of the Atlantic Synod was also there. There were a number of clergy of obscure Protestant denominations, a Presbyterian Stated Clerk from the PCUSA, a Missouri Synod leader and then Sisk. He was the very last one to be called up. There are unconfirmed reports that the Rev. Andy Meade of St. Thomas's was there as was the Vicar General of New York.
It was the Pope's remarks to the ecumenical leaders, clearly aimed at The Episcopal Church, that stole the show. He singled out for particular condemnation the notion of "local option" in changing sacred doctrine. The Pope made it clear that dialogue is only possible within the context of revelation and the apostolic teachings of the Church. (One should bear in mind the rejection of General Convention Resolution B001, which asked TEC to uphold certain basic doctrines of the church, but could not muster enough votes to do so.)
Why did he do this? Who informed him? Many readers will recall that this Pope, when he was simply Cardinal Ratzinger, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, was the one who sent a congratulatory note to some 4,000 orthodox Episcopal priests meeting in Dallas at Plano One in 2003. This was occurring right around Frank Griswold, then Presiding Bishop, thus humiliating the PB in the biggest single snub of his career. Ratzinger, now Benedict XIV, and 81, clearly has a long memory. Furthermore, it should be noted that VOL, according to Google Analytics, is read every day by more than 130 Italians. Some 30 readers are clustered in and around Rome and the Vatican.
That the Pope understood what "local option" has done to the Episcopal Church speaks volumes for the Pontiff's memory.
For those not in the know, "local option" is what revisionists and homosexuals like Louie Crew scream and whine when they can't have their way at one General Convention on homosexuality and cry "local option" until it is brokered in at the next General Convention.
It is the most disingenuous and opaque form of church politics you can imagine. The conservatives who see it coming are powerless to prevent it. A case in point has been the issue of rites for same sex unions (one can't really call them marriages as that implies two people of the opposite sex uniting in holy matrimony).
The Episcopal Church has still not officially approved such rites, but experimental rites are being shamelessly used and allowed by revisionist bishops with never a thought about whether a resolution for General Convention will approve them.
Of course, those of us who have been watching this "gay parade" called General Convention long enough know that it is only a case of when, not if they will be ushered in. No one has any doubt. The Pope knows it and called it for what it is.
If the Bishop of New York did not see this, he was blind, deaf and dumb, perhaps in his case all three. Perhaps, he was still in recovery from the knowledge of his predecessor Bishop Paul Moore's sordid life and was still reeling from that when he got hit with a one two punch from the Pontiff.
The truth is the Episcopal Diocese of New York is one sordid, sodomite enclave. So much so that one is hard pressed to find a handful of orthodox parishes still remaining in the diocese! What sort of a church pays good money to have a colorfully displayed motor car display upholding homosexuality at a Gay Pride Parade proudly announcing its support for a deadly behavior, while the Roman Catholic cathedral on 5th Avenue closes its doors for the day!
As one blogger observed, "The Episcopal Church's actions for the past quarter century has been characterized as an abandonment of doctrinal norms to press for sociological relevance. From the unilateral ordination of women to the priesthood, based not upon Scriptural or theological analysis but upon political considerations (using theology to back-fill once the political decision was made) to the idea of "open communion," that is, giving the Eucharist to the non baptized in direct and flagrant contradiction of both the Epistles and the ancient tradition of the Church, the Episcopal Church has claimed that it was acting locally."
Benedict decried the "splintering" of Christian churches over "so-called 'prophetic actions' that are based on a hermeneutic not always consonant with the datum of Scripture and Tradition." Such actions, he said, cause Christian communities to "give up the attempt to act as a unified body, choosing instead to function according to the idea of 'local options,'" thus losing their connections to Christians in other times and places. Some, but not all, interpreted that as a veiled reference to controversy in the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion.
He said that "only by holding fast to sound teaching will we be able to respond to the challenges that confront us in an evolving world." There is little doubt that the Pope's remarks must be seen in the light of his words of encouragement to the 4,000 faithful at Plano. He has not forgotten. Equally, there can be little doubt that he has been informed of the sexual "progress" the Episcopal Church has made with regard to the Robinson consecration and the post-consecration fallout.
Benedict said the power of the preaching of the Christian faith "has lost none of its internal dynamism. Yet we must ask ourselves whether its full force has not been attenuated by a relativistic approach to Christian doctrine similar to that found in secular ideologies. ..." Secular worldviews, "in alleging that science alone is "objective," relegate religion entirely to the subjective sphere of individual feeling. Scientific discoveries, and their application through human ingenuity, undoubtedly offer new possibilities for the betterment of humankind. This does not mean, however, that the "knowable" is limited to the empirically verifiable, nor religion restricted to the shifting realm of 'personal experience.'
He would know that tens of thousands of faithful Episcopalians are leaving the Episcopal Church and parishes and whole dioceses are being litigated against with millions being spent on lawsuits. The notion of "mission" has nothing to do with the Great Commission, but everything to do with the push for very secular Millennium Development Goals at the expense of saving souls.
The Pontiff is pushing his own priests and bishops to get involved in evangelism even as Islam is on the rise. This pope has talked more about evangelism than any pope in living memory, mindful no doubt that Europe is becoming extremely secularized, As Europe goes, so goes the rest of the world. Maybe.
"I think he did us the honor of giving us a serious address that I think needs to be read and reflected upon," said Sisk. Asked whether he thought Benedict had singled out the Episcopal Church in his remarks, Sisk responded, "It's possible--but I would be rather surprised. I don't think he was trying to send shots across the bow at particular churches. I think he spoke in a respectful way and I didn't see that as a shot at the Episcopal Church."
Churches claiming "prophetic actions" such as the sexual innovations of the Episcopal Church do not sit well with the Pontiff. Such prophetic actions are not necessarily prophetic at all.
Mrs. Jefferts Schori's absence cannot be ignored. That she put the opening of a building ahead of the leader of one billion Christians speaks volumes. It might have something to do with the fact that she sees property issues as being of such great value that she has instructed her attorney to litigate, at every turn of the road, those faithful Episcopalians who would seek to leave and keep them.
The Episcopal Church is on a trajectory downwards. There is no stopping it. The only question is, will the Pontiff offer a safe harbor for Anglo-Catholics in the Episcopal Church or among Anglo-Catholic Continuers as the church continues to head gadarene like towards the cliff edge?
Those in the reformed Anglican tradition, however, will have to look elsewhere for a safe harbor.
END
