From Giles Fraser at the Church Times:
This week’s stop (my final one) on my American adventure is Pittsburgh, the belly of the beast. The good people of Calvary Church have been looking after me and sharing their fears.
These are not radicals or revolutionaries, just puzzled suit-and-tie churchgoers doing their best to follow God’s call. What are they to do when their Bishop, the Rt Revd Robert Duncan, wants to lead their whole diocese out of the Episcopal Church because he does not like its theology?
....
Archbishop Desmond Tutu preached about inclusion here at Calvary Church recently. Bishop Duncan squirmed through the sermon with a face like a bulldog chewing a wasp.
Giles Fraser, thank you for "a bulldog chewing a wasp". I won't soon forget that. I'd love to have been there to see Bishop Robert Duncan squirm through a sermon by Archbishop Tutu on inclusion. Because of the choice simile, I forgive you for "Episcopalian bishop". "Episcopalian" is a noun. Episcopal is the adjective. Why is that so hard?
Appreciate Giles Fraser's explanation of the role that the "reactionary Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry", situated in Pittsburgh, has played in the creation of the current situation, "feeding clergy into churches all over south-west Pennsylvania, dramatically changing the complexion of the diocese", and his warning that Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, could be the bridgehead for a similar takeover in the Church of England.
ReplyDeleteLapin, I liked that, too, but I'm limited by fair use in what I can include in quotes. Sometimes I think I go beyond fair use. I hope not, but I'm so obscure that maybe no one who counts will notice.
ReplyDeleteI have no doubt that the Church of England faces similar situations down the road.
with a face like a bulldog chewing a wasp.
ReplyDeleteThat's what you call an inspired simile.
How about Episcopalesque? Hmm, sounds naughty. Episcopalish? Funny, you don't look it!
(I'm going now...)
PJ, Episcopalian is an awkward word. I had difficulty saying, "I am an Episcopalian," when I first joined the church. In fact, I still do, not because I'm not proud to be a member of the Episcopal Church, because I am, but it is an awkward word.
ReplyDeleteI find your suggestions somewhat lacking. Sorry about that. Episcopalesque made me laugh out loud. Every time I look at it I laugh. You're right. It sounds more naughty than religious. Episcopalish sounds derogatory, like popish.
I am worried about the same thing happening in Toronto with Wycliffe College at UT.
ReplyDeleteDan, I'd be concerned, too. This seems to be part of their long-term strategy. It looks more and more like the "vast right-wing conspiracy" during the Clinton years. Some of the same people are supplying the money the reasserters.
ReplyDelete