THE SWINGING AXE

Bishop Mark Lawrence of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina in The Living Church.

It may well be true that “The pen is mightier than the sword.” Unfortunately, it has not always been mightier than the axe. As that eloquent environmentalist Aldo Leopold wrote: “A conservationist is one who is humbly aware that with each stroke [of the axe] he is writing his signature on the face of his land.” Far too many of the leaders in our church have never learned this lesson.

There is much axe swinging these days in the Episcopal Church. I have grown sad from walking among the stumps of what was once a noble old-growth Episcopalian grove in the forest of Catholic Christianity. It may surprise some, but I write not to bemoan the theological or moral teaching that is in danger of falling to the logger’s axe. I have done that elsewhere. My concern here is that as the church’s polity is felled only a few bother to cry “timber.”

I have space to raise three concerns, and these briefly: the presiding bishop’s threat to our polity —litigious and constitutional; the revisions to the Title IV canons; and, finally, a passing word about inhibitions and depositions to solve our theological/spiritual crisis.

Bishop Lawrence never calls Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefforts Schori by her name, but rather refers to her as "the presiding bishop" or "she" or "her". He likens Bishop Katharine to a "rapacious lumberjack" who fells trees indiscriminately, rather than a conservationist, concerned about renewal of the forest - er - church. Yet he says:

I hasten to add my concerns are not with her personally. My problem is with how she and her chancellor are felling our polity.

It seems to me that the manner in which Bishop Lawrence speaks of Bishop Katharine and his failure to refer to her by name indicates a level of disdain bordering on contempt.

Bishop Lawrence does not write about the Episcopal Church's false theology, nor does he write about the church tearing "the fabric of the Anglican Communion". He speaks not of the Episcopal Church's mistaken stance on "profound questions of doctrine, morality and discipline". No, he's already covered those issues at great length. And don't I know it, for I've read a good many of his speeches and writings. Now Bishop Lawrence challenges Bishop Katharine's "axe swinging" manner of exercising her office. He references the "national" church with scare quotation marks, for the dioceses are "independent" (my scare quotes!) of the "national" church.

At his ordination service, Bishop Lawrence said,

"I do solemnly engage to conform to the doctrine, discipline, and worship of the Episcopal Church."

Would this be the "national" church that Bishop Lawrence now references with scare quotes?

I'll leave it to others to take up the questions of whether Bishop Katharine has exceeded her authority or performed unconstitutional acts, or whether "we have entered into a new era of unprecedented hierarchy and autocratic leadership." Others far more knowledgeable than I will take up the question of whether "all of these are strokes of the axe hacking at the stately grove of TEC."

The disrespectful tone of this piece about the leadership of the Episcopal Church, from a supposedly loyal son of the Church, distracted me greatly from any rational points that Bishop Lawrence may have been attempting. I hope that one day, as he stands amongst the stumps of what was once a stately grove of trees, Bishop Lawrence may choose to consider his tone as composes his next public message, but the time is not now. Bishop Lawrence's address to the South Carolina diocesan Convention, which is presently taking place, can be read here in its verbose and bombastic entirety.

Note: On the diocesan web page, "Episcopal" does not appear in the name of the diocese. However, the Google search for "Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina" calls up the home page for the diocese in which the word "Episcopal", the church which, along with its Presiding Bishop, must not be named.

For further commentary, read the words of Bishop James R. Mathes, of the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego, at the Daily Episcopalian.

UPDATE: "The Lumberjack Song" thanks to Ann.



UPDATE 2: Andrew Gerns at The Lead continues with updates on the activities at the diocesan convention of the Diocese of South Carolina.