BISHOP KATHARINE, WE'RE STILL WAITING

John Chilton at The Lead posts on a statement from Bishop Dan Edwards of the Episcopal Diocese of Nevada on Bede Parry:

A lawsuit was filed last week against a monastery in Missouri where Fr. Bede Parry, who has served All Saints for 11 years as organist and assisting priest, was a monk in another denomination in the 1980s. The suit alleges that Fr. Bede engaged in inappropriate relationships with youth in their late teens. In response to these allegations, Fr. Bede has resigned from his duties at All Saints and tendered to me his resignation as a priest.

Please read Bishop Edwards' entire statement. In my humble opinion the response by the bishop is weak tea, indeed, but at least he responded. However, according to Chilton, the Presiding Bishop refers all inquiries to her office about Parry to the Diocese of Nevada, which seems somewhat craven and unfair, since she, as the then bishop of the Diocese of Nevada, made the decision to receive Parry into the Episcopal Church as a priest, despite his history of sexual abuse, and presided over his reception. Surely, Bishop Katharine cannot remove herself from responsibility and place the whole burden of addressing the situation on Bishop Edwards.

Further from the post at The Lead:

Questions that need answers:

What process is in place to hear from those who may have been abused since Parry became an Episcopal priest?

How did they monitor him 24/7? How did the rest of community receive protection? Did the church know there was an admitted child abuser in their midst? Did the community around the church know? How did the diocese protect the vulnerable?

We're still waiting.

OH SWEET!

From the Church of Ireland:

On Sunday 30th January at 9.00am, the Most Revd Dr Katharine Jefferts-Schori, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church of the USA, will preach at the Sung Eucharist in Christ Church Cathedral (please note the earlier time).

Dr Jefferts Schori is in Ireland attending a conference of the Primates of the Anglican Communion which is being held at the Emmaus Retreat Centre in Swords, Co. Dublin.

Speaking of the bishop’s visit, the Dean of Christ Church Cathedral, the Very Revd Dermot Dunne said “It is truly a delight and a historic moment for the cathedral to welcome Dr Jefferts-Schori who has done so much for the Anglican Communion in areas of minority inclusion”. (My emphasis)

Dear me! What will Rowan think?

H/T to John Chilton at The Lead.

PRESIDING BISHOP'S STATEMENT ON PRIMATES MEETING

January 24, 2011

I look forward to greeting many old friends at the Primates Meeting in Dublin, and I look forward to meeting those who have been elected in the past two years. I am deeply grateful that we may begin to focus on issues that are highly significant in local contexts as well as across the breadth of the Anglican Communion. Certainly issues of serving our brothers and sisters, offering good news for body, mind, and spirit, are the central ones in our province. The Episcopal Church is urgently focused on rebuilding in Haiti, seeking increased ways to bring good news to the poor in indigenous communities, inner cities, and expanding and depopulating rural areas in all the nations in our province. Across the globe, in partnership with Anglicans and others, we seek to serve the least of these, bringing light in the midst of darkness, peace in the midst of war and violence, and hope in the face of devastating natural disasters and the growing reality of climate change. We own our domestic responsibility to change our habits and ways of life that contribute to environmental damage and destruction. In all we do, we seek to recognize the face of God wherever we turn, realizing that the body of God’s creation will only be healed when all members of the body of Christ are working together.

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop and Primate
The Episcopal Church

H/T to Jim Naughton at The Lead.