THE BEDE PARRY STORY IS NOT DEAD

Jim Naughton at The Lead once again addresses the matter of Bede Parry being admitted to the priesthood by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori when she was bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Nevada.

A story has been making the rounds in the last few days that purports to demonstrate that Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori knew that the Bede Parry, a former Roman Catholic monk, had sexually abused minors and was likely to do so again when she received him as a priest into the Episcopal Church while she was serving as the Bishop of Nevada.

I'm sorry to have to address the matter again, but groups who are generally considered not to be especially friendly to the Episcopal Church are referencing the matter, not necessarily unfairly, with links to Patrick Marker's post at Conception Abbey Abuse. Thus, those of us who who care deeply about sexual abuse and the Episcopal Church must also pay attention.

Jim says further:

In Crisis Communications 101 (a course that exists entirely in my head) one is taught rules for governing the release of bad news: tell it yourself, tell it all, and tell it quickly. These rules apply with special force to organizations whose moral credibility is their stock in trade. I don’t know that the presiding bishop has bad news to deliver, but either way, she would be well advised to put the facts of the Parry case before us. (MY emphasis)

Jim is exactly right. The opportunity for the Presiding Bishop to tell the story quickly is past and gone, but the two remaining bits of advice still apply. The time is now. We need to hear from Bishop Katharine in her own words. What we do not need is more passing the buck for commentary to the present bishop of the Diocese of Nevada, Dan Edwards, who was not the bishop who admitted Bede Parry to the priesthood in the Episcopal Church.

Two of my earlier posts on the Bede Parry matter are here and here.

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.

MORE FROM THE COLIN SLEE MEMO

There's more from the Colin Slee memo, and it's not pretty. Jim Naughton at The Lead has further commentary on the redactions in the memo. What I've read convinces me further that transparency is the way to go whenever possible, but I do understand that confidentiality is sometimes in order.

Colin Slee carried a heavy burden away from the meetings, but, he did not advocate an electoral system for choosing bishops in the Church of England. It's difficult to see how electing bishops would be worse than the process Slee describes.

UPDATE: John Chilton provides links to even less redacted versions of Colin Slee's memo at The Lead. The newly revealed material is absolutely appalling to read.

"ORDAINED WHILE GAY...THE NEW DRIVING WHILE BLACK"

Please read John Chilton's piece at The Lead titled An occasion for gay bashing and scapegoating:

Ordained while gay -- it's the new driving while black.

In a revealing campaign, Anglican Mainstream seeks to persuade you that sex with children reveals whether you are gay. And it's using the Catholic sex abuse story to make its claims. (And also is an apologist for that church's handling of sexual abuse.) Anglican Mainstream claims the problem is not with the church, but with homosexuals in the priesthood. According to its website, the "Primatial Adviser" of Anglican Mainstream is The Most Rev Drexel Gomez, former Archbishop of the West Indies who chaired the committee that drafted the Anglican Covenant. (My emphasis)

John lists articles in Anglican Mainstream which attempt to demonstrate that sex with children shows whether a person is gay. The list is long.

The Draft Committee for the Anglican Covenant tilted in an anti-gay, anti-North American direction from its inception.