[Apologetics] Christianity Today: Episcopal Church Falling Apart

[Art Kelly]

Falling Apart

Controversial decisions at the recent General
Convention have accelerated the break-up of the
Episcopal Church.

by Douglas LeBlanc | posted 07/26/2006 09:30 a.m.
  
In her inaugural sermon as the Episcopal Church's
presiding bishop-elect, Bishop Katharine Jefferts
Schori of Nevada turned to images used by church
mystics such as Julian of Norwich.

"That sweaty, bloody, tear-stained labor of the Cross
bears new life," Jefferts Schori preached during the
church's triennial General Convention, which met in
June in Columbus, Ohio. "Our mother Jesus gives birth
to a new creation—and you and I are his children."

For Jefferts Schori, this language was
"straight-down-the-middle orthodox thinking,"
according to The Washington Post.

For David Roseberry, founding rector of the
4,500-member Christ Episcopal Church in Plano, Texas,
it was the final outrage.

Jefferts Schori preached her sermon on June 21. Three
days later, Christ Church's vestry (its governing
board) voted to leave the denomination. Roseberry's
bishop, James Stanton of Dallas, has shown openness to
letting Christ Church leave with its property. "They
bought it. They paid for it," Stanton told The Dallas
Morning News.

"When the presiding bishop–elect had a chance to build
consensus, she chose to interweave the Cross with
radical feminism. It seemed gnostic," Roseberry told
Christianity Today, adding that he's aware of English
mystic Julian's 14th-century writings.

Roseberry and Jefferts Schori attended the same
seminary, Church Divinity School of the Pacific in
Berkeley, California, but they were separated by 12
years (Roseberry graduated in 1982, Jefferts Schori in
1994) and plenty of theological differences. For one,
Roseberry is an evangelical who emphasizes vigorous
parish growth. Starting with a group of 240 people in
August 1985, he helped Christ Church become one of the
largest parishes in the nation. (The average Sunday
attendance at Christ Church is about as large as the
whole of Jefferts Schori's current diocese.)

Roseberry has been active in conservative Episcopal
movements since the early 1990s. But the latest
General Convention convinced him that the denomination
has destroyed its ability to preach a transforming
evangelical gospel in American culture.

"There will always be a niche for a liberal catholic
chaplaincy," Roseberry said. "Our bellwether is that
we have to get out of [the Episcopal Church] and into
a more direct relationship with the Anglican
Communion."

The full article is at
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2006/008/6.51.html




                           
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