Although there's no criticism from 815 when pro-W"O" activists (lay and clergy) sneak into the diocese of Fort Worth to agitate for the advancement of that heresy in one of the few remaining partial-holdouts in PEcUSA, some definite squacking occurs when an Anglican primate (with whom Dr. Schori is, theoretically, in communion) accepts an invitation from that diocese's bishop to visit. This canonical visit by a fellow Anglican Communion bishop is, apparently, such a terrible violation of PEcUSA's integrity that it required that a condemnatory letter be publicly circled on the internet in protest. Apparently, someone over at 815 needs to explain to their Fuhrer how to use a telephone or, at the very least, put a stamp on an envelope.Let's decode that letter, shall we?Donnette Schorlione’s letter close-captioned for the PEcUSA-double-speak impaired From ELO-NEWS's intro:
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has advised Southern Cone Presiding Bishop Gregory J. Venables in an April 29 letter…
A letter, which, magically, has appeared on the Internet before it even made it into the U.S. Mail service. Fancy that! Yup... why bother to write a private letter -- or even simply phone ++Venables -- when what you’re really doing is posturing and protesting in public to make Integrity happy and get public documents out there to help set up future law suits?
We haven’t even gotten to the text of the letter yet... but is anyone even taking this transparent charade seriously?
Oh, right, some will—i.e. the head-in-the-sands it’s-not-happening-in-my-parish oh-it’s-no-big-deal hey-it’s-just-some-lunatic-fringe-people-causing-trouble Episcopalians whose church has been systematically deceiving and theologically blinkering for 40 years now. Of course. Silly me.
Then again, the average such person is nearly 60 years old and in a parish with an ASA of around 30. Can’t count on their willful blindness and institutionally-induced ignorance keeping putting in the weekly check for too much longer, now can you?
Oh, hang on.... maybe that’s why PEcUSA wants those valuable properties which they didn’t pay a cent for so badly -- so they can sell them off to fund law suits, pensions, airfair to Lambeth to have tea with the Queen, and martini dinners in NYC... with 00.7% left over for a token donation to the blessed MDGs. Silly me.
But let’s take a look at that letter, shall we?
Dear Gregory,
Meaning: hey you wretched conservative over whom I don’t have any jurisdiction more’s the pity,
I write to urge you not to bring further discord into The Episcopal Church.
We’ve got enough discord being spread by our own last holdouts of conservative and somewhat traditional belief... we don't need people like you coming in from abroad and stirring things up by giving examples of genuine Anglican Christianity. If everyone would just cave in to the apostasy, we wouldn’t have any of this discord—so the discord is all their fault and you’re not helping!!!
Visiting a special convocation of the Diocese of Fort Worth with the expressed purpose of describing removal to the Province of the Southern Cone is an unprecedented and unwarranted invasion of, and meddling in, the internal affairs of this Province.
After all,
I’m the only one allowed to invade a foreign province, steal its assets, and attempt to reconstitute back under my control. It’s okay for me to do that in San Joaquin (even if it means ignoring the legal bishop, deposing the legal standing committee, and illegally appointing my own toady... and I promise you, we’re going to get all that property and buildings back too!) but don’t you dare think you can come make a pastoral visit at the invitation of the local bishop.
That’s crossing the line, buddy! I can do whatever I damn well feel like -- especially because the House of Bishops is too spineless and craven to stop my rampant illegality -- but don’t you dare put a toe anywhere in the USA without MY express permission,
regardless of who invited you or for what reason!
I ask you to consider how you might receive such a visit to your own Province from a fellow primate.
(Answer: with a lot more grace, civililty, and tact that you are, Madame Schoria Law!)
The actions contemplated by some leaders in Fort Worth are profoundly uncanonical.
I.e. I don’t agree with them. You should know by now that my opinion -- not the clear word of law or constitution -- is all that matters in PEcUSA. Besides, DBB and I don’t quite yet have all our ducks in a row for the crushing of the diocese of Fort Worth, the deposition of its faithful bishop and priests, and the theft of its property... so we’re going to scream “canons canons canons” at you... until we’re all set to move in and uncanonically rip its parishes away from its people. Hey,
it worked in San Joaquin!
They also prevent needed reconciliation from proceeding within this Province.
After all, "reconciliation" means the disenfranchizement of everyone who disagrees with me, the theft of every parish’s property, the crushing of all genuine Christian faith, the imposition of our wide assortment of revisionist heresies and apostasies, and the driving out of our institution of any vestige of tradition Christian faith or Anglican practice. We just need to get everyone (or, at least, everyone who’s staying in the organization) reconciled to that new reality. See? --"reconciled" ... "reconciliation" ...
that’s what we mean by it -- and, once again, you’re not helping!
I urge you to focus your pastoral ministry within your own Province.
And stop being pastoral to the Christians whom I am persecuting and marginalizing!!! -- because that’s showing up just how un-pastoral, duplicitous, uncharitable, apostate, egocentric, and meretricious my own leadership is... and we can’t risk letting any of those clueless head-in-the-sand write-the-weekly-check 'Piskies we count on stumbling across something which might actually shock them out of their self-indulgent stupor to see what’s really going on!
May your ministry there be fruitful.
Of course, we’ve got more fruits (and nuts!) up here in PEcUSA, so nyah-nyah!
I remain Your servant in Christ,
Well, actually, I remain your implacable enemy because I serve Mammon and the Spirit of this world, not Christ and the Holy Spirit... but if I mouth the pious platitudes you’ll have to be nice to me in any response and I can whine and play the victim card if you say anything at all harsh or—worse yet—if you remember the example of how the apostle John reacted to Cerinthus. (Ha! Bet you didn’t know I knew that bit of apostolic trivia, now did you? Not that I ever read that sort of stuff in seminary, but Gene mentioned it when he was talking about how God isn’t the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, and so I googled it!)
Katharine Jefferts Schori
That’s Doctor PRIMATE
ALL POWERFUL AND EXULTED ONE Schori to you, buddy.
First posted on the MCJ blog.
