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Staying involved

Asserting their beliefs the right model for church's conservatives

By Douglas LeBlanc May 20, 2008 [Episcopal Life] Since I began reporting on the Episcopal Church in the early 1990s, conservatives have gone through a few different regroupings: Episcopalians United begat the American Anglican Council, which begat the Anglican Communion Network, which begat the Common Cause Partnership. An important change since General Convention in 2003 is that each regrouping has brought many conservatives ever closer to leaving the Episcopal Church. I was beginning to wonder what any remaining conservative presence within TEC might look like in the next few years.

I was fairly sure we did not need another group with a national headquarters, a logo and regular conferences. I believed that conservatives within TEC needed to find some way between the poles of departure and mere acquiescence to the more provocative resolutions of General Convention.

I've now heard some encouraging notes for a conservative future within TEC. Two hours of audio, posted on the website of St. Andrew's Church in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina (PBinSC.notlong.com), suggest that the conservative future sounds assertive rather than aggressive and hopeful rather than despairing.

Those who follow the regular drama of bishops' elections will remember that that Diocese of South Carolina's 14th bishop, Mark Lawrence, was said not to have received adequate consents from standing committees after a diocesan convention elected him. The diocesan convention reconvened and elected Lawrence again, on acclamation. After standing committees heard renewed assurances that he had no intention of leading the Diocese of South Carolina out of the Episcopal Church, Lawrence received sufficient consents and was consecrated on January 26 -- nearly a year later than the diocese originally had planned.

To expect that this difficult path to consecration would leave Bishop Lawrence haggard or tongue-tied was to misunderstand him. In late February, as part of the Presiding Bishop's visit to the diocese, Bishop Lawrence devoted two hours of a clergy day to a frank discussion of tensions involving the diocese, General Convention and the Presiding Bishop herself.

I don't expect it was an easy two hours for the Presiding Bishop. Here were a diocesan bishop and priests (including John Barr, Kendall Harmon, Anthony Kowbeidu, Dow Sanderson and Al Zadig) who wanted to discuss specific points of conflict about the authority of Scripture, about whether salvation is found only through Jesus, about whether deposing retired bishop William Cox is
the best response to his performing a few ordinations one evening at a former Episcopal parish.

Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori spoke in a measured tone, except during one moment of distracting laughter, and by the end it was clear that no conflicts would be resolved that day. I don't think that's a sign of failure on anyone's part.

A good model
Indeed, I think these two hours of audio are a good model for how conservative dioceses may stand for what they believe in. For that matter, these sessions are a model for how some conservative parishes might receive their bishop -- in addition to celebrating the Holy Eucharist together -- during a regular visitation. (I realize the diocese did not schedule the Holy Eucharist during the Presiding Bishop's visit. I'll leave the moral outrage about that to others.)

I think such open exchanges make a few important points:

  • Some conservatives have made it clear that they feel driven, whether by conscience or theology or the promptings of the Holy Spirit, to leave the Episcopal Church. With our continuing presence, we make clear that we are neither leaving nor threatening to leave.
  • We care about doctrine. In South Carolina, that doctrine sounds like a lively mixture of stout Reformation evangelicalism (which has a clear Anglican precedent in the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion) and Anglo- Catholicism (which has an equally clear precedent in Anglican history). When it feels as though our beliefs clash with something we hear from leaders of the broader church, we will not be afraid to identify the conflict.
  • Conservatives hear frequently that our voices are an important part of the Episcopal Church. One great way to test that assertion is to speak up about what we believe. In short, we will respect our church's declarations of inclusion by being ourselves. We will trust God, in the fullness of time, to resolve those matters that divide us.