British Politics and the Church of England

The explicitly racist British National Party fielded two winning candidates in the recent European Parliamentary elections. The BNP was successful despite being denounced by virtually every leading figure in Britain, including the Archbishops of Canterbury and York.

Such denunciations of a specific political group are as rare in the United Kingdom as they would be in the United States. Yet the Episcopal News Service, in quoting a BNP leaflet, suggests the deep anger tapped by this party. The leaflet states, "All over the U.K. pews are emptying; churches are closing down and turning into mosques/temples. Our distinctive Christian heritage is disappearing as whole regions of Britain become Islamified ... The cowardly 'yes men,' functionaries and time-servers leading the Church of England have consistently failed to lift a finger in defense of Britain against those who would destroy it."

In order to eliminate the scourge of racism, the leaders of the Church of England will need to develop a strong and cogent response to such cries of frustration. --J. Douglas Ousley

Brand Erosion?

As summer approaches, we can expect to hear news of the controversies of the Episcopal Church as the General Convention meets in Anaheim, CA.

Preliminary reports and the Convention agenda suggest that politics and liturgy will have a prominent place in the debates, as they usually do—though finances may also have to be discussed. The leadership and the delegations appear to have moved further to the progressive side, so the votes will likely not be close.

One wonders, however, whether Convention delegates will give any substantial attention to the continuing decline in the number of parishes and members and in average Sunday attendance, as well as the aging of most congregations. Granted, these trends are long-standing and are present in most Christian churches, including the Roman Catholic Church and Evangelical denominations.

But surely the clergy and lay leadership of the Episcopal Church should at least try to address the numerical fall. After all, it was the Emperor Nero, a notorious enemy of the early Christians, who was accused of fiddling while Rome burned…

Or: "The Church for These Times?"

A prominent church in midtown has just put up slick banners featuring worried traders and other financial industry workers beneath the headline, "The Church for These Times."

Leaving aside the presumption that this particular church is "The" church while others apparently not for these times, and also leaving aside the possibility that the parish is capitalizing on Wall Street's lack of capital, we may ask: what times was the Church not for? Surely if Christ is God's revelation to the world, then there is no time when he will not speak to the material and spiritual needs of human beings?

As it happens, of course, Jesus said quite a lot about money and the soul. So the banner is not only valid advertising; it can be left up until Judgment Day. --J. Douglas Ousley

Always Just Behind the Times

During the fervently change-oriented 1960's, an elderly priest one remarked to me that however hard the Church tries to be modern and up-to-date, it is always a generation or so behind the times.
I was reminded of this today when I received the most recent edition of Trinity News, the magazine of Trinity Church on Broadway and Wall Street. The magazine is dedicated to "Radical Abundance" and is filled with ways that the rich can reduce their carbon footprint, etc.
This is not a surprising concern for the richest parish church in Christendom. But it is ironic that Trinity Church's publication should appear while financial markets on Wall Street and around the world are in grave turmoil. The world may not have to worry about abundance for some time to come. --J. Douglas Ousley

Tradition is In

The dwindling few Episcopalians who love the traditional of the original English translations of the Latin Mass--preserved in Rite I of the current Book of Common Prayer--can take heart in the new translation of the Mass that is becoming mandatory for English-speaking Roman Catholics.

The translation replaces newer expressions with older phrases, such as "and also with you" with "and with your spirit." In fact, the entire rite could be adopted almost without blinking in Episcopal churches that use Rite I.

Whether or not this is part of a reaction in the Roman Catholic Church to modern liturgies, this move reminds us Anglicans of our rich heritage--which we would be wise to preserve in some form if we can. --J. Douglas Ousley

Lambeth Post-Mortem

This is a post-mortem in the sense that the Lambeth Conference for 2008 is most certainly over; fortunately, it is not a post-mortem in the sense that the Anglican Communion did not die.

In fact, the most curious thing about the Conference is that it is difficult to determine what was accomplished. No resolutions were passed. A summary statement of various reflections was published that was so amorphous that almost any point of view could find support in it. The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Presiding Bishop each published reports about how much listening and dialogue went on. Few nasty remarks were uttered outside the executive sessions of the bishops. Indeed, secrecy was the order of the day: the London Times religion correspondent was barred from a seminar on how always to be open to the press! No firm figures were even available for the cost of the conference for 600 bishops and spouses (and numerous advisers and experts), though it seems to have been well over $12,000,000, and there will have to be fund-raising to pay for unbudgeted expenses.

Of course, the Communion didn't die, and for that we may be grateful. Moreover, by the Grace of God, the bishops won't have to meet again for another ten years. --J. Douglas Ousley

A Common Goal?

Many American bishops have devoted a great deal of time and money to trying to meet the United Nations Millennium Development Goals to end various forms of world poverty and oppression. This emphasis seems now to be shared by the Anglican bishops meeting at the Lambeth Conference who marched en masse through London last week in a "walk of witness"
against global poverty.

In a press conference before the Lambeth meetings began, the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, the Rt. Rev. Katherine Jefferts Schori indicated that she thought Anglican unity could be found in such "issues of life and death;" sexuality debates in comparison were much less important.

It will be interesting to see if Bishop Jefferts Schori's prediction will be proven true. The MDG's already seem somewhat dated and, in any case, it is hard to believe that we won't always have the poor with us. On the other hand, the Presiding Bishop has a point in considering these issues more central to the Gospel message. --J. Douglas Ousley