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

What's Happening at Lambeth?

Everyone is asking me what is going on at the Lambeth Conference.

Like most people stateside, I am relying on various Internet sites and blogs for news. The official Episcopal Church site has a lot of special coverage, including videos of many speeches and comments. For the first time there is a team of "Blogging Bishops" (God help us) and they are contributing to the Lambeth Journal. The Episcopal Diocese of New York is also relaying a blog by our own Suffragan Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Catherine Roskam.

As for what is happening, my own hope is that there will be some reconciliation or at least an uneasy truth. The likelihood of that happening, given the anger on both sides and the love of some activists for media coverage of their own pronouncements, seems small.

Pray, brothers and sisters, for the Church. --J. Douglas Ousley

Really Looking for Communion?

The Lambeth Conference of (most) Anglican Bishops begins in a few days and as usual, there will be calls from all factions for unity and dialog.
My own suspicion is that most progressives and traditionalists are wholly unwilling to compromise and therefore conversation will be pointless and unity elusive. Progressives will call for everyone to speak at the same table--but with the implied agenda that if conservatives will only listen, they will change their minds and agree with the liberals. Traditionalists will fear this gambit and in addition will fear that giving up on any of their issues will lead to the collapse of the church.
This divisiveness is hardly new but it seems to me to be more rigid than ever. May God have mercy upon us. --J. Douglas Ousley