Religion & Law

Episcopalian friends of mine pointed out George Will's column last Sunday addressing the growing crisis in the U.S. Episcopal Church and the worldwide Anglican communion.  The crisis runs much deeper, they assure me, than the ordination of Gene Robinson as as bishop in 2003.  Paraphrasing Pittsburgh's bishop, Will states that "[t]he Episcopal Church's leadership is latitudinarian - tolerant to the point of incoherence --- about clergy who deviate from traditional church teachings concerning such core doctrines as the divinity of Christ, the authority of scripture and the path to salvation."  This is also the perspective of my Episcopalian friends.  One friend told me that the type of views espoused by former bishop Shelby Spong are now the norm among the church leadership.

From what I can see, this crisis has generated a real crisis of faith among some ordinary Episcopalians attempting to live out their lives as followers of Christ.  As I sit in my office with a portrait of Thomas More watching over me as I type these words, it is hard for me - I confess - to feel too bad about the implosion of the Anglican/Episcopalian Church.  And, that is why it is so important for me to see and remember the true suffering that occurs in these times.   

As I pray with Jesus (John 17: 20-21) for the unity of all believers, I pray especially this day for all who suffer a crisis of faith because of their church leaders' own crisis of faith.