"I am because we are"

From EpiscopalLife Online:

Kentucky: Presiding Bishop brings message of reconciliation on three-day diocesan visit

. . . From May 16-18, accompanied by Kentucky Bishop Ted Gulick, [Presiding Bishop Katharine] Jefferts Schori traveled by car and then plane from Louisville to Paducah at the far western edge of the diocese and back, with a stop in between for a "Tent Meeting Episcopal Style" at the diocese's camp and conference center. . .

The "Conversations" were held on the first and second evenings of her visit. Moderated by local news media personalities, the Presiding Bishop was asked a series of questions -- ranging from the tensions within the church to her prayer life and vegetarianism -- that had been submitted in advance by email as well as presented during the forum.

When asked the first evening to comment on the amount of in fighting within the Episcopal Church, Jefferts Schori replied that fighting only takes place in an institution "centered in power."

"There is no need to fight if we continue to ask 'how can we serve the poor?'" she said, adding that churches focused on "serving the least among us" thrive. . .

Questioned about whether lawsuits are the way to resolve disputes, she explained, "The role of the Episcopal Church as a denomination is to support dioceses in their mission…We will support the actions of local dioceses when they are faced with a situation like this." While some people believe the church should not go to court, she said, "there is often not a choice in the matter" and noted that the denomination has a "fiduciary and moral responsibility to see that the legacy of this church is used for the purpose for which it was given." She noted hopefully, however, that "we're finding that the bulk of this work is behind us.". . .

Responding to questions at the second forum about the future of the Episcopal Church, Jefferts Schori said the church "is going to look less and less like most of the people in this room. The growing parts of this society are immigrants, people of color, even in Kentucky. People are coming from Mexico and other places [such as] south Asia. Three of the four people we baptized this morning were Chinese... We have to wake up to that. We have to recognize that the Episcopal Church is not going to just be Anglo. We have not done a good job of evangelism by reproduction, and there are important reasons for that... We're going to have to do our evangelism in other ways and again that means thinking outside the door.". . .

Gulick asked the presiding bishop at her first public meeting to "lend us your eyes" and help us see what you see. During the weekend, she complied and taught, among other things, the Zulu word, "ubuntu," which she translated, "I am because we are." Ubuntu expresses the concept of interdependence, which she said is "fundamental to our understanding of the body of Christ. When one part of the body suffers, we all do; when one of us rejoices, we all do."

She encouraged the diocese to "know something about ubuntu -- your work in Jubilee ministries, your focus on the Millennium Development Goals…You're beginning to know yourselves as Koreans, Sudanese, Karen, Chinese as well as Anglo…If we as individuals and as a community want to participate in God, then we too will be restless until all are at rest and comfort and healing of that holy community of God."

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+KJS: Helping poor trumps "being right"

From an interview with +Katharine Jefferts Schori by Peter Smith, The Courier-Journal (Louisville) - also participating in the interview was Bishop Ted Gulick of the Diocese of Kentucky. [boldface mine]:

. . . Q. You have spoken about the Millennium Development Goals (targeting extreme global poverty) as a point of church unity. Why is it that the bishops from some of the countries that would seem to be the beneficiaries of this point of unity the most -- such as Uganda and Nigeria -- why are they the ones saying that we have to have unity in this other area (of sexual morals) as well. Do you think you're missing something or that they're missing something?

Jefferts Schori: Well, different people prioritize the world in different ways. Some people believe that being right is the most important thing in the world. Others think that feeding people is more important. But if you're hungry, your political party doesn't make a whole lot of difference.

Q. Do you feel that's what's motivating this?

Jefferts Schori: I think it's a piece of it. I think a piece of it also is really wrapped up in colonialism. This communion needs to have that conversation, and we have not done it. We're seeing evidence of continuing colonial attitudes around the communion (which developed alongside the expansion of the British empire). We see reverse colonialism. We see neo-colonialism. And we don't examine it. We're still treating each other as commodities in many, many different ways.

Q. Can you break that down? Who's being colonial?

Jefferts Schori: It goes in many directions. It's multi-layered. There's a colonial aspect to the establishment of congregations of the Church of Bolivia in Kentucky. We are being colonized. There is a reverse colonialism in some of the interactions between people in this church and people in the church in Africa. There is I think a neo-colonial aspect in the way in which some factions in this church are exploiting people in other parts of the communion. Those are challenging things to talk about, but it's a part of discovering our own sinfulness.

Q. I've also heard it said that the Western churches, with a very gay-friendly agenda, are once again importing Western ideas onto countries that don't want these ideas, that that's an aspect of colonialism.

Jefferts Schori: That could be said. I don't think there's a great push to impose, even within this (American) church, the idea that (any particular) congregation must provide blessing for same-sex unions. That's not part of the conversation. It's a matter of making it available.

Gulick: I think Katharine's right on that. In the late 1980s, when I as a straight white male suddenly found in Newport News, Va. (where Gulick was then a pastor), in the early moments of the AIDS crisis, I started having deep conversations with persons who were affected by that illness. I woke up to what I think was my own personal clarity, that certain expressions of same-sex attraction are fundamental to certain people's being. I have never in 30 years wanted to inflict that perspective on an Africa bishop, and I've been in conversation with hundreds of African bishops. It's my own insight. I talk to them about how I came to believe that. I would never presume that my relationship with my companion bishop in Rwanda is dependent on his believing that. It's an absurd thing to say that. ... I don't know any colleague in the House of Bishops that has ever done that or wants to do that.

Jefferts Schori: It's a red herring. Even Gene Robinson is not doing that. He's not going to Africa insisting that they change their way of dealing with people, except to remind people of what Lambeth has said repeatedly, that all persons are deserving of human dignity and civil rights, and pastoral care. (Lambeth, the once-a-decade summit of Anglican bishops, declared in 1998 that homosexuality was "incompatible with Scripture" while calling on "all our people to minister pastorally and sensitively to all irrespective of sexual orientation.")

Q. The Episcopal Church, like other mainline denominations is losing members and attendance. What's going wrong, and what can the church do about it?

Jefferts Schori: I'm not sure if it's a matter of things going wrong. It's a re-examination across our culture of the sources of authority. There are people in this culture who cannot live with an understanding that says, "The way I interpret a book that was written nearly 2,000 years ago is the way you must believe. You can't question that. You can't offer another interpretation. You must take it the way I see it." The Reformation was about inviting people into conversation with that text. That produces a variety of interpretations. Anglicanism has always said that variety is important to the health of the body. Re-examination of authority is challenging the church as well.

We're a far less clerical institution than we were 50 years ago. That's a piece of it. We're rediscovering the fact that all baptized persons are called into ministry and not just the people wearing funny clothes, and that daily living is where we need God. That's where Jesus calls us into ministry.

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Bishop of Bolivia to ordain Anglican priest in Kentucky

Bishop Frank Lyons of Bolivia also oversees several parishes here in San Diego. From the Bible Belt Blogger:

One Anglican priest and two deacons will be ordained Friday Oct. 5 in a service celebrated and attended by Anglican Common Cause Partners. The first Anglican ordinations in Kentucky will be conducted by the Rt. Rev. Frank Lyons, bishop of the Diocese of Bolivia and the Rt. Rev. John Guernsey, newly-consecrated bishop in the Anglican Church of Uganda. The Rev. James McCaslin, dean of the Southeastern Convocation of the Anglican Communion Network, will be assisting in the service.

The three men being ordained are members of local Anglican parishes. From Good Shepherd Anglican Church, Louisville, Peter Kaufman will be ordained a priest and Weller Head will be ordained a deacon. Chris Millard from St Andrew’s Anglican, Versailles, will also be ordained a deacon. . .

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