And the Church continues to evolve

Today the House of Bishops elected the Right Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori, Bishop of Nevada, to be the next Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States, during the triennial General Convention of the church.

This is going to be an interesting development for the worldwide Anglican Communion. The Communion, dominated by conservative male bishops from the Southern Hemisphere, is already displeased with the United States for consecrating an openly homosexual bishop and for seriously considering some type of blessing or union ceremony for homosexual couples. The United States (along with Canada and New Zealand) is one of the very few national churches that has elected females to the episcopacy and there are still dioceses in the world—including three in the United States—that still do not allow the ordination of women to the priesthood, so it will be interesting to see how the other primates (heads of national churches) will deal with having to sit with a female primate.

The other interesting detail is the fact that Bishop Schori is known to be quite liberal. Not only did she support Bishop Robinson's (the homosexual) election in New Hampshire, she has permitted same-sex unions in her diocese as well as holding quite a number of other non-mainstream views. I don't think the outspoken conservative bishops from Africa (who make up more than a third of national Anglican churches worldwide) are going to be pleased with a liberal female from the United States.

Now, at least here in the United States, a presiding bishop really doesn't have any power. It's primarily a figurehead position for international meetings and a national administrator for the activities of the national church, but as the "first amongst equals," it's a powerful position if only for its bully pulpit.

For those of you unfamiliar with Protestant Christian denominations, the Episcopal Church is the American branch of the Church of England. In the U.K., the Church of England is the official "established" religion of the country and the Queen is "supreme governor" of the church; both the colonies of Maryland and Virginia prior to the Revolution had the church designated as the official religion in that colony. Today, Anglicanism is the third largest Christian denomination in the world.

During the colonial era, the Church of England was unable to adequately staff churches in the colonies with priests and had no American bishops, since new bishops had to swear allegiance to the Crown. That's what opened the door to Methodism, the Anglican splinter group that sacrificed its Apostolic Succession in favor of allowing ministers to be elected and installed by other ministers instead of by bishops; the Methodist Church became the major religion in this country until probably the middle of the 20th century.

In America, the Episcopal Church is rather small these days—perhaps 1% of the national population. The Episcopal Church has, however, had a disproportionate impact on the American religious and cultural scene over the years because the leaders of the country, corporations, and communities, as well as professionals and the upper socioeconomic classes, traditionally were Episcopalian. Along with people like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, former presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush are Episcopalian and the incumbent was reared in the church before marrying a Methodist (and he occasionally attends an Episcopal church a block from the White House).

So, where will the Church go from here? It will be interesting to see how events unfold over the next few years. The Church almost split a few years back over the issue of female priests and bishops; splits are threatened again today over the homosexuality issue, though I sense most of that is just a power play and a bunch of boys threatening to take their marbles and go home if they don't get their way. I'm not sure, though, that electing a liberal bishop (instead of a nice moderate) is what the Church needs at this juncture. Of course, if the African churches sever ties with the U.S., that is not, in my opinion, a bad thing, since they get huge amounts of funding from the U.S. and their rejection of the American church would free up a lot of funds for other purposes.

All of these churches and parishes need to remember the centuries-old traditions of Anglicanism, though, and those are moderation, acceptance, and mutual respect. Throughout the centuries, the high church, low church, broad church, and even presbyterian elements of the C of E have all been able to coexist as one big church, even with Parliament's meddling and interventions. The Episcopal Church inherited that tradition, and until recently, it has abided by it. It's time for the bishops and parishes to return to that spirit of collegiality.