Two weeks ago we published an essay by Louis Weil, a leading authority on liturgical practice in the Episcopal Church, which defended some of the apparently controversial liturgical practices of Kevin Thew Forrester, the bishop-elect of Northern Michigan.
That letter prompted a essay by Fr. Nathan Humphrey, a priest at St. Paul’s K-Street in Washington D.C., one of the flagship Anglo-Catholic parishes in the US. Humphrey points out that he finds Weil’s letter to be a less than stellar recommendation for Forrester’s election as Weil’s letter commends the willingness of the bishop-elect to engage the process of liturgical reform rather than commending the experimental liturgies themselves.
Professor Weil has since responded to Fr. Humphrey, an exchange facilitated by Café contributor Donald Schell. In Weil’s response he amplifies the points he made in his original piece, and goes further in an attempt to make clear that he is commending the bishop-elect’s theological sense and his liturgical instincts.
As the controversy regarding the bishop-elect’s consents unfold, this additional information from Prof. Weil might be useful to those who are still trying to sort this all out.