The following letter appears in the current edition of Church Times. Note especially the last paragraph, which is one of several complaints that have surfaced in conservative circles about our Church’s willingness to treat Native American Episcopalians as though they have something to offer us.
Sir, — It has been reported (News, 30 July) that a proposal brought to the Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion to “separate” the Episcopal Church in the United States from the Anglican Communion was “rejected” because the “overwhelming majority” of the committee’s members thought such a separation would “inhibit dialogue” concerning “anxieties felt in parts of the Communion about sexuality issues”.
From the vantage of more than one of those “parts” of Anglican Communion in which I continue to serve, both inside and outside the Episcopal Church, “anxieties about sexuality issues” seem the least of the reasons why, in turn, the majority of the Episcopal Church’s own leadership should simply be acknowledged as having already “separated” themselves not only from the Anglican Communion, but from biblical and credal Christianity.
To observe, for instance, what passes for liturgy at many denominational events of the Episcopal Church, such as the putative consecration service for the new Bishops Suffragan of Los Angeles, is to understand the degree to which the Episcopal Church makes allowance, indeed makes deliberate provision, for a practice of religion which of its very nature “separates” its practitioners doctrinally from the Body of Christ.
WILLIAM N. McKEACHIE
Dean Emeritus of South Carolina
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