Hat tip to Susan Russell for pointing me to this op-ed in yesterday’s Hartford Courant. It recounts the story of another African bishop afflicting the poor to demonstrate his fidelity. In this instance, there are 20 Tanzanian teenagers won’t go to school this year because the bishop didn’t want to accept tained money from the Episcopal Church.
Let’s leave aside for the moment that there are probably very few dollars circulating in the global economy that haven’t been touched by either gay or Episcopal hands at some point–no large scale donation from any source that doesn’t include “tainted” money. Leave aside also the parable of the Good Samaritan, in which Jesus makes it clear that we don’t get to choose the instrument through which God works his merciful purposes. Let’s just look at the example of Jesus, who suffered for others, and compare it to the example of this bishop, who has others suffer for him.