Per Christum Catholic Blog

It is being reported that Jeffrey Steenson, Episcopal bishop of the Diocese of Rio Grande, is resigning as bishop of that diocese and intends to enter full communion with the Catholic Church. I haven’t been following Anglican events too closely over the last few months, although the big new line in the sand for conservatives, apparently even rivaling all past lines in the sand, is September 30. The Primates of the Communion have given this date as the cut-off point for repentance by the Episcopal church. However, it doesn’t look like the Episcopal church is going to do what it takes to satisfy the demands of the wider Anglican Communion. Fortunately for Episcopal liberals, the symbolic head of the Anglican communion, Dr. Rowan Williams, is acting like a postmodern “buddy parent,” and seems to have indicated that “September 30th” isn’t really a deadline after all.

At any rate, the recent fudging of deadlines, coupled with the trouble many traditional Anglicans have operating in the Episcopal church, has led Bp. Steenson to do the difficult thing and resign. If only other bishops, namely John Spong, would have the integrity to step down when they no longer are able to in good faith defend the doctrines and discipline of the Episcopal church. Bp. Steenson explains his decision well:

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

This is a very difficult letter to write as your bishop and colleague in the ordained ministry, and I hope that you will receive it in the prayerful spirit in which it is offered. A pastoral letter to the people of the diocese will follow in a few days. At the House of Bishops meeting about to be convened in New Orleans, my intention is to ask them for permission to begin the process to resign as diocesan bishop. The bishops must give their consent, and then I will step down by the end of the year.

The reason for this decision is that my conscience is deeply troubled about where the Episcopal Church is heading, and this has become a crisis for me because of my ordination vow to uphold its doctrine, discipline, and worship. An effective leader cannot be so conflicted about the guiding principles of the Church he serves. It concerns me that this has affected my ability to lead this diocese with a clear and hopeful vision for its mission. I also have sensed how important it is for those of us in this position to model a gracious way to leave the Episcopal Church in a manner respectful of its laws…More

If only other Episcopalians on all sides of the fence were so gracious about those wishing to leave the Episcopal church. If the September 30th deadline-that’s-not-a-deadline passes without any substantial action, I believe we will see some sort of “realignment” that conservatives have been seeking since 2003. However, I think that no matter what happens, the response from Anglican conservatives to this passing date will be highly fractured, with some going Romeward or to Constantinople, others to the Continuum, still others staying within TEC, and others to the “Common Cause” partnership. Unfortunately, I don’t see Anglican “conservatives” as united as they once were.

Either way, welcome Bp. Steenson.

We All Need Anglicans Right Now, or so says Sister Joan, well-known as a public dissenter within the Catholic Church. Please take the time to read her article.

First, I must admit that I can agree with a basic interpretation of her argument, which is that there are shades of gray when responding to modern crises and issues in the Church. Responding to modern issues should not not simply be a matter of choosing either a staunch traditionalism or an unrestrained “anything goes” anarchy. Sister Joan is right, I think, that the Church does often have to balance Apostolic Tradition with modern pastoral issues. However, upon reading the article, Sr. Joan and I reach very different conclusions about the role of the “prophetic” in the Church.

[Tangential Rant]As a side note, after attending a mainline seminary for 2 years for a degree, and attending another one for a quarter, I often want to gag when I hear the buzz word “prophetic” thrown around. It is almost always a synonym for standing for leftist causes, and is an excuse for all sorts of license (e.g. “we can break or bend the canons if we are being “prophetic”). As Anglican conservatives can tell you, when they stand up against the oppressive leftists in the Episcopal church, they are condemned, mocked, and asked to leave, even though they are in essence doing what the leftists have been doing for years in the name of being “prophetic.” I still contend that whether you are “prophetic” or merely a troublemaker depends on whom you ask, and what side you happen to be on in the debate at hand. [/Tangential Rant]

While I still suggest reading the entire article for yourself, let me highlight a few areas that I found troubling. One is when Sr. Joan suggests:

Theological questions driven by new scientific findings, new social realities, new technological possibilities abound. How moral is it to take cells from one person for the treatment of another if all human cells are potentially life generating? Is that the destruction of life? If homosexuality is “natural,” meaning biologically configured at birth, why is it immoral for homosexuals to live in homosexual unions — even if they are bishops?

Of course, this is the familiar, “if a person is born with a tendency toward a behavior, then God must bless that behavior.” Not to sound too crass, or make us men look bad, but many many are born with a tendency to womanize. Some folks are born with a tendency toward serious addiction. Some are born with a strong tendency to deadly diseases. Does this mean God approves of such behavior, or that God wishes debilitating conditions upon us? I don’t think so. Or could it mean that there is such thing as Original Sin after all, and that in reality, we all inherit sinful inclinations at birth that we must fight our entire life? I can sure tell you that I definitely have inherited a tendency toward gluttony, and I have to fight it every day of my life through diet, exercise, and self-control.

Sr. Joan then writes:

Conservatives, devoted to what they consider unchanging truth, adopt a mantle of fidelity to the past. Liberals, devoted to exploring the moral dimensions of new questions, see themselves as faithful to the future envisioned by Vatican II. But truth is commitment to what’s under the changes and renewal is what’s devoted to developing a tradition as well as reshaping it. They are not opposites. They are two faces of the same thing and, if we are all to survive together, we must learn to respect one another until the dawn comes and the light shines.

First, I think she misrepresents “conservatives” here. Conservatives do emphasize the past, but there is a difference between traditionalism and allowing Apostolic Tradition to guide our present beliefs and decisions. Conservatives explore the “moral dimensions” of new questions just like liberals, it is just that conservatives reach different conclusions than Sr. Joan does. Second, Sr. Joan makes the mistake of assuming that those acting in the so-called spirit of Vatican II are faithfully following the council itself. Vatican II did not necessarily envision the future Sr. Joan does, but rather it dealt with certain issues pertinent at the time, and still pertinent today. Let’s not credit the theological silliness that emerged in the 1970s to Vatican II: the Council deserves much better. Third, “reshaping” Tradition does occur, and has occurred throughout Catholic history. However, this is done by the successors to the Apostles, namely the successor to St. Peter working in union with other bishops, although laypersons have a role too. However, this “reshaping” is not in the hands of a small group of radical, liberal, Western academics. The Anglican Communion is discovering this same truth: western, white, liberal academics are on the decline in many churches, while African and Asian, black persons of all sorts of backgrounds are coming to power.

And finally:

From where I stand, we need those who can develop a model of faith in times of uncertainty in which the tradition is revered and the prophetic is honored. Unless we want to see ourselves go into either tyranny or anarchy, we better pray for the Anglicans so that they can show us how to do that.

Again, I can agree with Chittister’s basic point that there is a mix of Tradition and prophetic operating in the Church at one time. However, from reading many of Sr. Joan’s other works, I know that her concept of Tradition is quite different than that of the Magisterium, and so is her concept of the “prophetic.” Yes, we should pray for Anglicans, but we shouldn’t be surprised if the declining, white, liberal, portion of Anglicanism becomes a separate entity from the growing, black, conservative, body of Anglicans. The way the Anglican Communion handles the current crisis may indeed be a lesson for the Catholic Church, perhaps even a rather “prophetic” lesson to Sr. Joan and those who want to make the Church into the image of their generation, and what is this lesson? It is that the Church will survive all the flakiness and faddishness one generation can throw at it.