The Episcopal Church today is enjoying the greatest unity in Christ that I have ever seen, and I have been observing this church for 58 years as a baptized member, for 43 years as a priest, and for 15 years as a bishop. This church is truly biblical without being fundamentalist, respecting biblical truth while honoring scholarly critical study of our scriptures. We teach the true catholic faith (re: Catechism BCP pp. 845-861) We share an evangelical mission to the world.
I have seen this church's unity tested sometimes by raging controversies such as whether women can truly worship god without wearing hats! We have been threatened with schism over the civil rights movement, prayer book revision, the role of women in the church, and much more. In my opinion we have never been more united in the mission of Christ than we are now.
We certainly do have differences of opinion with this church, We differ over how to interpret biblical references, how to understand statements in our creeds, how to deal with differences n sexual orientation, and many other subjects. I believe the way we are handling these differences is constructive and conducive to real unity.
Not Uniformity!
The only alternative is uniformity enforced by an authoritarian church, something Anglicanism has always tried to avoid since the days of good Queen Elizabeth I. I thank God that we have unity and authority with authoritarianism. I thank God ha we do not have uniformity.
The press release from Singapore quotes one those ordained as saying: "a crisis of faith has left the Episcopal Church divided." It goes on to state that these two bishops will plant missions in areas of this country to heal our divisions. I can think of nothing more divisive and destructive of our unity!
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