Selective Discipline
by Bishop FitzSimons Allison, The Living Church (Hat Tip VOL)
Presiding Bishop Michael Curry’s response to Bishop William Love’s refusal to authorize same-sex marriages in the Diocese of Albany was to say that those “who have taken vows to obey the doctrine, discipline, and worship of the Episcopal Church must act in ways that reflect and uphold the discernment and decisions of the General Convention of the Church” [TLC, Dec. 2].
When Bishop Love took this oath, the doctrine of the Episcopal Church was, and had been for centuries, exactly what Bishop Love asserts. His views are in complete accord with Lambeth Conference Resolution 1:10 (1998).
Does no one see the irony and contradiction after decades of bishops ignoring oaths and vows concerning scriptural and creedal faith, they now are demanding obedience to General Convention teaching that was until very recently condemned by previous conventions.
Bishops’ sworn obligation to guard the faith has been strikingly absent since Bishop James Pike’s denial of the doctrine of Christ and the Trinity. He was censured by the House of Bishops for the “tone and manner” but not for the substance of his teaching.
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori publicly identified with the teaching of Marcus Borg, who claimed Jesus was neither divine nor unique. Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold refused to distribute copies of Archbishop Rowan Williams’s critique of Bishop John Spong’s “12 Theses.” The bishops of Province IV refused to respond to it because “it was too controversial.”
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