As Hugh Hewitt discussed this evening, it would seem that there is a significant likelihood that the Episcopal and Presbyterian Church USA may have to deal with schism in their ranks.
The Episcopal Church has elected a woman bishop, who supported the election of Gene Robinson to be the first openly gay bishop in the denomination, as their presiding bishop:
EPISCOPAL Church leaders have chosen Nevada Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori as their leader, making her the first woman to head any denomination in the Anglican communion.
The decision to choose a female presiding bishop for the 2.3 million-member denomination came as a senior English bishop said that a schism in worldwide Anglicanism was now inevitable.
Three years ago, Episcopalians angered many conservatives by electing an openly gay man from New Hampshire, Gene Robinson, as a bishop.
One big issue in the church is the question of homosexuality.
She was asked particularly about the church’s stance on homosexuality and said, “I believe that God welcomes all to his table, people who agree and people who disagree, and the Episcopal Church has always had a strong voice for including a variety of theologies, a variety of opinions and insisting that all the marginalized are most especially welcomed at the table.”[emphasis mine]
I would suggest that the Episcopal Church has lost its way because their theology is guided by zeitgeist. Rather than working to bring light to a sick world, they have opted to formulate their beliefs to accommodate the world. They prefer to follow rather than lead morally and they continue into the darkness undeterred.
The Presbyterian Church USA also struggles with the issue of homosexuality and with divestment from Israel.
The Israeli/Palestinian conflict “is worse than apartheid,” said the Rev. Donald Wagner, director for the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at North Park University in Chicago, during a General Assembly dinner Sunday night.
“It is time now that we start using the word apartheid,” Wagner told attendees at the National Middle Eastern Presbyterian Caucus (NMEPC) dinner. “In fact, it is worse than apartheid.”
The Catholic Church has had its problems in the last 2000 years. But there is an authority based on Scripture and Tradition which guides the Church. Sola Scriptura results in many, many interpretations of Sacred Scripture and these interpretations result often an accommodation to our desires and worldly ways. Scripture has been used to justify many unholy enterprises.
Endless schisms are inevitable after the first.
Mark D. Roberts, a guest of Hugh Hewitt, promised to write on current events in the Episcopal and Presbyterian Churchs.
I’ve written a bit in the past about some of the issues above.
For those in the Episcopal and Presbyterian Churchs, I pray that you may lay aside any prejudice that you may have and look at what the Catholic Church teaches. Read the Catechism of the Catholic Church and read works from those who know and love the Church. Read the stories of those who have come home to the Catholic Church from your own denominations (who almost always look lovingly on their former churchs) and understand the freedom that the Catholic Church brings.
