Episcopalian Churches: Now the Shasta Cola of Anglicanism

“So in other words,” Martha Cook, a university professor and member of the vestry at St. Luke’s, asked her pastor at the gathering, “the conservatives could literally take over our rightful spot in the Communion, and the majority of the American church would be on the outs?”

The pastor, the Rev. David R. Anderson, answered that while it was far from settled, “the scenario the traditionalists were seeking could actually come to pass.”

“The vast majority of the Episcopal Church would be considered the ‘off brand,’ ” Father Anderson said.

The Episcopal Church, USA, has finally gotten way too far out even for the (relatively liberal) theology of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and may lead to an “ordered and mutually respectful separation” between the Anglican church—Canterbury and its affiliates around the world—and the EC, USA. Here’s a description of a Connecticut ECUSA church grappling with the hard facts:

Everyone in the room was white, many white-haired — a group atypical in the context of the global Anglican Communion, in which the typical member is now black, young and living in Africa.

“I used to be Communion über alles,” said Judy Holding, a student at Yale Divinity School and a chaplain at Greenwich Hospital, “but now I’m asking, at what price Communion?”

Ms. Holding said later: “At a certain point for me, it’s not worth the price. I would not sign that covenant if it means we have to compromise Christian love and social justice.”

In other words, I don’t want to be in communion with those blasted Nigerian troublemakers if it means we have to give up our gay-marryin’ ways.

The Episcopal Church’s presiding bishop, the Rev. Frank T. Griswold, said, “We must never forget that God can always surprise us.”

Heh. Looks like He may have already done so.

(Typo in the headline corrected.)