Recommended Attire

Res Publica recommends the shirt to the left, with its timely message, as appropriate attire for your bishop's next visitation. Click on the pic to order yours while supplies last.

Here's a bit of interesting info regarding what may have triggered the irregular behavior on the part of Bishops Griswold and Jefferts Schori on Wednesday morning:

...Katie Sherrod, an Integrity member and straight supporter who lives in Fort Worth, was devastated. She’s also a journalist and producer. We talked about the shocking behavior of our presiding bishop and she told me that just before the vote in the HOB, she was on her way to the bathroom when she stumbled upon ++Griswold and a few of his minions in the hall. ++Griswold was talking into a cell phone. Then +Schori joined the group. ++Griswold handed her the cell phone. Shortly thereafter, she stood up in the HOB and gave her “conjoined twins” speech. Who was on the other end of that cell phone? We can only speculate that it was “someone high up” in the communion giving orders to pass B033 or else...

For those who are suggesting that we just get over the way this legislation was force-fed to our members and move on, let me offer you the closing words of the above post:

...We were sold out. We were used as the bargaining chip to get an invitation to Lambeth. I want all those who voted yes to look into the eyes of the gay and lesbian faithful…look long and hard and close…and see what you have done. It will take years to undo the harm. I hope it was worth the price. And as we ponder that question, we must remember another sermon we heard here at GC. It was preached by +Gene Robinson at the Integrity Eucharist….words that were more prophetic than any of us realized: “No matter what they say or what they do….you must” he implored, “you must love them anyway!”

Yes, love them anyway, but hold them accountable for their actions.

I guess we know why Dr. Williams was so quick to respond to B033; he had Frank on the phone. He was not the only one to respond quickly, however, as Bp. Robinson points out:

I don't know whether or not our Presiding Bishop-elect was coerced or merely persuaded to join in this appeal, but it is clear to me that her support for such an action provided the push needed to convince the Deputies to adopt a resolution more prohibitive than the one they had rejected the day before. Gay and lesbian deputies, many in tears, not to mention our straight allies, rose to the microphones to pledge their support of our new primate as she goes off to represent us in unfriendly places, to "give her what she needs" to continue the conversation. The scene of gay and lesbian deputies, willing to fall on their own swords for the presumed good of the Church, voting for this resolution against their own self-interest was an act of self-sacrifice that I won't soon forget.

Keeping us in conversation with the Anglican Communion was the goal -- for which the price was declaring gay and lesbian people unfit material for the episcopate. Only time will tell whether or not even that was accomplished. Within minutes -- yes, MINUTES -- the conservatives both within our Church and in Africa declared our sacrificial action woefully inadequate. It felt like a kick in the teeth to the ones who had gotten down on their knees to submit to the will of the whole, even though the price of doing so was excruciating. Such a quick, obviously premeditated and patently cruel reaction from the Right can be seen only as the violent and unchristian act it was...

The extremists seemed to have no scruples regarding what tactics they would use to encourage elements of the Anglican Communion to give TEC the boot, including voting for Bp. Jefferts Schori, considered by some to be the most progressive of the nominees, to assure her election.

From Bishop Wimberly of Texas:

...As for the vote, Bishop Jefferts Schori was consented to by our deputation in the House of Deputies with two non-consenting votes, one lay and one clergy. The House of Bishop's vote is not public. However, I will say to you that I understand she received votes from supporters and a solid number of more conservative bishops who supposedly hope to move the split of our communion forward. Politics can make strange bedfellows. Further, this same undercurrent is attempting to undermine the good work of the Special Committee on Windsor...

From Bishop Gray of Mississippi:

...In addition to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, her election was made possible by an interesting coalition of both liberal and very conservative bishops. Historians will have to figure that one out!

And, from a report that I refuse to link to, due to the venom the reporter regularly spews:

At least four perhaps as many as nine (or more) orthodox Episcopal Church (TEC) bishops joined in voting for Katharine Jefferts Schori as TEC's new presiding bishop at the just-concluded General Convention in Ohio, in order to send a signal to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the wider Anglican Communion about the bankrupt state of the U.S. Church...

Eventually these behind the scenes manipulations will be brought into the light, at which time I would suspect that Dr. Williams and Bishop Duncan are going to have some very uncomfortable questions to answer.

Make sure you read Bp. Robinson's entire letter. His "So What Now" section offers some encouraging words.

J.

UPDATE: Renee has provided us with the unique bumper sticker on the right. Click on the pic to order one.