V. You have many talents.
R. Many crazinesses, many passions.
(If the link doesn't work go to Daily Episocpalian and link it from there. Thanks for the heads up, Jim.)
11/20/2006
The Presiding Bishop has Many Talents...
The Presiding Bishop of the Episocpal Church made the New York Times Magazine this weekend. It is an absolutely wonderful cut through the possible pretensions to a remarkable snapshot of a remarkable woman. She makes me absolutely proud to be counted as a companion in this eclectic and lively thing called the Episcopal Church. DEBORAH SOLOMON, the writer, is to be congratulated for this real treat. I liked the last exchange the best:
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I admire our Presiding Bishop also, but must confess her comment about Episcopalians being too well-educated to reproduce like Mormons or Catholics made me wince.
ReplyDeletePerhaps it's a cultural thing, but in the UK anybody who proclaims their "craziness" is automatically suspected of being the exact opposite. I felt as if Deborah Solomon was interviewing David Brent / Michael Scott.
ReplyDeleteI winced, too!
I don't understand how anyone can be proud of +KJS's inarticulate responses to softball questions. I winced at every turn.
ReplyDeleteOK gang...I guess I was taking the moment and the essay lightly, having felt good about the last few weeks. I guess one persons whimsy is another persons wince.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand... I just read the article again and I stand by my sense of the matter. Deborah Solomon did a fine piece of writing, and KJS I believe came across well.
ReplyDeleteIn very few words indeed she (Deborah) linked the scientist (squid and octopuses), issues of fundamentalism, creation theory, being comprehensive, bashing of people on the basis of religion, observations about the Episcopal Church's numbers vis a vis sociological data, the Christian virtue of not judging others too harshly, and flying and other passions.
For a brief essay this was good stuff. Of course it is not complete or always right. This was KJS in a more relaxed mode.
You want serious, read her letter to Bishop Schofield. That is serious.
Were I writing the script, I might prefer she gave answers a bit more polished. However, her answers reveal an honest, straight-forward, spiritual PB of whom I am proud. If one is not trying to find fault the interview will be seen as a positive.
ReplyDeleteNothing at this point +KJS can say or do will be sufficient for the vocal minority scanning her every utterance for hints of heresy and -- wonder of wonders! -- finding it every time.
ReplyDelete+Katherine did not intimate anything about the brain power of RCs and Mormons - just that theologically they are against birth control.
ReplyDeleteI believe that outside of Catholicism, among more educated peoples, the use of birth control in the States is fairly wide spread.
Talk about twisting her words.
Eileen, maybe it's just imprecision, unfortunate juxtaposition, or even bit of humor gone awry, but I don't one has to be straining at gnats to read the comments of +KJS as being somewhat supercilious. I fully support her ministry, think she's probably a great person, and I wish she had chosen her words with a bit more care. On the other hand, I'm not going to spend much time worrying about her statement, either. All in all, I thought the letter to +Schofield a much better indication of character and I like what I see very, very much.
ReplyDeleteNote the rioting and thuggery by Catholics and Mormons in response to Schori’s remarks. Ignorant riff-raff the lot! In one or two generations (at the most) their theology will have crumbled and they will have the chance, at least, of acting like a civilized steward rather than inflicting spiritual violence willy-nilly upon themselves and others.
ReplyDeletePB Schori is not a media-savvy actress on a global stage. Although I support her as PB, I would advise her to avail herself of a PR person to rehearse with her media interviews. No matter what she says will be scrutinized under an electronic microscope by Bible-thumping evangelicals who believe themselves to be sitting at the right hand of God commissioned to judge 'the quick and the dead'.
ReplyDeleteWhy feed the trolls unnecessarily and cast a shadow on TEC?
What you said, Mark: it's a great interview---best keyed to open-minded seekers.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the jaundiced go? Eh.
God bless our PB!
" ... +KJS's inarticulate responses to softball questions. ..."
ReplyDeleteSpanky,
I re-read the article to be sure. I guess I miss your superior orthodox discernment, but what exactly was innarticulate? She answered the questions asked, expressed a great deal more sympathy for the holy, orthodox, sexist homophobe who was recently exposed as a fraud than she could expect were the roles reversed, and described her living arraingements and interests.
I suppose that if you are looking for every statement to take on the charector of a sermon, she failed. But then, by that standard, even the very holy, very orthodox homophobe of Nigeria might fail.
Would you care to enlighten us on what your superior discernment reveals as the correct answers?
As to the "softball" questions, I have a news flash, when a person is interviewed, the interviewer decides what the tone and questions will be.
FWIW
jimB
Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteNo matter what she says will be scrutinized under an electronic microscope by Bible-thumping evangelicals who believe themselves to be sitting at the right hand of God commissioned to judge 'the quick and the dead'.
Exactly. The experience of the last two Presiding Bishops could easily lead one to believe that if one's only public utterance were the words of Holy Scripture quoted entire, someone would find the choice of verses offensive, or the translation used objectionable on some obscure micropoint of theology.
Hence, might as well be yourself and let the Devil take the hindmost.