Posted on 01/27/2007 8:56:46 PM PST by Huber
The bishop of western Kansas has jumped into a national dispute over theology dividing the Episcopal Church.
Bishop James Adams has caught the attention of the newly appointed Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori with a letter stating he disapproves of her theology.
In response, the first female primate in the 500-year history of the Anglican Church has offered to visit the Western Kansas Diocese, which has about 2,500 members.
The next move in their exchange will be up to Adams - under church protocol, Jefferts Schori cannot visit unless invited.
"I have offered to be in western Kansas during holy week if he wishes," Jefferts Schori said. "It’s up to him."
Wednesday, at the Cathedral in Salina, Adams said he hadn’t received Jefferts Schori’s offer. But, he added, he didn’t know if the church’s schedule would allow time for a visit from the highest-ranking official of the Episcopal Church.
Meanwhile, he stood firm, describing Jefferts Schori as "too conciliatory to others’ beliefs."
"I don’t deny she is the presiding bishop; she was duly elected," Adams said. However, in his letter sent to Jefferts Schori, after her installation in November 2006, he denied her authority over him.
"What I said was she can’t represent me or my diocese by what she is stating in the press. Every interview gets harder to have her represent me," he said.
Adams struggles with Jefferts Schori’s theology, worried that she and some others in the church seem to give up the claims of Christ to avoid offending anyone.
Of course, says Kate, I'm much more theologically advanced than Jimmy is.
Meanwhile, Jefferts Schori, 52, said she was "cognizant that western Kansas has challenges."
Adams may think he understands her theological positions, Jefferts Schori said, but "I have a broader understanding of how salvation works."
Translation: they're dumber than a bag of hammers in western Kansas.
Adams and Jefferts Schori first met while attending the same church meetings, when she was still the Bishop of Nevada.
Jefferts Schori holds a Ph.D. in oceanography and master of divinity and an honorary Divinity Degree from Church Divinity School of the Pacific.
"It’s not that she is not talented or smart," Adams said, "but she has little experience in the church."
He said Jefferts Schori had been a priest only since 1994, and never a rector before she was appointed bishop in 2000. During the 75th General Convention in June 2006, she was elected the 26th Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church.
"I didn’t vote for her. That doesn’t mean I don’t like her, I just don’t think she’s qualified," he said.
You and a whole lot of us, Bishop.
A few years before he died, my father and I took a trip to the southwest. My dad was not the most pleasant person in the world to travel with and so he proved on this trip. But one of the places we stopped was Ness City, Kansas. My dad wanted to show me where his mother was born and where he spent a lot of his youth and I very much wanted to see it.
It rather surprised him when I told him that I wouldn't mind retiring in Ness City. Back then, you could buy a house in Ness for almost nothing and you'd have cable TV and Internet access and it was quiet. Give me those and I can live anywhere.
Western Kansas, then, is basically where I came from. And where I wouldn't mind returning. Or dying.
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams. Adams may think he understands her theological positions, Jefferts Schori said, but "I have a broader understanding of how salvation works."
Translation: they're dumber than a bag of hammers in western Kansas.
Ol' Kate's done it again! First, "we're smarter than the Catholics and the Mormons" . . . now, "I'm smarter than you."
Generally people who feel compelled to talk about how much smarter they are than anybody else . . . aren't.
"The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Cor. 2:14, NIV)
The election of this lunacy-spouting heretic makes the position of the American church all too clear.
It remains to be seen if Rowan Williams will have the courage to do what needs to be done.
As for me and my family . . . we serve the Lord elsewhere now. We shook the dust of ECUSA from our sandals a long time ago.
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