The Episcopal Church Declares Gays In, Gospel Out

The Episcopal Church is now completely following a 'different gospel', one which is no gospel at all.

ANAHEIM (Catholic Online) - The Episcopal Church (TEC) ended a three-year moratorium regarding the ordination of gay bishops by affirming Tuesday at their General Convention that gays and lesbians are eligible to serve in any ordained ministry in their denomination. The action by the both houses of the convention is now the closing chapter in a battle that has been waged within the TEC for several decades.

The now-defunct moratorium was initiated in 2006 following the global uproar of the election and consecration of TEC's first openly practicing homosexual as a bishop, Gene Robinson. With most of the bishops who stood visibly against the ordination now a part of the new Anglican Church in North American (ACNA), the way was cleared to take this initiative to the next level.

The text of the resolution affirms "listening to the experience of homosexual persons" and "that God has called and may call such individuals, to any ordained ministry in The Episcopal Church."

At the same convention, discussion has been re-opened, as well, regarding the approval of 'marriage rites' for same-sex couples.

The resolution, which passed by a 2 to 1 margin, cements the polarization that has existed between liberals with their orthodox Anglican counterparts who are still in TEC. Many from the latter camp had faithfully stayed and fought, believing the church could still return to its historic roots.

To further separate itself from its Christian moorings, the convention also discharged a resolution presented by The Rev. Dr. Peter Cook, a clergy delegate from Lousiana, which sought to "Affirm Christ in a Multi-Faith and Non-Faith Society." This resolution would direct the House of Bishops Committee on Theology to pursue the same work being done by the Church of England to re-affirm the uniqueness of Christ in a society that is both multi-faith and no-faith.

As a resolution, this would have also provided renewed the support of The Episcopal Church's resolution in 2000 for a "Decade of Evangelism" and the doubling of baptized members in the church by 2020.

As a cradle Episcopalian as well as a former leader in a denomination that kept us living on the hem of the Anglican garment, the actions of this General Convention were not surprising. However, they were still very tragic.

The foreshadowing of these radical departures came during the opening address by the Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, where she declared, "The overarching connection in all of these crises has to do with the great Western heresy - that we can be saved as individuals, that any of us alone can be in right relationship with God."

From the very beginning, the convention was destined to become a deconstruction of Christianity that was acted upon as hastily as any stimulus bill, since those who held these views had worked tirelessly in ridding the organization of anyone who held contrary opinions. This year they hit the magic number.

Jefforts Schori showed little respect to those who held to the Biblical and historic view, noting that "some quarters" insist that "salvation depends on reciting a specific verbal formula about Jesus."

Little remains of The Episcopal Church in which I was baptized, catechized and confirmed. The same liturgies which we followed with an orthodox understanding of Jesus Christ have been semantically revised to hold little creedal faith.

It seems that The Episcopal Church, as St. Paul would say, is now completely following a different gospel (Gal. 1: 5-7), one which is no gospel at all.

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Randy Sly is the Associate Editor of Catholic Online. He is a former Archbishop of the Charismatic Episcopal Church who laid aside that ministry to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church.

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