Wednesday, March 18, 2009

And Now a Word from the Bishops . . .

The House of Bishops, having just concluded its spring meeting in North Carolina, has favored us with a pastoral letter. Its rhetoric and tone strike an eery counterpoint to the fiddling that is going on at the national level while America burns, as I have unhappily had to document with this satire---all too much of which is actually true.

The Bishops' letter does not reveal that they had any discussions or concern at their meeting about the fact that the Church's budget proposed for General Convention 2009 at Anaheim this summer is seriously out of kilter. As Mr. Livingston has documented in his admirable "Primer for Those in the Pews", the Church's own treasurer is telling it that a crisis in finances looms---the like of which has not been experienced "since the Great Depression of the 1930s." The Church is facing an anticipated loss of $7.5 million in revenues, but at the same time its Executive Council has approved an increase of 1,560% in the line item for lawsuits. One would think that such a development was worthy of note, or of at least an acknowledgment. Yet while the Bishops' letter duly takes note of these perilous economic times for the country, there is not one word about the questionable priorities currently being pursued by the Church's leadership.

I shall quote portions of the letter below, to show you what I mean. However, in order best to emphasize my point, I want to draw on an ancient literary device exploited to great advantage by the Greek comedic playwright Aristophanes, in the late fifth century B.C. There is a passage in his satiric play The Frogs in which Aristophanes brings on the venerable and classic figure of Aeschylus, one of Greece's foremost tragedians (who had died shortly after Aristophanes was born), in order to ridicule a younger (and more adventuresome) tragedian, Euripides (the author, for example, of The Bacchae and Medea). Aristophanes has Aeschylus complain that all of Euripides' prologues are metrically identical and boring, and to make his point, Aeschylus has Euripides recite lines from the openings of his plays---which Aeschylus each time interrupts and fills out with the annoying (but exactly metrical) phrase "lost his bottle of oil". Here is an example from the play:

EURIPIDES
Nonsense; I say my prologues are firstrate.
AESCHYLUS
Nay then, by Zeus, no longer line by line
I'll maul your phrases: but with heaven to aid
I'll smash your prologues with a bottle of oil.
EURIPIDES
You mine with a bottle of oil?
AESCHYLUS
With only one.
You frame your prologues so that each and all
Fit in with a "bottle of oil," or "coverlet-skin,"
Or "reticule-bag." I'll prove it here, and now.
EURIPIDES
You'll prove it? You?
AESCHYLUS
I will.
DIONYSUS
Well then, begin.
EURIPIDES
"Aegyptus, sailing with his fifty sons,
As ancient legends mostly tell the tale,
Touching at Argos"
AESCHYLUS
Lost his bottle of oil.
DIONYSUS 
Hang it, what's that? Confound that bottle of oil!
Give him another: let him try again.
EURIPIDES
. . .
Pooh, pooh, that's nothing. I've a prologue
He'll never tack his bottle of oil to this:
"No man is blest in every single thing.
One is of noble birth, but lacking means.
Another, baseborn,"
AESCHYLUS
Lost his bottle of oil.
DIONYSUS
Euripides!
EURIPIDES
Well?
DIONYSUS
Lower your sails, my boy;
This bottle of oil is going to blow a gale.
EURIPIDES
O, by Demeter, I care one bit;
Now from his hands I'll strike that bottle of oil.
DIONYSUS
Go on then, go: but ware the bottle of oil.
EURIPIDES
"Once Cadmus, quitting the Sidonian town, Agenor's offspring"
AESCHYLUS  
Lost his bottle of oil.
DIONYSUS
O pray, my man, buy off that bottle of oil,
Or else he'll smash our prologues all to bits.


Aristophanes milks the moment even longer, but you get the point. So now, with that introduction, allow me to play Aristophanes with the Bishops' pastoral letter, mutatis mutandis:

BISHOPS
As the House of Bishops gather at the Kanuga Camp and Conference Center for our annual Spring Retreat, we are mindful of the worsening financial crisis around us. We recognize there are no easy solutions for the problems we now face. In the United States there is a 30% reduction of overall wealth, a 26% reduction in home values and a budget deficit of unprecedented proportions. Unemployment currently hovers at over 8% and is estimated to top 10% by the end of the year. There are over 8 million homes in America that are in foreclosure. Consumer confidence is at a 50 year low---

CURMUDGEON
But the lawsuits shall go on.

BISHOPS
Unparalleled corporate greed and irresponsibility, predatory lending practices, and rampant consumerism have amplified domestic and global economic injustice. The global impact is difficult to calculate, except that the poor will become poorer and our commitment to continue our work toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 is at great risk--- 

CURMUDGEON
But the lawsuits shall go on.

BISHOPS
A specter of fear creeps not only across the United States, but also across the world, sometimes causing us as a people to ignore the Gospel imperative of self-sacrifice and generosity, as we scramble for self-preservation in a culture of scarcity---

CURMUDGEON
But the lawsuits shall go on.

BISHOPS
The crisis is both economic and environmental. The drought that grips Texas, parts of the American South, California, Africa and Australia, the force of hurricanes that have wreaked so much havoc in the Caribbean, Central America and the Gulf Coast, the ice storm in Kentucky—these and other natural disasters related to climate change—result in massive joblessness, driving agricultural production costs up, and worsening global hunger. The wars nations wage over diminishing natural resources kill and debilitate not only those who fight in them, but also civilians, weakening families, and destroying the land. We as a people have failed to see this connection, compartmentalizing concerns so as to minimize them and continue to live without regard to the care of God’s creation and the stewardship of the earth’s resources that usher in a more just and peaceful world---

CURMUDGEON
But the lawsuits shall go on.

BISHOPS
In this season of Lent, God calls us to repentance. We have too often been preoccupied as a Church with internal affairs and a narrow focus that has absorbed both our energy and interest and that of our Communion – to the exclusion of concern for the crisis of suffering both at home and abroad. We have often failed to speak a compelling word of commitment to economic justice. We have often failed to speak truth to power, to name the greed and consumerism that has pervaded our culture, and we have too often allowed the culture to define us instead of being formed by Gospel values---

CURMUDGEON
But the lawsuits shall go on.

BISHOPS
. . . Everyone is affected by the shrinking of the global economy. For some, this is a time of great loss—loss of employment, of homes, of a way of life. And for the most vulnerable, this “downturn” represents an emergency of catastrophic proportions. Like the Prodigal who comes to his senses and returns home, we as the people of God seek a new life. We recognize in this crisis an invitation into a deeper simplicity, a tightening of the belt, an expanded Lenten fast, and a broader generosity. God’s abundant mercy and forgiveness meet and embrace us, waiting to empower us through the Holy Spirit to face the coming days---

CURMUDGEON
But the lawsuits shall go on.

BISHOPS
In a time of anxiety and fear the Holy Spirit invites us to hope. Anxiety, when voiced in community can be heard, blessed and transformed into energy and hope, but if ignored, swallowed or hidden, fear and anxiety can be corrosive and lead to despair. We Christians claim that joy and hope emerge for those who have the courage to endure suffering. . . . Our current crisis presents us with opportunities to learn from our brothers and sisters of faith in other parts of the world who have long been bearers of hope in the midst of even greater economic calamity---

CURMUDGEON
But the lawsuits shall go on.

BISHOPS
We can also learn from our spiritual ancestors, who found themselves in an economic and existential crisis that endured for forty years – on their journey from Egypt to Israel . . .  As we go through our own wilderness, these spiritual ancestors also point the way to a deep and abiding hope. We can rediscover our uniqueness – which emerges from the conviction that our wealth is determined by what we give rather than what we own. . . 

CURMUDGEON
But the lawsuits must go on.


(Emphases added at the end.) My Lenten prayer for the Bishops is the collect for the feast of St. Cyril of Jerusalem (d. 386), whose feast we celebrate today (H/T: Father N. J. A. Humphrey at Covenant): 

Strengthen, O Lord, the bishops of your Church in their special calling to be teachers and ministers of the Sacraments, so that they, like your servant Cyril of Jerusalem, may effectively instruct your people in Christian faith and practice; and that we, taught by them, may enter more fully into the celebration of the Paschal mystery; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

—Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2006, page 199

13 comments:

  1. I laughed, I cried, I wailed. Brilliant!

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  2. Mr. Haley,
    I am thankful to you for bringing to my attention the Pastoral Letter. I am sorry, however, that your repeated response was "But lawsuits shall go on." Of course, the lawsuits will go on as long as those who have left the Episcopal Church are intent upon taking Episcopal Church property with them. The Pastoral Letter does not address that issue, not because the legal issues aren't important, but simply because our Bishops recognize that "We have too often been preoccupied as a Church with internal affairs and a narrow focus that has absorbed both our energy and interest and that of our Communion – to the exclusion of concern for the crisis of suffering both at home and abroad." And recognizing that, they have called us to shift our focus from ourselves to the world which God loves.

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  3. I heartily second that assessment of your parodic explanation communicated by fcartercroft.

    As to the apparent surreal report of the meeting of the House of Bishops (and at some risk of being too earthy for some readers), one cannot help but wonder whether the majority of its members have not become inured to viewing the world through the lens of their distal ileal mucosae?

    ;-)

    Blessings and regards,
    Keith Toepfer

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  4. Milton Finch, Layperson, has left a comment which required some editing. (Note to Mr. Finch: your comment had to be rejected as you left it, because it contained personal remarks which are not allowed on this blog.) The substantive portions of Mr. Finch's comment are as follows:

    "Father Weir, what do you find troubling about a truth that is consistently played out by 'Christian' people that find themselves in power, and yet their flocks finding those same 'Christian' people headlong into areas of lawsuit against people of the 'same' faith? It is true, no matter what you say. TEC is suing their own in the secular courts. Very distrubing activity for a group that calls themselves 'christian'. I personally don't see why you cannot seem to get it when it is so easy to see.

    Peace!

    Milton Finch"

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  5. I think that have already given reason enough for the law suits, but I will respond to Mr. Finch's comments. I see the situation as a dilemma for ECUSA. On the one hand, suing former members of ECUSA is to be avoided. On the other hand, protecting property that has been left to ECUSA congregations and dioceses is not a responsibility to be abandoned. What are bishops and standing committees and diocesan trustees to do? As distasteful as it may be, both canon law and, in New York at least, civil law requires the protection of that property. If those who have left assert that the property is theirs, law suits may be the only avenue open to bishops and dioceses. I don't enjoy reading about law suits, and I am glad that in New York, where I live, the law is clear enough that law suits are rare. But I will continue to support the use of law suits where they are the only way to protect the property of Episopal congregations and dioceses.

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  6. Fr. Weir.
    I can see your point if and that is a big IF the church property is used as a church after it has been seized by the Diocese. The point however is that in a number of cases the building is never again used as a church but just remains empty or is sold and becomes a club, Salon or other type of business. It can't according to KJS even be sold to an Anglican Church. What's the use of it then????

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  7. Father Weir,

    Lawsuits by Christians against Christians a forbidden. By your definition, a Christian ceases to be a Christian when they leave your denomination? Explain on why people do what they do!

    Milton

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  8. Mr. Finch,
    I take serously Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 6 and have applauded those who have resolved property disputes without going to court. However, we have been unable to embrace Paul's alternative of having disputes settled, i.e. to "appoint as judges even men of little account in the church!" I will not speculate on this failure, although I suspect that finding judges who would be acceptable to all parties might be one of the reasons for the failure.

    Richard's concern that church buildings not be sold and put to secular use is one that I can share, having a strong sense of how those buildings have been made holy by the years of prayer of God's people. However, I see here a danger of what has been called an edifice complex and as sad as the secularization of church buildings is - and it often happpens for reasons other than property disputes - the church in its faithfulness to God's mission has to be willing to sell buildings and put the money to better use.

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  9. Father Weir,

    What, in your estimation, is the difference between Peter, Paul, TEC and reappraisers when it comes to splitting up for a while? In other words, Father Weir, why didn't Paul sue Peter for what the other started during their discrepency? What is the difference between TEC and the conservatives that was different in Paul and Peter's time?

    Thanks!

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  10. A comment I made earlier may have been lost in cyberspace, but I think that, at the risk of repeating myself if it appears later, Mr. Finch's question should be answered.
    The comparison of our present disputes to those thet Peter and Paul had is a good one, however it has, in my view, limited value when considering law suits. Their disputes did not involve property, as did the disputes that Paul addressed in 1 Corinthians 6 and as do the current disputes between the Episcopal Church and some who have left it.
    I see law suits as a last resort in this situation. I have no knowledge about whether all other avenues were pursued before any of the current law suits were begun, and I suspect that few of us do have such knowledge.
    Of course, if one interprets Paul's words to the Corinthians as an absolute prohibition against law suits, then any law suit against another Christian is sinful. I do not take that position and I suspect that there are not many Christians who would refuse to sue a physician for malpractice or a drunk driver for the wrongful death of a loved simply because the physician or the drunk driver were Christians.

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  11. Father Weir,

    I think we have some "fuzzy stuff" going on in your last paragraph, but that is neither here nor there. I have seen forgiveness in both of your catagories of malpractice and personal injury by drunk offenders.

    Paul and Peter had differences where they decided to go elsewhere for a while unitl they smoothed things over through either repentence or forgiveness. I don't see why that cannot be an avenue that would work in this period of time. It has worked well in Texas with 16 churches (I believe) being told that they can remain with their Peter.

    Peace!

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  12. Mr. Finch,
    We agree that there are better ways to settle disputes than the courts. I suspect that we could find fault with most of the parties - maybe even all - involved in the current lawsuits. Here in WNY we have been spared lawsuits as members of one congregation simply walked away from the building and moved into a new building. The diocese currently has a missioner working with remaining members to discern the shape of future ministry in that community. The bishop decided to transfer to a diocese in the Southern Cone clergy who were leaving.

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