Duly Noted

Notes from the blogosphere

The Mad Priest of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, England, warns poachers that they have come this far, but no farther.

The Rector of St. Francis, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, England, has had enough of Anglicans who use the name and resources of the Church without contributing a whit to it, besides bad practices and condemnation for others. One particular poor approach he notes is limiting the Good News to the already churched:

"Unfortunately, my church is surrounded by preying (not praying) evangelical churches, Anglican and others. The ordinary churches are constantly losing young people to these cults who tempt them with music and people of their own age and then indoctrinate them with beliefs that are definitely not of their age. IT'S A CON TRICK. Afterwards, when we get the chance, we have to try and clear up the mess made to these young persons's lives.

THIS IS ALL A REALITY. I have to live with this rubbish. I don't want to stop evangelicalism - I just want them to stop interfering with me and mine. There is no other part of the Church that demands that the rest of the Church should, compelled by law, do what they want - most of us get on with our own thing. As far as I know nobody has said that priests against gay marriage will have to conduct gay marriage so why do they want to stop those of us who do from doing it? That's like me saying charismatics should be stopped from falling over during services."

Read it all, and the occasional paeans to Brian Eno, at "Of course, I could be wrong..."

The Archbishop's visit to Rome and his call for greater Christian unity, inspired spirited commenting at Thinking Anglicans, where some wondered about the usefulness of unity with those they do not consider Christian.

Ford Elms, a regular commenter, wondered,

"I am not saying this sarcastically, nor angrily, nor am I accusing you personally. It has been my experience that those who call themselves Evangelicals believe, and are quite free in saying, that non-Evangelicals are not Christians. I am still genuinely surprised when I find one who does not think like that, to the point that I wonder if they are actually speaking the truth when they say it or just not wanting to cause a fuss.

"Is everyone a Christian? what makes a Christian?" And this was my issue: why do we ask these questions? What are the motives behind us wondering whether or not someone is a Christian? I know that my attitudes towards "Evangelicals" were shaped by long experience. It doesn't make these ideas right, but it explains them."

In Schofield's Closet, Lisa Fox of The Episcopal Majority wonders whether recent developments in that diocese may be linked to a mortification of the bishop's own sexuality.

"Over the past many months, I have been an avid reader of many Episcopalians' blogs. Time and time after time, I have heard folks supposedly "in the know" comment that Gene Robinson isn't our first gay bishop, but only the first gay bishop with integrity.

Many a time, I have asked folks to urge these other gay bishops to "out themselves." No one has done so.

And now this Schofield thing has finally reached the point where I just can't stand it anymore!

Something about his demeanor in the Anglican TV interview motivated me to do a bit of research about Bishop John-David Schofield. And I found Meditatio, in which he states:
This is complicated by the bishop of San Joaquin, the Rt. Rev. John-David Schofield, being in such poor health. . . . Perhaps even more ironically, Bishop Schofield is a "recovering homosexual" committed to celibacy . . . .
Now, it all begins to make sense to me. I am familiar with this kind of self-loathing person who attacks gay men and lesbians! Lord knows, we saw African-Americans like this during the civil rights movement in the 1960s and '70s. We had a word for them.

It seems to me that an entire volume of psychiatric texts could be written about this guy. Is this the best-kept secret in the Episcopal Church? or does everyone in the House of Bishops know him to be a self-avowed "recovering homosexual"? I would love to hear more about his "manner of life."

It's time he came out of his own precious closet."