The Lead

Bishop Stacy Sauls, Chief Operating Officer of the Episcopal Church, wrote to the Wall Street Journal in response to an op-ed that appeared in that paper called "What Ails the Episcopalians?"

He writes:

Space does not permit a correction of the numerous factual points I could dispute in Jay Akasie's "What Ails the Episcopalians" (Houses of Worship, July 13). Instead, I offer a spiritual correction.
The church has been captive to the dominant culture, which has rewarded it with power, privilege and prestige for a long, long time. The Episcopal Church is now liberating itself from that, and as the author correctly notes, paying the price. I hardly see paying the price as what ails us. I see it as what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

Many years ago when I was a parish priest in Savannah, a local politician and disaffected Episcopalian began a conversation with me. In that case the subject was homosexuality. It could have been any of the things mentioned last week as our ailments. "I just think the church should not be governed by the culture," he said. I replied that I agreed with him, but that "I just hadn't noticed that the culture was all that hospitable toward gay people." He stammered. "Well, maybe not here in Georgia."

The Episcopal Church is on record as standing by those the culture marginalizes whether that be nonwhite people, female people or gay people. The author calls that political correctness hostile to tradition.

I call it profoundly countercultural but hardly untraditional. In fact, it is deeply true to the tradition of Jesus, Jesus who offended the "traditionalists" of his own day, Jesus who was known to associate with the less than desirable, Jesus who told his followers to seek him among the poor. It is deeply true to the tradition of the Apostle Paul who decried human barriers of race, sex, or status (Galatians 3:28).

What ails the Episcopalians is that this once most-established class of American Christianity is taking the risk to be radically true to its tradition. There is a price to be paid for that. There is also a promise of abundant life in it.

Bishop Stacy F. Sauls
Chief Operating Officer
The Episcopal Church
New York

Comments (6)

Are people done crying about what other people wrote yet? Good grief.

Posted by Nicole Porter | July 20, 2012 7:26 PM

Well done, Bp. Sauls. Thank you.

Posted by Lois Keen | July 20, 2012 8:37 PM

I believe that Bishop Sauls is simply responding in the best tradition of our church, by not letting the good done by the church be spoken evil of.

MEM - Please sign your name when you comment on the Café. Thanks ~ed.

Posted by MEM | July 20, 2012 8:49 PM

I would not have advised Bishop Sauls to go on the defense, there has been such a pile on the WSJ but by all the wrong people. The pile-on makes it worse. You need to get someone outside the camp to defend TEC, not the insiders. Geez.

[Editor's note: Thanks for the comment. Please sign your name next time.]

Posted by Lizzymac | July 20, 2012 10:17 PM

I don't hear anybody crying over what other people wrote, Nicole.

I do hear Bishop Sauls making some rather cogent points about the Episcopal Church in particular, and Christianity in general, in response to some misinformation, disinformation or just plain skewed thinking set forth by others beforehand.

Big difference.

Posted by Gregory Orloff | July 21, 2012 12:44 AM

Nicole, I have to agree with Gregory. It isn't crying, it is responding. These responses give people a much better opportunity to learn where TEC actually stands, and that these stands are Christ centered and not culture based.

It is theologically conservative to practice the radical love of Jesus, without exclusion, to God's children of all stripes. The commentators would have people believe that TEC is just flopping in the wind of cultural movements. Rather, TEC spent 30 years in honest prayerful and intellectual dialogue to get to where we are with women and LGBT, and racial issues. Bishop Saul's said it really well:

I call it profoundly countercultural but hardly untraditional. In fact, it is deeply true to the tradition of Jesus, Jesus who offended the "traditionalists" of his own day, Jesus who was known to associate with the less than desirable, Jesus who told his followers to seek him among the poor. It is deeply true to the tradition of the Apostle Paul who decried human barriers of race, sex, or status (Galatians 3:28).

Jesus got killed because he pissed off the wrong people. We just got some bad press. Looks like we have more work to do. Maybe on gun control.

Posted by Cynthia Katsarelis | July 21, 2012 6:59 AM

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