A LETTER TO THIS EDITOR, AUGUST 20

We have a new letter to the editor today and I will share it with you.

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Dear Dr. Caldwell:

I am very concerned that educated adults really believe a Supreme Court decision is unenforceable! If it is unenforceable, why did DSC go to the U.S. Supreme Court? Would that decision have been unenforceable too? 

Most puzzling is the fact that the breakaway group did not breakaway. Most of the parishes are still using the Episcopal Church's Book of Common Prayer. Why not use another service book, perhaps one from an "Anglican" church? Priests serving the breakaway parishes still play dress up even though they are no longer Episcopal priests!

Here is the answer. If they changed one thing from the Episcopal way in the breakaway churches, they would not get money and people would leave. Can you imagine as a lifelong St. Philip's or St. Michael's church person, when you got to Sunday service the non-priest was wearing shorts and the service was a handout of whatever he wanted. They are bashing the Episcopal religion but still doing everything the Episcopal way. I do not understand this. Plus, several DSC churches still have "Episcopal" on their signs.

I am a cradle Episcopalian, member of Grace Cathedral and this whole thing turns my stomach.

Mary R. Murray

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Thank you, Mary Murray, for this. It turns my stomach too, and I expect a lot of others. None of this had to be.

Murray makes an important point, that DSC has kept the old religion. Same services. Same prayer book. Same hymnal. This is because the schism was not really about theology, in spite of the DSC leadership's loud, offensive, and shameless falsehoods about Episcopal Church "beliefs." The schism was really about social and cultural issues, specifically how we treat women, homosexual persons, and transgendered people in the church and in the broader society. From the 1970s to the present, the Episcopal Church has taken a bold stand in favor of equality for and inclusion of women, gays, and the transgendered in the church and in society. The DSC and the Anglican Church in North America rejected equality for, and inclusion of women, gays, and the transgendered (in fact, ACNA has split apart on the ordination of women to the priesthood although they all agree females are unworthy of the episcopate). Bishop Lawrence made a major point in his recent speaking tour of the diocese to say that he left the Episcopal Church in 2012 because of the Church's canonical changes in favor of transgendered people. We have to give him credit for his candor, even if it is a bit late. The schism was about how we treat others, not about how we worship God. I would argue those parts are necessarily interdependent.


Send me your thoughts about the schism. Your voice is just as important as mine or any person's. We need to hear from you. My email address is above.