Why I am Happy to be Catholic!

Below are various quotes and posts regarding the recently installed Katherine Jefferts Schori as the presiding "bishop" of the Episcopal Church USA (ECUSA). (The Episcopal Church USA is related to the Anglican Communion, but there has arisen the potential of schism from the various member "churches" due to the actions of ECUSA in the last few years, most notably the elevation to "bishop" of an openly gay man.)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Katharine Jefferts Schori took office Saturday as the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States -- a first not only for her country but also for the global Anglican Communion, which has never before had a female priest leading one of its provinces.

Her job is further complicated by her personal support for Robinson's election. She believes the church should ordain gays and bless same-sex couples, though she insists she won't impose her views on others.

She will now represent the American denomination and faces many Anglican leaders angered by the 2003 consecration of the first openly gay Episcopal bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, and some that oppose ordination of women.

"If some in this church feel wounded by recent decisions, then our salvation, our health as a body, is at some hazard and it becomes the duty of all of us to seek healing and wholeness," Jefferts Schori said in her sermon Saturday.

That may not be enough to appease other branches of the Anglican family, which take a traditional view that gay relationships are prohibited by Scripture. Referring to the Anglican leaders who reject the idea of women's ordination: Jefferts Schori has said they'll have to "get over it."

The problem is that to sacrifice "truth" in order to "seek healing" is just plain wrong and is actually against the main job of a "bishop." How would actual bishops respond to this line of thinking? What do you think St. Athanasius or St. Ignatius of Antioch would do in this situation? They would certainly choose death or exile. You know with all the petty squabbles we have now a days in the Catholic Church, the ongoing collapse of the Episcopal Church serves to show how blessed we are to have the Pope and those legitimate bishops united to him.

Lets look at a interview from "Stand Firm", which is a traditional Anglican site. I think these comments which will flesh out even more the huge problems that exist in ECUSA:

RY: TIME Magazine asked you an interesting question, we thought, "Is belief in Jesus the only way to get to heaven?" And your answer, equally interesting, you said "We who practice the Christian tradition understand him as our vehicle to the divine. But for us to assume that God could not act in other ways is, I think, to put God in an awfully small box." And I read that and I said "What are you: a Unitarian?!?" [laughs] What are you-- that is another concern for people, because, they say Scripture says that Jesus says he was The Light and The Way and the only way to God the Father.

KJS: Christians understand that Jesus is the route to God. Umm-- that is not to say that Muslims, or Sikhs, or Jains, come to God in a radically different way. They come to God through... human experience... through human experience of the divine. Christians talk about that in terms of Jesus.

RY: So you're saying there are other ways to God.

KJS: Uhh... human communities have always searched for relationship that which is beyond them.. with the ultimate.. with the divine. For Christians, we say that our route to God is through Jesus. Uhh.. uh..that doesn't mean that a Hindu.. uh.. doesn't experience God except through Jesus. It-it-it says that Hindus and people of other faith traditions approach God through their.. own cultural contexts; they relate to God, they experience God in human relationships, as well as ones that transcend human relationships; and Christians would say those are our experiences of Jesus; of God through the experience of Jesus.

RY: It sounds like you're saying it's a parallel reality, but in another culture and language.

KJS: I think that's accurate.. I think that's accurate.

I thought I read in some book that a guy named Jesus said that he was "The Way, the Truth, and the Life."

These quotes are not to poke fun or ridicule what is happening in ECUSA, but simply to show how some "churches" are falling away from traditional Christian beliefs in order to accomodate themselves with the "modern" world. Again, we should pray for our seperated brethren, but also give thanks to God for giving us the Church. This Church, founded in 33AD by Our Lord himself, will never be overcome by the world, by our own sinfulness, or Satan himself.

Praise be to Jesus Christ!