To find a way out, Episcopalians should consult church history, says Valliere. "How did the Christian church in other times free itself from the demoralizing grip of discord? For the most part, it did so by practicing conciliarism -- that is to say, by convening regional or worldwide councils to address the causes of discord and reaffirm the bonds of community. Regional councils were the primary means of preserving the unity of the church as early as the second century. Worldwide councils began to be held in the fourth century after the Christian church was granted legal rights in the Roman Empire.

"In the Middle Ages, a highly developed theory of conciliarism exercised a check on papal power in the Roman Catholic Church and, contributed to the rise of constitutionalism in the secular realm as well. In the 20th century, the conciliar idea inspired some of the most important gatherings in modern church history, such as the Second Vatican Council of 1962-65 and the Russian Orthodox Council of 1917-18, the greatest Eastern Orthodox assembly since ancient times. In short, there is a rich record of conciliar theory and practice for Episcopalians to consult as they look for a way to reunify their church."

Can anything be done to mend the peace of the Episcopal Church? The answer is yes, but to imagine it we need to look beyond the church's existing governance structures. They are mired in the syndrome Max Weber identified long ago as an affliction common to large organizations: the displacement of charisma by bureaucracy, of spirituality by legalism, and of leaders by organization men -- and nowadays, organization women.

The Emory University fellow admitted that the leadership of the church is a large part of the problem. "The current crisis was not caused by gay activism in the church, or even by the election of a non-celibate gay man as bishop of New Hampshire, but by the assent to that election on the part of the church's supreme governing body, the triennial General Convention. Meeting in 2003, the General Convention had full authority to reject the result of the New Hampshire election but chose not to do so. By the time of the next General Convention, in the summer of 2006, the extent of the damage done to the church and the worldwide Anglican Communion was clear. World Anglican leaders had publicly spelled out the minimum steps required to restore the good standing of the Episcopal Church. Yet the General Convention still refused to moderate its position, sparking the surge in the number of Episcopalians running for the exits late last year."

His solution: conciliarism. "Conciliarism does not reject creative initiatives in Christian life, but it does insist that such initiatives, whether they come from minorities or majorities, be realized in ways that do not lacerate the body of the church. Far from stifling creativity, conciliarism deepens it by challenging innovators to practice Christian love rather than sectarianism."

This kind of thinking, coming as it does from an academic and at this peculiar juncture of Episcopal Church history, fails at several levels.

First of all, it is to live in denial about the major and substantive departure from the teachings of the church by such notable figures as Bishops James Pike, Jack Spong, Ed Browning, Frank Griswold and more recently Katharine Jefferts Schori over the past 40 years.

It is also a massive blindness to see what the wrecking ball of revisionism is doing to orthodoxy in The Episcopal Church. Beginning in the seminaries, the faith was demythologized and what appeared in the pulpits was a filtered out gospel.

It is also to ignore the fact that years of talking about "reconciliation" has left a church unhealed and totally unreconciled with parishes and dioceses now fleeing in all directions away from The Episcopal Church - towards Africa, Asia and Latin America. Furthermore, orthodox, catholic (read Christian) faith is slowly being stamped out in The Episcopal Church as revisionist dogma now filters in through such words as "inclusion", "diversity" and "sexual orientation" leaving little room or space for those who wish to practice the "faith once for all delivered to the saints."

What was once prescribed is now proscribed.

This was notably brought to voice by Mrs. Schori, TEC Presiding Bishop when she told a group of Episcopal seminary educators at a recent meeting of seminary deans that she hoped that they would not be bound by "narrow theologies", a pointed remark no doubt aimed at Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry and Nashotah House - the last two orthodox seminaries left in The Episcopal Church.

She would, of course, like such seminaries to focus on saving the world for God through Millennium Development Goals and other equally notable and worthy goals like anti-racism training, courses on homophobia, sexism and Title IV training (aimed at fleeing priests and parishes).

Professor Valliere fails to acknowledge that the heavily stage managed "listening process" is all about brokering sodomy into the church. The relentless drive for this aberrant behavior is a 7/24 preoccupation that knows no let up or relief.

The Episcopal Church's pansexual lobby is sparing no effort, drive or money, to advance their agenda. They will stop at NOTHING to change the church's teaching on biblical sexuality. Ample proof of this can be found in resolution after resolution in each of the last four general conventions.

At the core of this change is the fundamental belief that at the latter end of the 20th century God has changed his mind about homosexual and lesbian behavior. He will bring it to fruition and fulfillment in the 21st Century thus paving the way for a New World Spiritual Order that is totally inclusive. The problem with this is that it deliberately EXCLUDES orthodox, faithful and traditional Episcopalians!

Appeals by orthodox Episcopalians to canon law are blown off and treated laughably by liberals who then turn around and use canon law to justify inhibitions, and use depositions to sue and toss out a faithful remnant. The truth is liberals and revisionists are completely consumed with their own self-interests and not with the transforming power of the gospel. There is not a shred of transcendence or divine accountability in what they say or do!

Some, like Ms. Elizabeth Kaeton, a Newark, NJ lesbian priest actually believe that by commandeering the language of orthodoxy she and they can fool or placate the rest of us into believing they actually uphold the historic faith. Her website describes her as "a passionate radical Orthodox, Anglo-Catholic with a joyful Evangelical spirit."

This is called turning truth on its head until the blood runs out your nose. She has absolutely no power to offer the redemption found in Christ when she fails, at the most basic level, human sexual behavior!

The priesthood itself has become infected not only by revisionist theology but a penchant for all things politically and socially liberal. The State of Israel is bad; Arabs are good. Israel is a violent nation; Arabs are "liberators" from the oppressive forces of Zionist running dogs. No mention of Arab bombers, suicide-driven mothers and children, the imposition of Shari'a Law and a pathological hatred of Jews driven by centuries of anti-Semitism. While few believe that Israel has clean hands when it comes to its Arab neighbors, most Americans (and not a few Episcopalians) believe that if Israel could be pushed into the Mediterranean Sea by its Arab neighbors they would happily do so.

The Bishop of Massachusetts Tom Shaw has railed against Jewish oppression of Arabs by parading outside the Israeli embassy. Vast numbers of revisionist Episcopal bishops attend Gay Pride Days complete with parade floats, while nodding and winking at their sodomite priests who perform same-sex blessings that fall short of outright wedding vows, thus staying marginally within ecclesiastical boundaries. To add insult to injury, when a single orthodox voice dares to raise its head above the ramparts to suggest that just maybe this is all wrong, they are promptly accused of being "fundamentalist". It's called a no win situation.

Liberals go through the motions and mechanics of devotion, mouthing the words of the Prayer Book with calls for prayer and pastoral care and outrage at the sexual exploitation of minors, while they allow sodomy and the passage of sexually related resolutions that skirt the very limits of sexual exploitation. The truth is liberals pay lip service to such things as "prayerfulness," "listening," "concern," and "distress," while they spend their energies taking over the reins of the church and its assets which they now use to sue and sue again anybody who dares to flout their sovereign rule over parishes to which they put not a penny in construction.

Financial power equals spiritual power. It has spawned a revolution away from the faith and towards a Marxist type control over orthodox priests and parishes, who are now being battered to spiritual death, and sued through the courts until many leave in disgust, die prematurely, retire or flee to another jurisdiction.

All the while Episcopal Church leaders demand a place at the Anglican Communion table while resolutely refusing to repent for ordaining an open sodomite to the episcopacy and much more.

They don't want a Covenant that will bind them to rigid beliefs they no longer hold. They refuse episcopal oversight for hurting and faithful priests because it interferes with their right to run things as they want, while allowing them to ride rough shod over anyone who disagrees with them.

"The Episcopal Church Welcomes You" says the sign outside the parish door, but it is not the parish church of our fathers and mothers in Christ. It is a wholly different church that many now barely recognize as Christian and certainly one that will not be saved by mere notions of conciliarism.

END