Today those who occupy the seats of power whether in the secular world or the church have surrounded themselves with self-serving sycophants who parrot the current party line. To be candid is to risk removal in spite of how failed or flawed a policy may be. As in the case of the aging and no longer attractive Queen Elizabeth I all mirrors have been removed so that when couriers proclaimed her beauty she would not be faced with the unpleasantness of having to face the truth.

Following a recent article in which I was critical of the Episcopal House of Bishops for holding their fall meeting in Taiwan I received feedback that exposed a disconnect much deeper than I had initially realized. While our bishops socialized throughout the Far East parish clergy remained at their post and struggled to implement the failed policies and requirements which have been forced upon them. Among the most controversial is the employee health care required to be purchased through the national church. While a good idea in theory it often leads to much higher premiums than if parishes were granted more flexibility. Healthier parishes are often forced to pay exorbitant cost for themselves while subsidizing less healthy congregations. These parishes are called upon to make sacrifices for the good of the wider church even as the presiding bishop's budget has significantly increased and the bishops travel half way around the world to show support for the 687 Anglicans of Taiwan. As an old saying goes it's not bad work if you can get it.

Litigation costs for the numerous lawsuits continue to rise and there is still no accountability for the total amount which is being spent. Senior rectors find their budgets drained as numbers decrease and finances tightened. To raise these issues is to risk being ostracized as well as being marginalized. There is, however, much worse on the horizon. The emerging senior leadership in the church having experienced this for last three decades no longer regards these behaviors as aberration, but normality.

I recently spoke with some Episcopalians who have remained in the national church and expressed surprise with my interpretation of events during the recent trial between the Diocese of South Carolina and the national church. They had received an account from a well known and popular rector who has remained loyal to the national church which stood in direct contrast to what I had reported. Among their concerns was his assertion that Judge Diane Goodstein was biased in her support for the Diocese of South Carolina and the national church had been treated rudely and unfairly by her during the trial.

I was surprised for several reasons. First the clergyman from whom they received the account was to the best of my knowledge present one day and only for a brief period. In the interest of full disclosure I missed two days of the three week trial and left early on another in order to attend the fourth birthday celebration of my granddaughter so I cannot say he did not attend during my absence. I explained to them the neutral principle of law under which South Carolina operates and on which the judge will base her ruling. I suggested they "Google" the 1979 Supreme Court Ruling of Jones versus Wolf so that they might familiarize themselves with the precedent on which the law is based and make their own judgment. Needless to say there was surprise upon the realization that the account they received was highly selective and inaccurate.

We now have an emerging leadership that is so detached in its self absorption in the expectation that judges should ignore the law on their behalf. I do not know if the neutral principle is wise, but it is the law. It has been my experience that when judges ignore law the judgment will be overruled. As clergy we are called not only to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ but to have the integrity to be honest even when it is not to our personal advantage to be so. We are not propagandist no matter how partisan we may wish to be. There is no use blaming the courts or even the judges for the position in which the Episcopal Church now finds itself. Our continued reliance upon the secular courts serves as a witness to our failures and dismal witness to the world.

During the last decade I have often heard it said that things in the church are really not as bad as they seem and I must concur. Sadly and regrettably they are in fact much worse.

Ladson F. Mills III is a retired priest with over thirty years pastoral experience. He lives with his wife in South Carolina. He currently serves as scholar in residence at the Church of Our Saviour, Johns Island. He is a regular contributor to "Virtueonline."