LOUISIANA BISHOP’S LETTER PAPERS OVER GRAND CANYON DIVIDE

By David W. Virtue

Bishop Charles Jenkins, the tenth Bishop of Louisiana, is currently at Kanuga alongside Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, meeting with the Lambeth Commission. Bishop Jenkins has apparently just arrived at Kanuga from “Camp Haven’t-got-a-Clue,” if his pastoral letter to the Diocese is any indication.

SEEKING RECONCILIATION

By Charles Jenkins

JUNE 2004

Dear Friends in Christ:

Plans are being made for the summer, and I hope we look forward to a bit of rest and a slower pace. I know that I eagerly anticipate both; life has gotten too fast. Spring is always a busy time for bishops, as every board in the church seems to meet in May—but this spring has been particularly busy for me and will remain so through June.

You may know that I accepted election as president of the Presiding Bishop’s Council of Advice. Little did I know what I was letting myself in for. If this was ever a quiet and somewhat honorary position, it is such no longer.

I believe there is a way forward in our church in these troubled times concerning human sexuality. I believe the way forward can be found that preserves the integrity of what is described as “two mutually exclusive positions” and preserves the dignity of those who hold those seemingly irreconcilable views. Of course, one position could “triumph” over the other and the issue(s) could be “settled”—but I think such is no settlement at all. So, I am working to seek reconciliation, honor, integrity, and truth in this. I realize that all my striving is for naught unless this is the will of God.

In June, I will accompany Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold and Bishop Arthur Williams to testify before the Lambeth Commission. You may remember this is the commission chaired by the Most Rev. Robert Eames, Archbishop of Ireland, which was requested by the primates of the Anglican Communion when they met at Lambeth Palace in the autumn of 2003.

I’ve not been told what I ought to say or how I should structure my testimony. I am free to describe the situation in our church as I perceive it. I am told that other American bishops have also been invited to appear before the Lambeth Commission—but probably not at the same time as we. I don’t know what the Lord will do with all this. I ask your prayers.

What would “getting over this” or “moving beyond this” look like? The questions themselves draw the ire of some, for in the past, the answer has meant that one sense of justice and right has prevailed over another. What happens when your justice becomes another’s injustice—or another’s sense of justice is in fact an injustice to you? The quest for justice is hollow when it results in a new injustice.

Just look at the world situation to see what I mean. I think that one of the many reasons there is so much emotion in this conversation and debate is because of our history of exclusion as a means of settling difficult questions. I don’t have a clear sense of what “getting over this” is like—except that I believe with all my heart that the answer has something to do with embrace and Resurrection. I think that those who disagree can embrace one another without surrendering their integrity, self, and honor. If not, the world is in for a season of religious strife and war that makes the religious wars of the past look like child’s play. How long will it take for us to find healing?

There are strident voices out there on both sides calling for the exclusion of the other. This is a devilish tactic—for when we do so, we can then devalue the other; they become to us a heretic or subhuman.

I have been reading Umberto Eco’s new book, Baudolino, which has some fanciful scenes from the rape of Christian Constantinople by the armies of the Christian West. How could this happen? Heretics deserve such—at least so goes the thinking. It is hard to find the way to embrace the other in such emotion. I think this is something in our history that hinders us from finding healing.

There is fear in our discussion. Each position seems to think the other “holds the cards,” at least in the church. I have had bishops on either side—and in the center—tell me of their fears in this. It is not surprising, then, that some seek not reconciliation but separation. There are some who work not for reconciliation but for alienation and schism.

I do not think this to be of the Lord. I think Jesus calls us to be reconciled one to another and to God in charity, integrity, mercy, honor, honesty, and truth.

I don’t know who would benefit most from the demise of the church—nor do I think that is going to happen, despite the best efforts of some. I suppose there are some who imagine for themselves some kind of benefit. I do know that millions in the church—and served by the church—will be injured, and I would predict that the injury would last for generations. We have an opportunity for good or ill, and I pray that we will be led by grace into goodness.

At the consecration of a new bishop, the ordinand is pledged to participate in the councils of the church. I think myself ill-prepared to do so—thus I pray for God’s grace to guide me as I attempt to be faithful to my ordination vow. I just wanted to let you know what I am doing in the national and international church and ask your prayers. Please don’t think I am not enthusiastic about this work to which I am so strangely called. I do feel enthusiasm and conviction—but there is more. There is for me a sense of awe, wonder, humility, and mystery. The people who strive in seemingly opposite directions are like me—those for whom Christ died and was raised to glory. The institutions with which we deal are not simply man-made but are called into being by the Holy Spirit as Christ’s Body in the world. This is a sacred precinct in which I feel I should remove my shoes.

It is always good to come home to the Missionary Diocese of Louisiana and be with you.

God’s blessings,

The Rt. Rev. Charles E. Jenkins

Tenth Bishop of Louisiana