THE REV. DAVID ROSEBERRY, RECTOR CHRIST CHURCH, PLANO RESPONDS TO THIS ARTICLE

EPISCOPAL CHURCH IS ANYTHING BUT WHOLE

By the Rev. David Roseberry

Dear Dallas Morning News Editors:

Your article entitled of June 19, 2004 entitled “Gay bishop hasn’t caused schism” seemed incomplete to me. I am thankful for the update, but I question the conclusion of the article that despite warnings and threats, the Episcopal Church remains whole.

I contend that “whole” is in the eye of the beholder, and in this case, the beholder may not be able to see what is really happening. The Episcopal Church is anything but whole. It is hobbled and broken. There is serious fracture and waning morale in nearly every diocese and parish. The corporate betrayal of the biblical heritage of the Episcopal Church is being felt at every level.

Earlier this month I submitted a strong plea to Archbishop Robin Eames appealing to his commission for some kind of censure, discipline and rebuke for the errant and divisive decisions of the General Convention. The letter was signed by 700 Episcopal clergy across the country. These clergy represent over 10% of the parish priests in the Episcopal Church and perhaps have much as 20% of the active membership.

Twenty-one of the 36 Anglican provinces around the world (representing a vast majority of the 75 million Anglicans worldwide) have broken or impaired communion with the Episcopal Church. The Eames Commission will study and try to find ways we can stay together as a “Communion” across the world, but we are hardly whole.

It may be that the national church doesn’t feel the pinch of dollars yet, but they will. It will take a year or so for shortfalls in the dioceses to find their way “up” the hierarchy. Remember also that the Episcopal Church has millions of dollars in trust funds to mask the pain of its shrinking budget, but real pain is being felt in parishes and missions all over.

Finally, it needs to be said that Episcopal leaders have a way of overstating the irrelevant. When the World Trade Center fell in September 2001, the Presiding Bishop dispatched an emergency email to news outlets. We were told that “everything is fine” at Episcopal headquarters. The world was in chaos and the nation was at a standstill, but Episcopal headquarters were okay. The same is true today. The Episcopal Church is imploding and being torn from mainline Christianity, clergy and laity are leaving, churches are churning, but everything at headquarters is fine. It shows just how out of touch the leadership really is.

The good news is that even though we are unwhole now, we could come out of this debacle whole. I have great hope in the power of God to teach His people through their errors and lead us into the ancient truths of the biblical witness. That is the story of the bible. God’s renewal of His people always begins with heartfelt repentance and sorrow for the sins of their generation. To that end, we pray and hope and wait.

The Rev. Canon David H. Roseberry

Rector

Christ Church Episcopal

Plano, Texas