Sur le pont d'Avignon

Le Palais des Papes, Avignon, France (source)

As Father Jake puts it succinctly:

As of 2:42 pm EST on December 8, 2007, the bishop and clergy of the diocese of San Joaquin are no longer members of the Episcopal Church.

While the historical analogy may not be very precise, I am coming to think of John David as something like an Avignonese pope. No, the Diocese of San Joaquin is not exactly the whole of Western Christendom, but a split has now occurred. If he pretends still to be the Bishop of San Joaquin, a diocese that is a creature of General Convention from which he has now disaffiliated himself, then he is actually an anti-bishop, like an anti-pope: a pretender. I think he should move to southern France ASAP, thereby removing a major irritant from the already too-polluted air of the Central Valley of California.

It's all quite ugly and the spiritual abuse inflicted there and in other places is rather nasty. May he find healing. Until he does he remains an abuser and it is in that category that I shall continue to consider him and his ilk. As I have told a friend, I am quite out of charity for the damage done to the body of Christ and I see no reason to make nice. It's rather like trying to negotiate with George W. Bush. Futile, pointless, serving no good end. Appeasing abusers is what we are talking about, folks. You don't stop abuse by appeasing abusers.

John David deplores the whole business of churches suing in courts. Well, if one doesn't steal property one needn't be taken to court. Sheesh.

There, I've had my rant. All in all, it came out rather charitable.

Please continue to pray for the people of San Joaquin. They've been lied to, bullied, and misled. They deserve better.

--the BB

Pray for San Joaquin

Photo of the San Joaquin Valley from Student Britannica

I suppose, for context, I should state that I was born and raised in Fresno, the see city of the Diocese of San Joaquin, though I was not an Episcopalian when living there. The events unfolding there do so in the land of my birth, the soil from which I come.

Kirstin has put up a nice post regarding the Diocese of San Joaquin, meeting today and tomorrow in convention. The central issue is the crucial second vote to make the diocese's affiliation with any province of the Anglican Communion definable in their canons, i.e., we're only part of TEC if we feel like it.

The people of the diocese need our prayers and a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit in grace, power, and redeeming grace. I can pray for that much, though I cannot be as gracious as Kirstin. As I wrote to her privately, I have no charity left in me over the damage some bishops, Schofield included, have done to the body of Christ. I would like for him to find healing somewhere else, and I am sure he would feel the same way about me. So there you have it.

Kirstin's words:

I’m well past praying for unity. The best I can pray for is a compassionate divorce. And I pray that everyone directly involved, and all of us on the outside watching, will listen, deeply, and can discern the true will of God. The vote is almost a given. The steps that people take afterward will make all the difference. I pray for openness, honesty, generosity, and love on all sides, even as we take leave of one another.

We are all, right now, every one of us, caught up in the forgiving, merciful, empowering, liberating, life-giving love of God. We all—John-David, you, and I—will be redeemed. We all will stumble into grace. Let us remember the One at the heart of our faith, who said, “Let anyone among you who is without sin, cast the first stone.”

--the BB