An unavoidable distancing?

Episcopal Diocese of S.C. at odds with national church about today's teachings

By ANNABELLE ROBERTSON
Item Staff Writer
arobertson@theitem.com

The local Episcopal diocese says the national church is straying from biblical teachings and has taken steps to distance itself.

During a recent convention in Mount Pleasant, leaders of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina approved four resolutions opposing the Episcopal Church of the United States' decision to allow non-celibate homosexuals to ascend to the offices of priest and bishop and to permit Episcopal priests to perform same-sex marriage ceremonies.

The issue of sexual orientation has been a source of constant friction in the denomination since 2003, when the Rev. Eugene Robinson, a gay man living with a male partner, became the ninth bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire.

"We're (Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina) in a marriage where there has been serial adultery," said the Rev. John M. Barr III, rector of Church of the Holy Comforter in Sumter. "The husband (the national church) has not repented. The wife has gone to him again and again, and there has been no change. There comes a time when the wife no longer remains in the bedroom. At minimum, she has to move down the hall. It's not because she doesn't love the husband; it's because things can't go on the way they are. You can't be complicit in that type of unfaithfulness."

Barr, one of several deans in the South Carolina diocese, was a leader of the standing committee that drafted the four resolutions on Oct. 24. The diocese stretches from Sumter County to the coast and is led by Bishop Mark Lawrence.

Barr insisted that the passing of the resolutions — which he called "an act of civil disobedience" — was about the diocese's desire to stay faithful to Christian tradition as it has been interpreted since the time of Jesus.

It is not, he said, about homosexuality.

"Every love is a disordered love and whatever the orientation is, we're all in need of redemption," Barr said. "There aren't perfect people and broken people. There is no hierarchy of sin.

"The beauty of the Gospel is not that it's for good people who go to church who want to become better," he said. "It's for absolutely messed-up people who come to church to find their whole lives reconstructed in Christ. We don't need a god of our own best self-esteem, and we don't have the power in ourselves to put ourselves right before God. We need the power of the grace of God that only comes through Jesus Christ. Our relationships with families are messed up. We don't do what we want to do. We do the things we don't want to do. But Christ brings the grace that (we need). He shows us that God doesn't wait to love us after we get our lives right; he loves us before we do."

A big concern of the Rev. Tommy Allen, rector of the Church of the Holy Cross in Stateburg, is that the national Episcopal church is "teaching people to explore their sexuality outside of marriage."

"We're telling teenagers to use condoms," he said. "And we have a bishop in New Hampshire who is living with his partner, outside of marriage, and claiming that he's excited about not being celibate. He's not the only one, either. There are others."

According to Kendall Harmon, canon theologian of the diocese, Robinson was a huge proponent of condom use among teens.

"He had a whole talk that he did all over the country," Harmon said. "It was absolutely assumed that these kids would be sexually active, and he said very explicitly that they just needed to use a condom."

Sexual promiscuity among teens, Allen said, is just as important as the issue of non-celibate homosexuals. It shows just how far American culture has strayed from biblical teaching.

"There's the consensus that teenagers are going to do it, so why not give them the condoms," he said. "That's fine and dandy, but we're forgetting the emotional and spiritual damage that comes with that. One of the things that the church has failed to deal with is the sexual revolution that is all around us, and the damage that's been done to the culture. It's in advertising, it's in the images that we're supposed to fit into, it's in the movies, the music. We have to deal with that if we're going to ever be a holy people."

All four Holy Cross delegates voted for the resolutions, Allen said, because they are taking a stand "for the catholic faith and order which has been passed down to us through the centuries."

"We're not defending anything. We're reasserting what the faith is. This isn't something negative. It's not a protest. It's reasserting the basics of Christianity," he said. "The ECUSA adopted a false Christ at its general convention earlier this year. And out of that false Christ comes a false ethic and a false morality. It's a symptom of a deeper theological issue. That issue is not homosexuality. The issue is the nature and person of Jesus Christ. You get Christ wrong, you get everything wrong."

The Rev. David Thurlow, rector of St. Matthias Episcopal Church in Summerton, was a member of the standing committee that drafted the resolutions, along with Barr. Thurlow said that despite a certain consensus on the issue, the decision wasn't easy for anyone.

"It's sad that it's come to this, that this is the situation that the church finds itself in, where members of the church are clearly going in a direction that is apart from the Scripture and tradition," he said. "Our church voted for the resolutions because we are taking a stand for the catholic faith and order, which has been passed down to us through the centuries ... These resolutions are the diocese's way of differentiating itself from those in the church who are doing just that – conforming matters of faith and doctrine to the pattern of the world, rather than the pattern of God's word."

Barr said he believes good things will come from the crisis.

"It's been agonizing; it's been painful," he said. "But it's also been a huge blessing, in that people are searching for Christian essentials — not the bric-a-brac. Not the side alleys, the ancillaries. People want to know when everything falls apart, what are the essentials of my Christian faith?"

Dorsey Henderson, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Upper South Carolina, has concerns about the ramifications of the decision — what it will mean for the Diocese of South Carolina and for the Episcopal church at large. The Upper South Carolina diocese takes in the Upstate and western Midlands.

"It seems to me that what is most important (when we disagree) is that we follow Anglicanism's tradition of prayer and study and more prayer and dialogue and more prayer because the unity of the church is so essential to the church's mission. That's clear in Holy Scripture, and it seems to be clear in basic concepts as Anglicanism beliefs," he said.

Barr disagreed.

"Unity is a result of dwelling in the truth of God," he said. "Otherwise we might as well be in the United Nations chapel that has been scrubbed clean, singing 'Kumbaya.' God brings unity, but we don't worship unity. We worship Jesus Christ. And Christ and unity have to go together."

Henderson believes that while a tremendous amount of dialogue, prayer and study have taken place during the six years since Robinson took office, more is needed before a step such as that is taken by the South Carolina diocese.

"It took somewhere between three and five hundred years for the church to come to an understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity," he said. "If we can take that long to come to an understanding of a doctrine that important, then certainly we can afford six years — or substantially longer — to come to a clear understanding of what God's will is in this situation and what God is trying to teach us about human sexuality."

"We've already come to an understanding of our sexuality!" Allen retorted. "The church has already reached an understanding of marriage between a man and a woman, and that sex outside of marriage – regardless of what that looks like, or what face you put on it – is forbidden. What families are going to want to bring their kids to a church that says, 'Go ahead! Maybe little Timmy is little Tammy. Or maybe little Timmy needs to explore his sexuality with another little Timmy.' Who's going to buy into that? There's no need to wait for this issue to unfold. The only thing we're waiting to unfold is the dismantling and the destruction of the church, which we're already seeing taking place."

Barr emphasized that all who come to his church are welcome, no matter what their orientation is. His concern, he said, is not people's behavior; it's "getting them into a relationship with the Lord."

"This is not about the Episcopal church having a side show," he said. "This is our whole western culture. Are we going to be people who believe in biblical revelation or are we going to let popular culture lead us around by the nose?"





BOX

Resolutions approved by the Episcopal Diocese of S.C.



The following resolutions were passed by the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina on Oct. 24 during a special convention in Mount Pleasant.



  "The Lordship of Christ and the Sufficiency of Scripture" — Affirms the diocesan commitment to those priorities. It passed by 86.7 percent of those present.

  "Godly Boundaries" — Declares "null and void" the decision of Episcopal Church of the United States' General Convention to begin blessing same-sex unions and to consecrate homosexuals to church office. A total of 87 clergy voted in favor of the motion, with 17 voting against and one abstention. Of the lay vote, 39 parishes voted "yes;" eight voted "no;" 13 missions voted "yes," three voted "no;" two were divided and one mission abstained.

  "Domestic Engagement for Missional Relationships" — Encourages like-minded dioceses and parishes to pursue relationships with "orthodox congregations isolated across North America." It passed with 85.1 percent voting in support, 14.6 percent voting against and 0.3 abstaining.

  "Emerging 21st Century Anglicanism" — Endorses the Ridley draft of the Anglican Covenant, a resolution that proposes to unify orthodox Anglicans worldwide. It passed with 87.5 percent voting in favor, 11.5 percent in opposition and 1 percent abstaining.