Jeffrey John

The controversy of the day in Anglicanism is the installation of Dr. Jeffrey John as Dean of St. Alban’s Cathedral.

I once had some sympathy for Dr. John. When he was about to be offered a bishop’s mitre, then had that taken away, I thought he was being jerked around unfairly. After all, he said he has been celibate for some years. (He’s gay, for those who don’t know.)

But the more I hear him open his mouth, the less I think of him. I wouldn’t make him a deacon now, much less a dean. He is renowned for his teaching. But it is heterodox to say the least. He doesn’t want to be known at “the gay dean,� but he has been pushing a gay agenda in people’s faces.

The latest words from him that strike me wrong is his insistence that he should be a bishop. To me, that alone practically disqualifies him for the job. Shouldn’t we appoint humble men with servant attitudes as bishops? Don’t we have enough bishops who think too highly of themselves? Doesn’t the power of a bishop demand someone with the humility to use that power carefully?

So even putting aside the issue of his homosexuality (And he refuses to repent of past homosexual conduct, so it should be an issue.), why is this guy being elevated?

The Church of England might be about to catch hell for this appointment – and they deserve it.