Our Lady of Perpetual Litigation

I should say I am not the first one to dub the Presiding “Bishop” of The Episcopal Church, Katharine Schori, Our Lady of Perpetual Litigation. But better late than never.

A detailed series on her and TEC’s litigious ways over at the Anglican Curmudgeon inspires me. And she has so pushed the abundance of litigation that it almost seems unfair to blame the rest of The Episcopal Church. This following fact is particularly eye-opening:

Frank Kirkpatrick, professor of religion at Trinity College, wrote in a survey article in 2008 that "there were, as of December [2007], 55 [Episcopal Church] property disputes in one state or another of resolution around the country." (You may find a listing of those lawsuits in this post from August 2008, and see also the latest report from the American Anglican Council.) Of those fifty-five lawsuits, I estimate that ECUSA itself was a party to about half of them. Thus from the five lawsuits to which it was a party as Bishop Griswold ended his term in November 2006 (the Pawley's Island case in South Carolina, the three Los Angeles lawsuits, and a case involving St. James Church in Elmhurst, in the Diocese of Long Island), the number increased by five times in the first full year of Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori's term.

One instance comes to mind. The then Bishop of Virginia, Peter Lee, seemed close to an agreement with congregations departing from his diocese . . . until . . .

Katharine Jefferts Schori stepped in. According to sworn testimony given in court proceedings, Bishop Lee told the leaders of the departing congregations that "there is a new sheriff in town." Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori directed him to sue the congregations and not let them leave with their property.

There is little question the wave of litigation was her policy:

There are no records in the minutes of the Executive Council during this period to show that it was ever consulted before any of these multiple filings in the name of the Church took place; as quoted in the previous post, the Presiding Bishop held the view that only she personally, and neither the Council, nor even General Convention, had any authority over litigation. Thus she simply gave her Chancellor free rein -- and ECUSA's legal bills began to mount exponentially.

Many of my knowledgeable readers are well aware of how litigious Schori is. I thought I was thus informed as well. But the extent of how much she has pushed litigation not only on the orthodox but on The Episcopal Church itself astounds. TEC is among her victims as well.

Again, the Anglican Curmudgeon is patiently examining Schori’s litigiousness in great detail.

Oxford English Dictionary to be Online Only

This is a red letter day in the migration from print to electrons.
The Oxford University Press has announced that its famous Oxford English Dictionary will henceforth not be printed but will be online only.

This comes as a slight shock to me, but it makes sense. I used to always have a printed dictionary ready by my side as I wrote. But now, if I am uncertain about a word, I immediately google it. It is just easier that way. If this semi-technophobe, who has so far shunned the Kindle and loves actual books, does that, then the rest of the English world is surely further down that electronic path.

Hat tip to Anglican Samizdat.

Liberals and the Race Card, the Homophobia Card, the . . .

This morning, Charles Krauthammer nails a common reflex of liberals and leftists – to equate opposition to them to bigotry. And we have been seeing that reflex in spades of various cards lately:


. . . promiscuous charges of bigotry are precisely how our current rulers and their vast media auxiliary react to an obstreperous citizenry that insists on incorrect thinking.
-- Resistance to the vast expansion of government power, intrusiveness and debt, as represented by the Tea Party movement? Why, racist resentment toward a black president.
-- Disgust and alarm with the federal government's unwillingness to curb illegal immigration, as crystallized in the Arizona law? Nativism.
-- Opposition to the most radical redefinition of marriage in human history, as expressed in Proposition 8 in California? Homophobia.
-- Opposition to a 15-story Islamic center and mosque near Ground Zero? Islamophobia.


Hence, if you oppose the various agendas of the Left, you are a bigot. Just letting you know.

It will be interesting to see how this bigotry meme plays in November. Krauthammer thinks it will not play very well:

The Democrats are going to get beaten badly in November. Not just because the economy is ailing. And not just because Obama over-read his mandate in governing too far left. But because a comeuppance is due the arrogant elites whose undisguised contempt for the great unwashed prevents them from conceding a modicum of serious thought to those who dare oppose them.

Anglican Priorities

Kudos to Christopher Johnson for spotting it and to Riazat Butt of the Guardian for writing it. It being a very concise portrayal of the very different priorities of the orthodox and the apostate in the Anglican Communion:


The archbishop of Uganda has urged hundreds of African bishops to shake off their fears, shame and superficial dependency and re-evangelise the "ailing" churches of the west.

In a rallying cry to the biggest constituency of the Anglican Communion, Henry Orombi said yesterday was time for Africans to "rise up and bring fresh life in the ailing global Anglicanism".

His call came on the day that US Episcopalians published a guide on liturgical and ceremonial resources for clergy and same-sex couples.


What more needs to be said?

Bishop Benhase’s Selective Inclusiveness

I’ve frequently noted how the inclusive crowd is not. TEC “Bishop”* Benhase of Georgia is a case in point. When it comes to the consent to and the consecration of an active lesbian as “bishop,” he is oh-so-inclusive.

But when it comes to those nasty schismatics of ACNA? From his clergy handbook revised after his consecration:

"Anglican" or "Continuing" Splinter Groups [Love those scare quotes! – Ed.] not part of TEC

These groups undermine the geographical authority of the bishop [Love that geographic fundamentalism! – Ed.] as defined in the Constitution and Canons of The Episcopal Church and observed in historical Anglican practice. Therefore, no clergyperson from these groups may participate in any service of worship, and no joint services may be held with any congregation of the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia. Episcopal clergy of the Diocese of Georgia may not participate in any service held in or by these congregations except with written permission from the Bishop.


Though you may choose to notify the Bishop, attendance at a wedding or funeral held in such congregation, for reasons of previous pastoral or personal relationship, is an exception to this more general statement and requires no such permission.


It’s not quite “Shun! Ssshhhhhunnn!” But it’s close.




*(About my quotation marks: I consider it very questionable whether apostates are valid bishops.)

You might be having a bad election year if . . .

. . . you are Senator Russ Feingold and two of the “regular people” in your anti-“special interests” ad . . . are AFL-CIO officials.


. . . some of your “safe” seats suddenly aren’t so safe after all.


MORE:

. . . July existing home sales drop 27.2% . . . and it is not a typo.

U. S. Taxdollars Funding Mosque Renovations

No, the headline is not a joke or paranoid ranting. Your taxes really are going overseas to fix up and rebuild mosques.

That should add that much more unhappiness to the Ground Zero Mosque controversy.