Mark Steyn discusses the Episcopal church’s Bishop Robinson and the narcissism involved. Steyn sees the election of, not just a gay bishop, but a bishop who “celebrates his sexuality” by saying that gay sex is a sacrament and sees it as an attempt by the fading Episcopal church to carve out a new niche and demographic for its survival.
As Mark points out and I mentioned last week, Robinson and his supporters seem not have the virtue of humility either because he’s presented to us as the Second Coming of Christ over and over.
But those were soon dismissed and the bishop was elected, and, as he pointed out, this wasn’t the first two-day dramatic turnaround the Church has known. ‘‘God has once again brought an Easter out of Good Friday,’’ he declared.
Got that? If he’s not the Second Coming, he’s the next best thing. As the Washington Post‘s Caryle Murphy reported on Thursday, ‘‘Yesterday’s gospel reading on the Transfiguration of Jesus was about the mysterious transformation of Christ that caused such fear and trembling, but also joy, in his believers. For the group attending the noontime Eucharist service at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Chevy Chase, the reading could not have been more pertinent ...’’ Yes, indeed. For, just like Christ, Bishop Robinson causes fear and trembling but also joy in his believers.
I almost can’t believe my eyes. They (and Robinson himself) make it clear that what makes Robinson so Christ-like is the fact that is a practicing homosexual. Gay sex isn’t just a right to these people anymore, but a virtue, something God wants them to do. In our sex-soaked, sex-crazed culture is it any surprise. I’ve often said that the only sin recognized by our culture is the denial of pleasure in whatever means you seek it, or the disapproval thereof. And Robinson isn’t shy about saying it, elevating gay sex among the sacraments.
‘‘I believe that God gave us the gift of sexuality so that we might express with our bodies the love that’s in our hearts,’’ he announced to his fellow bishops. ‘‘I just need to tell you that I experience that with my partner. In the time that we have, I can’t go into all the theology around it, but what I can tell you is that in my relationship with my partner, I am able to express the deep love that’s in my heart, and in his unfailing and unquestioning love of me, I experience just a little bit of the kind of never-ending, never-failing love that God has for me. So it’s sacramental for me.’‘
That’s right, a sacrament. And they say the Catholic Church is obsessed with sex.
I was in Pittsburgh on Friday and had the pleasure of attending noontime service at the Episcopal Cathedral of Pittsburgh, home of the Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan, the Standard Bearer for Christ and the faithful Episcopals. I thought what better place to pray for our brothers in faith.
Strange though it may seem, the priest celebrating the Episcopal Eucharist did not seem at all in agreement with his bishop.
Let’s pray for Bishop Duncan and the faithful Episcopals.
I also, spoke with friends who belong to Christ Church Episcopal in Hamilton-Wenham last night. It seems that the faithful who choose to align with the “International Anglican Community” (i.e. the conservatives who oppose the apostacy in the American Church), will have to start over, being that the AMERICAN ANGLICAN COMMUNITY and the DIOCESE’s own ALL THE PROPERTY, much in the way the Catholic Diocese’s own all of our parishes.
The faithful Episcopal’s have quite a challenge ahead.