NYT: For Episcopal Church’s Leader, a Sermon Leads to More Dissent

By MARK OPPENHEIMER
June 21, 2013

Excerpt:
“Paul is annoyed at the slave girl,” Bishop Jefferts Schori preached. “She’s telling the same truth Paul and others claim for themselves. But Paul is annoyed, perhaps for being put in his place, and he responds by depriving her of her gift of spiritual awareness. Paul can’t abide something he won’t see as beautiful or holy, so he tries to destroy it.”

Within a week, angry Episcopalians — yes, that could be an Updike title — took to the Web with outrage. Articles in Anglican Ink, The Christian Post, and other conservative publications questioned the presiding bishop’s exegetical acumen, even her standing as a Christian.

Disdain for Bishop Jefferts Schori is common among church conservatives. She is supportive of marriage and ordination for gay men and lesbians, and she has taken a very hard line against dissenting dioceses, many of whose members hold more traditional views. Under her leadership, the Episcopal Church has spent millions of dollars in legal fights to keep the church buildings of congregations whose members have voted to leave the Episcopal Church, often to affiliate with more traditionalist organizations. the rest