Bishop Mark Lawrence Dumbs Down the Episcopal Church

There is much going on in the diocese of South Carolina these days and it seems like a whole bunch of "stuff" to write about. In a recent response to a letter from the Episcopal Forum (our version of Remain Episcopal) to the House of Bishops and the Executive Council Bishop Lawrence prefaces his remarks with this little gem:

I do not want to let these accusations stand or go without response. Perhaps in their anxiety they have done us all a favor—indeed, presenting me with a teachable moment for this diocese and, dare I hope to believe, for others as well who may have read their letter. I will strive to refrain from using ecclesiastical language (Episcopalianese) or unduly difficult theology. Unfortunately, due to the accusations, a certain amount of each is necessary. Nevertheless, I will tune my writing as well as I can for the person in the pew. I will proceed by first putting forth in italics the accusation. In most cases I will just use their language, then, give my response. This could be much longer, but there is little need to try your patience…

I am so pleased that Bishop Lawrence is going to use language that even I can understand. As a lay person in the pew it is important for me to understand why he is among other things, arrogant, insensitive, anti-women, anti-LGBT, against inclusivity and now he is trying to raise the level of my understanding to a point where even I might be able to comprehend the difficult language of the church. Holy S**T!!! If I had only known that was my problem I would have been to Bakersburg every Sunday so that he could instruct me. Little did I know that my current level of education, your current level of education, was insufficient to fully comprehend what is going on in the church!

Now, I am going to say this again, and again, and again, and again -- Dissolve the House of Bishops, take all the political power away from these poor fools, let them do their pastoral thing and leave the politics to the House of Deputies. The utter arrogance of these folks absolutely astounds me!

H/T Thinking Anglicans