Monday, June 19, 2006

It's probably a good thing that I was so totally disinterested in church politics for years. In the past week, it has become an enjoyable obsession. Thanks to the internet, we have access to minutes of meetings, church and court records, newspaper and magazine articles based on mountains of research, and plenty of editorials and opinions. Everything I ever wondered about is there to discover with just a little effort - the subterfuge, the plots and counterplots, it's better than a murder mystery. And through it all, God continues to work.

Maybe Susan Howatch will write a book about it, a series on the Episcopal Church, rather than the Church of England. Or maybe we have an American equivalent to Susan Howatch that I'm not aware of. After a quick search on Amazon, I see there are a couple of Howatch books I haven't read. Jan Karon's Mitford series is lighter reading than Howatch's, but she's the only American novelist who's written a series with an Episcopal priest for the main character.

I'm distressed by some of the shady dealings going on behind closed doors, but not surprised. Some of the most unethical behavior I've ever witnessed has come from clergy. It's no wonder that younger generations see the church as irrelevant. Maybe Bishop Schori will help to turn that around.

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