Tobias Haller has written an analysis, entitled Where We Are, that seems to this aging layman to be a fair and balanced account of the aspect of sexual politics in the Episcopal Church that is most in the news. Here are a few excerpts.
About the church as a whole:
It is very easy, in a liberal parish in a liberal diocese to come to think that The Episcopal Church as a whole is much more liberal than it really is. This applies to the Anglican Communion as well.
About the House of Bishops:
The House of Bishops as a whole — even with the “Network” bishops missing — is not as liberal as its most liberal members. When they gather, something between the Hive Mind and the Stockholm Effect takes place. The whole is often less than the sum of its parts.
About Bishop Robinson’s ordination:
The consent to the election of Gene Robinson was a “false dawn” — and was not the celebration of gay and lesbian equality it was perceived to be. The consent had more to do with Gene’s superb personal qualities and track-record as an excellent priest than with his sexuality and his partnership. The consent was given in spite of, not in affirmation of, his private life. The consent to his election thus made it appear both to us and to the world that we were moving faster than we actually were.
In the commentary that follows, Elizabeth Keaton says, “While I agree that this is a fair assessment of where we are, it’s decidedly not where we were last March,” and asks, “Why, do you suppose, that is the case?” Haller replies:
I think the main difference between March and September was that the March meeting dealt with something really gear (sic) and near to the Bishops hearts — polity and property — and you will note that in the present statement that is where their strongest language is placed.
Another issue of sexual politics, one about which I haven’t seen much discussion, is the HOB endorsement of the presiding bishop’s “plan to appoint episcopal visitors for dioceses that request alternative oversight.” I’m less disturbed by the presiding bishop’s endorsement–she seems a person of great faith and generosity of spirit–than I am by that of her colleagues. But both endorsements make me wonder how serious my church’s real commitment is to the ordination of women.