Church of the Word
TEC WILL TRANSFORM CHRISTIANITY

Bishop Bruno: Transforming Hearts Requires Patience and Teaching

Steve Waring
11/08/2006

Progressive activists will have to honor Resolution B033 at least until the 2009 General Convention if they expect to transform the hearts of opponents in The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion, according to the Rt. Rev. J. Jon Bruno, Bishop of Los Angeles, who gave the keynote address at a Nov. 3-4 meeting of Episcopal Majority held at St. Columba’s Church in Washington, D.C.

Episcopal Majority held its first national meeting on the weekend the Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori was installed as the 26th and first female Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church. “We chose to meet at this time to show our unconditional support for the new Presiding Bishop,” said the Rev. David K. Fly of the Diocese of Missouri. He was elected president and spokesperson for the group during a steering committee meeting.

Bishop Bruno was interrupted frequently by applause during his address. He counted himself among those pleased with the decision to consecrate New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson in 2003, and added that those in attendance had no one to blame but themselves for the negative fallout from that legislative decision.

“We went into other countries such as those in Africa and gave them the gospel as a means of control, not liberation,” he said. Bishop Bruno also cautioned against an overreaction to the fallout, reminding the audience that they were in all likelihood the true majority. “If you look at the internet you’d think that everyone was against The Episcopal Church doing anything progressive,” he said.

“The sad fact is that the internet primarily ‘jacks’ people up, gets them upset. If you think like I do that it is all our own fault for not doing enough teaching, then” it is important to abide by the legislative process that led to Bishop Robinson’s consecration if the effort to “transform hearts” is to have a chance of success.

There would be paltry gatherings if Bishop Jefferts Schori were not invited to the next primates meeting in February or if bishops from The Episcopal Church were not invited to the 2008 Lambeth Conference, according to Bishop Bruno. He noted that “the majority of money that keeps the Anglican Communion running comes from London, New York and Compass Rose.”

While seeking to ignite an activist fire among listeners, Bishop Bruno also urged them to be patient with opponents both in The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion.

“We are a thinking people,” he said. “In only 30 years I came from thinking that women should be silent [within church councils] to voting for a woman for Presiding Bishop. Thirty years, folks, that’s not a long time. If we truly are the Episcopal majority then we need to be with and for each other.”

This article comes from The Living Church Foundation
http://www.livingchurch.org/

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