Signs & Wonders: Bishops Walk the Talk

Dear Mr. Waters,

I am overwhelmed, stunned.

I suppose that I too have walked the talk most of my Catholic priesthood--I tell myself not so badly as these good folks, but perhaps only because I don't want to think that I have. I do feel so convicted by your words.

I am or have been a community organizer in several arenas. We empower or have empowered people who are poor, who are brown and black, who are developmentally or mentally disabled, who are substanced addicted. I am substance addicted and psychiatrically diagnosed myself, and I have had to carve out a new priesthood for myself when there was no further traditional priesthood left open to me. I struggle every waking minute over my own deep shame for my failures and my addictions and my diagnoses.

But "troops"? I don't even know if I am a general anymore. I war endlessly against my own professional colleagues, who slip thoughtlessly into thinking that those whom they truly desire to serve somehow are "lesser" than they in many, many significant ways. There always are these divides, and the "poverty" between so-called servants and so-called served seems unbridgeable.

I'm wandering. Thank you for this amazingly insightful and distressing piece--and for its awful photo. From that photograph alone, I believe, I would not have had to read a single word to have understood your basic thinking; but, having read all your words, I am both troubled and grateful--and I shall read your words again and again.

Your brother,

Father Gary Kinzer
Seal Beach, CA

After their march, they dined on quail eggs and caviar.

All the marching, smiles, and sign-holding in the world won't feed a hungry children, my friends. Start a soup kitchen.

Too bad that the Anglican/Episcopal world is so consumed with sexual/gender culture wars, against females in authority and gay bishops and clergy, that precious little will and energy are left over for feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and housing the homeless.

Give yourself a break, Father Gary. You may not have the answers (who does?) but you know the questions. Keep on hoping, keep on trying!

Mr. Waters, thank you for an excellent piece, I will share it with my fellows. I am a lifelong Episcopalian, yet I was not even aware that there was an "Anglican Communion" until several years ago. Let the politico-bishops squabble, it doesn't mean we have to pay attention.

"The will of the church not to tell us how but to show us how to serve the least among us:"

Yes, the church recommends Linux.

The church does not favour any particular sect of Linux but it does call for Linux to be pre-installed on your notebook to ensure that the operating system tithings go to a good cause.

http://truthhappens.redhatmagazine.com

Fr. Gary Kinzer writes:

"But 'troops'? I don't even know if I am a general anymore. I war endlessly against my own professional colleagues, who slip thoughtlessly into thinking that those whom they truly desire to serve somehow are "lesser" than they in many, many significant ways. There always are these divides, and the "poverty" between so-called servants and so-called served seems unbridgeable."
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This "lesser than" thing you speak of is truly despicable. Ironically, those marching Garden Party attendees would not have had to walk much farther to see hunger around them. It exists in England just as surely as it exists here.

The peculiar thing is that the "less thans" are often so much more than the "more thans," having had to deal on a daily basis with problems the privileged cannot even imagine and having dealt with those problems successfully.

And, please make no mistake. The more thans of this world are not all white. The less thans of this country and of England are not all brown or black or, in the US, Native American.

"Thoughtlessly" is a good word. People, no matter how well intentioned, do slip into classism. In Judaism, one does not strive to end poverty because it is a good thing to do per se, but because poverty is an injustice, and it is an obligation to end injustice, to perfect or heal the world. Does that mean there are no Jewish classists? Certainly not.

We are all vulnerable to this sort of thing, but to judge from your post, I can't see how you can accuse yourself as you do. In a sense, I'm a fellow traveler, so I speak from experience: we cannot heal the world. No individual can do this. We do what we can, the best we can, and we must heal ourselves, or we can be of no use to anyone.

All the best to you, and thank you for your good work.

Take good care.

Farnaz

Professor Berlinerblau's blog on Senator McCain has been locked for at least three days now; it does not accept comments. Reason?

What I see is a March of Hypocrites. "Gay marriage" Christians? Im sure Christ is so ashamed of these people.

It's very ironic that their call for the fulfillment of the promise would only be achieved after all hypocrites would burn in the next biggest war.

My church, an Episcopal church in downtown DC, feeds up to 200 homeless people every Sunday. This ministry has been in place for years. It may surprise some people that there are Episcopal churches that don't spend their energy fighting over gay bishops and women priests, but rather focus on being church in the world.

Monique:
My church, an Episcopal church in downtown DC, feeds up to 200 homeless people every Sunday. This ministry has been in place for years. It may surprise some people that there are Episcopal churches that don't spend their energy fighting over gay bishops and women priests, but rather focus on being church in the world.

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I wish the Anglicans would have marched to a soup kitchen and emulated your church's action, instead.

Mr. Waters,

Thank you for calling we Christians (I am a United Methodist Pastor, (truly Catholic, truly Evangelical, truly Reformed.) Always we need to have thoughtful critics both inside and outside the Church to call us to our Gospel obligations.

Yet, your comments seemed to indicate a rather stereotyped criticism of these Anglican Bishops and their spouses: Christian Leaders can "talk", but don't truly "walk, the walk!" Not being an Episcopalian, I am unprepared to cite the leadership of any one or many of these Bishops in working to alleviate poverty, but I have no doubt that many, if not all, of them work in many unheralded ways to "love the least, the lost, those for whom Christ died."

I do question the need for a stereotype response, when a more thoughtful dialogue about "what is the relationship between Church action and poverty," would be more helpful. Likewise a more thoughtful dialogue on the relationship of government policies to endemic poverty would be helpful.

I am also conscious that the New Testament calls us to "speak the truth" as well as act on the truth. "Unless you confess with your lips..."

And surely you can as a well-educated reporter include at least one example of where "Talking the Talk" led to a more just, humane world. Here's one. The great evangelical preacher and founder of Methodism, John Wesley, never tired of "preaching the good news especially to the poor." And it was one of his letters that was on the desk of Prime Minister Wilberforce when Slavery was outlawed in the United Kingdom!

Would to God, that modern day Religious Leaders, would continue to "walk the walk," but keep up "talking the talk" to political and economic world leaders. They might not "bring in the Kingdom of God," but I'm convinced they can help shape a more humane future, even for the least of these...

blah, blah, blah!
People can talk about feeding the poor in 3rd world countries and all that. Blame the Anglicans, etc. etc.

But where were all these yahoos when President Bush denounced the huge US farm subsidy bill that presents a real disadvantage to 3rd world farmers. Or what about Prez. Bush's call for a world wide repeal of all agricultural subsidies in 1st world countries including Britain and France (where one cow earns as much as one sub-Saharan African.)

Liberals and Dimos can talk a good game but when it comes to action they can't be found anywhere.

Besides, with them it's all about good intentions and feeling good about themselves for having them.

As one African farmer was quoted as saying, "We don't want hand-outs, all we want is a chance to be competetive."

There are a lot of folks that are walking that walk -- millions, in fact, all over the place, including the poor areas of London. (You'll find them on both sides of the gay priesthood dispute.) But, as noted in the article, it is a situation of Biblical proportion. Bigger than humongous. Bigger than TEARFund or Bread For the World. Bigger than the 'generals' or the 'army'. Or the Queen, or Britain, or the US, or the UN. It will take time -- generations of time -- before even the current goals will be reached. Poverty is very complex, and has many causes. Jesus seems to understand that we will have to go on living while the poverty continues, for the poor will, in fact, be with us the rest of our lives. You don't need to be a Christian or an economist to know that.

The bishops are doing their part. Most of the rest of us, it seems, are not doing ours.