Source:  Christian Post

July 29, 2010

By Lilian Kwon

The existence of conflict in the church is a sign of health and vitality, the head of The Episcopal Church told a live Web audience Wednesday.

ENS Photo

"If there's no conflict, it means that we're dead," said Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori. "There has always been push and pull in the church. It's a sign that the diversity among us is passionate and that is a gift from God, not something to be squelched."

The Seattle native was addressing Episcopalians and the wider public in the first of a series of webcast conversations, which have been designed to foster better understanding in the church and to address current issues. . .

When asked by a viewer of the webcast, "Has the Anglican Communion abandoned us, have we abandoned them?" Jefferts Schori responded, "Nobody's abandoned anybody."

"We continue to be committed to God's commission together even though there [are] certainly some members of the Anglican Communion as there are some members of The Episcopal Church who disagree with decisions by various bodies either in this church or in others."

Diversity is a blessing, she made clear on Wednesday, and her goal as presiding bishop is to help others recognize that.

"I've been clear from the very beginning that I think a big part of our challenge in the current age is to recognize that we are a multicultural church in many different ways – in terms of nationality and language, in terms of gender and orientation, in terms of socioeconomic status, in terms of educational level – and to value that diversity, to see it as a blessing and not something to be criticized or avoided," she said in response to a question on the primary goal she wants to achieve by the end of her nine-year term . . .  (AAC Editor's Note: the Presiding Bishops comment should be viewed in light of these remarks by Anglican Communion's Secretary General in June.)

Read the entire article here.