The slate of candidates for Presiding Bishop of TEC have been named, and first glance is that we have three white southern men (like me), and one woman. I know a little about two of the men (Parsley & Alexander), and a lot more about the woman. Suffice it to say that even though I think Katherine Jefferts Schori is a great bishop, I don't think that she is at all what TEC needs right now. My guess is that her selection is -- dare I say it -- a token selection.
What TEC needs right now is someone who can lead us away from the centralizing forces of the AMiA/Network/Global South folks, and toward a new understanding of what it means to be a contextualized, autonomous church. This person should help us to re-focus that our mission is toward the poor, and in striving for peace, and to demand that we stop playing the power struggle games that the so-called "orthodox," keep trying to force us in to. The new PB should have an understanding of what it means to lead a counter-cultural, historically focused church that was born out of disestablishment, and that must shine light on the steady erosion of the Establishment Clause in current American politics.
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