The Buddhiscopal Church?

[cmotherofpirl]

The Buddhiscopal Church?
From the Institute on Religion and Democracy today:

Washington, DC—An Episcopal priest who has received a Buddhist lay ordination has been nominated for the position of bishop in the Diocese of Northern Michigan. The Rev. Kevin Thew Forrester, who has served in the diocese since 2001, will be the only nominee for the vacant position.

Forrester currently serves as rector of St. Paul’s, Marquette, and is the diocese’s ministry development coordinator. The bishop’s election is scheduled for a special convention to be held February 21 in Escanaba, MI. If elected, Forrester wouldstill have to obtain consents from a majority of dioceses in the Episcopal Church, in what is usually viewed as a rubber-stamp procedure.

Forrester is not the first Episcopal clergyman to hold dual faiths. In 2004, Pennsylvania priest Bill Melnyk was revealed to be a druid; while in 2007 Seattle priest Ann Holmes Redding declared that she was simultaneously an Episcopalian and a Muslim. Both Melnyk and Redding were eventually inhibited from priestly duties. Forrester’s background was recently brought to light by the Anglican web site Stand Firm in Faith.


The diocese of Northern Michigan must be desperate. Or maybe the cold and snow has gotten to them. They do get snow in the Upper Peninsula from about Labor Day to Memorial Day (not really), and it's measured not by inches or feet but by stories ("Yep, we got nearly two stories last night." How 'bout you, eh?") Brain freeze, maybe?

from Mere Comments blog

[homeschoolmom]

[Vincent Vega]

Remember, these are the people who put a "Hindi Santa Claus" up at their 'vatican' and who canonize people who are anti-Christianity (see: Elizabeth Cady Stanton).
I'm not surprised.

[Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam]

[quote name='cmotherofpirl' post='1773841' date='Feb 6 2009, 12:41 PM']The Buddhiscopal Church?
From the Institute on Religion and Democracy today:

Washington, DC—An Episcopal priest who has received a Buddhist lay ordination has been nominated for the position of bishop in the Diocese of Northern Michigan. The Rev. Kevin Thew Forrester, who has served in the diocese since 2001, will be the only nominee for the vacant position.[/quote]

Whenever Episcopal/Anglican bishops are mentioned, a friend of mind never misses the opportunity to note that they do not have Apostolic succession and notes that their are either at worst druids/archdruids or are at best just playing dress up.

Either this "priest" doesn't understand much about the Christian faith or understand much about the Buddhist way of life because they don't exactly jive. Christianity says that suffering should be embraced and accepted as a path in which one may grow in holiness and grow closer to the Divine while Buddhism believes that faith can be dealt with by reaching enlightenment and removing thought from the mind for long periods of time. Pain should be removed in the Buddhist understanding while Christians believe it is part of life and should be affirmed along with the rest of life, just as Christ did. I don't comprehend how he holds these two understandings?

[MissyP89]

Does not compute. ECUSA has some serious issues these days...I'm so very glad I didn't end up there like I wanted to a few years ago.

[Selah]

[img]http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/facepalm.jpg[/img]

Edited February 7, 2009 by Selah

[puellapaschalis]

Whenever I hear of things like this I have to wonder: are Anglicans (impossibly broad generalisation) [i]deliberately[/i] shooting themselves in the foot, or is it a natural instinct for them?

[Saint Therese]

This is what happens when a member cuts themself off from the body. Or at least from the head.

[sweens8403]

Do they even [i]read[/i] the bible anymore? "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" nothing complex to understand there.

Why is it that the episcopalian ecclesial community is always at the forefront of these sorts of evils? Birth control, Women priest/gay ordinations, homosexual marriages...

[tinytherese]

I know someone who picks and chooses things from other religions and combines them all to make her own. Also I know a girl that said that she was a Buddhist and yet said that she believed that Jesus is Lord or something like that. The eastern religions are very inclusive like that.

[Saint Therese]

But Christianity is not.

[jeffpugh]

Buddhism is a philosophy, just so you know, but still it's weird...

[Graciela]

[quote name='puellapaschalis' post='1774534' date='Feb 7 2009, 05:45 AM']Whenever I hear of things like this I have to wonder: are Anglicans (impossibly broad generalisation) [i]deliberately[/i] shooting themselves in the foot, or is it a natural instinct for them?[/quote]


I am surprised at your uncharitable generalization. For decades, since Thomas Merton, contemplatives from Christianity and from Buddhism have been in dialogue about some things that they believe they share in terms of monastic practice. I personally find that kind of willingness to dialogue a much more compassionate contribution to the human community than Phatmassers name-calling (as ADMG does in the druid comment) or ridiculing, as you do here.

I thought PM had a policy of charitable dialogue, but clearly it does not, unless you are spewing "popeganda" (or perhaps to keep with the uncharitable discourse of this thread I should call it papal idolatry)

[Apotheoun]

Dialogue aimed at peaceful co-existence is one thing, but this thread is about an Anglican "priest" who also claims to be a Buddhist.

[cmotherofpirl]

[quote name='Graciela' post='1776265' date='Feb 8 2009, 09:31 PM']I am surprised at your uncharitable generalization. For decades, since Thomas Merton, contemplatives from Christianity and from Buddhism have been in dialogue about some things that they believe they share in terms of monastic practice. I personally find that kind of willingness to dialogue a much more compassionate contribution to the human community than Phatmassers name-calling (as ADMG does in the druid comment) or ridiculing, as you do here.

I thought PM had a policy of charitable dialogue, but clearly it does not, unless you are spewing "popeganda" (or perhaps to keep with the uncharitable discourse of this thread I should call it papal idolatry)[/quote]
Unfortunately its happens to be true. Telling the truth is not uncharitable, and for any dialogue to be fruitful it most be grounded in Truth.

The Anglicans have shot themselves in the foot, which is why they are in such serious trouble. Ordaining women as priestess and bishops, performing gay marriages, being pro-abortion etc are outside mainstream christianity. Individual parishes are being sued by their diocese because they are ceding out to join the Traditional Anglican Communion, and some have petitioned to re-join the Catholic Church. They are foundering because they cut themselves from the root of Christianity which is Jesus Christ.