In a time of great confusion, uncertainty, and mixed signals in the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion at large, I want to make as clear and unmistakable as possible what for me is the theological "bottom line" or break point in terms of that theological integrity without which Anglican Christianity would be null and void. "Null and void" is, of course, what the Roman Catholic Church declared the ordained ministry of Anglicanism to be as long ago as 1896. For the entirety so far of my own ordained ministry, I have sought to witness otherwise, and to play a role in ecumenical relations of commending the providentiality of the Anglican path along the Christian Way. But of late I have begun to fear that Pope Leo XIII may have been right.

Only in the most superficial and tangential sense has this anything to do with sexuality or gender. But the following quotation succinctly summarizes a point of view that makes it utterly impossible for me (evidently like many others) to hold any allegiance to the Presiding Bishop-elect of the Episcopal Church. Assuming Time magazine to be accurate, here is how Bishop Schori responded to the question: Is belief in Jesus the only way to get to heaven? "We who practice the Christian tradition understand him as our vehicle to the divine. But for us to assume that God could not act in other ways is, I think, to put God in an awfully small box." Take the time to reflect on each and every word, phrase, and implication of this statement, particularly the vacuity of the first sentence and its total "disconnect" logically and theologically with the second. Compared to the mere opaqueness of Bishop Griswold’s rhetoric, the null and void character of Bishop Schori’s unwillingness to answer the question directly is an absolute black hole. There is no specific theological content whatsoever, let alone the scandal of particularity which is the heart of the Gospel.

Fifteen years ago those of us who authored The Baltimore Declaration (which has been part of this Cathedral’s portfolio since it was published, four years before my call to be Dean) sought to do what we could to hold the line against the drift towards apostasy within the Episcopal Church. With this statement by Bishop Schori, apostasy is at the point of enthronement, and the issues surrounding Gene Robinson fade by comparison into inconsequentiality. For those of you who are not familiar with The Baltimore Declaration, I hereby (in all modesty!) attach it, with reference especially to sections III and IV.

--The Very Rev. William Mckeachie is Dean of the Cathedral of Saint Luke and Saint Paul in Charleston, South Carolina. For the text of the Baltimore Declaration please go here.