How odd it is. . .

Everyone with an ounce of intelligence knows that the chief purpose of episcopal leadership is to conserve the catholic doctrine and practice within a given area.  Bishops or their equivalents with a different name were not and should not now be elected on the basis of their proven leadership, innovation, financial skills, or even personal piety.  It is their faithfulness that commends them to consideration as the churches judge them competent to fulfill this most basic and solemn calling of preserving against heresy and passing down faithful the sacred deposit.  They are to be men of Scripture, deep in the Word of God more than in the ways of the world.  They are to be pastoral men whose experience and expertise have been honed in the natural interplay of pastor to his people.  It is not simply nor chiefly about age or credentials but about faithfulness.  When did we forget this? 

Rome has more bishops than anybody and they have forgotten this.  Even Leo XIV who was once in charge of sorting out men for dioceses seems to have fallen behind the ball in this.  He has passed upon people whose pastoral skills are abysmal, whose theological leanings are suspect, and whose agendas are corrupted with illusions of power and authority.  It is not about the Latin Mass but about the very essence of the role of the bishop and how he administers the office conferred upon him not as despot but as collegial member of a fraternity commonly dedicated to preservation, conservation, and the faithful transmission of that which was once delivered to the saints long ago and now is delivered to the saints today.

Bishops and those called by a different name but who have the same charge are in danger of killing the very churches they were placed there to enliven with the profound Word and Sacraments.  We saw heresy come into Anglicanism not through the back door but with a nice miter and cope, walking in solemn procession, leading that body into heresy over Scripture, the nature of Christ's saving work, the sex issues from birth control to same sex attraction to gender identity, and a host of other ills.  Methodists had their own hierarchical travesties of leadership and split from the top down with the leaders presiding over the shipwreck.  In the ELCA it was likewise episcopal leadership that spawned the blood loss of several mission members by those who insisted that sex liberation was more important than fidelity to Scripture and the catholic tradition.  This was something easily accomplished once the authority of Scripture had been diluted to merely one voice among many informing them of what they believe, teach, and confess. 

When episcopal leadership began to bestowed upon those who are cultivated for advancement, when it was corrupted by agendas over Scripture and the catholic tradition, and when it became distant from altar and pulpit and more at home in boardrooms and cocktail parties, the church was the loser.  When faithfulness to the unchanging Gospel and the Word of the Lord that endures forever gave way to innovation, experimentation, novelty, and business acumen in the candidates for the episcopacy, the churches began to lose their way.  When power took over the hearts of those who were meant to serve, they become like unbending rulers who dictated to the people rather than leading by example, speaking the truth in love for the sake of the Gospel and the souls of the faithful entrusted to their care.

How does anyone expect the faithful to have confidence in their leaders when you hear of such things as a lavender mafia or the promotion of cronies or the political compromise of people who will not stir things up (not even for the sake of the truth that endures forever)?  We are at a crisis stage more over who are our leaders than the corruption welling up from the pews.  It is time now more than ever before for the churches to remember that faithfulness in preserving, conserving, and passing on the Gospel, the Scriptures, the means of grace, and the heart of true charity that loves the sinner without glorifying the sin are the men we need in every jurisdiction.  Bishops are like ants.  Once you get them, they are hard to get rid of and though they do not seem like threats, they will corrupt everything in the household of God if given enough time.  We pray all the time for God to preserve us from the threats of the devil and the world, perhaps we need to pray even harder for Him to preserve us from unfaithful bishops and their kind.