Update: Episcopalians Boot Priest Who Says She's Also Muslim

July 6, 2007 09:09 PM

I really need to do a better job updating stories that I have previously posted on, when the story changes. I just assume everyone is as well read as I. Obviously, that is a mistake, as I was out this evening with a reader of this blog who loudly condemned Episcopalians for having a Muslim priest. Remember that Priestess? Well, the news this week is that she's been collared by her Bishop. Per the Seattle Times:

The Rev. Ann Holmes Redding, a local Episcopal priest who announced she is both Muslim and Christian, will not be able to serve as a priest for a year, according to her bishop.
During that year, Redding is expected to "reflect on the doctrines of the Christian faith, her vocation as a priest, and what I see as the conflicts inherent in professing both Christianity and Islam," the Rt. Rev. Geralyn Wolf, bishop of the Diocese of Rhode Island, wrote in an e-mail to Episcopal Church leaders.

At the end of the year, the two are going to revisit the issue, and it's clear what the Bishop's position is going to be: "You have a year to return to the faith, or you're out." I think there's plenty of reason to boot her now, but I understand the Bishop's position. It is better to try to return people to the fold than tell them to take a hike.

So there, reader. Now there's nothing wrong with the Episcopal Church. We're perfect!

Comments

I met Geralyn Wolf many many years ago, when she was a vicar at a church in Philadelphia, and I was a lay person at Church of the Good Samaritan in Paoli, PA. Her graciousness and commitment to Christ that I experienced then still appears in what she says and does.

Yes, Bishop Wolf is a liberal, but she is not a revisionist, and she works well with folks of all theological stripes. +Geralyn also clearly recognizes when someone under her authority has gone way out-of-bounds, and has the "gravitas" to address the issue.

God bless her!

David Bailey+

David Bailey · July 7, 2007 04:50 PM

Thanks for reading and commenting, Father Bailey.

Nasty, Brutish & Short · July 7, 2007 08:48 PM