Here’s an interesting essay by Tobias Haller; it appeared on the House of Bishops and Deputies listserv, defending the Episcopal Church’s 2003 approval of the election and consecration of Gene Robinson, an openly-gay priest, as Bishop of New Hampshire (hat tip to TitusOneNine, which published a lengthy rebuttal by William Witt). (Update: Haller responds here.) Here’s an excerpt from near the end of Haller’s original essay:
After all, if the early church had followed the path commended by Windsor, the handful of apostles ceasing to proclaim the Gospel because the majority of the religious leaders throughout the world condemned it (Acts 4:18-19, 5:28-29, 28:22), there would be no church.
If the bishops of the tiny English national church at the time of the Reformation had heeded the demands of the papacy, we would have waited four hundred years for the vernacular liturgy and the common cup, to say nothing of the ordination of women — for which we would still be waiting!
The simple fact is that the church does not progress like a train, with all the cars moving as one, but like a caterpillar, as waves of movement stir through its body and carry it forward.
(Paragraphing added.)
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