Let it die

Episcopalians continue to abandon the rotting corpse of their former denomination:

The vestry — or governing board — of Truro Episcopal Church, an 18th-century church in downtown Fairfax, voted unanimously Saturday to depart from the 2.2-million-member Episcopal Church over questions of biblical authority and the 2003 consecration of New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson, an active homosexual.

Monday night, the vestry of the Falls Church, an equally historic Virginia congregation in the city of Falls Church, voted 15-2, with one abstention, to leave the Episcopal Church, a denomination it has called home for more than 200 years.

Once a Christian church accepts the anti-Biblical concept of female leadership, it begins its death spiral. First the women, then the gays. This is a reliable pattern, with the exception of the post-Vatican II Roman Catholic Church, which seems to have reversed the usual order. In fact, it was the breezy acceptance of female pastors that always concerned me about Woodland Hills, thus I was not terribly surprised to see that particular church, for which I still harbor great affection, begin to see a not-insignificant exodus about two years ago.

It will be interesting to see if the same holds true of the United States once Hillary and Nancy are running the show together.

By their fruit, you will know them.

UPDATE: on a related note, the Archbishop of Canterbury considers reconsidering:

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has reopened the debate on women priests by suggesting that the Anglican Church may one day “think again” about the issue.

Speaking a week before his first official audience with Pope Benedict XVI in Rome, Dr Williams made clear that he remained a firm supporter of women’s ordination and that “practically” he did not see how the Church’s position could be reversed.

But in an interview with The Catholic Herald published today, he said he could “just about envisage a situation in which, over a very long period, the Anglican Church thought about it again, but I would need to see what the theological reason for that would be”….

Traditionalists said that Dr Williams’s measured assessment of the reform was in contrast to the enthusiastic claims of its advocates, who had predicted that it would trigger a major revival in the Church.

I see two obvious reasons, one theological, the other practical. As to the first, the Bible is quite clear on what manner of individual is to be in positions of authority in the church. As to the second, you don’t need priests of any kind once the entire congregation has departed.

But if by “major revival”, advocates of female ordination meant “slow death”, one would find it hard to argue with their assertion.