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Bishop's Pages - Letter to the People of the Diocese

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Letter from the House of Bishops from The Right Reverend Dean E. Wolfe Bishop, to the people of The Episcopal Diocese of Kansas Republished from The Plenteous Harvest Dear Friends, Grace to you and peace from our Lord Jesus Christ. I write this letter to you from the House of Bishops meeting in Spokane, Wash. The House of Bishops gathers twice annually to work together on the issues that face the church. Meeting in small and large groups, bishops (often accompanied by their spouses) come together for fellowship, worship, discussion and education.

Autumn has already arrived in this part of the Northwest, and the mornings here are crisp and overcast.

Important speakers

Professor Miroslav Volf, Henry B. Wright Professor in Theology at Yale Divinity School, who was received into the Episcopal Church, will address us, reflecting on his experience of teaching in Croatia during the war in what was once Yugoslavia.

His books, Exclusion and Embrace: a Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness and Reconciliation  and After Our Likeness: the Church as the Image of the Trinity seem particularly appropriate as we determine what it means to be the Body of Christ in the midst of theological difference.

Richard Rodriquez, a commentator on National Public Radio and the Lehrer Newshour, will also speak to us. He is the author of three books including Brown: The Last Discovery of America. His understanding of the evolving role race and ethnicity play in our culture seems particularly germane as we seek to grow the church in an increasingly diverse society.

I often think about how comparatively few people of color we have in the Episcopal Church in Kansas, and I hope we will continue to learn how to welcome greater numbers of Asian, Hispanic and African-American people into our parishes.

Some stayed away

A few bishops have decided not to attend this meeting of the House of Bishops, which is a source of great disappointment for me. Bishops promise in their ordination vows to “...share with (their) fellow bishops in the government of the whole church,” and so I believe every bishop should make every effort to attend these important councils of the church.

Failure to participate in these meetings feels like a form of abandonment to me.

How can we possibly discuss the theological and ecclesiological differences which exist between us if we do not all come to the table? Such behavior does little to build up the body of Christ. Fortunately, it’s a strategy employed by an extreme few. You can’t complain about the decisions being made if you choose not to be a participant in the decision-making process.

I also think it’s a shame that the parishioners served by these bishops are left so unrepresented in our current deliberations. And while the implications of Bishop Robinson’s election continue to unfold here, there are other issues that are topics for our conversations together.

Tales of struggle

Many of the bishops are arriving from dioceses that recently have been wracked by hurricanes. Several bishops are unable to be here because of the devastating effect back-to-back hurricanes have had on their dioceses. The toll is still being calculated, but at least one bishop, my friend Philip Duncan of the Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast, apparently has lost his home.

I will send a check from my discretionary fund to Episcopal Relief and Development to aid the victims of these terrible storms, and I urge you to add your generous contribution so we can assist those who have lost so much. In Kansas we know firsthand the devastating effect wind and weather can have on homes, farms and businesses.

We also are reminded at the House of Bishops of our connection to the wider church and how the present strife affecting the American church is very small in comparison to the burden borne by others.

A bishop from Sudan shared with us his frequent brushes with death in a diocese that has been torn by civil war for the past 20 years. He told us how the Lord has continued to bless his ministry even in the midst of such adversity. We all were humbled as we thought of our own comparatively petty whining over the past year.

Readying for convention

We are making preparations for our own diocesan gathering, and I hope you will make every effort to come to Topeka to attend.

Diocesan convention is perhaps like this gathering of bishops, in that the value is less in the business accomplished than in the relationships begun and confirmed. I pray we will have a wonderful, spirit-filled gathering that will allow each of us to make new friendships and confirm old ones.

We have important business to discuss and decisions to make which will involve our tithe, our time and our talents.

145 years of orthodoxy

There have been a lot of claims around the word “orthodoxy” in the past year, and I recently received an
e-mail that made me smile. It was an invitation to “the first formal gathering of orthodox and faithful Episcopalians in the Midwest.” 

I looked at the date, and the e-mail said the event was going to be in October, 2004!

And I wondered to myself, What would our founding bishop, Jackson Kemper, say about such an assertion? Didn’t he gather “orthodox and faithful Episcopalians” together when he first preached in Kansas back in 1837?

What would our first bishop, Thomas Vail, have to say? Didn’t he oversee the building of church after church in the orthodox faith?

What would the last eight bishops of the Diocese of Kansas say? Did they not give significant parts of their lives to the establishment of an orthodox and faithful Episcopal Church in our state?

In fact, what would all the faithful and orthodox Episcopalians of the 145-year history of the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas have to say? Didn’t they worship regularly and hold at the center of their lives this vibrant faith which we have inherited?

So then, I looked at my calendar to check the dates of this year’s diocesan convention. “Why, heck,” I said. “This isn’t even going to be the first formal gathering of orthodox and faithful Episcopalians in the Midwest in the month of October!” 

Like an eternal flame, the Holy Spirit is constant and yet ever moving. We continue to prayerfully determine what God is calling us to do, and we continue to discern God’s intentions for our life and ministries.

We believe God is a present reality. In attending this House of Bishops meeting, I proudly represent the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas and the 12,000 members of the 51 parishes and campus ministries who uphold the orthodox faith granted to us by the apostles.

In the essentials laid down in the historic creeds of the church, there must be unity of faith. However, in all other non-essentials there may be diversity of thought and practice.

I am glad to be a part of a gathering of orthodox and faithful bishops loyal to “the doctrine, discipline and worship of Christ as this church has received them.”  I am proud to be part of a gathering that “believes the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God and to contain all things necessary to salvation.” 

And at our diocesan convention I will be proud to be part of a gathering that seeks to “guard the faith, unity and discipline of the church” and that remains loyal to the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas and the Episcopal Church in the United States of America.   

Faithfully,

+Dean

Ninth Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas

Download the text of this address.