THE MCJ

MEET THE PRESS

Good morning and welcome to Meet the Press.  I'm Tim Russert.  The Anglican Communion, the third largest group of Christians in the world, has been in a state of continual ferment ever since the consecration of Gene Robinson, a partnered gay man, as Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire in 2003.  Here to discuss the current state of the Anglican controversy is the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church and the first woman ever to head an Anglican province, the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori.  Bishop Schori, welcome.

 




It's a pleasure to be here, Tom.

Tim.  Bishop, you recently caused a good bit of controversy when you claimed that there were other partnered gay bishops in the Anglican Communion and that the provinces they serve really needed to be honest about it.  Care to elaborate?

 
Certainly, Tim.  We feel that since we are by no means unique in having a partnered gay bishop among our number, that other provinces need to be as honest about what is going on as we are.



 

And you know this how?

 




What?

How do you know that there are other partnered gay bishops in the Anglican Communion?

It's perfectly obvious.

Why?

The metanarrative.

???

???

You're yanking my chain, aren't you?

No, no, not at all.  It's common knowledge that there are a number of partnered gay bishops in other Anglican provinces.

If it's common knowledge, then why don't I or anyone else seem to know about it?

I don't know.  Maybe you need to get out more, Tony.










Tim.  But let me approach this another way.  How many other partnered gay bishops are there in the Anglican Communion?

I'm not at liberty to say.










Why not?

Obviously, there are privacy issues involved as well as cultural contexts that must be taken into consideration, Thorvald.

Tim.  Bishop, MCJ editor-in-chief Christopher Johnson recently had this to say about your claim.











Well, gee whiz, Tim, I see this in two ways.  One is that this is a kind of liberal McCarthyism, Bishop Schori essentially stating, "I have here a list of so many known partnered gay bishops in the Anglican Communion."  The other is as a kind of projection, a postmodern wish fulfillment if you will.  The Episcopal Church needs this to be true so they just decide that it is and go from there.  They can't provide any actual facts so they just assume their narrative is true and that anybody who doesn't believe it must be a bigot even if the narrative is as fictional as John Chane's connection to anything remotely resembling orthodox Christianity.






Bishop?  Your reaction?











Tim, I categorically reject Johnson's assertions.  Admittedly, we can't and won't provide any actual names for reasons I just explained.  But it's common knowledge that there are plenty of gay bishops in the Anglican Communion.









And once again, Bishop, I have to ask how you know.  Prior to your ordination, you were a scientist, an oceanographer, I believe.











That's correct.










Wouldn't a scientist demand, well, actual evidence?  Proof?











Tim, I don't know if we have time to go into this now but there's a considerable difference between real and factual.  Just because something is true doesn't mean that it's actually the case.  And vice versa.  Any educated person knows that.









Bishop, aren't you essentially presuming that this or that bishop is gay until he can prove he isn't?  Aren't you asking him to prove a negative?

Obviously, Tim, you don't understand science.









Apparently not.  Moving on, Bishop, this isn't the first time you've been embroiled in controversy.  In a 2006 New York Times interview, you seemed to imply that people who had a lot of children were dumber than a bag of hammers.



 






That statement was taken completely out of context and, I might add, distorted by conservative Anglican boogers.










Bloggers.

Whatever.  In that interview, I was trying to state that the more educated you are, the fewer children you tend to have and that's been borne out statistically, Tancred.









Tim.  But let's look at your complete statement in its context, shall we?

How many members of the Episcopal Church are there in this country?

About 2.2 million. It used to be larger percentagewise, but Episcopalians tend to be better-educated and tend to reproduce at lower rates than some other denominations. Roman Catholics and Mormons both have theological reasons for producing lots of children.  Anyway, those mackeral snappers are frigging PEZ dispensers if you ask me.  Beers!!  Make me another Manhattan, you little bitch, and do it right this time or I swear to God, you'll be out on your ass!!

Katharine Jefferts Schori
New York Times
November 19, 2006

Bishop?











I NEVER SAID THAT!!

That's your story.  But common knowledge suggests that you wanted to.  I mean, everybody knows that this is what you really think.  Anyway, can you prove that you didn't say it?










Well, no, but, I mean, I wouldn't dream of saying anything so...










I'm afraid that's all the time we have.  Thank you very much for joining us this morning, Bishop Schori.











WAIT A MINUTE!!  NOW YOU JUST WAIT ONE SECOND!!










Join us again next week for Meet the Press.

Once again, thanks to Wuzzadem for the inspiration.

Posted on 2/24/2008 1:54:12 PM , 58 comments