Scapegoats can be prophetic

Via MadPriest, The Times by Luis Rodriguez: Church will find a special place for its scapegoats — again -

The fracturing of the Anglican Communion seems imminent and it appears the American Church and gay people will carry the can. Well, every crisis needs a scapegoat. It is the way of the world . . . and of the Church. Jews, women, minorities and other outsiders have all in their time borne (and sometimes still bear) the brunt of the blame in moments of social or ecclesiastical crisis.

I am filled with hope! Rodriguez ends on a positive note:

I have little doubt that history will view the actions of the Episcopal Church as simply one more step in an ongoing movement that started long before them and continued long after them. I have no doubt that Anglicans in the future will consider those actions prophetic, and that the consecration of Gene Robinson will be commemorated alongside that of Samuel Seabury, the ministry of Absalom Jones and the ordination of Florence Li Tim-Oi.

I have many spiritual heroes and count Absalom Jones, former slave, abolitionist, first African-American Episcopal priest; Li Tim-Oi, the first woman priest in the Anglican Communion; and Gene Robinson, the first openly queer person elected a bishop of the Episcopal Churth - right at the top of the list. I was blessed to meet Li Tim-Oi in Houston just before she died in 1992.

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