…for the week of February 22-28, 2009.
The Good
Bishops Skylstad and Whitaker UMNS photo by the Rev. W. Douglas Mills
UMNS is reporting on the national dialogue between Roman Catholics and United Methodists in the United States (to be distinguished from the international Joint Commission, as well as the three other Catholic-Methodist national dialogues in Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand).
The dialogue most recently met in December, however, so I’m not quite sure why UMNS is reporting on it now. Better late than never, I guess! Any extra press that these dialogues can get is good, since — as I stated in the previous post — the broader reception of such ecumenical discussions is critical to their success.
As to be expected, the Wesley Report — despite its otherwise excellent service — dismisses this promising ecumenical project. (?!?) I just don’t get it.
The Bad & the Ugly
Three congregations from the Wabash Valley Presbytery in Indiana have converted from the PCUSA to the EPC (Evangelical Presbyterian Church). Such schisms are becoming standard practice now, having previously occurred in the Pittsburgh Presbytery.
The congregationalist John Owen — whom Ephraim Radner has called the “father of American ecclesiology” (a critical remark!) — claimed that there was no such thing as schism, excepting that which occurs in an individual congregation. In such a case, it would simply be an instance of true believers and false believers separating from each other, thus preserving the purity of the “true” church. (I wonder, however, what Owen would think of those Christians who leave one congregation for another, perhaps because the music is better or there are fewer stewardship sermons?)
But among Indiana Presbyterians, we see a slightly different form of schism: whole congregations shifting from one denomination to another. The situation is quite similar to those churches that have left TEC for the new Anglican Province of North America. The EPC is relatively young, resulting from a 1981 split from PCUSA’s precursor. Thus the action of these three congregations begs the question whether it constitutes schism or merely a “switch” from one denomination to another with equal ecclesial status.
At what point does a schismatic church become a legitimate denomination? Perhaps at its first council or its first eucharist. Perhaps after five years or its first 10,000 members. I suspect that the ridiculousness of such speculative answers demonstrates the illegitimacy — or at least the questionableness — of any schismatic church.
(Gasp! Perhaps even my own beloved United Methodist Church?!)
