Suggestions for Presidential Debates

I’ve been watching the latest Republican presidential debates. I didn’t watch the debates live because I wanted to see the PBS Nature program on pets, followed by the remainder of the second World Series game. From this experience, I have a few suggestions for future debates, which I  list below. Note that this is not a complete specification for future debates.

1. Make the debates more widely available. Debates should be presented on broadcast networks, so people without cable can see them. The debates should be streamed live on the Web and should be available for later viewing on the Web and on demand from cable systems. They should also be broadcast on radio. Perhaps some voters will still not be able to see (or hear) the debates, but most people will.

2. Remove the live audience. We should be interested in what the candidates have to say, uninfluenced by audience reaction. If there has to be an audience, admonish its members to be silent during the proceedings. If people really want an audience that is allowed to react, assemble a Republican audience for Democratic debates and a Democratic Audience for Republican debates. That should be interesting.

3. Ask all candidates the same questions. Although it may be interesting to be able to contrast candidate A’s position with that of candidate B, it is more helpful to know what all the candidates have to say, especially regarding policy matters. It is also helpful to know if a given candidate has no opinion or only a half-baked opinion on a given subject.

4. Enforce time limits. The time limits for candidate responses to questions are never aggressively enforced. This is particularly irritating when a candidate goes on and on without answering the question asked. (See below.) If the rules of the debate allow for one-minute answers, for example, a candidate’s microphone should be cut off by a studio technician after 60 seconds. Presidents, after all, have to be able to use their time wisely, as they get no more of it than the rest of us.

5. Allow candidates to think about what they are about to say. I suggest that, after a candidate is asked a question, the candidate’s microphone not be turned on for 10 seconds. This allows for collecting one’s thoughts and preparing to answer the question that was actually asked. Of course, each candidate should have suitable time information displayed on the podium.

6. Reward succinctness. If candidates are given, say, a minute to answer, give them credit for time not used. If a candidate answers a question in 50 seconds, let him or her answer another question in 70 seconds.

7. Reward responsiveness. Candidates should not be allowed to avoid answering a question by talking about something else entirely. Nor should the American people have to put up with such a diversionary tactic. If, in 15 seconds, a candidate has not begun addressing the question posed, the microphone should be cut off and the allotted time for the answer forfeited.

8. Stick to policy and procedural questions. Voters want to know about issues such as what the candidate thinks the U.S. to do in the Middle East or the criteria the candidate would use in selecting a Supreme Court nominee. Matters particular to one candidate—haven’t you been inconsistent about one thing or another, for example—are best handled in other fora.

9. Don’t allow rebuttal. Allowing a candidate rebuttal time whenever his or her name is mentioned interrupts the flow of the debate. Rebuttals can be made later in interviews, speeches, or press releases.

10. Encourage truth-telling. This is a difficult suggestion to implement, but it is well worth looking for a mechanism to do so. Political candidates are notorious for shading the truth, and many assertions of candidates are debatable. On the other hand, candidates are not above trying to get away with outright lies. (Carly Fiorina’s story of the nonexistent Planned Parenthood video that she swears she saw is a good example of this.) Debates should employ neutral fact-checkers. Admittedly, fact-checking is difficult to do and to display—particularly on radio—on the fly. Perhaps a good mechanism would be a follow-up program on the same network a night or two later. Video of clearly false statements could be shown along with discussion of the truth by experts. Here is a place where rebuttal may be appropriate. Objectivity is both important here and difficult to achieve, but voters need to know when a candidate is espousing an outright lie.

Why I Don’t Think Much Will Come of the Roman Catholic Family Synod

A three-week synod has convened in the Vatican to reconsider how the Roman Catholic Church deals with family issues. The official theme of the conference is “The Vocation and Mission of the Family in the Church and Contemporary World.”

The gathering is populated primarily by ordained celibate males. A few heterosexual couples are participating but who cannot vote, a status shared by a few singles, most of whom are women, some of them women religious (who, of course, are also celibate). In other words, virtually all the participants have never lived the sort of life experienced by most of the world’s adult population.

Both the composition of the synod and the inclinations exhibited by Pope Francis suggest that, at the end of three weeks, the Roman Catholic Church will be as judgmental as ever, but will downplay its condemnation. Gays will still be disordered, women will still be the oppressed minority in a church in which the represent the majority of its adherents, and, prevented from using birth control, women will be condemned for aborting unwanted offspring.

But there is another reason that nothing substantial will come of the family synod. Like meetings of Anglican primates, the worthies gathered to discuss family issues represent both Western industrialized nations and nations of the Third World. The Roman Catholic Church, like Anglican churches, is growing fastest in the developing world. As in the Anglican Communion, the greatest repository of conservative sentiment within the Roman Catholic Church is in developing countries. Even if, say, Western participants thought that the condemnation of homosexuality should be done away with, such innovation would be thoroughly unacceptable to conservative non-Western participants. Largely because of this dynamic, the best that can be hoped for from the synod is greater pastoral sensitivity devoid of any doctrinal movement.

The futility of gatherings like the current one exposes the great weakness of a worldwide church or communion in which uniformity is considered indispensable. Over two millennia, Christianity has continued to evolve to remain relevant to changing social contexts. There is no reason to believe that process is at an end, despite self-righteous prattle about “the faith once delivered to the saints.” Moreover, it is perfectly clear that Western and Third World countries represent societies at very different stages of development. To suggest that they are served by identical churches is patently absurd. God may be unchanging, but God’s people are not. A church that serves the needs of a congregation in suburban California will not likely be equally effective in rural Nigeria.

The Roman Catholic Church has backed itself into a corner from which no one can escape until everyone does so. The Anglican Communion has not done this, although some would like it to adopt the same stance as the Roman Church. May God keep our Communion from making that mistake.

Parallel Anglican Universes?

I was taken aback Friday when I received the weekly newsletter from the American Anglican Council. (For those unfamiliar with the AAC, I should explain that it is an organization whose goal has been to turn The Episcopal Church to “orthodoxy” or, failing that, to liberate as many Episcopal assets as possible for a conservative “Anglican” church in America. It is, in other words, a kind of ecclesiastical terrorist group.)

Image from Ashey essay

What amazed me was the lead essay by the Rev. Canon Phil Ashey, CEO of the American Anglican Council and, apparently, a priest of the Anglican Church in North America. The essay is titled “Archbishop Welby, What Will You Do about It?”

The essay begins with the complaint that one of the judges of the South Carolina Supreme Court, which recently heard oral arguments from the Episcopal Church in South Caroliina—the remnant of the Episcopal Church diocese—and the breakaway group led by deposed bishop Mark Lawrence, is an Episcopalian and is prejudiced against the breakaway plaintiffs.

Ashey proceeds to lament the Episcopal Church’s propensity to sue breakaway churches and dioceses and tries to position the dissidents on the ethical high ground by suggesting that they are usually defendants who would prefer to negotiate settlements. (Ironically, it was the breakaway group that initiated litigation in South Carolina and who clearly picked a judge expected to be friendly to the group’s case.) Christians should not sue Christians, he asserts. Of course, our legal system was largely designed by Christians. But never mind. The argument about who sues whom, of course, is silly, since thieves don’t usually sue their victims.

Ashey laments that the Anglican primates, in their 2007 meeting in Dar es Salaam, considered, but did not pass, a resolution calling for an end to property litigation. “Some have said,” he continues, that Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby intends to use the January primates’ meeting he recently called to complete the disciplining of the Canadian and American churches that was left undone in Tanzania.

What? I thought. My impression was that Welby’s intention was to create a looser Communion, not to return to the failed project of enhancing uniformity among Communion churches. That was not precisely what the press release from Lambeth said, but it seemed to be the sense of what was being told to reporters informally. (See my essay “Anglican Communion II?”)

In the end, I don’t know what to believe. Is the Archbishop of Canterbury playing both sides, suggesting relief from the constant bickering to Western churches while suggesting to the Global South that their goal of disciplining those same churches might again be on the table? This sentence from the Lambeth press release may explain the “[s]ome say” in Ashey’s essay: “Our way forward must respect the decisions of Lambeth 1998, and of the various Anglican Consultative Council and Primates' meetings since then.” How is that possible in a looser Communion?

Is the meeting in January intended to loosen the ties that bind Communion churches to one another, or is Welby trying to finish what Rowan Williams could not? Is Ashey living in a parallel universe, or have liberals mistaken Welby’s intentions? It is beginning to seem that Welby has scattered bait to bring both sides together. If he is successful in bringing everyone to the table, does he have a plan, or is the January meeting a total crap shoot?

Update, 1/10/2016. I fixed a minor grammatical error in the final paragraph.

What Are the Representatives That Gave Boehner Grief?

Congressman John Boehner

This past week was notable for its profusion of big news stories. (I’ve already written about one of these, the Volkswagen scandal. See What Can VW Do?”) One of these stories was the announcement by Speaker of the House John Boehner that he will resign from the House of
Representatives at the end of next month.

As might be expected, there was a good deal of commentary in the media about the Boehner news. Much of that commentary involved conflicts between the Speaker and members of his own Republican Party in the House. For example, NPR’s Renee  Montagne noted, “The Republican speaker has battled with conservatives in his party for years.” Other NPR stories (e.g., this one today) have noted Boehner’s conflicts with his party’s “conservative base.”

Such rhetoric seems to suggest that John Boehner is some kind of liberal, a conclusion that could not be further from the truth. By any measure, Boehner is conservative—very conservative, in fact. His problem with members of Congress from his own party is largely about tactics, not about fundamental objectives. The conflict in the House was nicely characterized (again on NPR) by David Brooks:

And John Boehner is an institutionalist and a politician. He believes in politics. You’ve got a Democratic president. There’s only so much I can do; I got to compromise here; I got to adjust there. A lot of his opponents don’t believe in politics. They believe in self-expression. They just want the pure stand. And so they hated him because he didn’t do the pure stand. But he was practicing politics as it is conventionally practiced.

(The above quotation is from a transcript. I’m sure Mr. Brooks would edit it if given the chance.) Those representatives who are more interested in self-expression than in politics are not simply “conservative.” They are radicals, and calling them “conservatives”  does not adequately distinguish them even from the mere right-of-center. They are more extreme than even the likes of John Boehner, and they are more about dismantling the government than governing. They long for a time—perhaps a mythical time—that lacked taxes, government regulation, social welfare programs, and actual facts, a time when women and niggers knew their place. The 1870s might do the trick. The 1880s might be better still.

We need a name for such people. They are sometimes described as tea partyers—read this essay if this spelling disturbs you—but this too seems inadequate for a number of reasons. It suggests an antipathy toward taxes, perhaps, but the philosophy (or philosophies) of these folks is much broader. The term suggests that there is such a thing as the Tea Party, but there isn’t, possibly because these people are wary of organizations generally. They are individualists that don’t give a fig about any wider community. Among them are nativists, racists, narcissists, religious fundamentalists, anarchists, hysterics, anti-intellectuals, science skeptics, homophobes, misogynists, anarchists, and political reactionaries. Of course, not all right-wingers exhibit all these pathologies, but you get the idea.

So, how should we refer to Republicans who are beyond “conservative”? This is a bit of a tough question, because the group is not homogeneous, and decency requires a name that is descriptive without being blatantly insulting, tempting though that might be. (“Political terrorists” comes easily to mind.) My word choice would be “reactionaries.” No doubt, many would prefer a term like “traditionalists,” but there are, of course, many traditions to which one might or might not want to return.  “Reactionary” simply implies returning to the past.

Does any reader have a better idea?

America and Americans

I got into an exchange on Facebook the other day based on a tweet that someone had copied to Facebook. The tweet began with

Learn geography [sic] people:

The tweet went on to complain that the Pope was not visiting America for the first time, since, as an Argentinian, he has been in America for most of his life. The poster suggested that reporters should be speaking of the Pope’s first visit to “the United States.”

There is, of course, a certain logic to this argument, as well as a suggestion of arrogance on the part of reporters. My initial response was simply that the use of “America” to refer to the U.S. is well established. If someone in Europe announces a trip to America, we don’t expect them to turn up in Mexico City or Quito. “America,” when not referring to the U.S., is usually accompanied by clarifying words: “North America,” “Central America,” “South America,” or “the Americans.”

Admittedly, it would have been correct to say that the Pope was visiting the United States for the first time, but the complaint that using the term “America” somehow demeans the rest of the Western Hemisphere is patently ridiculous. Even the Pope ended his speech to the Congress with “God Bless America.” Clearly, he was referring to the U.S.

What are the citizens of the United States to be called? Surely not “United Statesians.” The name of the country is United States of America, and I have never heard citizens called anything but “Americans.” What other term could we derive from the name of the country?

Despite the fact that the usage may seem to the ultra-sensitive to be unfair to other residents of the hemisphere, what became the United States began as English colonies. Going to America in, say, the seventeenth century, meant going to those colonies, not to Central or South America. Residents of the colonies were generally called colonists, but that had to change after 1776. “Americans” became the obvious choice.

When I call myself an American or say I am from America, everyone knows I’m not from Canada or Chile, and no one should take offense at my usage. These arguments will not convince the culture police who are always looking for conventions at which they can take offense. Normal people, however, should go on using “America” and “American” without guilt.

Some Base Running Advice

I should begin this essay with a disclaimer. I am not a baseball player or baseball expert. I love the game, but I have never played organized ball. I am a fan, though not a fanatical one. I follow the Pittsburgh Pirates, but I don’t know much about players on other National League teams. I don’t even care to know anything about the American League—not until the junior circuit eliminates the designated hitter and returns to playing real baseball, anyway.

On the other hand, I watch every Pirates game I can, and I think I may have learned a thing or two by doing so. Although I can’t offer much wisdom about pitching, fielding, or hitting, observation suggests that baserunning on the Pirates team (and on other teams as well, actually) could be improved by following some simple rules. I therefore offer rules below that are often violated, usually to the detriment of the runner. If any of my rules seems wrong, do offer your reasoned corrections.

1.  Run like hell. When you hit the ball, unless it’s clearly foul, run all out to first base. Plays at first base are often close, and fast runners sometimes beat the throw on what seem like routine plays. Besides, even on routine ground balls, things can go wrong. Running as fast as you can can capitalize on your opponent’s mistakes. If a hit is potentially an extra-base hit, running fast out of the batter’s box can get you safely to second or perhaps even to third. As a fan, it is frustrating watching a batter run at an average speed to first base only to turn on the speed when it’s clear that the hit can be stretched to at least a double.
2. Don’t slide into first base. A slide into first base is a bad move about 99.99% of the time, but one sees players trying it more than 0.01% of the time. Even the rare slide is usually a mistake. Since a player can run past the base and still be safe, unless you can slide faster than you can run, it is better to run. If you can slide faster than you can run, scientists should study your technique, since you are apparently violating the laws of physics. So, when should you slide into first base? Doing so only makes sense when a fielder is in front of the base trying to tag you before you reach the bag. By sliding, you may be able to evade the tag by making the fielder reach down. (But don’t get your hopes up.)
3. Slide and stick. When you slide into a base, be sure that, once you touch the base, you continue doing so. Runners are sometimes called out because they reached the base safely but lost contact with the bag for just an instant and were tagged out. This is sometimes difficult advice to take. Practice helps.
4. Use base coaches. Don’t watch the ball. It drives me crazy when a batter hits the ball and trots toward first base while he watches where the ball is going. This can seem lazy or arrogant (and probably is). Run, dammit. (See Rule 1.) Watching what’s happening in the outfield while rounding the bases slows you down. Rely on base coaches to indicate when you should run and when you should stop. Generally, baserunners should have two speeds, run and stop, with no speed in between. Exceptions are (1) when caught in a rundown and (2) when you are waiting for a fly ball to be caught. In the first case, good luck. Runners seldom survive rundowns, but a clever runner sometimes evades the tag. When waiting to see if a fly ball will be caught, it can make sense to watch the ball before deciding to run. Even this can involve a turn of the body, however, and relying on the base coach may get you to the next base an instant faster.
5. Stop, but look about. Upon reaching a base where you intend to stop, take a quick look around to see what is happening. A ball may have gone farther than expected or been mishandled. It may be possible to take another base. And, of course, check the base coach. (See Rule 4.)

What Can VW Do?

By now, nearly everyone has heard of the scandal involving millions of automobiles built by Volkswagen. Many of the company’s popular diesel cars were equipped with a computer able to determine when emission tests were being performed. At such times, the computer activated pollution controls that reduced emissions to legal levels. Under normal driving conditions, however, emission controls were disabled, resulting in higher performance, greater gas (diesel?) mileage, and increased air pollution.

One can understand how the company thought it could get away with its computer legerdemain. The software that implemented the deception is not easily accessed and was unlikely to arouse suspicion. After all, the cars tested well for emissions, though customers may have had their doubts observing their vehicles under real-world conditions.

Proponents of unbridled capitalism would argue that the potential financial exposure entailed in the VW design should have prevented its implementation. Obviously, the system didn’t work that way. The reward for dishonesty was high, and the likelihood of exposure was low.

Volkswagen has admitted to its end-run around environmental regulations, and its CEO has resigned. It has not been revealed who was responsible for devising the diesel subterfuge, but it is impossible to believe that the scheme wasn’t hatched at the very highest level of management, since the scheme affected vehicles as total systems.

VW faces enormous fines, possible criminal indictments, a crash in its stock price, and possible consumer lawsuits. Moreover, it will have to “fix” more than 11 million diesel automobiles.

What kind of fix is even possible? The software must be replaced with code that makes emission testing valid. That change alone, however, would leave owners with high polluting vehicles that, in many locations, would not even be legal to have on the road. If the software applies pollution controls under all operating conditions, owners will have vehicles with reduced performance, reduced fuel efficiency, and reduced resale value. I predict that owners will not like that. As it is, many buyers thought they were buying a car that was good for the environment, and they are angry that they were deceived.

A fully acceptable fix, then, must reduce emissions without affecting fuel efficiency or performance. This is a huge technological challenge, as locomotive builders, who now must meet strict emission standards, can attest. It is not even clear that the affected vehicles can be appropriately modified using their existing engines. My guess is that the Volkswagen automobiles were designed with the assumption that meeting emission regulations on a day-to-day basis was unnecessary, and a retrofit that removes that design criterion may be impossible, at least at any reasonable cost.

My guess is that VW will either have to buy back 11 million vehicles or, if owners are willing, swap the defective ones for replacements that actually do what was promised. Personally, I would take the money and buy a new car from a different manufacturer. I would never again buy a Volkswagen.

Justin Welby on the Hot Seat

After I wrote my essay on Archbishop Justin Welby’s proposed meeting of primates, I learned that GAFCON had given the archbishop the finger. In an anonymous press release, GAFCON declared

… the GAFCON Primates will prayerfully consider their response to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s letter. They recognize that the crisis in the Communion is not primarily a problem of relationships and cultural context, but of false teaching which continues without repentance or discipline.

Consistent with this position, they have previously advised the Archbishop of Canterbury that they would not attend any meeting at which The Episcopal Church of the United States or the Anglican Church of Canada were represented, nor would they attend any meeting from which the Anglican Church in North America was excluded.

There are two things to notice here. First, GAFCON declares that the real problem with the Anglican Communion is false teaching. Put more neutrally, the GAFCON crowd adheres to a version of Christianity radically different from that of other members of the Communion. This correctly identifies the problem, and the gap is, I think, unbridgeable.

Although separation seems to be the ultimate goal of GAFCON, taking over the Communion from the heretics would be fine, too. If that isn’t possible, being thrown out of the Communion will also work, and it has the added advantage of making martyrs of the dissidents.

Thus, GAFCON engages in extortion: ACNA must be represented at the meeting and The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada must not be.

One wonders just what has been said in conversations between the Archbishop of Canterbury and GAFCON leaders. The Lambeth press release shows numerous signs of the archbishop’s attempt to appease the militants—the invitation of Foley Beach, the emphasis on scripture, the invitation to participants to set the agenda. Clearly, his efforts have not been enough.

This puts Welby on the hot seat. The GAFCON threat is not an idle one, as GAFCON has shown that its bishops are willing to forego attendance at meetings in protest. Reconciliation, which is likely impossible anyway, is logically impossible if both sides are not at the table.  If Welby gives in in this game of chicken, the Communion is done for. In that case, the Americans and Canadians should insist on attending anyway or withdraw from the Communion completely. Either case creates another crisis. If Welby resists GAFCON extortion and the GAFCON primates do not attend, the meeting will either be pointless or an opportunity to create a new Communion with churches willing to live peaceably with one another. Of course, GAFCON might not carry through on its threat, but that seems unlikely.

Welby should hold his ground. Stay tuned.

Anglican Communion II?

The big news yesterday in Anglican circles was that Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has scheduled a meeting of Anglican primates to discuss the future of the Anglican Communion. The “special Primates’ gathering” is scheduled to take place in Canterbury January 11–16, 2016, according to a press release from Lambeth Palace.

These are the salient points made in the press release:

• The 37 other primates of the Communion have been invited.
• The purpose of the gathering is “to reflect and pray together concerning the future of the Communion.”
• Specifically, the “structures of the Anglican Communion” are on the table, as well as the “approach to the next Lambeth Conference.”
• Primates, rather than Lambeth Palace, are requested to set the agenda (though religiously-motivated violence, the protection of children and vulnerable adults, the environment and human sexuality” are suggested topics).
• The primates must “consider recent developments,” reconsider the workings of the Communion, and pay “proper attention to developments in the past.”
• Specifically, the way forward “must respect the decisions of Lambeth 1998” and of various meetings of the ACC and primates’ meetings.
• Churches must proclaim the gospel, but they do so in very different environments.
• Because we are called to unity but tempted to divide, there must be space for disagreement.
• “Our authority as a church is dispersed, and is ultimately found in Scripture, properly interpreted.”
• Welby hopes the primates will find a way to “focus on serving and loving each other” and proclaiming the good news.
• The meeting is proposed for January 11–16, 2016.
• Archbishop Foley Beach, of the Anglican Church of North America, or his representative, will be invited “to be present” for part of the meeting.

The announcement from Lambeth has begotten a good deal of commentary. Responses have also been to news reports such as Andrew Brown’s story from The Guardian. Brown, relying on Lambeth Palace sources, asserts that Welby believes a dysfunctional Anglican Communion needs to be restructured as a looser confederation, in which churches are in communion with Canterbury, though not necessarily with one another. Brown characterized Welby’s vision of a possible Anglican Communion future this way:

Asked whether this represented, if not a divorce, a legal separation, a Lambeth source said: “It’s more like sleeping in separate bedrooms.”

What are we to make of this announcement?

To begin with, it is clear that Welby, the acclaimed reconciler, has abandoned any hope of making the Communion into one big happy family, the hopeless task that consumed the time, enthusiasm, and stamina of his predecessor. The modern project of overlaying a common theology and morality onto a diverse group of churches united mostly by historical connections in the distant past has, as was inevitable, failed. In particular, now seems as good a time as any to declare that the Anglican Covenant, that agreement in which Rowan Williams invested so much hope and prestige, is, for all time, dead. That some churches have adopted the Covenant and are therefore in a quasi-legal relationship with one another is a bit of a problem, and this is one that should be considered in January.

My initial reaction to the announcement from Lambeth was negative. Certainly, from the perspective of The Episcopal Church, the meetings of the primates, which became frequent after the artificial “crisis” occasioned by the 2003 selection of Gene Robinson to become Bishop of New Hampshire, had become a source of great mischief. Welby, who had dismissed the possibility of holding a Lambeth Conference in 2018 and had talked with the primates without ever calling them together, had seemed content to let sleeping dogs lie. But, according to Brown, Welby did not want to leave a contentious and rudderless Communion to his eventual successor.

Clearly, the Communion is dysfunctional, and a determined effort to rescue from its wreckage some useful organizational entity might have a positive outcome. Is there really much likelihood, after all, that things can get any worse? “Lambeth sources” rate the probability of a “catastrophic failure” next January at 25%. No doubt, the probability of more prosaic simple failure is much higher. But, as they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

If Welby is truly interested in a thorough restructuring of the Communion, he shouldn’t be suggesting that the primates take on other topics such as those mentioned in the press release. These can only be distractions from any attempt to fix the Communion at its deepest level. Discussing topics that don’t lead directly to knock-down-drag-out fights may feel like a welcome change, but they will leave institutional problems unresolved.

Although rethinking the Communion is an attractive idea, even after further consideration, I am not sanguine about prospects for the meeting. Although, reading The Guardian, one might eagerly be anticipating Anglican Communion II, it hardly seems that Welby intends to rebuild the Anglican Communion from first principles.  Most worrisome is his apparent commitment to the 1998 Lambeth Conference and to decisions of the AAC and Primates’ Meeting. Why did Welby not mention earlier Lambeth Conferences? Clearly, he is alluding to the notorious Resolution I.10 condemning homosexuality and to recent events at Communion meetings at which ultraconservative Third-World churches conducted a vendetta against Western churches, particularly The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada. How can we possibly re-imagine the Anglican Communion as a less contentious fellowship of churches if the Archbishop of Canterbury insists that we respect the very actions that have brought us to the brink of organizational suicide? Moreover, if a total restructuring of the Communion is contemplated, why is Welby even talking about the next Lambeth Conference?

The antepenultimate paragraph of the Lambeth statement gives more cause to worry about where Welby wants to take the Communion. He is quoted as saying, “Our authority as a church is dispersed, and is ultimately found in Scripture, properly interpreted.” As I have often protested, the Anglican Communion is not “our church,” not a church at all, in fact. There is no Anglican Church, only Anglican churches. Justin Welby’s church is the Church of England. He has no other church and no actual authority to make anyone outside the Church of England do anything. Why do Archbishops of Canterbury continue to talk about the “Anglican Church” ? (Not only does Andrew Brown not consider the Communion a church; he describes it as a fantasy! Crusty Old Dean, Tom Ferguson, has offered a similar view.)

Others have registered strong objection to the notion that church authority “is ultimately found in Scripture, properly interpreted,” thereby seeming to ignore tradition and reason, those other foundations of Anglicanism. I’m not sure whether I should share this concern. “Properly interpreted” might be a nod to reason (or not), but church tradition—unless one means by that the Communion tradition of the last 40 years—was surely left out of the Lambeth statement. Welby seems to be referring to the unfortunate formulation of Resolution 11 of the 1888 Lambeth Conference (“The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as ‘containing all things necessary to salvation,’ and as being the rule and ultimate standard of faith.” [emphasis added]) which has found its way into various Anglican documents, most notably, the Anglican Covenant.

Then there is the matter of inviting Foley Beach to the upcoming meeting. He is clearly not going to be a full participant and may even be relegated to being an occasional observer. To this Episcopalian, however, the invitation to Beach feels a bit like inviting your rapist to your wedding. It is unclear whether the invitation suggests a reduced will to keep the Anglican Church of North America out of the Communion or whether Beach’s invitation is bait intended to convince GAFCON primates to attend. (It is worth reading what Foley Beach himself had to say about his invitation.)

Brown, based on his inside sources, believes that Welby is looking to a Communion in which churches are in communion with Canterbury, but not necessarily with one another. The various churches can coöperate on projects by mutual consent, but there would be no expectation that Anglican churches share a common view on controversial issues. Welby apparently thinks that such an arrangement could keep the militantly conservative churches within the Communion.

This view is delusional. GAFCON/FOCA is rapidly becoming a separate communion, whose leaders are increasingly absent from major Anglican gatherings. Moreover, the Welby plan assumes that the Church of England remains a sort of neutral corner at which both liberal and conservative churches can feel comfortable. But the existence of the Anglican Mission in England and the increasing conservative distress with the Church of England’s embrace of women and likely change in its policy regarding gay marriage will make that church as much a pariah to the GAFCON crowd as are the churches of the U.S. and Canada.

Although I have not had much time to consider a possible Anglican Communion II in light of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s announcement, here are some brief suggestions as to what it should look like:

• Let the GAFCON crowd go its own way as an alternative communion. This will strengthen the Anglican Communion and decrease conflict. If the Communion consists only of churches in industrialized Western nations, so be it. (Actually, it won’t be.)
• Pare down the Communion bureaucracy. Let individual churches (including the Church of England) coördinate whatever activities need coördinating. The central bureaucracy should involve itself mainly with communication.
• Let the titular head of the Communion rotate among the primates of the Communion churches.
• Devise a fair scheme for financing Communion activities, and sanction any church that fails to pay its fair share.
• Eliminate the Primates’ Meeting, AAC, Lambeth Conference, and Standing Committee. Focused meetings can be held to deal with particular common interests.
• Institute periodic meetings dealing with common concerns—perhaps mostly regional meetings—that involve both clergy and laypeople. Any meeting involving bishops should also include lay representatives.
• Declare that the Communion has no authority over individual churches, and no actions of Anglican Communion I have any authority.
• Disallow overlapping Anglican jurisdictions, except by mutual agreement. If ACNA becomes part of the GAFCON Communion, so be it. It should never be allow into Anglican Communion II.
• Declare the Anglican Covenant null and void among the churches remaining in the Communion.

I will be shocked if any of this happens, but I can dream. In fact, I will be quite surprised if anything of substance comes of the January meeting. Stay tuned.

Update, 9/28/2015. I made a few corrections to my essay. Some were to correct obvious typos; others involved substitution of one preposition for another. I made no substantive changes.

Update, 1/10/2016. I corrected the date of Gene Robinson’s election, which was 2003, not 2002, as originally stated. I also corrected a minor formatting error in the list of suggestions for Anglican Communion II.

What Might Resolution A054 Mean in Practice?

Resolved, That the 78th General Convention authorize for trial use in accordance with Article X of the Constitution and Canon II.3.6 “The Witnessing and Blessing of a Marriage,” and “The Celebration and Blessing of a Marriage 2,” … beginning the First Sunday of Advent 2015. Bishops exercising ecclesiastical authority or, where appropriate, ecclesiastical supervision will make provision for all couples asking to be married in this Church to have access to these liturgies. Trial use is only to be available under the direction and with the permission of the Diocesan Bishop …

— Resolution A054, adopted by the 78th General Convention of the Episcopal Church

Proponents of marriage equality were overjoyed by the passage of Resolution A054 earlier this summer, but it was clear from the outset that the resolution incorporated a classic Anglican fudge whose ultimate significance remains uncertain. When this resolution was passed by the House of Bishops, it was clear that the intention was to allow bishops opposed to same-sex marriage to avoid having to authorize the use of same-sex liturgies, while at the same time making same-sex marriage available throughout the church. Interpreting this resolution appears to require doublethink.

Actually, it is difficult to determine what parts of the resolution should be taken literally. What does it mean to “have access” to the same-sex liturgies? The apparent meaning is that a couple can have a service using one of the specified liturgies if requested. A literal reading might, on the other hand, simply require that a couple can read copies of the liturgy. This may seem a perverse suggestion, but to “have access” is not really defined in the resolution.

Moreover, the requirement that the liturgies be made available to “all couples asking to be married in this Church” is problematic. Not even the marriage liturgy in the current Book of Common Prayer is available to “all couples asking to be married in this Church.” A priest may refuse to marry a couple, seemingly for any reason, and, in any case, at least one of the parties must be baptized. Resolution A054 retains these provisions, so “all couples asking to be married in this Church” is not to be taken at face value.

Another oddity in this resolution is the responsibility to make the liturgies available laid upon bishops, specifically, “[b]ishops exercising ecclesiastical authority or, where appropriate, ecclesiastical supervision.” What happens if a diocese does not have a bishop? Does the requirement devolve upon the ecclesiastical authority, i.e., the Standing Committee? The direction that “[t]rial use is only to be available under the direction and with the permission of the Diocesan Bishop” would seem to suggest that a diocese lacking a diocesan bishop cannot use the trial liturgies at all. I don’t know what was intended here or how this provision will be interpreted should a situation requiring interpretation arise.

The question that most obviously arises from Resolution A054 is what happens when a diocesan bishop declines to permit the use of the trial liturgies in his (or, less likely, her) diocese. It has been assumed that a bishop may do this, although one could argue that, at the very least, the resolution does not explicitly provide for such refusal. This admittedly minority view is buttressed by the requirement to make the new liturgies available to all comers. Nonetheless, it was assuredly the understanding within the House of Bishops that a diocesan bishop could withhold permission to use the trial liturgies if provisions were made to make them “available” to hapless couples unlucky enough to reside in such a bishop’s diocese.

I have to offer a digression here. Neither Article X nor Canon II.3.6 requires that permission of the bishop be required for the use of a trial liturgy. The provision of Resolution A054 was presumably needed to secure the votes of bishops unwilling to offend the sensibilities of the most reactionary members of that body. Clearly, however, The Episcopal Church as a whole has decided to move forward on same-sex marriage, and allowing diocesan bishops to obstruct that intention seems much like the medieval notion that the religion of the people must be that of the prince. It is a fundamentally anti-democratic idea inconsistent with the ethos of our church.

Assuming that a diocesan bishop does indeed withhold permission to use the trial liturgies in that bishop’s diocese, what will constitute an acceptable good-faith effort to make the liturgies “available” to couples who want to avail themselves of them? This if hardly a hypothetical question. Bishop Daniel Martins, of the Diocese of Springfield, helpfully blogged during the General Convention. Even before Resolution A054 was concurred with by the House of Deputies, Martins had this to say on his blog:

[Resolution A054] includes what I consider to be adequate protections for bishops and dioceses that hold a traditional understanding of marriage. I can and will prohibit their use in the Diocese of Springfield, though I will be obligated, upon request, to facilitate their availability. Referral of such requests to an appropriate neighboring diocese will be considered a good-faith response. I can live with that.

Can a same-sex couple looking to get married live with that? How is such a couple expected to feel when told that, not only can they not be married in their own church, but that they must go to an unfamiliar church, probably in another state, to tie the knot? How much more complex will be the wedding arrangements when they have to be handled long-distance? How much will friends and family be inconvenienced by having to travel to another diocese to participate in the wedding? What does all this inconvenience say about the commitment of The Episcopal Church to marriage equality? Admittedly, there are varying degrees of unreasonableness in sending couples to an adjacent diocese, and a bishop in Springfield might more easily get away with doing so than might a bishop in, say, Hawaii. Personally, I consider sending a couple to another diocese an unacceptable form of making a liturgy “available.”

It is possible, of course, that, in a given diocese, no priest and no parish is willing to perform a same-sex marriage. In such a case, even a willing bishop might have trouble fulfilling the requirements of the General Convention resolution. And there would be some inconvenience to a couple if their own parish would not marry them, even if a nearby parish would. I suspect that all or nearly all the dioceses of The Episcopal Church contain at least one parish willing to host same-sex marriages were it permitted by the bishop, but I could be wrong.

If one assumes that Resolution A054 allows a diocesan bishop to prohibit the use of the trial liturgies, there seems to be no straightforward way to make these liturgies “available” within the diocese if, by “available,” one means being able to have a wedding in one’s own church or a nearby church. In other words, if you believe, as I do, that sending a couple to another diocese makes a mockery of trial liturgy “availability,” then either a bishop must grant permission or some more devious plan is needed to provide for the universal access envisioned by Resolution A054.

There is, I suggest, such a devious scheme that respects the conscience of the bishop while making gracious accommodation to the needs of the petitioning same-sex couple. My plan requires that some parish in the diocese—preferably the diocese of one or both members of the couple—be willing to host a same-sex wedding. The plan requires the bishop to grant such a parish DEPO (Delegated Episcopal Pastoral Oversight), putting the parish under the “ecclesiastical supervision” of another (presumably diocesan) bishop. That bishop would then authorize the trial liturgy. The diocesan would have made the liturgy available without providing direction and permission to use the liturgy. The couple would be minimally inconvenienced, the parish would likely be delighted to be out from under its conservative bishop, and everyone would be happy.

One could quibble with my plan, but the fact is that the resolution, besides being intentionally ambiguous, is simply badly written. My solution seems no worse. Would a bishop of Daniel Martins’ ilk play along with this legerdemain? Possibly. It seems the moral equivalent of the government’s asking a church-related organization to certify that it has a moral objection to providing birth control to its employees, thereby allowing the government to provide it by other means. Just as Roman Catholics have complained that signing such a statement certifying an objection is morally burdensome—a view shared by few reasonable people, I assert—an Episcopal bishop could raise a similar objection. I would hope that no such objection would be raised.

Alas, I fear that, as was the case with the ability of women to be ordained in every Episcopal diocese, it may be decades before marriage equality is achieved throughout our church. I pray that that will not happen, and that bishops opposed to same-sex marriage will refrain from imposing their views, however sincerely held, on those Episcopalians under their care. If they do so, we will have fewer Episcopalians in such conservative dioceses.

Ben Carson, Humanitarian

Dr. Ben Carson

Dr. Ben Carson has lately been rising in the polls judging the popularity of Republican presidential candidates. This is somewhat surprising, given the limited press coverage of the candidate. One suspects that his popularity is largely a function of his keeping his mouth shut and not acting like a raving lunatic when he does choose to speak.

It would be easy to conclude that the retired pediatric neurosurgeon is a thoughtful, compassionate conservative. That would be a mistake. He is instead just another standard-issue, right-wing, social Darwinist Republican ideologue.

What leads me to this conclusion is an interview with the candidate broadcast this morning on NPR’s Morning Edition Saturday. The interviewer was Scott Simon. I was struck by this interchange:

Simon: How many Syrian refugees would you admit to the United States if you were President now?

Carson: Well, we have to recognize that this is a splendid opportunity for the global jihadist so infiltrate those numbers with members of their own organization. So we would have to have in place a very excellent screening mechanism. Until we had such a mechanism in place, we should not be bringing anybody in.

Simon: Wouldn’t a lot of innocent people be left to die?

Carson: You know, my point not being that I don’t want to be compassionate. I would love to bring everybody here and just take care of everybody. It would be wonderful. But the fact of the matter is we can’t do it.

Simon: Well, which leads me to restate the question, and I’ll grant it as a premise you can get a rigorous checking program in place. How many Syrian refugees would you admit if you were President?

Carson: I would admit people that we need—people that can boost our economy based on their skills and what they bring in. And I don’t know what that number is.

In this exchange, Carson was asked about how he would respond to a current humanitarian crisis. His immediate response was to offer an excuse for doing nothing—we need to screen out jihadists, he says. When presented with the hypothetical that the jihadist threat had been countered, Carson seemed like a great humanitarian: “I would love to bring everybody here and just take care of everybody. It would be wonderful.” Be he quickly added, without explanation: “But the fact of the matter is we can’t do it.” Why not, one might ask. Would it be too expensive? Would it be too disruptive? Carson didn’t say.

Remarkably, Carson then changed the subject of what we can do for the unfortunate thousands fleeing war and chaos in their homelands to what we can do for ourselves. Carson doesn’t give a fig about most of the refugees; he is only interested in those who can make an immediate contribution to the American economy. So much for wanting to take care of everybody.

Is this the kind of humanitarian we want to put in the White House? I think not.

Why Is Seltzer “Original”?

I am fond of seltzer, plain carbonated water, rather than the flavored variety. I am been perplexed, however, by the term “original,” which invariable is associated with bottled seltzer. For example, the photo below shows seltzers from three bottlers, each of which contains “original” on the label.

I could have included other seltzers in this picture as well. 

Usually, “original” on a label indicates that a produce was the first of its kind. For example, Hidden Valley markets its Original Ranch salad dressing, which was indeed the first salad dressing of its type. Obviously, however, not every seltzer can be the original one.

I wrote to three companies that market “original” seltzer, asking them about the use of “original.” I received a substantive reply from only one (Canada Dry), and that reply merely referred me to a page on the Canada Dry Web site advertising Canada Dry seltzer. The e-mail message did not really address my question.

Companies marketing “original” seltzer invariable offer flavored products that are basically seltzer with natural flavors and no sweeteners. These products are not labeled “original.” It appears, then, that “original” seltzer is carbonated water lacking other ingredients, although the term “seltzer” (or “Seltzer”) was first applied to naturally carbonated mineral water that contained—not surprisingly—dissolved minerals. In other words, “original” has come to mean “unflavored.” Its use on bottles of carbonated water, however, is misleading, given the usual use of the term.

Does any reader know the origin of “original” as applied to seltzer and how it became universal?

Customer Service from Acronis

Last month, my computer developed a serious hard drive problem. I was planning on buying a new computer anyway, so I did that and have been working at copying files and re-installing programs that were on my old machine. This has been a royal pain, but it has given me an excuse to do some reorganizing and pruning. Not every program installed on my old computer proved to be useful, for example, so I haven’t bothered to install all my old programs on my new computer.

I have always been concerned about being able to recover from hard drive failures, and have had to deal with such an event more than once. The first Windows PC I ever owned was equipped with a tape drive on which I backed up my system every night. Backups have become more difficult as hard drives grew in capacity, however. I now have three external hard drives and still may not have found the perfect software to protect my files.

My latest external hard drive is from Western Digital. It came with a WD software package that seems so-so at best, as well as a stripped-down version of Acronis’s True Image. True Image seemed very promising, so I decided to purchase the full version. Because I had the WD version of True Image, I was able to purchase True Image 2015 at a discounted price of about $30.

Of course, when I abandoned my old computer, I needed to install True Image on my new one. This seemed straightforward, as I had the installation file that had been downloaded on the old computer and the serial number (i.e., product code) obtained from my old Outlook file. When I tried to install True Image 2015 and entered the serial number, however, I was told that this was an “upgrade” serial number and that I would need the serial number from the software that qualified me for the upgrade.

I hadn’t anticipated this problem, so I uninstalled the program I had just installed and proceeded to execute the installation program for the WD version of True Image. The installation failed with a cryptic error indication that gave me no clue as to what to do next. Perplexed, I went to the Acronis Web site and initiated a chat session with tech support. I began by writing a description of how I tried to install the software and how I had been unable to complete installation of the WD version after I deleted the full, but un-activated, version. Here is a transcript of my chat session:

Dillu: Hello! Thank you for contacting Acronis Customer Central. My name is Dillu and I will be glad to assist you. Please allow me 3-4 minutes to review your message. If you already have an existing case number on this issue, please let me know. Otherwise, I will create a new case and provide you the case number.
Dillu: Thank you for your patience.
Dillu: The case number for your reference is 02525117.
You: OK
Dillu: You are unable to install Acronis True Image 2015 upgrade as due to no base version available. Am I correct?
You: Right. And when I try to install the base version, the installation fails. I have the screen open asking for the old s/n.
Dillu: Since, the key purchased is an upgrade you will not be able to complete the installation process.
Dillu: You will have to install WD version on the PC first and then install Acronis True Image 2015.
You: OK, why can't I do that. [sic] I am beginning to feel cheated out of my money here.
Dillu: Do not misunderstand. You were offered an upgrade price and allowed to install Acronis True Image 2015 Upgrade because you had WD version of Acronis app running on the PC.
Dillu: You may again install WD version if you are using a WD drive on the PC now and continue installation.
You: But the installation program FAILS.
Dillu: I would like to draw your attention to one of our support policies.  Technical Support is only free for the first 30 days from the date of purchase/registration through "Email" and "Chat" media only. Post which support is a paid service.
I can troubleshoot and help you. However, you will have will need an incident ($20.00).
Dillu: Your license has expired the initial 30 days free technical support period.
You: Never mind. I will remember never to recommend your software to my IT clients.
Dillu: I am sorry, Lionel.
Dillu: You may refer to the link below to purchase Pay Per Incident for further assistance:
http://kb.acronis.com/content/2703
You: Go to hell.
Dillu: My apologies again.
Dillu: Thank you for contacting Acronis Customer Central. You have a blessed ahead.

This interchange occurred on August 25. I had registered the software on June 26. The next day, I received the following e-mail message:

*** Please do not change the subject line of this email; otherwise, your response will not be received. ***  

Hello Lionel,

Thank you for contacting Acronis Customer Central. My name is Dillu. 

This is a follow-up email post chat conversation we had earlier today.
You were unable to install Acronis True Image 2015 upgrade as due to no base version available. My sincere apologies as I could not assist when contacted due to support limitations. 

As informed, Technical Support is only free for the first 30 days from the date of purchase/registration through "Email" and "Chat" media only. Post which support is a paid service. 

Your license had exceeded 30 days. You may contact WD to get the latest installer (if using a WD disk on the PC) install it and then using Acronis True Image 2015. You may refer to the link below to purchase Pay Per Incident ($20.00) for further assistance: 

http://kb.acronis.com/content/2703  

This case is closed. You may also visit (www.kb.acronis.com) for any product based articles search and (www.acronis.com) to check out our latest releases.
--
Best regards,
Dillu Singh
Support Engineer
Acronis Customer Central 

For common issues with known solutions please refer to our Knowledge Base at http://kb.acronis.com 

You can always find the latest status of this case in your account at https://www.acronis.com/my/cases 

Our mission is to create Customer success. Our Management Team welcomes your feedback on how we can improve the overall support we provide to you. Please send your comments, suggestions, or concerns to managers@acronis.com. 

ref:_00D30Zcb._50050gu7as:ref

Two things were galling about this interchange. First, if I were going to be charged for support, why wasn’t I told that at the beginning of the chat. Had I known immediately that any actual assistance was going to cost $20, I would have ended the conversation and continued on my own. More irritating, however, was the fact that Acronis would not help with a simple installation problem occasioned by a change of computers, something that I’m sure happens all the time. Acronis’s attitude was in contrast to other companies (e.g., Core FTP and MakeMusic, Inc.) that cheerfully provided me with missing product codes for software I purchased years ago.

Having received no help at all from Acronis, I searched through the True Image help file. This seemed promising, as it explained how to transfer the software license from one computer to another. The instructions were rather elliptical, however, but they gave me hope that, if I installed the software on another computer, I could transfer the license to my new machine. By this time, I realized that I had to install the WD version before installing the full version. I did this on another computer and, sure enough, I was not asked for an earlier serial number. I was told that I had exceeded the number of licenses I had purchased (i.e., one) and allowed me to move the license from my old (dead) computer to the one on which I just installed True Image. So far so good.

Alas, there seemed to be no way to initiate such a license transfer from my new computer. It was time to look for not-so-simple solutions. Almost certainly, I could not install the WD version of the Acronis software because of entries in the Windows Registry. I uninstalled the full version of True Image and took a look at the Registry. True Image had left a lot of junk in the Registry, and it wasn’t clear what needed to be removed to allow me to install the WD version. The most likely culprit seemed to be HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Acronis. I exported that for safekeeping and deleted the key. The trick worked. I installed the WD version, then the full version, and entered the serial number. I was then able to transfer the single license to my new computer from the one on which I had earlier installed True Image.

Doing this myself cost me many hours, but I saved $20 and my dignity and sense of consumer justice. Actually, I am not sure that Dillu was going to solve my problem anyway.

I had noticed that my version of True Image 2015 had been replaced with True Image 2016. When I checked the Acronis Web site, however, I discovered that I had to have purchased my software on July 9 or later, but I had registered my copy on June 26. Screwed again by Acronis. Of course, it wasn’t clear that the 2016 software was a major improvement over the previous version. The Web site does not really explain why one might prefer the new version.

So, is True Image any good? Actually, I have no idea. I only created a backup once and was unable to retrieve it. Customer and technical reviews seem very positive. Unfortunately, customer support is, at best, heartless, however.

A Quecreek Excursion

Readers who are not too terribly young are likely to remember the mine accident that occurred at the Quecreek Mine in the summer of 2002. Nine miners were ultimately rescued through a shaft drilled into an underground refuge where the miners had been trapped for several days. The attempted, and finally successful, rescue was covered by news media all over the world. I was particularly struck by the drama of the situation and wrote a poem telling the story of the accident and rescue. (You can read my poem, “The Quecreek Mine Disaster,” here. I consider it one of my better efforts.)

I have been meaning to visit the site of the rescue for years, but had not gotten around to doing so until two days ago. I had hoped to see not only the place where the rescue took place but also the “Educational Visitors Center” that supposedly exhibits, inter alia, the rescue cage that brought the miners to the surface. Although the Visitors Center claims to be open on Saturday, phone calls to it were answered only by a recording, and the door of the center was locked when I arrived at the nascent museum.

Fortunately, most of what I most wanted to see was out in the open and unobstructed by barriers. What I was able to view is documented below. (Click on images for a larger view.)

An historical marker stands at the entrance to the rescue site.

Miner statue at the start of the path to the rescue site

Detail of miner statue

Rear of miner statue

View of the rescue site from the brick path that leads to it

An air shaft was drilled where it was thought the miners might be.
Heated compressed air was then pumped into the narrow shaft.

Rescue shaft from which miners were lifted one-by-one in a rescue capsule

The rescue shaft was drilled by rig #18 of Gene D. Yost & Son, Inc., a fact memorialized on this stone.
The drill used by Yost was described as a “super drill.”

When the bit broke as the rescue shaft was being drilled, another hole was started.
It was abandoned when work resumed on the first shaft.

This air lock proved to be unnecessary and was never used.

Another view of the air lock

Monument for Life plaque referring to the red oak and nine evergreens beyond it.

Monument for Life plaque with red oak and nine evergreens representing the nine rescued miners.

Sipesville Volunteer Fire Company. This is just down the road from the rescue site. Families
of the miners were assembled here awaiting news of the rescue.

Monument to miners at Sipesville Volunteer Fire Company.
Its location can be seen in the previous photograph.

Wine Rack Obtained

I picked up my wine rack from Walmart and assembled it today. (See “Wine Rack.”) It is what I had hoped it would be, which is more substantial than the picture on the Walmart Web site suggested.

The unit was made in China (where else?) and came with assembly instructions that were, at best, elliptical. (On the other hand, more hardware than I actually needed was provided, including some items that seemed of no use whatsoever.) The lack of critical details led to some assembly and dis-assembly, but, in the end, I had the sort of wine rack I was looking for. In case I go on a wine buying spree, I can even stack another rack atop this one.

Pictures of my new wine rack are below.

Wine Rack

I was shopping for a wine rack yesterday but having little success in the quest. I love wine, but I am mostly a drink-as-you-go consumer. I’m too old to be laying down French wines that I intend to drink 20 years from now. It is comforting, however, to know that, if I want a bottle of wine with dinner, I have reasonable choices on hand, whether my entrée is steak or shrimp.

I actually own a small wine rack made from wood blocks and galvanized steel. It’s pretty much what I would like to be using. Unfortunately, it’s in storage somewhere, and I can’t put my hands on it. I thought it unlikely that I could find an exact duplicate, but I hoped to encounter some interesting choices. When I was younger, wine racks seemed easily come by and were priced for the young baby boomer who was probably drinking Blue Nun and Lake Country Red. Today, apparently, not so much. (I suspect that a lot of those baby boomers are now buying built-in wine refrigerators.)

I checked several bargain stores, a department story, a kitchen store, Walmart, K-Mart, and Big Lots. I found one wine rack. It was at Big Lots for $25 and was cute, rather than utilitarian. It held only six bottles. The kitchen store referred me to a store of a local winery in the same mall. The wine store had lots of wine racks, each one cuter than the next, and many of which seemed wildly impractical. Prices ranged from about $35 to over $200. Irrespective of price, I found nothing I liked.

It seemed as though I was going to have to order from the Web. In fact, I had already checked Walmart’s offerings the Web. There were lots of racks available there, many of which seemed eminently practical without being precious. Thus, after my shopping misadventure, I returned to the Web. I didn’t confine my search to Walmart, but I did end up buying a rack from the nation’s largest retailer. I still spent $25, but I’m getting a rack that holds 12 bottles in no-nonsense practicality. I pick up the zinc-plated steel rack at the store next Wednesday.

My new wine rack (image from the Walmart Web site)

A Triumph of Clericalism

I thought one of the better and less controversial ideas floated by those who would reform the structures of The Episcopal Church was to make the office of President of the House of Deputies (PHoD) a paying position. This office is increasingly important and the office holder, by canon, plays a significant role in the church. Alas, the 78th General Convention, largely because of the House of Bishops, did not agree to giving a stipend to the PHoD. Surely, this was not simply an economy measure.

An Episcopal News Service story published today reviews the process of amending and adopting Substitute Resolution D013. The story makes it clear that the House of Deputies and House of Bishops had very different ideas about paying the PHoD for his or her work on behalf of the church. The story includes this paragraph:

“When someone volunteers to do a job, it is not an injustice not to pay them,” said Diocese of Milwaukee Bishop Steven Miller during debate in the House of Bishops on July 3.

One might argue that the President of the United States and, indeed, all bishops of The Episcopal Church, have stood for election in the same fashion as the PHoD. In other words, this is a stupid and self-serving argument.

As it happens, I was watching the debate in the House of Bishops when the matter of a stipend for the PHoD was being discussed. Because I was actually interested in Resolution A019, which was on the day’s consent calendar, I was not taking notes. I do remember, however, that one of the bishops expressed the concern that the PHoD was accumulating too much power.

I think that clericalism is the real reason the bishops do not want to pay the PHoD. Simply put, bishops do not want to cede too much power to a layperson or even a priest or deacon who might be PHoD. (Perhaps the real problem is episcopalism.) Frankly, we give bishops too much power in the church and ordinary clergy, and especially laypeople, too little.

I hope that, at the 79th General Convention, the House of Deputies will insist that their leader be paid.

Covenant? What Covenant?

Earlier this month, I wrote an essay titled “Time for a Definitive Response to the Anglican Covenant,” which called on the General Convention to hold an unambiguous vote on the Anglican Communion Covenant. I wrote, “This year we must provide a definitive response to the invitation to adopt the Anglican Covenant, and that response should be ‘thank you, no.’”

Well, the General Convention works in mysterious ways. In its collective wisdom, it has decided neither to say “thank you” nor to say “no.” Let me explain.

The two resolutions on the Anglican Covenant, A040 and D022, were assigned to the Governance and Structure Legislative Committee. Resolution A040 originated with the Executive Council. Although it would not have adopted the Covenant, it offered approval of most of the document. It also directed the church’s members of the Anglican Consultative Council “to express our appreciation to the 16th meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC16, Lusaka 2016) for the gift of inter-Anglican conversation and mutuality in God’s mission engendered by the Anglican Communion Covenant process.” Resolution D022, submitted by deputy Lisa Fox, differed from A040 only in that it denied that the Covenant captured our church’s present relationship to the Communion or any desired future relationship.

Even before the June 26 hearing on the two resolutions, it was obvious that there was little fondness for the Covenant among members of the Governance and Structure Committee. At the hearing itself, six speakers addressed the Covenant resolutions. Two, including Bishop Ian Douglas, who was a member of the Executive Council Task Force on the Anglican Covenant, supported A040. The Rev. Mark Harris, who is not a deputy this year, also spoke. According to one observer, “Mark Harris didn’t like anything but thought we needed to figure out a plausible answer.” The two endorsers of D022, Mary Roehrich and the Rev. Canon Scott Quinn, spoke in favor of their resolution. Also speaking in favor of D022 was Michael Booker, a deputy from the Diocese of Missouri recruited to address D022 by proposer Lisa Fox, who was prevented by sickness from attending the convention as a Missouri deputy.

I was surprised and confused when both A040 and D022 were marked on the General Convention Web site as “HoD acted to Discharge - Already acted on at this convention.” It took some time to figure out what action was being referred to. It turns out that Resolution A019 was repurposed by the legislative committee as a substitute for either A040 or D022. Resolution A019, which was proposed by Executive Council began as follows:

A019: Affirm the Inter-Anglican Secretariat

Resolved, the House of _______ concurring, That through our funding and active participation, this Church continues to bear witness to this Church’s ongoing commitment to the Anglican Communion and the work of the Inter-Anglican Secretariat.

Essentially, this resolution declared that we intended to remain in the Anglican Communion and to continue paying for much of its administration.

The resolution that was sent to the House of Deputies and approved by it on June 28 was this:

A019: Affirm the Inter-Anglican Secretariat

Resolved, the House of Bishops concurring, That the 78th General Convention of The Episcopal Church affirm our common identity and membership in the Anglican Communion; and be it further

Resolved, That the 78th General Convention direct The Episcopal Church's members of the Anglican Consultative Council to express our appreciation to the 16th meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC16, Lusaka 2016) for the gift of Inter-Anglican conversation and partnership in God's mission; and be it further

Resolved, That The Episcopal Church affirm its ongoing commitment to the Anglican Communion and the work of the Inter-Anglican Secretariat through our funding and active participation.

The final resolve is a minor rephrasing of the single clause of the original Resolution A019. Prefixed to this are provisions derived from A040/D022. The first resolve reproduces the text common to A040 and D022. Nothing is said about specific parts of the Covenant or, in fact, about the Covenant at all! The second resolve is nearly the same as the second resolve of A040 and D022. Here are the subtle changes seen in A019:

1. “Inter-Anglican” has replaced “inter-Anglican.”
2. The amended A019 substitutes “partnership in Godֹֹ’s mission” for “mutuality in God’s mission.”
3. The amended A019 drops “engendered by the Anglican Communion Covenant process.”

Not until July 3, the last day of the General Convention, did Resolution A019 appear on the consent calendar of the House of Bishops with the recommendation that the bishops concur with the decision of the House of Deputies. The consent calendar was approved by the bishops, who thereby concurred with the House of Deputies in passing Resolution A019.

Analysis

What has The Episcopal Church done here?

In the final resolve, we have yet again affirmed our commitment to and support of the Anglican Communion.

Implicitly, in the second resolve, we are grateful for conversation within the Communion, though not specifically (or perhaps at all) for conversation related to the Anglican Communion Covenant. Moreover, in speaking of “partnership in God’s mission” rather than “mutuality in God’s mission,” the church emphasizes its autonomy rather than its “interdependence” with respect to other Communion churches.

The first resolve declares that The Episcopal Church recognizes its common identity and membership in the Anglican Communion without reference to the Anglican Communion Covenant.

It is especially important that we have not suggested that, for example, we are bound by Section Three of the Covenant. That section demands shared discernment regarding difficult issues. We have not consulted the Communion and asked if we can proceed to marry same-sex couples. To have asserted Section Three as part of our Anglican identity and to have taken the actions the 78th General Convention took would have been the height of cynicism and insincerity.

I argued that the 78th General Convention needed to accept or reject the Anglican Covenant. The convention found a third way, a way that avoids the embarrassment of explicit rejection while making it clear that we want nothing to do with the Covenant.

In the end, The Episcopal Church decided not to adopt the Covenant, not to reject the Covenant, but to ignore it to death. It is to be hoped that the churches of the Communion recognize that the Covenant project has failed and that the Communion can only survive by partnering in mission wherever possible and agreeing to disagree wherever conflicts are, for now, irresolvable.

No doubt, the Anglican Communion office will conclude that The Episcopal Church is still in the process of receiving the Covenant. It isn’t, and the General Convention has made no provision to consider the Covenant further.

Thanks be to God.