On my personal blog, I recently posted an analysis of two documents, Bp. Breidenthal's letter explaining why he was withholding consent to the election of Fr. Kevin Thew Forrester as bishop of the Diocese of Northern Michigan, and a letter of support from Fr. Thew Forrester's former liturgics professor at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Dr. Louis Weil.

Prof. Weil was kind enough to write a response clarifying and reinforcing his support for Fr. Thew Forrester, which he permitted me to post, as well.

I have decided to continue the conversation on this topic here at Covenant, because this website has the Forums feature, which facilitates dialogue in a way that my own "bully pulpit" blog does not.

Three things stand out to me from Prof. Weil's response. As I read it:

1. Prof. Weil believes that liturgical experimentation of the sort that Fr. Thew Forrester has been engaging in is not only unproblematic for a bishop, but may be a great gift to the Episcopal Church. Small dioceses potentially serve as better "laboratories" for such experiments than larger dioceses, and the fruits of such experimentation can then be adopted by the larger church after an appropriate period of discernment.

2. The fact that such experimentation may be "pushing the boundaries of the commonly-accepted theology" is not a concern to Prof. Weil if it is done with the knowledge and consent of the Ordinary (i.e., the bishop) and is undertaken in a responsible manner, rather than, as too often happens, in a haphazard and unauthorized way reflecting the whims of a rector.

3. Prof. Weil believes that the context for Fr. Thew Forrester's experiments, even though boundary-pushing, do not cross the line of acceptable diversity because in Prof. Weil's judgment, Fr. Thew Forrester "has a very good liturgical and sacramental sense, and also that he has a very solid grounding theologically."

I am grateful to Prof. Weil for clarifying that the he does not believe Fr. Thew Forrester is one of those liturgically renegade rectors, so to speak, of which Prof. Weil writes with such disapproval. I see now that I was clearly wrong to impute any connection in this regard. Rather, Prof. Weil wanted to a) commend Fr. Thew Forrester for not being renegade, b) affirm his liturgical and theological depth, and c) express his opinion that Fr. Thew Forrester would make a fine bishop.

Interestingly, however, there is one area that Prof. Weil's response does not address.



At the end of my post, I reflected on Prof. Weil's reference to Raymond Brown's book Priest and Bishop. I questioned whether Fr. Thew Forrester could be the sort of bishop who (in Prof. Weil's words) is able to interpret "the various voices in the Church to each other in order to build up the unity of the Body which transcends such differences as progressive and conservative." As Weil writes, I, too, "would hope that, given the needs of the church in our own post-Christian world, Brown’s interpretation of the episcopate might be given fuller expression." My question then, as now, is: Can Fr. Thew Forrester (not to mention many of those currently in the House of Bishops, whether progressive or conservative) give fuller expression to Raymond Brown's important vision for the episcopate?

I think it clear that Prof. Weil does not have any anxieties that Fr. Thew Forrester can do so, otherwise I doubt he would have mentioned the book. Or, to put it another way, Prof. Weil appears to me to be taking advantage of a "teaching moment" by pointing to a model of the episcopacy he hopes this particular bishop-elect might adopt, if he has not already done so. In any event, Prof. Weil has no concerns over Fr. Thew Forrester's qualifications, theology, or abilities, and thus would be happy to see him be ordained as a bishop in The Episcopal Church.

Prof. Weil has done a great service to the church by contributing to the church's ongoing discernment. It is now up to those who have a vote in the consent process to decide whether Prof. Weil's endorsement puts to rest any qualms they might have about giving their consent to this election. For my part, I still have questions, which I will save for another post, but at least we know where Prof. Weil stands in this regard and can give due consideration to his testimony in favor of Fr. Thew Forrester.