Q: How key is this moment for the US Episcopal Church?
A: Well, I think it's obviously a critical moment. It is an important moment. I don't think there should be a live or die moment, however, for the Episcopal Church in the United States. There certainly are many who want to paint it that way, but I'm not certain I agree with that depiction.
Q: Why not?
A: Well, because I think that here in Louisiana, for example, we have demonstrated that the church can still be powerful in her faith, powerful in the witness, powerful in mission, powerful in changing lives and, I think, standing for the dignity of every human being, even in the midst of our disagreements. I'm tired of the disagreements. I would like to have the disagreements settled. What I'm not willing to do is to settle the disagreements at the price of the mission of the church, because the persons that [are] really hurt in that kind of example, or that kind of a situation, are the poor, and we can't seek comfort for ourselves at the [expense] of the poor.
Q: How much pressure is the U.S. Church feeling from the rest of the world?
A: I think the larger question is what is the capacity of the United States Church or the Episcopal Church to absorb pressure from others? And some people feel a great deal more pressure than others. I think that if [there is] anything I've learned from the last several years of life here in New Orleans it's been that we have an incredible capacity for others' anxiety.
Q: What are you hoping to hear from the Archbishop of Canterbury? What does he need to do or say?
A: Well, as bishop of Louisiana I certainly want him, and I've made arrangements for him, to come speak to the city of New Orleans and to talk about redemptive suffering, to talk about the work that we're doing to encourage us and to thank us, and that is very important to me as bishop of this city. I want the archbishop to acknowledge the good work that the Episcopal Church does throughout the world, to acknowledge the importance of mission, and I want the Archbishop of Canterbury to call us all to sacrifice. One of the odd questions that has been posed has been really half a question, and that is upon whose back will this settlement go forward? And there's violence on both sides of this issue. If the Episcopal bishops make a response too far one way, then we see hand grenades thrown through the door, let's say, of a Christian assembly in Pakistan. And on the other hand we all know of young men who are beaten and brutalized and tied to a fence and left to die in the American West. I think equal sacrifices [are] what I would have the archbishop call us to, and show us that in so doing as Christians we all win. We all do good, we're all sanctified and made holy in doing that. I hope that we will find the space, the time, and the freedom to search for more long-lasting and I think creative solutions than we're able to do in the anxious system in which we live in now.
