Katie Sherrod—Balancing Act: Concerns about TEC Executive Council as General Conv. 2012 Approaches

Posted by Kendall Harmon

The minutes from that [April Executive Council] meeting say, “The Chair reminded Council that it had wanted a different budget process, which it had had. She said that was a success. She asked rhetorically, “Was it perfect?” No, she said, but it was a sign and symbol of change. She noted that complaint was part of the cost of leadership.”

In other words, suck it up and move on.

I left that meeting deeply troubled, not by the criticism the Council was getting – I’ve been a writer for newspapers and television much too long to get my feelings hurt by criticism. What troubled me was that leaders I admire and trusted seemed to me to be acting in confusing ways – saying things that were contradicted by their actions. Again and again they urged Council to see that ministry is carried out as “close to the ground” as possible and by those people who can do it best, which is usually lay people in congregations across the church. Yet what they keep doing is to try to operate from a top-down model.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • Executive Council • General Convention

8 Comments
Posted June 27, 2012 at 7:28 am [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]



1. David Keller wrote:

Interesting article.  The most interesting thing about it is it took her six years to figure out how TEC works.  To Ms. Sherrod I would say, those who live by the sword die by the sword. When you gave the PB and staff authority to run rough shod over the people you didn’t like, you unwittingly gave them authority to turn on you when the time suited them. You thought TEC was a church; well. welcome to politics TEC style.

June 27, 9:17 am | [comment link]
2. wvparson wrote:

I’m amazed that she earns her living as a writer!  Her comparison of the PB and Bishop Sauls to Bishop Iker is surely the irony of the year.

June 27, 9:33 am | [comment link]
3. Milton wrote:

It seems the vultures are coming home to roost, having devoured much that was good in TEC.

June 27, 10:15 am | [comment link]
4. Cennydd13 wrote:

The difference between Bishop Sauls and Bishop Iker is like the difference between night and day; +Iker is a faithful hard-working Christian leader, while +Sauls is a cold, calculating and hard-hearted businessman in a purple shirt; a snake oil salesman.  Too bad that Ms Sherrod…...as good a writer as she certainly is…...hasn’t woken up and smelled the bacon.

June 27, 10:37 am | [comment link]
5. Henry wrote:

As is usual for her, Ms. Sherrod is unhappy because she is not getting her way.  She is now seeing what most of us in Ft. Worth have been seeing for years.  Problem is, she will never admit the whole truth and will keep whining to try to get her way!

June 27, 10:53 am | [comment link]
6. dwstroudmd+ wrote:

Enlightenment ... cool, clear Presence or torturous, burning flame.  Interesting that the metaphor is reality, eh?  Henry has aptly stated the real problem.

June 27, 11:28 am | [comment link]
7. A Senior Priest wrote:

It is obvious to me, as it has been for most of us commenters for a long time, I’m sure, that Mrs Schori is moving the PB’s office from facilitator and resource center toward being a real, actual Curia, with her at the pinnacle. To accomplish this goal requires that the Executive Council be reduced in power and effectively sidelined, which she is managing to do, despite the growing realization by the EpiscoLeft that they’ve been had, which Kate’s very perceptive article, though is afraid to call a spade a spade, clearly points out.

June 27, 12:14 pm | [comment link]
8. billqs wrote:

Didn’t several of us warn the institutional liberals that after she was done with the conservatives, she would use the new reaches of power she has grabbed to come after them?

June 28, 8:56 am | [comment link]
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