The Diocesan Dialogue
Current Issue
July 2007
Park City Priest Participates in Reconcilers' Seminar
By Pat McCaughan, May 24, 2007
 [ENS, Los Angeles] Gifted peacemakers and creative solutions
won't resolve the conflicts in the
Episcopal Church and the Anglican
Communion; changing hearts and
church culture will, the Rev. Brian
Cox told prospective reconcilers at
St. James Church in Los Angeles
on Wednesday.
"Our purpose is not to solve
the conflict in the Episcopal
Church but rather to promote a
culture of reconciliation in the life
of the church, a paradigm shift
away from win-lose advocacy to
faith-based reconciliation," said
Cox, rector of Christ the King
Church in Santa Barbara,
California.
About 65 lay and clergy
Episcopalians from across the
nation are attending "A Third Way,"
a faith-based reconciliation training
seminar being held through May
25 at St. James Church in the
Wilshire district of Los Angeles.
"There are two current cultures,
militant movements, driving the
conflict in the church, militant progressivism
and militant orthodoxy,"
said Cox.
"This is about creating a third
way, a positive way, a proactive way,
in the life of the Episcopal Church.
It also offers people hope. Our
experience has been that the whole
seriousness of the conflict hasn't
changed but people come away
with a feeling of hope."
After 17 years of "watching
churches behaving badly" including
a split among his own congregation,
St. Luke's in Park City, Utah,
the Rev. Charles Robinson said he
decided to attend the reconcilers
seminar because: "I believe that, if
people are offered a model of
health, they'll take it."
"One of my first positions was
in a Baptist church in East Texas
that split right down the middle—it
was a Hatfields and McCoys kind
of thing—it wasn't over theology. It
was over who's going to be in control,
who's going to set the agenda
and I've watched this happen, over
and over and over again," he said.
With St. Luke's on the
rebound, he is proactive. "Right
now, the Communion's fighting
about sexuality, but that's a red herring.
The issue is how do you deal
with differences and how do you
do it in some way other than taking
sides and demonizing people
who don't agree with you if you're
going to have any kind of witness
to the world? Why would anyone
want to join a church like that?"
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