COLOMBIAN BISHOP BLASTS EPISCOPAL PRESIDING BISHOP SCHORI'S VISIT

Posted by David Virtue on 2007/9/5 12:30:00 (3390 reads)

By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
9/5/2007

The Retired Bishop of Colombia, the Rt. Rev. Bernardo Merino Botero, has written a scathing letter to Bishop Stacy F. Sauls, the Bishop of Lexington, blasting the recent visit of Mrs. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church to his country.

In his "My dear brother Bishop Stacy" letter, Botero ripped Schori's visit, saying that what was reported in "The Episcopal News [Service]" and "The Episcopal Life" did not fit the facts of her actual visit.

"She was here four weeks ago and went back to New York, maybe thinking: "'Veni, vidi, vixi', I came, I saw, I wined', the words of Cesar regarding his victory in Zela."

Botero condemned Mrs. Schori's activities on her visit to Colombia saying they were "very exclusive". The Eucharist at Saint Paul's was not an open service for the people of the Diocese. He also condemned her sermon as "very short and weak."

Botero ripped official Episcopal "newscasters" who said she spent 45 minutes meeting with President Uribe Velez; had an ecumenical encounter in the Episcopal Conference with Roman Catholics, protestant and mussulman leaders; and had a meeting with diocesan clergyman. Botero, an inhibited and former bishop was "excluded" from visits to two missions in the city; and the Eucharist at Saint Paul's Cathedral.

"All of these events were very exclusive. The dates of arrival and leaving to and from Colombia were one State secret to Bishop Francisco Duque (Presiding Bishop of Columbia) and his assistants. An environment of clandestineness and espionage characterized your President Bishop's visit. Did she realize that?

"The Holy Eucharist held at Saint Paul's was not an open service for people of the Diocese, as [is] usual in a pastoral visit. In some way was a private one: The main entrance to the church was closed, and the only way to go in, was the garage door and an invitation card was required. Exclusion was the keynote of participation in this holy service. The Eucharist started half an hour later, and when we, the excluded, entered the Cathedral, the uneasiness invaded the environment. As the main entrance was closed to prevent the entrance of the excluded, the door was opened when they saw us inside."

Concerning the homily: "The Presiding Bishop addressed the congregation no longer than seven minutes. I was surprised with this very short and weak sermon on occasion of a pastoral visit to one overseas diocese full of expectations, in a terrible crisis of divisions, resentments and lies. She started emphasizing: 'I am here to [make] a pastoral visit to the Diocese of Colombia' and quoted Luke's Gospel, 10- 30-35: 'There was once a man who was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when robbers attacked him, stripped him, and beat him up, leaving him half dead. It so happened that a priest was going down that road; but when he saw the man, he walked on by on the other side. In the same way a Levite also came there, went over and looked at the man, and then walked on by on the other side. But a Samaritan who was traveling that way came upon the man, and when he saw him, his heart was filled with pity. He went over to him, poured oil and wine on his wounds and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own animal and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. "Take care of him", he told the innkeeper, "and when I come back this way, I will pay you what ever else you spend on him".'

"When the Primate stopped reading the parable, I thought about my Church in Colombia, traveling from this earthly Jerusalem to this Jericho of eternal life, amid many tribulations: Attacked by robbers that stripped her money, her honor, her identity, her spirituality, her peace. Then, the robbers beat and left her, half dead in the way. Immediately when I saw our sister Katharine, the Presiding Bishop, I thought: maybe she is the Good Samaritan. She was sent by Jesus to heal, to advice, to reconcile, to pacify and to restore justice.

"When [the] Eucharistic service was over, the congregation was invited by Bishop Duque to share the coffee time with the Presiding Bishop and her staff in the cathedral yard. Many of us stayed in their chairs waiting for her to shake hands and have a word of courtesy. But she never appeared. "The people went to the yard and continued waiting for her. A typical choreographic group from one of our congregations was waiting to dance and sing honoring Bishop Jefferts, but she never appeared. This was a long time of suspense and disappointment. One hour later the people knew the truth.

"The doors of the Cathedral were closed by the bodyguards and nobody was allowed to enter and to see Bishop Jefferts [Schori]. Then one of the shows prepared to finalize the Eucharist took place in clandestineness: the presentation of a memorial marble stone honoring the Presiding Bishop and Bishop Duque. This stone was placed in memory of the 23 years of Episcopal ministry of the predecessor of Bishop Duque.

"The epilogue of this drama was that Bishop Jefferts [Schori] left the cathedral through the back door inside a diplomatic car, with her staff and Bishop Duque. The congregation left, half angry, half discouraged, half scandalized. The Good Samaritan Katharine left without healing, without advising, without reconciling, without restoring the justice and peace. "She was not able to leave her horse and to go to the people of this Church and pour oil and wine on her wounds and bandage them and to take care of us.

"Is this the profile of a pastoral visit, or was it more a politic strategy, designed by Bishop Duque and allowed by the Presiding Bishop?" Who has the answer? Somebody.

"Listen what the Lord said to the rulers of Israel: 'You have not taken care of the weak ones, healed the ones that are sick, bandaged the ones that are hurt, brought back the ones that wandered of, or looked for the ones that were lost. Instead, you treated them cruelly' (Ezekiel - 34 - 4).

"We are wondering: Who decided this afternoon to kidnap the Presiding Bishop and to preserve her from any personal contact with the congregation? And, why was Bishop Jefferts [Schori] allowed to become so isolated from her people, if she was practicing a pastoral visit to the Diocese of Colombia? This was in contradiction to her homily, inviting to the unity in diversity. The divisions and diversity were waiting for her at the cathedral yard, and she disappeared to heavens into a fire-car, like Elijah the Prophet. If she believes that the Diocese of Colombia is Bishop Duque with his family, his staff and his favorites, I am sorry: She is mistaken. Yours, is a very strain[ed] ecclesiology, against St. Paul's mystic body doctrine.

"I am responsible that nobody among the attendants to this Eucharist, about two hundred people, had criminal records as kidnappers or assassins. However Bishop Duque went with Bishop Jefferts [Schori] to a mission in one of the more dangerous suburbs in Bogotá, to show her a social work, as his star program, supported with money from the Roman Catholic Church.

"Dear Stacy, if you consider impartially these events, do you think that it is possible for you to find serious arguments on sustentation of your assertions on behalf of our two brothers? We need to find more appropriate justifications to these questionable and reprehensible behaviors. Maybe the words of Saint Paul to Corinthians fit here very well: 'What do you expect me to say to you about this? Shall I praise you? Of course I don't.'

The letter was signed:

Respectfully but frankly Yours in Christ,

Bishop Bernardo Merino Botero (retired)

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