A sea of bishops

http://hillsofthenorth.blogspot.com/2007/12/sea-of-bishops.html

[Hills of the North] 25 Feb 20-08--James Lipton, in his classic and somewhat tongue-in-cheek dictionary of collective nouns, An Exhaltation of Larks, offers this homophone of see (as in the seat of authority of a bishop) as the collective noun of choice for bishops. Sea also suggests expanse and volume, and in the current Anglican realignment, there do seem to be bishops everywhere. The churches in Nigeria, Rwanda, Kenya, and Uganda, for example, have consecrated bishops to oversee their parishes in North America. Whether these are “regular” or “irregular” consecrations is of course a question; what doesn’t seem to be at issue is the validity of their ordination. They are bishops, and made so by churches in the Anglican Communion.

Most of these Communion bishops (for lack of a better description) are humble, hardworking servants of God. They had established reputations well beyond their parishes, dioceses, and the United States. Most were not prone to calling attention to themselves, and had not spent a career "running" for bishop. They were all well known and well vetted. In another time, in a more orthodox Episcopal Church, many of them would likely have found themselves wearing purple, such is their quality.

Whether there are too many of these new bishops is a different and open question. Whether in creating so many bishops the primates doing so are enhancing or impeding the possibility of unifying the North American orthodox is likewise an open question. Perhaps in some respects the cynicism of many--orthodox included--will propel these new bishops to prove everyone wrong as they work together in the Common Cause Partnership. Time will tell. But history, one must admit, is not on their side.