Washington Bishop Budde Admits TEC in Decline on National Public Radio

"Over 50% of the parishes are in decline."

Only an occasional listener to the Diane Rehm show, I tuned in to hear Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde speak. My hat is off to Diane Rehm. She got all the questions right and learned how to bring the new bishop out of her New Age fog and face clearly uncomfortable realities.

First things first. The obvious public relations campaign swirling around Budde can be seen in her name change. At the request of the new bishop, she goes by Bishop Mariann in the Diocese of Washington, but Rehm refers to her as Bishop Budde (pronounced Bishop Buddeee.)

So it sounds like someone finally got to Budde about being called "Bishop Mariann" and said to her, "Washingtonians are not into cutesy and phony familiarity."

Or maybe Diane Rehm had the intelligence to say, Look. Take your title as Bishop seriously. I can't stomach this first name business.

Whoever did it, Budde at least temporarily changed her name. OK. One problem solved.

No lightweight, Rehm starts off strong. Budde's metaphor for the church is that it is cracked just like the Washington Cathedral.

In her opening, Rehm said, "The Rt. Rev. Mariann Budde was consecrated as bishop of the Washington DC Diocese last month in the National Cathedral which is marred by cracks resulting from an earthquake. She became, of course, Washington's first female bishop. She sees a metaphor in those cracks within the cathedral, cracks in the faith, whose foundation is crumbling, but she remains resolute in her hope that that can change."

Rehm cuts to the chase about the problems in the Episcopal Church and Budde admits that the Episcopal Church is in a significant decline. Talking in particular about the Diocese of Washington, she said, "Over 50% of the parishes are in decline." To read more, click here.