DOES IT REALLY MATTER?

The Episcopal Church of the United States, ECUSA, continues its slide into irrelevance.

11 October is Columbus Day.

Columbus, the seafarer who hundreds of years ago tried his hand at sailing as far as he could to find a new world.
Sixty years ago he was described in most American schools as one of the great figures of history, one who contributed mightily to the opening up of the New World.
We were reminded yesterday that the Diocese of Oregon is this year taking a slightly different tack:

On the eve of Columbus Day, when some Americans will remember the Italian explorer kindly and others won't, the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon is calling attention to the Doctrine of Discovery, the philosophy that fueled European claims to the riches of the New World without regard for the indigenous people who already lived there.

At its 2009 General Convention, the Episcopal Church voted overwhelmingly to repudiate the doctrine and called for its elimination from "contemporary policies, programs and structures."

We wonder if the Diocese also has chosen to “repudiate” Columbus as well.
And that reminded us of a recently promulgated pastoral letter from our Presiding Bishop, a letter which condemned the carrying out of US immigration law, in effect condemning the view that illegal immigrants are indeed illegal and should be treated as such.

We profess that inhumane policies directed against undocumented persons (raids, separation of families, denial of health services) are intolerable on religious and humanitarian grounds, as is attested by the consensus of a wide range of religious bodies on this matter.
We categorically reject efforts to criminalize undocumented migrants and immigrants, and deplore the separation of families and the unnecessary incarceration of undocumented workers.

As a vestrymen in my parish, I wonder what should be my reaction to such pronouncements from the greater church.

Should I ignore them?
Should I write letters in favor or in support?
Should we discuss such statements in special session?

We are busy people.
We attend church and go about our business.

And our national church goes about its business.

And some of that business is inane, even foolish.
How about naive?

What can be the future for a church which ceases to stand for even a modicum of secular common sense when it deals with issues which have significant secular significance?

The future might well be a future of irrelevance.