Bad Bishop

In Trinity Cathedral, Cleveland, William Montgomery Brown received 40 years ago his first holy communion, was ordained a priest of God, was consecrated a Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the U. S. In the same dimly sacred house Bishop Brown, a beautiful old man, responded last week to the Apostles' Creed, saying simply: "I believe." On the following day he was judged by seven other Bishops to be a heretic. Sentence, soon to follow, will cut him off from the priesthood and forbid him to wear the garments of the Lord, which he has worn so very long.

Bishop Brown (formerly of Arkansas, now retired) was charged with heresy on the basis of his book, Communism and Christianism, of which the central point is: "The Brother Jesus of the New Testament, Catholic Creed and Protestant Confessions is not for me a historical personage, but only a symbol of all that is for the good of the world, even as the Uncle Sam of American literature is not a historical personage but only a symbol of all that is good for the U. S." The Bishop's lawyer fought a brave battle, asserting every conceivable technicality. Ultimately he put this embarrassing question to the prosecuting attorney: "Will you show me a statement of the official doctrine of the Church?" Reluctantly, after much delay, his opponent produced the Prayer Book. The Bishop rightly contended that the Prayer Book was not a statement of doctrine but only a form of worship and discipline. The prosecutors kept the Bible out of discussion by averring that the Bible did not constitute the rule of faith except as interpreted by the Church.

"Where is the official interpretation?" asked Bishop Brown. No answer. The Bishop then offered to interrogate every Bishop of the Church. This was not allowed. In short, during the entire four days debate, the debaters never clashed.

But the verdict was never in doubt. The seven trial Bishops had no course but to proclaim Bishop Brown a heretic. If there can be such a thing as a heretic (i. e., one who disbelieves what a Church believes), Bishop Brown was a heretic. Bishop Brown, however, contended there is no such thing as a heretic.

Ecclesiastics have stood in the curious twilight, between Earth and Heaven, between the logical and the ineffable; between the matter-of-fact and the unutterable. They have had to decide that a man denied God, when they themselves could not define God. The seven Bishops, by common sense, found Bishop Brown to be a heretic. But, in a spiritual sense, they may secretly have agreed with their victim that, after all, there is no such thing as a heretic.