Nancy Pelosi: Episcopalian foot washer!

Just think!  Over with the Episcopalians, Nancy Pelosi could both vote for public funding of abortion and also be a bishop at the same time!  She could even the “Presiding Bishop”!

From The Washington Times with my emphases and comments:

Nancy Pelosi has embraced her religious roots [which had hitherto been Catholic] and joined forces with Bishop Marc Andrus to — as she put it — “honor the dignity and work of immigrants” by taking bended knee and washing feet at Saint John the Evangelist Episcopal Church in San Francisco.  [Forget about the Last Supper, and all that stuff.]

Mrs. Pelosi’s official Twitter account sent out the picture of the Democratic House Minority Leader washing the feet of two children, alongside the bishop.  [And… I have to admit… she looks great in an Episcopalian church!]

And social media reaction was mixed, at best, with some accusing her of using the Easter season to stage a political prop. [Say it ain’t so!]

Her tweet: “Honored to be in the Mission to assist Bishop Andrus as he washes the feet of immigrant families.”

And tweeted responses: “@NancyPelosi u r such a phony multi millionaire,” said one.

Another: “@NancyPelosi is this another dem voter registration drive?”

And one more: “@NancyPelosi this has to be the photo op of all photo ops!”

SFGate reported the Democratic leader did take advantage of the occasion to peddle some pro-immigrant policy, speaking to the crowd assembled of the benefits of HR15, a measure criticized by Republicans as amnesty.  [On the other hand, were a conservative to speak about something like this in church, she’d be accusing of politicizing the moment.]

Her office, however, claims it would “reduce the deficit by nearly $1 trillion, secure our borders, unite our families, protect our workers and provide an earned pathway to citizenship,” SFGate reported.

Ms. Pelosi’s foot-washing ceremony coincided with a similar ceremony that Pope Francis just performed in Rome, in honor of Holy Week ahead of Easter.  [No.  What she did in the Episcopalian church didn’t coincide with anything that Catholics do.  And that’s okay!  I think she has found a niche.]

I am reminded of the need for Romanorum coetibus.

If I were Jefferts Schori, I’d start watching my 6 from now on.

UPDATE:

Fr. Longenecker has mordent comments about this.  HERE

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27 Comments

  1. AnAmericanMother says:

    Well, I thought this was the Episcopal church with the nutty “dancing saints” on the wall (such “saints” as Malcolm X, Martha Graham, Hypatia, and Thurgood Marshall).
    But that’s St. Gregory of Nyssa, which was founded as a “mission church” by a couple of guys from Yale to implement their grand notions from “open communion” to saving the whales (or baby seals; I forget which). They are crazier than even your average San Francisco Episcopalian – think by analogy of St. Joan of Arc to the nth power.
    SO glad we shook the dust of that bizarre, shrinking, and increasingly irrelevant denomination from our sandals.
    Maybe we can trade the ex-Speaker for any faithful Christians remaining in TEC?

  2. Charles E Flynn says:

    The is the most profound and scholarly analysis I have seen online of the foot washing:

    Holy Thursday, Footwashing, and the Institution of the Priesthood, by Dr. Leroy Huizenga for the Catholic World Report:

    Interpreting Scripture for its moral import alone, while common and understandable, can cause us to miss the deeper meaning of Christ’s actions.

    Be sure to read the linked article that explains the five differences between a ritual and a ceremony.

  3. excalibur says:

    Well…… pope Pelosi at work. I had posted a link to the story on the thread about foot washing, had to think about doing so for a few minutes before posting.

    A sudden thought, Pelosi retires from the House and seeks ordination, somewhere, with those other crazy ladies who think they are ordained as a priestess perhaps.

  4. BLB Oregon says:

    The headline sum it up very well:

    “Nancy Pelosi washes immigrants’ feet in humble Holy Week act — then promotes on Twitter”

    It would not be right to wish this on the Episcopalians. Pray for her, instead. Our Lord thirsts for her soul, and with the office she has been given we ought to pray for her, too.

    May her eyes be opened and her path be amended, and lives be spared as a result. Nothing is impossible for God.

  5. everett says:

    Perhaps this is a portent of things to come, of finally embracing her already Episcopalian like approach to faith, and practicing intellectual honesty in no longer calling herself a Catholic?

    While it would of course be sad for anyone to leave the Church, if they’ve already left in all but name, then might as well make it official.

  6. OrthodoxChick says:

    BLB Oregon,

    “It would not be right to wish this on the Episcopalians.” No, but it’s not wishing it on them if one simply takes notice that in her public life, she frequently and openly dissents from Catholic doctrine, but not seemingly from the more liberal Episcopalian churches. I’m with “everett” on this. She’s been long gone anyway and openly so. She might as well make it official. Here’s her hat and what’s her hurry.

  7. acardnal says:

    It’s good to see her on her knees for a change.

  8. BLB Oregon says:

    “She’s been long gone anyway and openly so. She might as well make it official. Here’s her hat and what’s her hurry.”–Orthodox Chick

    It is not right to despair of a soul, today of all days, for the Lord thirsts for her! She has the indelible mark of baptism on her–heaven forbid that she should stray and never come back!

    We ought to pray for her, and all the more so because she is a public official and notoriously in error. If she were to be amended and have her conscience reformed according to the truth, what a great day that will be!!

  9. Susan M says:

    Good grief. The woman is….well…for once I’m at a loss for words, but should anything snarky arrive in my thoughts be at peace knowing that a comment will be sent asap.

    Meanwhile, the only problem with hoping that she would become an Episcopalian, and then of course become Bishop Pelosi, is that she’d want to join the Catholic Church under the Anglican Rite, then sue the Church knowing that that would not be possible….you know…just to keep herself in the spotlight in her waning years.

  10. rodin says:

    Did Archbishop Cordileone tell her she would not be permitted any foot-washing photo ops in his archdiocese?

  11. OrthodoxChick says:

    BLB Oregon,

    I’m not despairing, nor disagreeing with you. I’m acknowledging reality though and the reality is that the Lord gives every soul free will. Some souls will not choose to love Him, will not obey His Commandments, will not humbly submit their will to His. While we all have particular instances in which we all fall in like manner as these, there is a difference between a soul who begs for the graces to overcome his/her sins, strives to overcome them, and a soul who consciously decides that he/she has no desire to do any such thing.

    Certainly we continue to pray for her. It might not make a bit of difference to her though. She has been given the free will to remain stubborn in her sin to her last breath if she so chooses. For those souls who have openly turned their back on the Church and Our Lord while publicly, openly misrepresenting him/herself to the world as a Catholic in full communion with the Church, I just think it is better for the faithful and for her own soul if such folks would leave the Church. Such folks give scandal to the faithful and continue to heap additional harm on their own soul by receiving Communion unworthily.

  12. Isn’t participating in another church’s worship an excommunicable offense – willful and active participation in sacris (i.e. in public worship) with heretics

  13. Dimitri_Cavalli says:

    It remains to be seen if the Freedom From Religion Foundation cries foul with Pelosi sending out a religious tweet the way it did with WI Gov. Scott Walker recently.

  14. Ambrose Jnr says:

    Dear OrthodoxChick,

    Your 2nd comment on Pelosi is spot on. Congrats for phrasing it so well.

    Let’s indeed also pray for Pelosi’s soul and a deep conversion on her part, that is so sorely needed.

  15. Legisperitus says:

    Even when she smiles she looks tormented.

  16. GOR says:

    I don’t think there’s much humility evident here. It’s a Photo-Op which then gets broadcast on Twitter.

    The smile is the giveaway – reminiscent of the sickly smiles some EMHCs give to everyone when distributing Holy Communion: “Hey, look at me. I’m doing you a favor!”

    At least it wasn’t in a Catholic church – though it may give some people ideas…

  17. tealady24 says:

    Pelosi says she received a rosary blessed by Pope Francis from Obama at lunch today
    — Carrie Dann (@CarrieNBCNews) April 1, 2014

    She SAYS that’s what she got. Hopefully it was more like an excommunication notice! I hope and I pray.

    A Blessed Easter to everyone! May our Lord have mercy on us!

  18. pj_houston says:

    Well, how is this any worse than our bishops using the Mass as a cheap political stunt down on the border to promote amnesty? Monkey see, monkey do.

  19. JustaSinner says:

    Can we trade Pelosi to the Episcopalians for a player to be named later?

  20. SKAY says:

    “I don’t think there’s much humility evident here. It’s a Photo-Op which then gets broadcast on Twitter. ”

    Exactly, GOR. This is all about politics and voters-both informed and uninformed. Remember who keeps sending her back to Washington and they love this.
    Her smile reminds me of Obama’s Cheshire Cat smile for the Photo Op. with Pope Francis. It is all about the visual and how to use it.

    Pelosi has chosen what is most important to her and it is not the teachings of the Church.

    http://www.lifenews.com/2014/01/31/nancy-pelosi-will-received-planned-parenthoods-top-margaret-sanger-award/

  21. majuscule says:

    Hmm. I think we have good ammo here for combox discussion in other venues.

    You know, comments like “Faithful practicing Catholic Pelosi…”

    In reply, “But here she is, taking part in an Episcopalian service…there’s even a picture” .

    I wonder, did the service include communion and if so, did she….?

  22. Vox Laudis says:

    JustaSinner–Please! Could I request my former bishop from my Anglican days, Keith Ackerman, formerly heading their diocese of Peoria? And my former entire parish.

    Or, as Fr. Z says, Romanorum Coetibus.

  23. BLB Oregon says:

    Orthodox Chick–yes, the plain meaning of the New Testament is that when one of us refuses correction even by the Church, they are to “be to thee as the heathen and publican” (Matt. 18:17). I am not protesting that someone who defends grave sin as notoriously as she does ought not be excommunicated. She has procured abortions for millions, and campaigns on this, a pattern of action which incurs for her a latae sententiae excommunication.

    I am only saying that her case is one that begs for grief before heaven and prayers on her behalf. Not only does the Lord thirst for every soul, but if Nancy Pelosi were to be redeemed from her infamous pattern of error, as notorious and obstinate as she has been, what a difference her public repentance might make!

  24. Dimitri_Cavalli says:

    “And one more thing.”–Lt. Columbo

    For the record, it would be just as creepy and inappropiate if lay conservative Catholics such as Rick Santorum and Paul Ryan were to assist or perform the washing of the feet at Holy Thursday Mass, flash a smile for the camera, and then send out the image on Twitter.

  25. Urs says:

    BTW… These were UNDOCUMENTED immigrants…at least, that is what the Episcopal bishop said….

  26. Pingback: Holy Saturday - BigPulpit.com

  27. Ben Kenobi says:

    Seems fodder for ABP Cordileone to excommunicate.

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