Theologically, and logically, what does it mean to say that we are no longer under the law, or going further, what does it mean that the law brings death? What do these passages say to Charlie, the Christian man who finds himself three or four nights a week spending an hour or two staring at pornographic images on his computer screen?

"Robinson's assistant at the Diocese of New Hampshire, the Rev. Tim Rich, said Tuesday that a growing awareness of his problem, rather than a crisis, led to Robinson's decision.

"In his letter, Robinson, 58, says he has been dealing with alcoholism for years and had considered it 'as a failure of will or discipline on my part, rather than a disease over which my particular body simply has no control, except to stop drinking altogether.'

Yes, I thought that too. Add inefficiency to the ECUSA’s errancy, but that’s not fair. ECUSA has never been efficient nor is it careful with people’s lives. But her secret (if it is a secret) is safe with me.

One does not wish to speak ill of the dead, of course. But the fact remained that--in an addendum to a section on its website titled "Seeking a Shepherd: Finding Our Bishop in the 21st Century," the diocese cited three episcopal exemplars, each from a different minority ethnic group, among them the late Bishop of Navajoland, Steven T. Plummer. A married man, Plummer was reported in 1993 to have admitted to sexual activity with a male minor over a period of some two years, ending around 1989.