Actually, that's a slight exaggeration. This is more like it: professional bureaucrats from church leadership circles create legislation designed to spotlight their own virtue. No one is convinced of the truth of their rhetoric, but that doesn't matter; it "sounds" good. The policies themselves, once enacted, don't accomplish what they set out to, but that doesn't matter either, since no one will think to evaluate them. As long as the bosses are able to demonstrate good intentions, then the deal has been done.

In the case of resolution A127, contrary to all theories of social transformation descendents of an oppressed class must be - can only be - "saved" by initiatives of the descendents of their oppressors and other "inheritors of unearned privilege" (Green Book, p. 331). Such a transaction would be impossible in your garden variety revolution. Luckily the only real transaction on the table is for the benefit of the privileged, and at least this one is remotely possible: they are purchasing temporary absolution from their historic complicity with racism by buying off the "leaders" of the oppressed and tossing a few bones to the masses. In the heady world of General Convention this is called "restoration", "reconciliation", "justice" and "compassion".

The respectability of Episcopalians comes cheap. Not that a program of "restorative justice" - a cash settlement to descendents of slaves - would tally a small number. But it really is cheap, all things considered. After all, no amount of money could roll back the cumulative effects of slavery. Human transformation simply cannot be bought. The fact that elites (black and white) feel they must buy it demonstrates what they think of the humanity of minorities, and in particular their capability to transform themselves.

The whole transaction is not about minorities anyway; is not about solving problems or ending injustice, but about buying respectability or "moral authority" for whites and other elites. Then they'll be able to "call on the nation to engage in such processes." Just like the good old days, when church leaders felt morally superior! Sadly, such moral posturing and the cheap thrills that come with it are typically the only concrete result. As we are often reminded, in the past thirty-five years of liberal activism "if you really want to hear our views, you haven't done nothin'!"

Buying the illusion of virtue for themselves is the paradigm of liberal activism since the 1960's. Once it proved its ability to replenish the void caused by shame, it became the currency for all causes. Hence the "one size fits all" presentation of every issue, with the same heroes and villains. Hence no one checks to see if the programs in question actually work. That would be beside the point.

During the '60's the white establishment, and that certainly includes the leadership of the Episcopal Church, was morally toppled by the heartfelt realization of its historic complicity with racism. Now it buys back its respectability in installments, brokered through a bizarre symbiosis of black and white political tradesmen. As fate would have it, a new black underclass became a cottage industry to be managed by an elite of black professionals. This "priestly" class has authority to signal to the white establishment that they are temporarily absolved of their besetting sin, once an appropriate tribute has been paid.

Such sacrifices, however, "cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper" and must be endlessly repeated. The priests of the underclass must be paid, and the old bosses must dispatch the terrorizing guilt. The bosses wield the cool power of cold cash, and the local chieftains wield the power of binding and loosing shame. Each has something the other desperately needs.

So-called "conservatives" haven't yet learned to play this game. They still try to engage their opponents in argument. They are still shocked to be rebuffed not with argument but with shame. Their words are cast as a throwback to segregation, the Nazis, or witch trials. And while such comparisons hold no water, they "sound" bad, and hence the comparison acquires its own validity. Conservatives don't grasp that the transaction being worked depends more on magic than logic. And having as low a threshold of shame as the next person, they scatter like insects into a "moderate" hiding place.

That such a tiresome and fallacious paradigm could pass itself off today as "justice" is perhaps the most outrageous insult of the ritual rehash known as General Convention. It is really the epitome of injustice. Victims are not being restored but, rather, bought and sold. There surely can be no "reconciliation" between those who buy and those who are bought - no more now than two hundred years ago.

If white elites had truly owned up to their complicity with the crime of slavery, then they would sooner crawl under rocks than put on moral airs. That they are driven primarily by schemes to restore lost ground, however conceived, should signal to their alleged beneficiaries - and to the whole church - what they can expect.

This is an issue that calls for a more perfect sacrifice. Here's where conservatives have something to offer: the gospel, what liberals traded years ago for a pottage of political correctness. It hasn't paid off, and it hasn't helped. Restoration, reconciliation, justice and compassion can only come to those who are equals: equally needy, equally dependent, and equally guilty before a righteous God.

We could all begin this trek together any time we wanted. It wouldn't necessarily cost money or require special legislation. It would not require a special class of professionals to manage the process. Just some honesty.

--The Rev. Gary L'Hommedieu is Canon in charge of Pastoral Care at St. Luke's Cathedral in Orlando, Florida.