The Bishop - Prelude

Prelude

The Bishop wondered what his late predecessor would have made of her Archdeacon taking her to task for a decision she’d made.  But she was dead and her Archdeacon had left the diocese after he had failed to be elected bishop in her place.  Mr. Perkins, or as we shall have to get used to calling him, Bishop Perkins, now sat in the episcopal chair, and he was being sternly addressed by his Archdeacon, Robbie Ready, for his kindly handling of a recalcitrant priest who had lately baptized a dog.

“Bishop,” he said with absolutely no deference to exalted position of the man he was addressing, “If you let this go uncensured, no one will ever respect your authority!”

The Bishop wondered if the Archdeacon had any respect for him, or his authority, given the liberty he was taking in the way he was ‘advising’ him.

“Bishop,” Robbie continued, “What kind of idiot baptizes a dog?  Everyone knows that dogs do not have souls!”

“Robbie,” the Bishop looked at his Archdeacon disappointedly, “That’s a bit harsh.”

“Alright.  Perhaps dogs do have souls, but they certainly don’t have original sin, and as such, have nothing to be delivered from. One cannot baptize a dog!”

“I meant calling Percy an idiot.”

“Well, he is an idiot. That, I will not retract!” 

The Rev. Percy Poorechap was certainly not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he was a decent sort of fellow. He was prone to missteps in ministry, but he was generally harmless.  He erred on the side of kindness and that often got him into trouble. The Bishop could just imagine the sort of situation that might have led the hapless clergyman to baptize a dog, and had a sort of sympathy for him, even if he had clearly done something wrong. “Robbie, I…I just think that this might be a ‘teachable’ moment rather than a ‘disciplinary’ one.”

“You think he’s a nice guy. Everyone thinks he’s a nice guy, and you don’t want to hurt him, but he’s been doing this sort of stupid thing for years, and the late Bishop had to keep slapping him down…”

“And how well has that worked?” The bishop could feel his patience with Robbie beginning to wear thin.

“Everyone will be judging you, Bishop, by how you handle this…”

...."The Bishop" continues tomorrow...