Paul Moore Jr. was the scion of one of America's wealthiest families.He was a war hero, and a graduate of Yale. He had pretty solid anglo-catholic credentials. He made his first confession to a priest of the SSJE at the Episcopal boarding school he attended, was married at Church of the Resurrection by Fr. Gordon Wadhams, graduated from General Theological Seminary, and was rector of the historic anglo-catholic parish, Grace Church, in Newark. A plate in the book shows him sitting with some children wearing a cope and biretta. The author - his eldest daughter - tells many tales of services and liturgies that probably only we priest-types would be interested in. He moved up the ecclesiastical ladder of the Episcopal Church, becoming dean of the cathedral in Indianapolis, then suffragan bishop of Washington, DC, and eventually 13th bishop of New York.
It is interesting to follow his theological trajectory, as he went from being a pretty mainline, conservative/traditional anglo-catholic to becoming a flaming "social justice" obsessed liberal. It all started off innocently enough, as he was interested in helping the poor in Newark and ending racial segregation. He tried to integrate the cathedral in Indianapolis, marched with MLK, Jr. in Washington and other places, and more. All of that is laudable, and in the great anglo-catholic tradition of ministering to the poorest and neediest of society. It should also be noted that anglo-catholics were prominent missionaries in Africa and had much success in establishing their traditions on that continent. What ended up happening was that he eventually came to see "social justice" as the Gospel, and as an end in itself. To that end, after initial doubts and misgivings, he gave in to the demands for women's ordination, and eventually even ordained an open and practicing lesbian as a deacon (Mary Glasspool, the current candidate for assistant bishop of Los Angeles who has been in the news recently).
The tragic part of his story is no doubt his personal life. Although he was married with something like nine children, he had homosexual lovers and affairs throughout his life. His first one was when he was in the military... though one wonders if he was not sexually abused at the Episcopal boarding school. His double life destroyed his marriage, which had all but fallen apart by the time he was elected bishop of New York. He had a strange view that sex with other men was not adultery, so that made it okay. His wife knew about his affairs, and eventually walked out on him, which seemed to genuinely hurt him. But sadly, he was never able to acknowledge the role his sexual sins played in the dissolution of their marriage. He eventually remarried, but still had secret homosexual affairs.
I found his spiritual legacy very sad. At one point the author - his daughter - mentions that not any one of his children attend church or have anything to do with it! There is something wrong when a man has nine children and a long, prestigious career in the church, but yet not one of his kids wants anything to do with it in any form. I would certainly consider myself a failure as a Christian father and priest if that were to happen to me. Indeed the author followed in her daddy's footsteps, living a sexually confused and sinful life and showing no remorse for it (her antics included shacking up with numerous men and women - some married, some divorced... and an abortion - which reminds me, her parents were both proud, lifelong members of Planned Parenthood). It seems that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
Over all it is a sad and tragic story, just another footnote in the history of decline and dissolution of the Episcopal Church. When the foxes are in charge of the henhouse can the destruction of the whole church be that far behind? It is worth reading if you like biographies of ecclesiastical figures, and if you want examples of how NOT to live your life - ordained or not.
