Lately my hometown has been hosting a convention of “mainline” Presbyterians. I had forgotten about that when we went to brunch after Mass this past Sunday. Coming out of the restaurant, we heard bagpipes and drums. Intrigued, we walked toward the source of the sound – the plaza in front of a large public theater -- to find a dozen pipers and a brace of drummers, all quite nattily attired. Most were quite young, yet impressively proficient. We listened for a while as the convention delegates trudged toward a meeting. As overbearingly PC as the convention is,* it’s good to see that there’s room for at least a bit of their heritage. Seeing as how they’re “mainline”, you know that heritage would just have to be stylistic rather than substantive.

It struck me that, except for the bagpipes (which would probably be replaced by Andean flutes or maybe didgeridoos), this is just the sort of thing that Voice of the Trendy or any other number of dissenters would foist on the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. Fie!

*The main item on their agenda appears to be how to maximize the denomination’s promotion of buggery -- and possibly, by extension, selected other extra-marital sexual relationships. Wonder how John Knox or other early protestants would respond to that?