Take a Bishop like me

In the middle of the sexual revolution the Episcopal bishop of New York gets caught in some heavy crossfire. Moore took office in 1972, just in time to be the target of both conservative and liberal Episcopalians warring over gay rights and the ordination of women. Moore, of course, is himself a liberal, with solid credentials in the civil rights movement, but he prefers going by the book, and until the Episcopal House of Bishops formally agreed, in September 1976, that women could be priests, he treated the whole issue rather cautiously. Then, in January 1977, Moore ordained Ellen Marie Barrett, a professed lesbian, and all hell broke loose. He was deluged with hate mail, and when Time quoted Barrett as claiming that the relationship with her lover ""feeds the strength and compassion I bring to the ministry,"" many of Moore's fellow priests and bishops turned against him. Parishes in his diocese withheld their assessments, or withdrew altogether, and the House of Bishops almost censured him. Moore weathered these and other trials (at one point most of his nine children were ""living in sin"") with resilience and a sense of humor. He quotes too many of the letters and official statements that poured out of the brouhaha like snowflakes, but otherwise does a nice, consistently cheerful job of weaving his adventures as a Christian flak-catcher into the broader context of a moral crisis shaking not just the Church but society as a whole. An engaging view of a good man in a tight spot.; NO DUST COVER