NTL is Back!

There are stirrings, cracks in the cocoon, with a bit of bright color here and there. NTL is still alive! In fact, before you know it, the new butterfly will be on the wing. Here is what has happened so far.

Last spring and summer (2007), the board of directors conducted a series of meetings to search for a new editor after our visionary founder, publisher, and editor John Worrell announced his retirement. But as you might guess, and as we all knew in our hearts, he is inimitable.

An all-day meeting of the board with concerned readers was held in September and after much discussion, the consensus was that as of now, it makes sense to end the print format for the magazine. Copies may still be printed, however, by anyone with internet access—new formatted issues will be available at our website (see the back cover of this issue). If you have concerns because you sent a contribution last spring or summer with the expectation of receiving quarterly print editions via the mail, please contact us—it is painful to leave the print format behind, but we hope the new NTL will meet with your approval.

George McGonigle is credited with once saying that, "In church or politics, neither victory nor defeat is ever final." Our core mission has always been to provide a forum for real conversation, in a context calling for reasoned statements, offered and responded to. NTL seeks to create that venue in a small way, and to model it.

Because those of one view were more willing to send material, and because they often went unanswered, NTL got a reputation as being a "liberal rag." Nothing could be further from the truth. Editor Worrell worked to invite articles from both sides of any issue, and often took pains to print articles later, in response to earlier pieces.

If there ever was a time when this mission was more needed, will someone please point it out? Too often, one side has been unwilling to talk with the other side. Even the annual council of the Diocese of Texas, formerly a two-day deliberative meeting, has become a single session on a Saturday morning, with reports, new proposals, and voting, voting, voting. The internet, which should be a place for conversation, abounds with expressions of pathos but too little ethos or logos....

Last month, a priest in the Diocese of Texas became the latest to lead members of his congregation out of the Episcopal Church, citing theological differences. Such losses may be small in number, but they leave the majority poorer. We desperately need those with such views to stay, to engage the larger church in dialogue -- to be a stone in the shoe, so to speak. As Garrison Keillor recently said, "Everyone is wrong at some time—and should be." In other words, if the church is wrong, it strengthens us to stay together and talk -- or in NTL language, continue the conversation. As long as we are all in the same room, and someone is listening on each side, then.