Yesterday was a dark and painful day. The writing has been on the wall for Anglican Catholics for some time but it still hurts when the knife gets twisted. How can those who promised we would ‘always have an honoured place’ now make pronouncements which they know spells an end to our ministry? How can those who publically stated that ‘those in favour of women’s ordination as well as those theologically opposed will be treated equally’ now make decisions that demand impossible compromises for those who uphold the teaching of the ages?
Naturally those exposed as makers of shallow promises at best and cynical liars at worst will claim we are not being driven out! Doubtless they will adopt sympathetic faces and wring hands in mock concern, assuring us of tender treatment. What rot and they should at least own up to what they are doing! How can we possibly remain under the pastoral care of one whose orders we doubt regardless of who they send to take or services? How can we minister as priests in representation of a bishop with whom we can not share communion on principled theological grounds? It is a dreadful reality we must now confront and I just hope generous compensation will be found following this decision which will lead to loss of home and income for my family.
So despite genuine excitement about the Ordinariate I am nevertheless gloomy. However exciting the offer from Rome, and it is exciting, there is part of me which now mourns the passing of the generous and gentle Church of England I was raised in, a church in which liberally fascism had no place and which, perversely, taught me the faith that I and my congregation are now rejected for!
But it is not all tears and angst. Praise God for a wonderful family and friends and that, compared to others, our suffering is nothing. Good company eases the soul and my anger abated as I played with my children and dined with our Director of Music in the evening. Jemima and I particularly enjoyed a session of fuzzy felt, re-creating the Annunciation in glorious techni-colour…can anyone provide good theological justification for the presence of the hound? (I allowed it as compensation for not having three horses and a circus tent!)
And that time spent pondering on Mary reminds me, and all who feel crushed by the twisting of Synod’s knife, that it is obedience to God and not conforming to the will of the majority that brings salvation and joy.
It seems to me that a possible source of the alienation from the CofE you’ve experienced is a result of the flying bishops scheme. For years now, you’ve withdrawn into your own separate group; am I right in thinking that your dealings with the people in your geographical diocese have lessened? Do you attend whatever the CofE equivalent of diocesan conventions is? How about relations with neighboring, but non Anglo-Catholic, parishes? To someone on the outside, it might look as if you had already started the process of leaving the CofE some time ago; they might not have had much of an opportunity to hear your voices on a local level, and probably felt little need to make further accommodations for a group who seemed unconnected to the life of the diocese.
I wonder if a similar source of danger doesn’t exist in the Ordinariate.
You can always move to a parish which does not have female bishops overseeing it – there are several in provinces of the Anglican Communion outside of the British Isles which are desperate for clergy.
Here’s some perspective. I was at a large dinner party last week when the issue of women bishops came up for discussion. I was the ONLY person who knew that the CofE has no women bishops. When I revealed this to the assembled multitude (all intelligent, well-read people) there were expressions of consternation and disbelief. Some were truly aghast that such a state of affairs could still persist in the national church in this century. One woman wailed, “But I thought they had had women priests for DECADES! What about the Vicar of Dibley?” Silly woman, I had to explain it all to her. Bishops live in palaces and sit in the House of Lords dear, now get back in the kitchen.
Actually whilst making use of the Act of Synod I also strive to do my utmost locally. I attend local clergy chapter, am a member of Diocesan Synod and involved in a couple of Diocesan committees. So an unfair charge Bill. As to your facts about celibacy it is not I who ask anything but the bible that reveals a standard by which Christians are called to live. And the challenges of remaining chaste within marriage are just as demanding and frustrating as a life lived as a single celibate
“…This decision which will lead to loss of home and income for my family.”
OK, I admit that from a theological standpoint I’m at a complete loss here. But is the idea of women bishops* really so abhorrent that it’s worth sacrificing the things that should really matter?
*”Good grief, Ponsonby, they’ll be allowing them to vote in general elections next!”
A. Not “a charge,” Father. I raised it as a possibility. Any idea on how typical you are of priests under a flying bishop, by the way?
B. The Bible. Please do have the honesty to own your own beliefs, and not shrug helplessly while pointing at the Bible. The Bible also says call no man “father” and to abstain from blood, but I’m willing to bet that somewhere in the UK there’s someone eating black pudding while calling their vicar by biblically forbidden terminology. Heck, they may be doing so under a celibate bishop, although the Bible clearly says that bishops are to be the husband of one wife (not *may* be, mind you). My point is that the Bible says lots of things, and simply blaming your unpopular stances on Holy Writ does your own agency and God’s a disservice.
C. “And the challenges of remaining chaste within marriage are just as demanding and frustrating as a life lived as a single celibate.” In a word, Father, malarky. Personal experience aside, if this were so, there wouldn’t be that bit about it being better to marry than to burn in the Bible, would there? St. Paul would have said something like, “Stay where you are, fellows – it’ll just be as demanding and frustrating once you get married.”
I share Paul’s perspective but the cocksure and ill-informed are unlikely to accept that there is a dimension beyond their narrow secular view.
Following the vote in favour of women priests my wife received a letter from a woman parishioner informing her that a woman could “do the job as well as any man”. Bless her, my wife replied, not “as well” but probably “better” although it wasn’t a question of whether a woman ‘could’ but whether she ‘should’.
A similar attitude was evident watching the Stephen Sackur interview with the Bishop of Fulham on HARDtalk. Sackur showed no desire to understand the bishop’s faith. Not too surprising perhaps but coming from the ‘faithful’ a similar attitude beggars belief. It will be interesting to see what effect Abp Rowan’s presidential address has on them.
Petros
Ah, dear Father, how I feel your pain and remember it well. We in America went through this whole thing too. All I can tell you is that God is still in charge, He is still our refuge and our hope and that though you are currently walking through the valley of the shadow of death (isn’t all mourning and loss a part of death) fear no evil, for God, who is all Good, is walking your path with you and all those to whom you minister in His Name.
Blessings and prayers from the other side of the pond.
They’re letting us go… that can only be good news all round. They can continue making a ‘church’ in their own image, and we can join one in His. Keep cheerful!
I know we are all afraid; I came home to rome last year and found a Church longing to recieve us back. The Church is beautiful, we need you. Come Home.