It is a very unsettling and nervous time for Anglo-Catholics as we look to an uncertain future with trepidation, excitement and fear. Clearly the landscape we occupy is changing and we need to discern, above all else, the voice of God. Today that voice came to me through a comment left on the blog which is spoken with love and by one who, it seems to me, has the eyes to see what is really going on for us. I print it in full and thank its author from the bottom of my heart- brother your words arrive as manna in the desert, feeding us at the most difficult of times:
How absolutely silly some of this is, so many commenting upon an internal matter of St. Barnabas parish. I need to apologize immediately as I’m not part of St. Barnabas parish either, but I would add my two cents as well.
There is a definite “Romo-phobia” in many of the comments of outsiders that I think largely motivates such ignorant and petulant comments. I am not a Roman Catholic priest, but an Orthodox one so I understand that I have different concerns related to the papacy (although I would be disingenuous if I said that of late I’m also considering the Tiber).
I grew up an Anglo-Catholic in a very traditional parish in the U.S., and like most US Anglo-Catholics, I was deeply committed to the English Missal variety of worship. I still am for that matter. But I could no longer remain in TEC (ECUSA at that time actually) and had to leave. I believed I had a vocation to the priesthood so Rome was not an option at that time. England is now experiencing much of the continuing disintegration that we experienced in American Anglicanism (that looks rather odd doesn’t it?). And Father is right in one. There is no longer a way to remain a Catholic within Anglicanism if the Synod measure passes for women in the episcopate. That is axiomatic.
But Father is a parish priest and pastor of a parish, and he wisely is trying to prepare his people for possible futures. Options are never equal and so Father does not need to try and put forward the option A more “fairly”. Frankly, that’s a dreadful option and one that will lead to a couple of heretical disorders. One of them is certainly a sort of parochial Nestorianism that separates a local parish’s beliefs and worship from its diocese. (May I say that this is another reason that I felt obliged to leave Anglicanism these years ago? It seems to me to have become institutionalized compromise and congregationalism. If that is unfair, please remember my experience was in the US, perhaps English experience is different.)
I applaud Father Edward’s courage and foresight to speak openly to his parishioners about these concerns. He is also trying to point out where he is personally going–that is a matter of honesty. If he has the convictions that this is the best direction to travel, then why would he not also say that to those to whom he ministers? To not do so would be scandalous. To not do so would reveal the heart of a hired servant rather than that of a shepherd of souls. He truly has the heart of a priest. I also take well (in another one of his entries) the critical distinction between being a “minister” and a “priest” as regards a future Evangelical Anglicanism.
I have thought that the Catholic movement within Anglicanism was gone. As my rector said to me years ago, “The dream was beautiful, but it has died in the morass of the reality of Anglicanism.” I am only surprised that more of the clergy are not also trying to press the faithful on the the fulfillment of what we always believed our ultimate dream was. Will it necessarily differ from what was experienced within Anglican sphere? Yes indeed. I am thankful that I have not had to endure the obstinacy and politically correct directions of diocesans as I tried to lead the faithful to salvation. There will also be some deep challenges, and I believe that Father Tomlinson has those in mind.
But I shall end (and end my intrusion in a private arena) by saying that we should support Fr. Tomlinson and St. Barnabas parish in their discernment. We should allow them the quiet and prayers needed and not add extra comments in the discussion. They will have their own concerns and I’m certain they will be discussed and considered within the parish. We all ought to recognize that this cannot really be a democratically voted discernment. Each parishioner will have to take a stand personally. This is about finding home when the one that one has known heretofore has been burnt down, set ablaze by modern Thomas Cromwell’s.
God bless you Father. You and your parishioners have the prayers of this Orthodox priest as you seek God’s will and His home.
Fr. John
And from this cradle Catholic, you and your parishioners will be in my prayers.
And know, Fr. Edward, that your Catholic brothers and sisters will be waiting for you all with open arms. We will be waiting, no matter how long it takes.
There may indeed be a certain amount of ‘Romo-phobia’ in some of the comments.
However:
(1) Admirers of said Rome never seem to appreciate that such ‘Romo-phobia’ includes principles. For example, it is over and again alleged that ‘Romo-phobes’ are ‘anti-Pope’. So they are – but that is because they attach a higher value to liberty.
(2) Such ‘Romo-phobia’ seems rather small compared with the mountains of ‘Anglicano-phobia’ regularly dished out on this and other similar blogs.
I would argue that this site attacks what is happenig to Anglicanism, and the shoddy treatment of Catholics, as opposed to Anglicanism in and of itself…but if guilty apologies
John is always honest about where he is “coming from”, whatever else one might say, and his expression of this honesty has surely never been more concise or revealing. Still, given the enormous disparity in ecclesastical communties in age and extent – Evelyn Waugh remarked that even at its most imperial extent Anglicanism was still “national” or “provincial – surely the RCs spend less than a minimum of time considering the (mis)fortunes of Anglicanism, which are manifestly self-inflicted, and cannot be blamed on the traditional “Romish Menace”, however comforting that old scapegoat might be.
I was born and brought up in the C of E – a Prayer Book (village Sarum?) believer. When the first priestess appeared, I left. I tried the Continuers – and found them splitting almost as soon as started, they were not The Church. I became Orthodox – blessed to the Western Rite – authorised by the Russian Synod in 1870 specifically for us here in England. Now I head the Western Rite Orthodox missions beginning here in England – directly under the Primate. I have a Bishop who is the best bishop that I have ever had – we are at one in theology, morality and ecclesiology – I am at peace in a Church with which I am wholly at one. I pray that St. Barnabas can find such peace.
Fr. Michael
frmichaelnw5 – at – gmail.com