I don't know about you, but I am rapidly running out of things to say about all this and, equally rapidly, feeling this has less and less to do with me at all...........
from the Daily Telegraph
"Episcopal Church approves consecration of first lesbian bishop
America’s Anglican church has approved the consecration of its first openly lesbian bishop, in a move likely to worsen divisions over homosexuality.
The Episcopal Church of the USA, the most liberal province within the Anglican Communion, had been under pressure not to allow the Rev Mary Glasspool to become Assistant Bishop of Los Angeles.
Its leaders had been warned personally by Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, not to take any decisions that would deepen the crisis over sexuality within the worldwide church."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/7473035/Episcopal-Church-approves-consecration-of-first-lesbian-bishop.html
No surprise there. The only surprise left in the Anglican church would be if space were made, as promised, for the so called 'traditionalists' who have kept the faith. Some hope! Petros
ReplyDeleteForgive me as I'm just a thick, cradle Catholic but are the ECUSA deliberately trying to destroy the Anglican Communion by their actions, or is this some sort of 'this isn't the colonies anymore' show of force?
ReplyDeleteThe mind boggles and I am very sad.
As a former member of ECUSA, I believe that it doesn't really care about much but its own determination. It likes being Anglican in so far as it reflects good taste (at least at one time), a sense of respectability, and a quasi-establishment heritage. As for the Faith itself, well, that really should only be understood from the perspective of people (they would never say "man" here). The Eucharist is not about God, but about us. The rest of the sacraments should be "affirming" and "supportive" of everyone. There is no sense of repentance or the need to change--unless one actually holds the Faith, then one is just too hopelessly out of step with the "Church (of modernism)".
ReplyDeleteThere are still a few solid folks left, but they are dwindling by the minute. Most are trying to find a new home whether it be in a continuing Anglican body, a re-organized Anglicanism, the Orthodox Church, or the Roman Catholic Church through the Apostolic Constitution. Most have heavy hearts as they leave behind deeply cherished friendships and customs to go off into the unknown so as to at least keep the Faith. They remind me rather of Abram who was told go off into "a land that I will show you", not really knowing where that would be but trusting God.
Perhaps the most tragic thing I've seen in the last decade or so is that the term "Anglo Catholic" in the States no longer means what it once meant. At one time, if a parish proclaimed itself to be Anglo Catholic, one pretty well knew what it believed. It held to the full Catholic Faith within the Anglican Communion. This was both a theological and a moral profession. Nowadays, one can consider oneself to be an Anglo Catholic and accept women's ordination, ordination of practicing homosexuals, homosexual unions... the entire gamut. It may well only mean that one likes the fancy dress party during the Mass and a sense of solemn ceremonial. I've even met some clergy (much to my horror) that are of this stripe who are members of the SSC in the US.
The only sort of folk here that would in some way reflect what was the historical understanding of an Anglo Catholic would be someone who would quite boldly call himself an Anglo-papist. There are very few of these and so one ought not to be surprised at the drag queen ball of ECUSA. It will only get worse. I have no doubt that it will soon be worshipping the unicorn and the great earth mother soon in its trial liturgies.