Wednesday 16 June 2010

Anyone care to risk a prophecy?

Predictions about the future of worldwide anglicanism are nearly always extremely wide of the mark, particularly as regards the likelihood of imminent splits and divisions. With that caveat, here are a couple of interesting pieces about possible developments, from The Midwest Conservative Journal http://themcj.com/?p=12150 and Charles Raven  http://www.anglicanspread.org/?p=313
But whatever the reaction to the Archbishop of Canterbury's recent rap over the knuckles to TEC (ECUSA - whatever) I suspect it will be much less dramatic than anticipated. Never overlook the sheer business-as- usual inertia of the structures and the leading personalities of the Anglican Communion.
Yet even if we are beginning to see something dramatic in the way of realignment, including the 'walking apart' of TEC and an attempt on its part to recruit the like-minded from other "western" provinces, we know that there is still no place in all this for traditional Anglican Catholics for whom opposition to women's ordination is non-negotiable, and for whom no acceptable provision is being made or, I think, will be made, certainly within the British Isles.
And we need to be very wary of  +KJS' recent comments in a pastoral letter on 'celtic' approaches to ecclesiology - as anti-Canterbury as it is anti-Rome. It always seems to help if you know absolutely nothing about the subject you are talking about. But since when has liberal ideology ever truly subjected itself to historical scholarship, much less to the settled mind of the Catholic Church? Some will be taken in - some very close to home - by her curious and wholly anachronistic interpretation of the Synod of Whitby, but it's about as interesting, when all is said and done, as this blog's views on oceanography.
If it happens, chaos all round may muddy the ecclesiastical waters for a while, but the choice before us is still as stark as ever.

1 comment:

  1. >>It always seems to help if you know absolutely nothing about the subject you are talking about.<<
    A good hearty laugh at that one Father. I think I am just wise enough not to risk a prophecy for once!

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