'Then they came for me...'

It seems that Bishop Mark Lawrence of the Diocese of South Carolina in the U.S.A. (TEC) is being hauled up on charges of  'abandoning the Communion of the Episcopal Church.'
See the full report from TitusOneNine here
Revealingly, one of the accusations seems to be that he has refused to instigate litigation against a parish which has voted overwhelmingly in favour of leaving the Episcopal Church.
Read the list of indictments against him and be appalled at the workings of the totalitarian mind.

It would seem to be high time that the many sympathisers and apologists for The Episcopal Church this side of the Atlantic (some in very high places) asked their friends to call off the attack dogs before it is too late. This latest attempt to crush opposition by Presiding Bishop Shori and her advisors certainly adds, shall we say, a certain piquancy to the Archbishop of Canterbury's recent but already notorious comment that women bishops will help in 'the humanising of the ordained ministry.' * [Pause for hollow laughter]
If this attempt is allowed to succeed, the contagion of revisionist-inspired persecution will spread far beyond the febrile atmosphere of The Episcopal Church - with what consequences who can predict?

Those true Anglican liberals (rather than the radical ideologues who appear to be running the show across the pond), who have no wish to be part of a Communion which has effectively expelled those of a conservative and catholic theology from its midst, would do well to recall the words of Pastor Martin Niemoller:
"...Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me"
Because the rate of theological change is such, the retreat from orthodoxy so rapid, that even today's liberals will  end up as tomorrow's conservatives.

[* These are the Archbishop's offending words ending his closing address to - inevitably - a conference on women's ministry; some might think this an extremely dangerous argument if, indeed,  we are meant to take its implications seriously and this wasn't just + Rowan playing to the gallery:
"And above all try and hang on to that sense, that in arguing for and working for the full inclusion of women in the ordained ministry of the church, what we’re after is not simply justice, though that’s not exactly insignificant, but we are after the humanising of the ordained ministry and all that that might mean in terms of mission and the health of Christ’s body."]


On a happier note - for Our Lady of the Rosary, this is the Magnificat by Andrea Gabrieli




Today, of course, as a card I received a few days ago - many thanks - reminded me, was originally the feast of Our Lady Of Victories, commemorating the victory of the Battle of Lepanto .
The card also contained the following highly relevant and necessary prayer (of St John Bosco?) For those who think that, as Twenty-first Century Christians, we should have outgrown such language, see above ......

 O Mary, powerful Virgin, Thou art the mighty and glorious protector of the Church; Thou art the marvellous ‘Help of Christians’; Thou art terrible as an army in battle array; Thou alone hast destroyed every heresy in the whole world. In the midst of our struggles, our anguish, and our distress, defend us from the power of the enemy and at the hour of death, receive our souls into Paradise. Amen.