St Willibrord (c. 658 – 7 November 739) is honoured today with an optional memoria, or lesser commemoration, in the Anglican & Roman calendars. He was an Anglo-Saxon from Northumbria, a monastic disciple of St Wilfrid, who was sent to bring the Gospel to the pagan tribes of Frisia. He is counted as the first Bishop of Utrecht.
He has also been adopted as the patron of the relationship between Anglicans and (most of) the Old Catholic Churches of the Union of Utrecht [here] who broke with Rome after the definition of papal infallibility at the First Vatican Council.
I'm sorry to harp on about this, but, having recently been taken to task, from a protestant perspective, over a perceived preoccupation with ecclesiology at the expense of 'genuine' faith, the history of those Churches which are still members of the Union of Utrecht would seem to bear out the observation we have making here that once you remove the central teaching authority of the Church and the surrounding society becomes 'post-christian,' (or neo-pagan, whatever you prefer) the conditions are created where a synodically-governed ecclesial body loses its grip on doctrinal orthodoxy, apostolic order and moral theology. The presenting symptom (as the Polish National Catholic Church recognised in 2003 when it left the Union) is always the ordination of women.
Just saying...
good call.
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