Tuesday 14 May 2013

General Synod Elections and beyond

The Conservative Evangelical, The Revd John Richardson has this to say on the subject of the General Synod elections in the dioceses of the Church of England:
"..Certainly, however, it bears out the prognosis of many (and a statement made to me by a leading Anglican theologian) that there has been an agenda: defeat the Anglican Covenant, get women bishops, get LGBT inclusion...." [The full post is here]
That the one should inexorably move on from the other should not be a huge surprise to anyone (as I'm sure it's not for John Richardson himself)  .......  but for goodness' sake, surely by now ......
Is there anyone who still adheres to that myopic view that what happens in the Episcopal Church of the U.S.A. has no relevance on this side of the Atlantic? As they say over there, get real!
Are there still those out there who deny the existence of a liberal agenda? Conspiracy theories on one side, there may not always have been in existence a fully organised liberal agenda (although there certainly is now)  but theological liberalism itself certainly does have a definite agenda to promote. The distinction in terms of the consequences for the life of the Church is ... academic.

The long-term question - and the most interesting one - is what a triumphant 'liberal agenda' will look like when it has completely captured the ecclesial institution and can no longer act as a parasite on the theological orthodoxy of the past... or blame it for present realities. 
Time will tell, and I suspect we will all live to see it. 


.......................

Someone asked a question with regard to yesterday's post (related to the post above in so many ways ...)  concerning the absence of our ecclesiastical leaders when it comes to defending the Christian heritage of the West: no, I certainly hadn't overlooked the prophetic witness of Pope Benedict XVI. 
His address to the assembled worthies in Westminster Hall during his visit to England and Scotland in 2010 bears repeated reading, in that he appears to understand British history far better than our elected representatives and contemporary cultural elite.
The tragedy is that on British soil, all too often in recent years any defence of the Judeo-Christian heritage, and those who adhere to it, has been left to the Chief Rabbi.  He has done a sterling job, but couldn't  someone wearing a mitre give him a hand sometimes?
Today is the Feast of St Matthias...

2 comments:

  1. Joseph Golightly14 May 2013 at 21:37

    The Society of St Hilda and St Wilfred seem to have decided to stay within the confines of the Church of England - or have I got that wrong? That means accepting all the loony stuff that's going to become mainstream. Is this recognisable from the faith handed down (as they like to say) or is protestantism? I really would like to know as I guess would those who have signed up - news is sparse and the male bishops involved look a little long in the tooth. So I guess the Chief Rabbi is still on his own!

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  2. Joseph Golightly16 May 2013 at 10:23

    For those of you who missed it, here is one of those bishops celebrating the Eucharist You could not make it up - I don't think it's Monty Python!

    http://vimeo.com/65010885

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