The Revision Committee for the CofE's General Synod has submitted a response at their third meeting (below) that should give clarity about what the response should be from those who have been singing the Anglo-papist song of joy towards Pope Benedict XVI and words of desire to be reunited with the Holy See. My greatest concern is for clergy and laity to want to run from the CofE to Rome because of the issue of women bishops. That should not be the reason nor should the reason be that some feel unwanted or unloved and the Holy Father's option is a better one than the Revision Committee's below. There is a lot of talk about orders and sacramental ministry etc. But surely, we can all humbly understand that the structures Anglo-Catholics have set up in the CofE and the clear structures that they wanted due to the arrival of women bishops can also be turned on clergy within the CofE about sacramental assurance for Rome!What I came to conclude is that it would have been totally unacceptable in Catholic theology to have structures set up that would allow for bishops to not be in communion with one another. That is totally an absurd thought when it comes down to questions of real ecclesiology. For me, I think it came down to a question of soul-searching honesty about whether or not what the Catholic Church claimed about herself and the authority she carries as the Church established by Jesus Christ was true or not. It's not really a question about how much patrimony one can take over or women priests and bishops, or even human sexuality. The Catholic Church can easily handle all those issues. The real question that must be answered is, 'Is it TRUE what the Catholic Church says about herself and is her teaching the living faith of Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour?' If the answer is 'YES' for any Anglo-Catholic then there is not a lot more soul-searching that needs to be done. What must happen is the dawning of some swimming trunks and a leap into the Tiber to swim across, towels awaiting on the other side.
Journeys take time to plan and the water is a bit cool this time of the year but there are wetsuits for that too. There will be hard decisions for many to make and the possibility of great costs to be had but didn't Jesus tell us all that unless we take up our cross and follow him we cannot be his disciple? I know there is fear involved and a lot of uncertainty; believe me, I've lived it and in many ways continue to live it. But what I do not live with anymore whatsoever is ANY question about who I am going to receive this morning in the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist. No doubts!! And there are no doubts about the call to live a holy life and when we fail and take ourselves to the Sacrament of Reconciliation there is no doubt at the words of absolution. None! But looking for comfort and security in something like what is written below leaves me with nothing but doubts. Now is the day for decisions and now is the time to follow the words and prayers that have been prayed for so long because the Holy Father is calling his children home to security and love. It is past time for the Protestant Reformation to be over and it is time for the Catholic Church in this beautiful land of England and all over the world to become strong and united in the message of love and forgiveness offered by God in his Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ! That is our mission, not committees of revision; leave those dull things to those who live for such things. Here is an example.
Personally, I cannot imagine spending one day doing what this last paragraph calls for. To be honest, reading it gives me the feeling of a heavy yoke being put around one's neck. I recall the resounding statement, 'we want to get off the battlefield and onto the mission field' being spoken so often. Well, the gate is wide open to the mission field, may many put their hands to the plough and never look back!The Revision Committee met for its third scheduled meeting yesterday (13 November) since 8 October (see earlier statement). It concluded a substantial exploration of ways in which the draft legislation could be amended to enable certain functions to be vested by statute in bishops who would provide oversight for those unable to receive the episcopal and/or priestly ministry of women.
After much discussion, the members of the Committee were unable to identify a basis for specifying particular functions for vesting which commanded sufficient support both from those in favour of the ordination of women as bishops and those unable to support that development. As a result all of the proposals for vesting particular functions by statute were defeated.
The effect of the Committee’s decision is therefore that such arrangements as are made for those unable to receive the episcopal ministry of women will need to be by way of delegation from the diocesan bishop rather than vesting.
There remain important issues for the Committee to determine at its forthcoming meetings over the shape of the proposed legislation in the light of this decision, in particular whether to retain a statutory code of practice or adopt the simplest possible legislation.
The work of a Revision Committee in scrutinising draft legislation, and in considering submissions to amend it, is only part of a longer legislative process. The Revision Committee on this draft legislation will report to the full General Synod at the conclusion of its work and the Synod will debate its proposals and have its own opportunity to support, amend or invite further reconsideration of the legislation by the Revision Committee. Further stages in the legislative process would require consideration of any legislation by the Diocesan Synods of the Church of England, final approval by the General Synod, Parliamentary approval and the Royal Assent.
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Article in the Sunday Telegraph today
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/6569694/Snub-to-traditionalists-over-women-bishops.html
Fr David Houlding, a member of the Archbishops' council and a leading traditionalist, said many would now leave.
"This is a great piece of wickedness," he said. "The committee knew what was needed and have refused to provide something that will hold the Church together. "This forces people out of the Church who otherwise would have stayed. We didn't want to go to Rome, but now have been left with no choice."
Comment from me on this last sentence of Fr Houlding's comment:
If they really didn’t want to go to Rome then why go now? Either people go to Rome for positive reasons because they want to become Catholics lock stock and barrel, pure and simple – they can’t go as a last resort because they think the Church of England leaves them no choice and they go rather grudgingly with their hearts not 100% fully in it. They will be square pegs trying to fit into round holes, always wishing they could be both Catholic and Anglican (an oxymoron, perhaps?) - one cannot now be both at the same time
Well they can't be Catholic and C of E at the same time, or Catholic and TEC at the same time, or Catholic and X continuing group at the same time. But they can be now, if they want, the true successors of the Catholic Church in England before the Henrian/Elizabethan schism, what they always tried to say they were before, but weren't. So in that sense they can be Anglican and Catholic; that is what the ordinariate is meant to be. They have to assent to Catholic doctrine, but they can have their own ethos.
People become Catholics for all sorts of reasons. Some do it just because they are marrying a Catholic, yet when they are instructed they can become enthusiastic Catholics. Whatever reason drives them in that direction, at some point they have to move from reacting against some previous situation, (or from just being willing to please a spouse) towards positively accepting the teachings of the church. Many people are able to take this step. Let's not despair too quickly that these people will do so.
Susan Peterson
Thank you Jeffrey for this cleat annalysis of the situation.
Nick - Fr Houlding's comments are deeply disturbing: if he didn't want to go to Rome, on what basis can he justify doing so as a last option. SSC is supposed to be committed to unity with the Holy See, if the Master General feels like this then many of us will need to rethink membership!
It's worth re-reading Susan's post (eulogos). Embedded in her plain explanation is the reality of evangelism and what it means to be (or become) Catholic. Wish I'd said it. :)
Prebendary Houlding's bitter statement gives the lie to decades of hogwash used in the General Synod and elsewhere about legislation that would impede ecumenical relations with Rome. This is now proved to be little more than a political ploy. Despite the widespread use of the Roman Missal (including reciting the name of the Pope in the Canons), prayer for unity, jollying up to local Catholic priests and parishes, Anglo-Catholic pilgrimages to Rome and so on few had any desire to become Catholics but preferred their own confected version of Roman teaching.
I have observed Houlding's career from the start as a curate of St Alban's, Holborn, to the present as vicar of All Hallows', Gospel Oak, and my original opinion that he is a fool has been vindicated. When the time comes for him to make a decision to stay or leave the Church of England he will be challenged with these words by Rome and Canterbury and, unless he rescinds them, his reception into the Church might be jeopardised. The only service he has done during the present crisis is to have exposed the brittle shallowness of many who hold residual Anglo-Catholic views. Those who meant business left en masse seventeen years ago.
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