Christopher Howse in the Daily Telegraph had this to say about the papal announcement on the Tridentine Mass: The facts about a misreported Mass.
David Bryant in the Guardian wrote about Jean-Paul Sartre in Face to faith.
In The Times Stephen Plant writes about Simone Weil in A passionate companion on the path to religious truth.
And for a bonus article, here is an extract that the Guardian reprinted from Stephen Bates’ new book, God’s Own Country: Tales from the Bible Belt. The piece is entitled Thou shalt not judge.
The thing is, the Executive Board has no real power in these things. There was an attempt at General Convention 2006 to kick the Windsor Report down to the Executive Board (Frank Griswold made that comment at a press conference) until the TEC leaders were reminded of their own statements that only General Convention speaks for the entire church. The Executive Council can make recommendations, but their recommendations do not carry the weight of a Diocesan Council’s resolution. The Executive Council will take power if they are handed it by Diocesan Councils. Conservative or Liberal Dioceses should be very wary… Read more »
bb I think you may have meant to comment on another article, namely this one:
http://www.thinkinganglicans.org.uk/archives/002514.html
and I assume that you mean to say “Executive Council” not “Executive Board”.
“I set out early, driving through the early summer morning heat, across the flat farmland of Alabama shimmering in the haze, through villages of neat bungalows and trailer homes, past barrack-like churches, fenced-in social housing estates like prison camps and deserted gas stations.”
I’m sure this “Southern Gothic” exoticism will help sell Bates’ book in the UK, but this side of the Pond, “wha’ ah dodeclaire …”, it sounds cheesy! ;-/
Stephen Plant’s write up about Simone Weil was interesting. It never ceases to amuse me how people can hate the Jews whilst imagining that God loves other theologies. Some of the grudges against the Jews come from newer religions who are offended that their prophets were not acknowledged or mistreated by some Jews. One of my challenges to God was that given the same circumstances, some Christians would make the same choices that the Pharisees made when confronted with Jesus. (History has proven me right on that point). There’s no point hating the Jews, they are our older siblings. They… Read more »
The Church IS Catholic it is one of the ‘marks’ of the Church. Catholic NOT RC. RC is limited , partial — er Roman hardly Catholic in and of itself.
Those who lazily misuse the word ‘Catholic’ as a synonym for the RC denomination sow confusion.
‘Quaker Faith & Practice : a Book of discipline’ ( publ. Friends’ House,Euston, London, UK) is very helpful and clear on this.
Ritual is a poor substitute for spirituality. Note the word substitute.
I found the readers comments and discussion following the Bryant piece fascinating and some very helpful to me, in considering the issues, in my somewhat halting way.
“Ritual is a poor substitute for spirituality. Note the word substitute.”
Is this a statement of your own belief, or a criticism of that of others? I
I believe that I have found ritual to be a poor substitute for spirituality in my own life. I notice that those who are obsessed with ritual matters, have little energy or mental space left to engage with real life and real people. I notice that the anti-gay ritualists spend time and money rushing round thw world, while people need food, shelter and protection (Darfur …). I’d love to see the’primates’ show up at Darfur and do a mass sit down demanding protection for the people. Risking there own lives for others. But no–they are offended that Robinson has opened… Read more »
Ritual can be as filled and as empty as those participating in it.
At its best it gives the space for deep spirituality, at its worst it becomes a meaningless substitute for true engagement.
“I notice that the anti-gay ritualists spend time and money rushing round thw world, while people need food, shelter and protection” My whole introduction to the “liberal wing” of Anglicanism came through a group of Anglo-catholics whose faith is solidly Incarnational, who do not a tall fit the stereotypes of the faithless liberal, and whose whole spiritual life is ful of ritual, symbolism, and the mystical. It is this that informs their social action, and they are VERY active in social justice issues. The ritual and symbolism serve as means to enter more deeply into Christian truth and to put… Read more »
Sorry folks I wasn’t very clear. I confused two ‘rituals’ I think. I had in mind those who make a ritual of being anti-gay, and go rushing round the world trying to put a stop to gay folks’ emancipation. I wish they rush round the world helping those in obscene poverty and war zones. It’s shocking they wanna put a stop to homosex— in fact, even homo rels (relationships). It is the false priorities that shock me. People are dying. My other point was about the dangers of ritual, cultus and special priesthoods in relation to the divine. I believe… Read more »
“I am not convinced that the anglican churches as a whole have not subsituted rituals for spirituality”
True, and rules get substituted for spirituality as well. It’s something to ponder that the Anglican groups that most insist on adherence to rules are the same ones that are at best disturbed by, and more often angry at, anything that suggests the supernatural, at least anything supernatural that happens in the Post-Biblical era. It is perhaps telling, though, that the supernatural creeps back in in some very nontraditional ways.