The launch of Anglican Catholic Future will take place at a Mass on Thursday 18th April at 7pm at the Church of the Annunciation, Marble Arch. The celebrant will be the Rt Revd Stephen Conway, Bishop of Ely, and the preacher will be Fr Peter Groves, Vicar of St Mary Magdalene, Oxford.
The website is here.
The launch statement reads:
Over the past two years a number of us in the Catholic tradition who love the Church of England have been meeting to pray and think about how this Catholic identity and inheritance, mission and vision, might be celebrated and strengthened. We feel it is timely to launch this initiative to meet the challenges of our time, and in doing so our aim is to complement rather than compete with existing Catholic groupings, which is why we are deliberately adopting a network model of association.
This is our working statement. We hope you will join us in this new venture of faith.
As Anglicans from across the Church of England who have been formed and nourished in the Catholic tradition, we have established a network to help to inspire and equip clergy and laity for the work of Christian mission and ministry rooted in Catholic practice, piety and theology. By returning to the fundamentals of the apostolic faith, but without recourse to political agendas and party rivalries, we seek the renewal and revitalisation of the church’s mission and apologetic proclamation.
The Catholic identity of the Church of England has suffered a crisis stemming from a preoccupation with divisive issues. As a result the Catholic tradition in Anglicanism has become fragmented and nerveless. Many who hold this tradition dear feel that the time is right to rediscover our Catholic roots and values for the sake of the church’s witness in our land.
Following the imperatives that guided our Catholic forebears in the Church of England we will focus on
* theology
* spirituality and the life of prayer
* liturgy and worship
* vocation and priesthood
* ecumenism
* social justice.We will seek to model a style of discipleship faithful to the riches of our tradition, which encourages us to be creative and credible, imaginative and generous.
Generosity requires dialogue with other Christian traditions, especially those with whom we share a common heritage of spiritual understanding within the Western Church. Such dialogue will be pursued in an eirenic rather than a combative spirit.
We believe that the time has come for the implicit Catholic identity of our church to be made explicit. We look back to the Oxford Movement and the tradition on which it was built, and forward to the revitalisation of our church and nation as we recall our secularising culture to its spiritual inheritance.
Is Inclusive anywhere in the aims???
Well that’s exactly what the Church needs, another Catholic club! I wonder how this network will relate, if at all, to the Society of Hinge and Bracket, and whether anyone will remember that either of them existed in twenty years time.
Not being familiar with the protagonists of this new ‘Anglo-Catholic” movement within the Church of England, I am bound to wonder what is the basis of their project to renew enthusiasm for our cause. There could be two distinctly different types of ‘Anglo-Catholicism’ being promoted here. One of them – which I would whole-heartedly support – is that part of the remaining group of A.C.s who have stayed in the Church of England because of their support for Women’s Ordination – wanting to reassure us that Anglo-Catholicism is able to accommodate Women clergy and Bishops in the Church. The other… Read more »
This sounds exciting and timely. I pray for their every success.
Quite so, Sally. Where do they stand on women and sexuality? I think it is a futile exercise to launch something like this that intends to be an exercise in renewal while ignoring the two biggest elephants in the room. After all, the Oxford Movement got moving precisely because it addressed a current issue (Keble on “National Apostasy”). ACF should work out where it stands on these two burning issues of our day and declare itself – and if it has the wind of the Spirit behind it, then it will find that it may indeed become an engine of… Read more »
“As a result the Catholic tradition in Anglicanism has become fragmented and nerveless”
Already we have The Church Union, Forward in Faith, Affirming Catholicism. What does this new gathering hope to achieve other than fragmenting still further?
Hopeful that the Church has moved beyond the need to say that it is inclusive………..
I think Elizabeth is probably right bearing in mind their website advertises a day conference on the “vocation of a priest for men and women in the Catholic tradition” with, among other speakers, the Revd Lucy Winkett.
@ Fr Ron I’m not sure “pro-” or “anti-women” are useful labels to stick on a movement that seems determined (in a very un-Anglican way) to look beyond the issues that have so bitterly divided Anglo-Catholics over the last thirty years or more. But it’s probably fair to say that I can’t imagine Bishop Stephen Conway (of Affirming Catholicism fame) being associated with an “ultramontane” faction.
Fr Ron, I see that the second “Event” on the website is
Saturday 20th April 2013
Vocations Day – Living Priesthood
A day conference on the vocation of a priest for men and women in the Catholic tradition
with the Revd Lucy Winkett, Rector of St James, Picadilly, The Revd Bernard Silverman,
Chief Scientific Adviser to the Home Office
Does that answer your question?
The have picked a fine, rather under-appreciated church, for their inaugural mass.
Consider some of the names of those behind the movement, and one soon discovers that it is simply Affirming Catholicism by another name, a misnomer if ever there were one!
Benedict – I think that we may now be able to recover the usage of ‘catholic’ in the context of Anglicanism from the limitations of being defined as opposed to the ordination of women. It would be good if we could also restore ‘traditional’ as well. But perhaps you will think that a misnomer too? I struggle with those of a Papalist tendency who seek an honoured place for an alternative integrity when such would not be on offer within the Roman fold. Obedience to that church’s official position is non-negotiable. Within the Anglican fold there is room for variety… Read more »
@ Benedict ‘simply Affirming Catholicism by another name, a misnomer if ever there was one!’
Like FORWARD in Faith and Anglican MAINSTREAM then Benedict…
Contrary to Benedict’s pessimism – having now been assured that this new movement is perfectly in accord with ‘Affirming Catholicism – I would give it my utmost support, from the far-off outpost of Anglo-Catholicism in New Zealand.
Anything that will encourage Anglo-catholic openness to the 50+% of the Church that happens to be the feminine bearer of the divine Image and Likeness of God sounds authentic and welcome to me.
Prayers rising for them; may this be the start of a new Catholic Revival.
Anglican Future sounds like Anglican Past. They seem focused on the ministry of the ordained in an era where lay people will have do more. I am thinking of the Archbishop of Wales saying: “Put another way, the Church is all God’s people not just those who are ordained.” Too often Anglo-Catholicism seems stuck on priesthood and the eucharist.
I hope I am wrong.
Gary Paul Gilbert
Twisted Logic, John C. Anglican Mainstream is an evangelical movement, and thus lays no claim on catholicity. At least Fif demonstrate faithfulness to the Catholic teaching inherited from the great Churches of East and West, and is not propelled forward by secular mores and norms.
‘Too often Anglo-Catholicism seems stuck on priesthood and the eucharist’ – perhaps too much so, in the narrow lane where people like to make rules, hold power and exert control over others.
At the heart of catholic doctrine is eucharistic community and the priestly vocation of the baptized.
Behind that in the First Testament lies a priesthood of human beings as worshippers of God, celebrating the gift of life. How good it would be for this broader vision to be affirmed in fresh Anglo-Catholic emphasis on ‘world as sacrament’ and freedom of the children of God.
Thank you Keith.
Yes, I would have gone if there was a hint of serving the poor, bind up the broken hearted, setting captives free …… Perhaps that’s all bound up with the doing of social justice rather than the being of priesthood ……..
At least Fif demonstrate faithfulness to the Catholic teaching inherited from the great Churches of East and West, and is not propelled forward by secular mores and norms. Benedict, I don’t know who you are but I often ask the Good Lord to help you to stop kidding yourself. In my neck of the woods the FiF Priest in Charge celebrates the Eucharist dressed in outdoor clothing, leaves mashed up sliced consecrated bread on the paten, doesn’t use the Lectionary and waves his Bible high in the air whilst banging on about sin using any text he chooses to pull… Read more »
“not propelled forward by secular mores and norms.”
Benedict, do you have any idea how OFFENSIVE this characterization (of a Catholicism that affirms ALL the Imago-Dei, in ALL their God-given callings) is?
I (try to) dialogue w/ those who have “secular more and norms” All.The.Time. It’s *very* difficult, precisely because *I* come from a ***Gospel POV***. Don’t presume that just because we affirming Catholics have reached different conclusions than you have, that we are any more “secular” than you are.
I hope to be there, not least because this is the first launch of anything in the recent past, pace Martin Reynolds, that doesn’t seek to join some internal battle or other one the one hand or channel faith into action and regard the church as a well-motivated social agency. There are other dimensions to faith, other bonds that need breaking; other struggles than those for justice and people have other kinds of hunger which need to be fed …
Rosie, perhaps the priest you refer to is the exception that proves the rule. Your emotionally charged response stems from your frustration, I know, but traditionalists too were on an emotional see saw all the way to the November vote. The majority of Fif members, I suspect, are Anglo Catholics, though not exclusively so. It sounds like the priest you describe is an evangelical. JCF, I did not suggest you were secular. The tail is wagging the dog sometimes in respect of the relationship between the Church and Society.
Having read Rosie’s post again, I am astounded, as she seems to suggest, that she is acting illegally, both in respect of Anglican and Roman Catholic norms. As an ordained minister she is surely aware that one does not act sacramentally for parishioners in another priest’s parish without first seeking the consent of the local vicar. Furthermore, the Roman Catholic authorities, locally, would be very interested to learn of her actions vis a vis their own members. As to the point of Rosie having to travel, that can be matched by stories from any number of traditionalist laity unable to… Read more »
Benedict, Thank you for your responses. Emotions are part of our natural state of being in Christ. Witness the life of Christ on earth. I will admit to my breaking points. I will not admit to any disgrace in this. This gross disregard of Catholic celebration of the Eucharist out of respect for those who believe it to be a celebration of ‘real presence’ is offensive to many, both lay and ordained, as is disregard for the Lectionary. This is not the first time I and others known to me have encountered such problems with priests who are members of… Read more »
Have you sought to instigate, Rosie, the clergy discipline measure against this priest about whom you complain? Or is it rather a case of personal antagonism, because his views are not in accord with your own? If you think there is a case to answer, then you should take it up with the Diocesan. It is simply not good enough to level accusations against someone who is without defence on this site?
Benedict: I think you will find that Rosie is in the Diocese of Europe, and in what I recall she described as a rather out of the way part of it (apologies if I have misremembered). I suspect that this means that both pastoral and sacramental provision is rather harder to tidy into any sort of neat arrangement than it might be in the UK, and that greater flexibility is essential. Whether or not the Diocese of Europe follows the Clergy Discipline Measure in the same way as the UK C of E churches do, I am not sure, but… Read more »
Anne, You are correct. Anglo-Catholic Future may hopefully be alert to sinful alignments and the power of those who refuse to communicate openly whilst finding plenty of ways and means to cause fairly widespread discord and distress. Benedict, ‘If you think there is a case to answer, then you should take it up with the Diocesan. It is simply not good enough to level accusations against someone who is without defence on this site?’ In normal circumstances I would agree with you. However, November and pre- November ignited an unholy fire and I don’t watch souls perishing in the acrid… Read more »
I was privileged to be at the launch of Anglican Catholic Future last night. I was encouraged. It was an event of hope and confidence and of affirmation, that the future of the whole church needs to be catholic in all its fullness and wholeness. This was a non-partisan gathering with what was a palpable desire to renew a sense of confidence and energy into a tradition that is too often sidetracked and not living and propogating the gospel through the fulness of the Anglican tradition. I pray for fruit and that many will find a stronger sense of Anglican,… Read more »
I did not know anything about the Anglican Catholic Future movement, despite its having been in existence for over a year! Light and bushel come to mind! Will certainly be going to their National Conference in Southwark this September.
The problem I see with ‘Anglican Catholic Future’ is that it does not clarify if it is entirely for those commonly called liberals or if its intention is to be for liberals and traditionalists. If the latter, who are the key traditionalist bishops associated with it. I do believe that there are some things that liberal and traditionalist Catholics can do together; e.g. ensure good liturgy via the General Synod and promote Catholic prayers but I am concerned that this may be a typical Anglican fudge. Please can someone explain exactly what it is about?