Malcolm French who blogs at Simple Massing Priest has written about Aesop on the Anglican Covenant.
Paul Bagshaw at Not the same stream has written The legal fiction at the heart of the Covenant and earlier he also wrote How to mount a successful coup in Anglicanism, and even earlier there was Two conversations not talking to one another.
Lesley’s Blog has some thoughts from Jonathan Clatworthy at Is the Anglican Covenant Innocuous or a Serious Threat?
Earlier Lesley herself wrote What to write about the covenant?
And there is media coverage of the IC/MC advert:
Guardian Liberal Anglicans challenge ‘dogmatic’ Church of England covenant
ENS ENGLAND: Church groups campaign against Anglican Covenant
Ekklesia Campaign launched in C of E against ‘backward-looking’ Anglican Covenant
10 CommentsPress Release from Modern Church and Inclusive Church
11 CommentsThursday 28 October 2010
Church Groups Unite Against Anglican Covenant
Two major Church of England groups, Inclusive Church and Modern Church (formerly MCU) have joined together to campaign against the proposed Anglican Covenant.
In November the Church of England’s General Synod will be asked to approve the Anglican Covenant. Many Synod members do not realise it, but it could be the biggest change to the Church since the Reformation.
Each of the 38 Provinces in the Anglican Communion is being asked to sign it. By signing, it undertakes not to introduce any new development if another Anglican province anywhere in the world opposes it – unless granted prior permission from a new international body, the Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion.
The campaign opens tomorrow Friday, when full-page advertisements appear in both the Church of England Newspaper and the Church Times. It will continue during the weeks leading up to the General Synod debate scheduled for Wednesday 24 November, and if the draft is not rejected, but referred to the dioceses, it will continue throughout 2011.
The full text of the Church Times advert is available as a PDF file here.
Graham Kings Bishop of Sherborne has written a Fulcrum newsletter. The full title is:
The Ambiguous Legacy of John Henry Newman: Reflections on the Papal Visit 2010.
6 CommentsBeguiling and virulent, holy and vituperative, quicksilver and splenetic, charming and cantankerous: there are many sides to the character of John Henry Newman, brought out variously and vicariously in their biographies by Ian Ker (Oxford, 1988 – Catholic, scholarly and positive) and Frank M Turner (New Haven, 2002 – Protestant, scholarly and iconoclastic).
The severely critical review by Ker of Turner’s book in the Times Literary Supplement (6 Dec 2002), and consequent response from Turner, who noted that Ker was active in the campaign for Newman’s sainthood (20 Dec 2002), and then the answer of Ker, who complained of Turner ‘impugning [his] integrity’ (3 Jan 2003), intriguingly echo aspects of Newman’s own polemical interaction with Charles Kingsley, which produced his Apologia Pro Vita Sua (London, 1864). Ian Ker did not include Frank M Turner as an author in the book he edited recently, Cambridge Companion to John Henry Newman (Cambridge, 2009) but John Cornwell does draw carefully on both Turner and Ker in his Newman’s Unquiet Grave: the Reluctant Saint (London, 2010).
Newman’s beatification was the centrepiece, culmination and raison d’être of the papal visit to Britain in September 2010. His attraction and trajectory to Rome were the key part of the planning of the visit. But how would the visit be followed up? In parish or university missions, the follow up of people who come to a commitment of faith is vital and keenly arranged. What of the papal visit? Let us consider first John Henry Newman, second some aspects of the papal visit and finally the follow up to the visit…
Updated
Two articles appeared today which relate to this subject.
First, Peter Ould wrote about the problems of discovering the full election details from the dioceses. See Through a Glass Darkly.
I thought it would be interesting (with my psephological hat on) to have a look at the full returns from the recent General Synod elections, to see whether I could pick up any interesting insights on the voting patterns. The full returns are the rather long pieces of paper (handily normally produced on a spreadsheet for easy consumption) that help explain all the transfers and quotas that are used in the STV election system that the Church of England utilises for its elections. For a worked example, see here on the fabulously wonderful Elections Ireland website…
Update Peter has now published the (not quite complete) results that he has collected. See (Almost) Full General Synod Election Results. If you can help him complete the task, please respond to him.
Second, Elaine Storkey has written at Fulcrum about Who won the General Synod elections and what hope for women bishops?
2 CommentsAs the Church House machinery grinds into action, mailing out a truckload of papers for November’s inauguration of the new General Synod, it is interesting to reflect on how this new Synod will respond to some of the issues it inherits from the old. At the centre of these is, of course, the draft legislation on women bishops. Canon Simon Kilwick, chairman of the Catholic Group cautions against any tacit assumption that this will go through in 2012, since there has been a ‘shift in the landscape’ of Synod. However, there is always a shift in the landscape of synod, as change occurs after every election: older members retire, some leave for many different reasons, and others are not re-elected. What this current ‘shift’ actually represents needs therefore to be carefully interpreted…
Faith, Justice, City is a series of talks accompanied by Shadows of the Wanderer, an artwork installation by the renowned sculptor Ana Maria Pacheco at St John’s Church, Waterloo, from 29th October to 23rd December 2010.
Faith, Justice, City is a series of sermons and addresses for Advent focusing on London’s diverse resident and transient communities and the issues of faith, justice, equality and civil interaction that impact on all. Speakers include Loretta Minghella (Chief Executive, Christian Aid), Jehangir Malik (Director, Islamic Relief UK), Neil MacGregor, (Director, British Museum), Kate Hoey MP, and Rt Revd Richard Cheetham (Bishop of Kingston) . All the addresses will be given during the Sunday morning service at St John’s Waterloo at 10.30 a.m.
Accompanying this series of thought provoking sermons and addresses will be a major sculpture installation that is being shown in London for the first time, Shadows of the Wanderer, by Ana Maria Pacheco.
For more details see here about the talks, and over here about the art exhibit and associated events.
0 CommentsBishop Alan Wilson asks an important question: Anglican Covenant: a Tool for…?
I am slightly bemused when I am told some big signature project is perfectly safe because it won’t make any critical difference. If not, why bother? Is there anything worth doing instead that might make a difference? But a new General Synod is about to sign the C of E up to the Anglican Covenant, pretty much on auto-pilot, some say as much out of fear of giving offence as positive endorsement for its supposed virtues. Everyone else can then back-pedal, ignore it, even, depending on where they stand in the culture wars,
* because they fear it will spank TEC
or
* because they fear it won’t,The Covenant then joins a select number of other magnificenti in the lumber room, like the Kikuyu declaration, and life carries on. But, inquiring minds will wonder, what kind of a tool is it? What for? Whose benefit? How?
There’s a scale for assessing tools, that runs from Swiss Army Knife to Turkey Turners…
There is also provision in the article for voting on your choice of tool.
And the second article is from Paul Bagshaw who compares this issue to that of the Church of England (Worship and Doctrine) Measure 1974. The article is titled And always keep a-hold of Nurse …. He concludes:
23 CommentsAnd the relevance of this to a Covenant is:
(a) because the CofE is a State Church it has no ecclesiology – it has had no capacity to think for itself what kind of church it is and should and could be,
(b) the CofE has had centuries of training in the arts of being subordinate and acting as though it was autonomous – it exists through a sophisticated systemic exercise of willful blindness and realpolitik.
(c) The point at which it acquired the power to determine its own doctrine was too late for it to exercise such power. From the mid-1980s ecumenical agreements and the changing shape of the Anglican Communion meant that in practice it could only make definitive doctrinal statements in concert (if not uniformly) with other churches and the rest of the Communion – see, for example, the statement on Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry.
So to adopt the Covenant for the CofE would simply be to accept a new overlordship while continuing to pretend it is superior to it. It will make sure its officers are embedded in the operation of the Covenant so that nothing potentially embarrassing comes to the light of public debate. And thus it will ensure it still doesn’t have to think about its ecclesiology – what principles – actually and ideally – underlie, predispose and can be used to judge the words, structures and action of the Church of England?
The BBC Sunday radio programme has an interview with Bishop John Broadhurst. It starts about 25.5 minutes into the programme and lasts about 6 minutes. Link to it from here.
In the Observer Riazat Butt has a good summary of the overall situation on the Ordinariate and women bishops, in Exodus over women bishops: what will Rowan Williams do next?
News that fewer than 50 Anglicans are converting to Roman Catholicism has set cassocks twitching, leading to talk of an exodus and an earthquake in the Church of England and what the ramifications are for the archbishop of Canterbury, who is only ever described as besieged, beleaguered, embattled or all three…
Meanwhile, over at the Mail on Sunday Jonathan Petre has moved on to what might be the next big story, in Facing the axe: Diocese that has twice as many Muslim worshippers as Anglicans.
6 CommentsA historic Church of England diocese where Muslim worshippers outnumber Anglican churchgoers by two to one is set to be scrapped.
According to sources, the Dioceses Commission is drawing up proposals to axe the cash-strapped Diocese of Bradford in Yorkshire and merge it with neighbouring Ripon and Leeds…
The General Synod of the Church of England will debate the proposed Anglican Covenant on Wednesday 24 November.
Paul Bagshaw has recently written several articles about this on his blog, Not the same stream.
First, there was A dishonest Covenant.
In July 2007 I wrote a paper called Bouncing the Covenant through the Anglican Communion (here) which looked at the way the Covenant was to be pushed through.
In retrospect I was wrong about one thing – I had calculated that the majority of Provinces would have endorsed the Covenant by this year, 2010, so that the Church of England would be faced with a fait accompli. In fact the majority of Provinces still have to decide whether or not to accept the Covenant…
That was followed by English and Welsh Bishops.
About the English ones, he writes:
…There is a mix of loyalty (and not wanting to seem publicly disloyal) with a generation of bishops trained into the collective mould (both senses) by having individuality trained out of them: mini-princes in their own domains and courtiers on the larger stage. I’m not sure that government by nineteenth-century unaccountable autocrats was any better (and there was a different structure of checks and balances in place). However, the result today is that the bishops have become like a one-party state: divisions are kept within the club, the public face must be united. (Unless, of course, you retire to Rome, but that’s a different story.)
However that’s assuming there has been structured debate in which differences of episcopal opinion have even been aired. There was, of course, discussion at the Lambeth Conference. I’m not at all sure what debate has been had within the English college of bishops – not that I would know, you understand, one way or the other. But I am led to believe that the new Constitution of the Anglican Consultative Council – the other half of implementing the Covenant – went through on the nod.
In A richer Covenant, he discusses in detail the South African approach to the subject. He says:
The sadness from my perspective is that Archbishop Thabo Makgoba has a rich understanding of covenant and its potential, a vision I would delight in – but unfortunately it’s a vision I don’t see in the Anglican Covenant on offer today.
And finally (for the moment) he is critical of Kenneth Kearon’s action in disciplining the Southern Cone. See Utterly negative.
For background, see these pages, starting with A very un-Anglican Covenant.
1 CommentOn the one hand, The Tablet has a feature article by Abigail Frymann headed The journey begins – Ordinariates and the Church of England.
A flying bishop and a small parish in Rowan Williams’ own diocese are the first of the Church of England rebels ready to turn their backs on Canterbury and make for Rome via the special structure of an ordinariate. But could progress be stymied by salaries, pensions and buildings?
On the other hand, the Catholic Herald has Catholic Anglicans: don’t be taken in by this incoherent scheme to undermine the Ordinariate by William Oddie.
7 CommentsYou may not have noticed it (I had hardly noticed it myself) but the C of E (having with deliberation decided not to make any “special provision” for those opposed to women bishops) is currently mounting a last-minute attempt to undermine the Ordinariate for Catholic Anglicans which is expected to be erected in the New Year. This scheme (which I have absolutely no doubt has the discreet backing of the Archbishop of Canterbury) would be laughable if there were not a real possibility that it might persuade some Catholic Anglicans who are seriously considering coming into communion with the Bishop of Rome to stay where they are. They should be warned: have nothing to do with this scheme. It seems to me to be dishonest, deceitful and both morally and intellectually bankrupt.
The name of the disreputable organisation which hopes to inveigle those Anglicans seriously considering the provisions of Anglicanorum coetibus into staying exactly where they are is the Society of St Wilfrid and St Hilda. This was set up last month with the backing of 10 bishops claiming to be of Catholic mind; I can only say that I know some of these men of old and the ones I do know are about as “Catholic” in any real sense as a clockwork banana…
Updated Saturday evening
There are several reports in today’s Church Times:
Churchwardens to ask Dr Williams to discuss Ordinariate
…The Priest-in-Charge of St Peter’s, the Revd Stephen Bould, said: “It is not a vote to join the Ordinariate; the PCC can’t make that decision.”
He said that “lots” of people in St Peter’s were interested in joining the Ordinariate, but “lots are not interested.” Conversations needed to take place about how to “deliver the minimum pain and maximum gain when going along two parallel tracks comes about”.
And scroll down that same link for Reform’s new plan.
…Mr [Rod] Thomas said from the conference on Tuesday that a new society would have its own bishops to oversee those who could not accept the ministry of women bishops. “If we can work out the details of such a society, and how it fits in with the rest of the Church of England, there would be a mechanism readily available for the bishops to get through this dilemma.”
Synod fight to go on, though FiF wooed by Rome (scroll down for main story).
THE chairman of the council of Forward in Faith (FiF) UK, the Bishop of Fulham, the Rt Revd John Broadhurst, told its National Assembly that he intended to offer the Queen his resignation before the end of the year. He was resigning, not retiring.
At the meeting last weekend in Westminster, Bishop Broadhurst said: “That is to facilitate my replacement. There will be complications after January for any suffragan bishop. I have spoken to the Bishop of London. He intends to replace me.”
He said that he expected to enter the Ordinariate when it was established, but had not resigned as chairman of FiF. “This is not a Church of England organisation.” But later, if it was thought appropriate that he should stand down, there could be a postal ballot after “measured discussion”.
And this:
…It was quite possible, Prebendary David Houlding said, that a “blocking third” could be obtained in the House of Laity.
“If we must defeat it, defeat it we will,” he said. “We have no choice. We may not be successful, but in conscience we have no other choice.” It was likely that following motions would be suggested.
He did not want to claim too much for the new Society of St Wilfrid and St Hilda (News, 1 October). “It will be no use at all if it doesn’t have jurisdiction at its heart. That undoubtedly will be where the battle is. The House of Bishops is changing. The question, therefore, remains: will they recognise such a grouping of clergy in the life of the Church?”
Sacramental assurance would not be the icing on the cake, but the cake itself. The society idea might be able to guarantee it for a while if the legislation was passed. “Will the bishops who seek to lead in this society be prepared to break the rules when needed, to consecrate further bishops? If not, this society will come to its natural conclusion.”
Update
Another article which appears in the Church Times this week is not available to non-subscribers til next Friday, but it is available from another source:
Paul Vallely They have to swim the Channel before they swim the Tiber.
8 CommentsMany Roman Catholics like me look slightly askance at the prospect of disenchanted Anglican traditionalists flooding across the Tiber, and not because they will be swimming with one hand and holding their ornate thuribles aloft in the other to keep them dry.
No, it is what they say they want to leave behind which makes us wonder about what they are bringing with them. Not to mention what it is they hope to find when they get to their promised land.
Take the Bishop of Fulham’s valedictory description of the church he seems determined to quit. The keynote address of the Rt Rev John Broadhurst to the Forward in Faith assembly – despite the ‘more in sorrow than in anger’ tone in which it was delivered – contained some extraordinarily violent language. He characterised the Anglican Communion as a place of ‘lies’, deceit’ and described it at one point as ‘an evil institution’. He called it ‘myopic’ and bemoaned its ‘lack of consultation’. Later he was quoted as calling it ‘vindictive’, ‘vicious’ and ‘fascist in its behaviour’…
Today’s Church Times has two reports:
Traditionalists glimpse hope in Synod election results and scroll down the same link for Winners and losers in tougher vote.
0 Comments…Canon Simon Killwick, chairman of the Catholic Group on the General Synod, said he was “cautiously optimistic” that a solution could be reached to accommodate the traditionalists. There had been a “shift in the landscape” of the make-up of Synod. “We’re not looking to try and block things, but for some significant amendments in the legislation to make better provision for those who can’t accept women bishops.
“It seems there has been something of a shift in the membership of Synod, particularly in the House of Clergy, who blocked the Archbishops’ amendment in July, and one might speculate that the current membership would have blocked the legislation.”
He said that the creation of the new Society of St Wilfrid and St Hilda (News, 1 October) could be a “vehicle for accommodating those who can’t accept women bishops”. The idea of a society was rejected by the revision committee, but Canon Killwick said that it would not be a statutory body, but would have its own constitution, recognised by the General Synod…
Press Release from Reform
from here
October 21, 2010
REFORM PLANS RELIGIOUS SOCIETY AS ‘MODEL TO WIDER CHURCH’
Reform members have voted to back the creation of a religious society within the Church of England for conservative evangelicals who want to promote the church’s mission but are opposed to the consecration of women as bishops.
Speaking at the network’s annual conference yesterday, attended by over 170 members, Revd Rod Thomas, the Reform chairman, said: “This is a very positive move not just for us, but for the wider church. The creation of a society can both provide a model of how the church can change to become more focused on mission, not maintenance, and a way forward through the dilemma it faces over women bishops.
“Reform members are involved in innovative ways of reaching into local communities with the good news of Jesus Christ. Many are in churches with a good number of younger men and women being trained for future gospel work. We have a mission-focus which brings health and life that is good for the wider church, and a religious society would enable us to continue that focus.
“In light of the recent results of elections to General Synod, our proposal takes on even greater weight,” he added.
Revd Thomas revealed to the conference that analysis of the election results showed that over one third of the house of laity and just one member short of a third of the house of clergy would now vote against women bishops unless changes were made to the draft legislation. These figures are critical, as the legislation requires a two-thirds majority across all three voting houses (bishops, clergy, laity). If such a majority is not achieved in just one of the three houses, then the whole legislation would fail and have to be re-visited.
Revd Thomas said: “The recent elections provided the first real opportunity for grass-roots members of the Church of England to have their say on women bishops. There are many who remain firmly opposed to the idea, because the Bible says that there should be different roles for men and women both in the family and the church. For them the current proposals provide no firm guarantees, and therefore are completely inadequate. So there is now a real incentive to find a way of making appropriate provision, otherwise the whole legislation could fail. A religious society with a clear statutory role has not been fully considered, and could provide a way through.”
Although some senior figures within the church are known to be broadly supportive of the creation of a religious society, Revd Thomas said that there is “a lot of detail to be worked out” as to the exact way such a society would operate, but reckoned that within 6-12 months the framework could be clear.
– Ends –
Editors note:
Evangelical and Catholic groups on General Synod have swapped lists of candidates and analysed the results. The analysis shows that in the House of Clergy, 66 Clergy would block the current legislation being sent down to the diocese, (i.e.32.10%) and 77 laity would block the current legislation being sent down to the diocese (35.46%). Only 34% is needed to block the legislation when it returns from the dioceses. So in the house of laity a blocking minority already exists and in the house of clergy only a further 1.81% is needed, just one person.
Reform has over 1,700 members, of whom more than 350 are ordained clergy.
For further information contact:
Revd Paul Dawson, 07791 495824
media@reform.org.uk
www.reform.org.uk
An Associated Press report (here via the Washington Post) reports on the latest development in the ongoing saga of Gays in Uganda: ‘Hang them’: Uganda paper publishes photos of gays.
Episcopal Café reports that an Anglican is among those targeted, see Ugandan newspaper targets gays and Bishop Christopher Senyonjo.
Warren Throckmorton points out that the AP report obscures one angle: AP reports Ugandan Hang Them campaign, obscures status of AHB.
And he has two other reports which summarise the current status of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill: Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill one year later and One year later: Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill.
The position taken by the Anglican Church of Uganda was stated last February, and is recorded here.
11 CommentsUpdated Thursday morning
The Catholic Herald reports, Anglicans urged not to accept Pope’s offer, and there is a related Catholic News Service story, Anglican bishop announces he will resign, join Catholic ordinariate.
Damian Thompson has blogged twice in one day on this topic: see The Ordinariate has got Anglican and Catholic mediocrities seriously rattled and later, Church of England civil war looms as ‘Hinge & Bracket’ join forces with hardline Protestants to block women bishops.
The press release to which he refers was issued twice. Both versions are copied in their entirety, below the fold here, for general interest.
Ed Tomlinson has encouraged his readers to listen to the recordings of the Forward in Faith National Assembly (which we have linked previously here). He has however chosen a rather odd photo to illustrate the article. His blog article is here. The picture comes from the website of the US Holocaust Museum, here.
Update
Tim Ross at the Telegraph claims that Archbishop of Canterbury moves to flush out Anglicans plotting to defect to Rome. This refers to the comments made in the Hindu interview linked, and indeed quoted, over here.
12 CommentsAdditions made
ACNS has a report, Archbishop Rowan Williams: “Despite challenges, Anglican Communion life is strong”.
This quotes from a lengthy interview given to The Hindu Dialogue for me is recognition of the serious: Rowan Williams.
ACNS notes this quote about the Primates Meeting:
“I think that after the Lambeth Conference of 2008 many people felt that we found ways of talking to one another, and perhaps exercising some restraint and tact towards one another,” he said, “and it was very significant that at the next meeting of the Anglican primates, which was in the early part of 2009, all major Churches of the Communion were represented.
“Unfortunately, the situation does not remain there. The decision of the American Church to go forward, as it has, with the ordination of a lesbian bishop has, I think, set us back. At the moment I’m not certain how we will approach the next primates’ meeting, but regrettably some of the progress that I believe we had made has not remained steady.
“Alongside that, and I think this is important, while the institutions of the Communion struggle, in many ways the mutual life of the Communion, the life of exchange and co-operation between different parts of our Anglican family, is quite strong and perhaps getting stronger. It’s a paradox…
Some other extracts from the original interview:
13 CommentsIn your February 2010 address to the General Synod, you warned that infighting over women bishops and gay priests could split the Communion. You even conceded that, unless Anglicans find a way to live with their differences, the Church would change shape and become a multi-tier Communion of different levels – a schism in all but name. Which way are things heading on these two fronts?
I think I’ll be able to be clearer about that after the next primates’ meeting. But at the moment I couldn’t say I felt completely optimistic about that. I feel that we may yet have to face the possibility of deeper divisions. I don’t at all like, or want to encourage, the idea of a multi-tier organisation. But that would, in my mind, be preferable to complete chaos and fragmentation. It’s about agreeing what we could do together.
On both these fronts – the ordination of women priests and then Bishops, and also the ordination of gay and lesbian bishops?
I think that the importance of the ordination of women question is much greater in England than in most other parts of the Communion at the moment. Far more difficult for the Communion as a whole because of the deep theological and cultural issues involved is the question of gay clergy. I know because in the last two Lambeth Conferences women Bishops have been present. Nobody has stayed away because of women bishops. So it’s not quite the same kind of issue.
After years of debate and threatened schism in the Communion, the Church has taken a decisive and progressive step towards appointing women as bishops, with a final Synod vote due in 2012. How do you see the way forward?
I think it’s well-known that in the Church of England there is a very significant minority of people who believe that the Church of England and the Anglican Churches generally should not take a large step like ordaining women bishops without more consultation with, or sensitivity to, the other great Churches – the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. That group does not wish to stop the process towards women bishops. I think they know there’s a majority, it will happen. What they are concerned about is to find fair and secure provision for their point of view within the Church of England. That’s been the most difficult question: not whether or not we have women bishops but what will be the provision made for the minority. Now this last summer the Synod declined to accept the suggestions made by the Archbishops, and I understand their reasons. But it’s left us with quite a lot of work to try and do our best for that group as well as honouring the calling of women to the Episcopate.
Your tenure has seen fraught relations with the Roman Catholic Church. It has seen the all-but-unilateral Apostolic Constitution that the Pope issued last year, creating a new Anglican rite within the Roman Catholic Church that was aimed at Anglicans who were uncomfortable with the ordination of women and gay clergy. What are your comments on this situation? There was the newspaper headline that spoke of the papal tanks on the lawns of Lambeth Palace.
Yes, I know. I said at that time that was a nonsensical version of the story. I was very taken aback that this large step was put before us without any real consultation. And it did seem to me that some bits of the Vatican didn’t communicate with other bits. Overall it seemed to me a pastoral provision for certain people who couldn’t accept where the Church of England was going, a pastoral provision which didn’t in itself affect the relations between the two Churches, between mainstream Churches. But it caused some ripples because I think there was a widespread feeling that it would have been better to consult. There were questions that could have been asked and answered and dealt with together. And as this is now being implemented, we are trying to make sure that there is a joint group which will keep an eye on how it’s going to happen. In England, the relations between the Church of England and Roman Catholic Bishops are very warm and very close. I think we are able to work together on this and not find it a difficulty.
See earlier report, Reform, Anglican Mainstream and the Society of St Augustine.
Odd that the picture on the Society site is quite surely St Augustine of Hippo, not St Augustine of Canterbury. And as noted, the registrant is Chris Sugden and Anglican Mainstream.
Conservative Evangelicals now appear to be pushing to have their own provisions in connection with women bishops.
John Richardson blogged And now — a Conservative Evangelical ‘Flying Bishop’?
And, today, Julian Mann blogged REFORM SOCIETY MUST GROW OUT OF OXBRIDGE
Reform chairman Rod Thomas’ enthusiasm for a new Conservative Evangelical Society was manifest at the national conference at High Leigh, Hertfordshire yesterday.
God willing, the plans will come to fruition and a Reform Society with its own bishops will emerge to preserve and promote Conservative Evangelical ministry within the Church of England.
But this is not entirely new, see the following items from last July:
Reform Rod Thomas Where Now On Women Bishops?
…If the draft measure is eventually approved in something like its present form, the clearest warning bells will be ringing for us. It may be that we will be able to make use of arrangements under the Code of Practice but at the very least it seems likely that some of our best young men will be put off offering themselves for the ordained ministry in the Church of England. If that happens – if the tap is turned off – then new incumbents for our churches will be harder and harder to come by and the future of our churches will be called into question.
Our response to this must be twofold:
i. We must encourage people to keep offering themselves for the ordained ministry for as long as it is possible. Hopefully they will be able to have a life-time of service in the Church of England. But if not, they will be no worse off when they make a move than if they had never entered. This will particularly be the case if we are able to use the time now available to us to forge closer links between our churches.
ii. We must forge closer links with one another. As the future looks increasingly uncertain, we need to bring the issues to our congregations now and then get PCC backing to the idea of linking up with other like-minded churches in a close fellowship. If more difficult times lie ahead, we need to support one another. One way of doing this may be to create a ‘Society’ within the Church of England, focused on mission, with its own bishops providing support and encouragement.
It could even be that if such a Society were to come into being, the House of Bishops might recognise it as a place where separate episcopal oversight could operate when the Women Bishops Measure comes in. We will be actively exploring this possibility in the months ahead.’
Cranmer’s Curate Julian Mann NEED TO MOVE FAST ON REFORM SOCIETY.
14 Comments…But there is no practical reason why the Society, made up initially of a group of around 20 GAFCON-supporting churches, should not be set up before 2012. There are existing bishops in the UK who could already provide episcopal oversight for clergy and churches in the network, but it would be advisable to arrange for the consecration of some new conservative missionary bishops to serve alongside them. That would be a clear demonstration that the new Society means business.
The situation is patchy in the Church of England. If the new bishops consecrated are licence holders, their diocesans may move against them; some may turn a blind eye; others may invite them to join the senior staff for a civilised luncheon at the bishop’s favourite hostelry…
Updated again Wednesday
The Guardian sent Stephen Bates to investigate, and his written report is headlined Church of England parish sings battle hymns as it plans move to Rome.
The BBC sent Robert Pigott and his video report is headlined Kent church to convert to Catholicism over women bishops row.
The BBC headline is misleading, for as Stephen Bates notes (emphasis added):
…His congregation heeded his advice, but Bould himself came out, clad in a cassock, to explain that the PCC’s decision had not been put to the congregation and he did not know how many would go over to Rome. Nor did he know what would happen to the 150-year-old parish church, or the school. “It would be wonderful if it were possible for people to continue to worship in this building,” he said…
What the PCC did say to the congregation can be read here.
At its meeting on September 28th, 2010, the Parochial Church Council of Folkestone St Peter unanimously requested the parish’s churchwardens to write to the Archbishop of Canterbury, our diocesan bishop, in order to arrange a meeting with him about the wish of many of the PCC and the congregation to join the English Ordinariate of the Catholic Church when it is erected. The PCC is anxious that this should be made as easy as possible, not only for them, but for the diocesan family of Canterbury that they will regretfully be leaving behind.
Updates
Not to be outdone, the Telegraph sent along its new religion correspondent, Tim Ross who produced The cracks are now showing in the Church of England.
And the Guardian has another view of the vicar of St Peter’s, see Viv Groskop Leave, with my blessing.
41 CommentsUpdated Monday afternoon
There was a lengthy discussion of the stories about St Peter’s Folkestone and Bishop Broadhurst on this morning’s BBC radio programme, Sunday.
The item runs for about 5 minutes, starting about 5 minutes in.
Listen to it via this link.
Earlier press reports gathered in this article.
Those who are interested in understanding how the ordinariate is supposed to work may find this link useful Complementary Norms for the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus
Church Mouse asks Is Bishop John Broadhurst ineligible to join the ordinariate? And he adds:
For what it’s worth, Mouse’s view of Bishop John Broadhurst’s speech at the FiF annual gathering, in which he announced his intention to join the ordinariate, is that it is in breach of the Clergy Discipline Measure. Bishop John said, “I don’t feel I have any choice but to leave the Church and take up the Pope’s offer. The General Synod has become vindictive and vicious. It has been fascist in its behaviour, marginalising those who have been opposed to women’s ordination.”
Does a bishop in the Church of England to describe the governing body of that church as vicious, vindictive and fascist qualify as “engaging in conduct that is unbecoming or inappropriate to the office and work of the clergy”?
Bishop Edwin Barnes has written When ’Tis Done, Then ’Twere Well It Were Done Quickly.
And even Bishop Jack Iker had something to say about it.
Once again, the links to audio recordings of the entire FiF Assembly are over here.
Updates
George Pitcher has written Why the Bishop of Fulham’s departure for Rome isn’t just about women bishops
The Mail Online has joined in though it has a problem with spelling, see Defecting bishop brands Church of England vicious and fascist in bitter row over plans to ordane women
Andrew Brown drew attention in a recent Church Times press column to a much earlier use of the F word by Bishop Broadhurst, in the New York Times. See Tensions Linger Between Pope and Anglicans.
22 CommentsSome traditionalists are drawn to the Roman Catholic Church’s top-down model. “The trouble with the Anglican Church is that it has adopted a parliamentary model and one that presumes change and presumes everyone can have a say,” said the Rev. John Broadhurst, a traditionalist Anglican. “I think it’s become a kind of fascist democracy.”
Readers of the article by John Richardson linked earlier today, on Why has Reform failed? may wish to follow his argument further and also read Why Resolution C is still the issue for REFORM.
He concludes (emphasis added):
I wonder, though, whether our Evangelical leadership has actually grasped this point? My impression is that whilst they have rallied to the ‘cause’ of proper provision, they have not grasped the small print of what this would mean in practical terms — basically that they will have to do in a few years time what they have resolutely not done for the last decade and a half.
Meanwhile, watch this space. It is where the equivalent of the Society for St Wilfred and St Hilda will soon emerge. No prizes, but is that Canterbury or Hippo?
An examination of the internet records for http://www.saintaugustinesociety.org shows that it is registered to Chris Sugden at Anglican Mainstream.
14 CommentsUpdated Sunday evening
The Church Times has a report Sydney synod defies Tribunal decision by Muriel Porter.
THE diocesan synod in Sydney has reaffirmed its 2008 decision to permit deacons to preside at holy communion, despite the recent majority decision by the national Church’s Appellate Tribunal that diaconal presidency is unconstitutional.
The synod rejected several attempts to amend a motion, brought by a Sydney regional bishop, Dr Glenn Davies, which “noted” what it described as “the advisory opinion” of the Tribunal but reaffirmed the 2008 motion that the Tribunal declared unconstitutional…
…Since 2008, Sydney diocese has implemented a permanent diaconate, ordaining clergy to the priesthood only when they become parish rectors. Assistant clergy and chaplains remain in deacon’s orders. The 215 active deacons in Sydney constitute just over one third of the licensed clergy, and are increasingly leading new congregations and church plants.
There are also reports on the finances of the diocese. A further Church Times report is subscriber-only until next Friday, but instead there are these accounts:
Church of England Newspaper Mixed report on growth and income given to Sydney synod
…The archbishop told the Synod the diocese was still reeling from the effects of the global financial crisis and the “financial issues are grave.”
“In round terms, it seems possible that the amount of money available” he said “to support diocesan works in the next few years is going to be reduced from the $7.5 million of 2010 to something like $4 million.”
The cutbacks in diocesan spending in 2008 were “only the beginning,” he said and warned that parishes might be asked to pick up a larger share of the diocese’s expenses in the years to come…
Sydney Morning Herald Anglicans warned church is on its knees
The Anglican Church in Sydney is in diabolical trouble. Already battered by the global financial crisis, the diocese is planning further savage spending cuts.
The archbishop, Peter Jensen, told the annual synod on Monday: “The financial issues are grave…”
Update
Here is the official Sydney diocesan version of the story about the tribunal decision: Sydney resolute on deacons celebrating Lord’s Supper.
15 Comments