Andreas Wenzel All Things Lawful And Honest People first, then priests
Robert Paterson Church Times Consecrated bread should not be posted to communicants
“Doing this this might be motivated by pastoral intentions, but is a breach of fundamental principle”
Nicholas Henshall ViaMedia.News LLF: Listen to all the Voices
Charles Clapham Unadulterated Love Living in Love and Faith and heterosexual fragility
Janet Fife Surviving Church Alphabet Soup: A Glossary of Safeguarding
Robert Paterson decries the posting of consecrated bread to absent communicants. He writes mailing the sacred host demonstrates a serious lack of reverence for the sacrament. He does not say how often this has happened or how many clergy have done this. He ignores why that has happened – that regular communicants have, for one reason or another, been excluded from communion. In my extended neighbourhood that amounts to 40 Sundays and counting. Zoom communion on Christmas Day when only the celebrant receives and the requirement of access to Zoom and the password so plebs can watch. As long as… Read more »
The church I attend holds 2 Eucharists on a Sunday and 3 during the week, with a physically distanced congregation as well as streaming the main Sunday service. I do not know of any churches in my Deanery that are closed and do not have face to face worship. So sorry for you, Michael.
Whilst it would never have occurred to me that anyone would be committing consecrated elements to the tender care of the Royal Mail, I can’t help wondering if the Bishop’s strictures fail to see the theological wood for the accidental trees. If we start from an understanding of the Eucharist as a gift from God mediated by the Holy Spirit, intended for a shared communion, then the precise modality matters less than the means of distribution – or even consecration – by post or internet. The act of consecration is not a Harry Potterish spell, but instead – no matter… Read more »
Charles, thank you for your very good article . I read Diangelo’s book this summer too, and found the connections you made between her thesis and the LLF/Anglican church culture stimulating – they will inform my reading of the LLF book.