The Anglican bishop of Fulham and the chairman of Forward in Faith International has announced he will resign before the end of the year to join an Ordinariate.
Speaking at Forward in Faith’s National Assembly today, Bishop John Broadhurst, who is a senior figure in the Anglo-Catholic movement, said he intended to tender his resignation before the end of the year and join the Ordinariate in Britain when it is established. He has said that he will remain the chairman of Forward in Faith, which he says is not an Anglican organisation.
Bishop Broadhurst is a suffragan bishop of the Diocese of London. He said the Bishop of London would likely appoint someone new to fill the post Bishop Broadhurst is vacating.
He is the first senior Anglo-Catholic to announce publicly that he will join an Ordinariate when it is founded.
So it begins. And the process once started will not be stopped. Every conservative departure reduces the counter-balance to liberal action. The reduced counter-balance makes eaiser the next liberal action. Each resulting liberal action causes the departure of more conservatives thus accelerating the reduction of the counter-balance. Positive feedback ensures system implosion. Eventually the Fulcrumites are going to look to their right and discover that no one is there. Then the Fulcrumites will look to their left and realize that all those cold pitiless eyes that used to stare at FiF and Reform are now focused directly on them. The CoE is becoming TEC and who can stop it?
carl
But the Anglo-Catholics and Evangelicals didn’t agree with each other on non-negotiables like the nature of the church and the sacraments so the conservatives, divided against themselves, still would have lost.
This (Fulham going to Rome) is signficant and understandable. Truly, there is no future for Anglo-Catholics in the Anglican Communion, although many kind and good Evangelicals wish that there were. There have been many fine contributions that Anglo-Catholics have made to Anglicanism, and a rich and blessed heritage. But the current “energy” in areas of the Anglican Communion that are growing and prospering is Evangelical and Protestant.
The Holy Father has opened a door. Newman is not only beatified, but now vindicated. And little by little, more of us will follow. Just a matter of when.
I don’t understand? Why doesn’t he just become a RC? There is something twofaced in this Ordinariate notion that I find thoroughly distasteful. I might add that as an ACA member, my province has developed a passion for Roman Catholicism-in-all-but-name, and the gentlemen at the top with the funny hats are pushing this VERY hard.
Frankly, I wouldn’t touch this with the proverbial ten foot pole. Why would anyone wish to house his cattle in a barn which the owner has never been able to clean because, whatever his words, he has never wanted to. Larry
Larry Morse,
The reunification of the Anglican Church with the Universal Church is what we believe is right and it is what we Anglo-Catholics have prayed for. This is the answer God is giving to our prayers, this is the time to move.
I for one, but I am sure many others too, are praying that you and the rest of the readers of T19 and SFiF will follow us soon.
Ordinariate Bound Episcopal Priest
Larry he is just becoming a RC!!! He is merely accepting the generous offer that allows him to enter with his identity, culture and history in tact and which preserves his patrimony. The priests who follow – and I intend to be one- will also get to stay with their people which is pastorally sensitive and helps gather up the sheep so as not to leave them for the wolves who now rule the General Synod
Get with the deal it is exciting and prophetic.
What a mess – I blame Rowan and the HOB.
Mind you, the recent CofE General Synod elections indicate that there have been traditionalist gains, so the current Synod position on provision, or even on women bishops may not be a done deal at all. For women bishops to come in with no provision requires a two thirds majority in all three houses of laity, bishops and clergy to pass. Even with the last Synod the current proposals would not have achieved this. So not a done deal by any means:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11557206
I have a lot of time for Bishop Broadhurst but although he is entitled to his own view, he is perhaps overstepping the mark to say that FiF is not a CofE body. That is and probably will remain the overwhelming composition of it, although I have no crystal ball. There will be some who move, but much will depend on whether the RC’s get their act together on setting up an Ordinariate. Progress has been glacial to say the least so far, at least in the UK.
If pushed hard, the Ordinariate willl be as divisive on the right as Schori has been on the left, for it will drive members of an anglican church out when they refuse to buy the papacy and all its related nonsense. OIne cannot be Anglican and Roman Catholic at the same time. Larry
Pageantmaster, thank you for the update on the General Synod elections.
Larry, the Ordinariate is fully Catholic. It simply utilizes the Anglican liturgy and allows parishes to enter en masse. You’re right: one cannot be Anglican and RC at the same time. But that’s not what’s been proposed.
Your contention that “it [the Ordinariate?] will drive members of an anglican church out when they refuse to buy the papacy and all its related nonsense,” misses the point that an Anglican parish requesting to enter the RCC through the Ordinariate pretty much knows what it’s asking for. I can’t imagine anyone who leaves Anglicanism to become RC *doesn’t* know what that requires of him.
RE: “Your contention that “it [the Ordinariate?] will drive members of an anglican church out when they refuse to buy the papacy and all its related nonsense,†misses the point that an Anglican parish requesting to enter the RCC through the Ordinariate pretty much knows what it’s asking for.”
Anglicanum, I believe that Larry Morse’s point was that the *specific members* of those parishes which choose to enter the RCC will have to leave, if they are Anglican.
And he is right.
I don’t know that that makes it a bad decision for the parish as a whole. If the parish as a whole wishes to become RC, that’s their decision, of course. But those who are not RC within that parish will then need to find new Anglican homes.
It’s sad — but that’s what division and disunity bring, and that is what the revisionist activists seek with their different gospel.
Oh, *I* see. Thanks, Sarah.
Larry, my apologies. I misread your comment.
I’m curious — is the RCC in Britain mostly traditional and conservative? If it’s not, then those leaving the AC will find the same issues swirling about (and more) and that Rome moves very slowly on matters, as well. For their own sakes, I hope that the expectations of those leaving are modest and cautious.
Oh, and he needs to resign or be removed from the FiF chairmanship. It is not an RC institution. If he is joining the RCC, then he needs to live that reality, not use the FiF salary to make ends meet. Sorry if that sounds cold but it is what it is. I think his insistence that he needs to stay as FiF chairman because it’s not really Anglican is hypocritical. Make a clean break, sir.
He is a good man, Teatime, and has fought for those under his charge until all options have been closed uncharitably. This must break his heart, not for his new church, but for the one he was brought up in. Our loss, and those who have been so uncharitable to the Anglo Catholics, are no great shakes, in either their Christian knowledge or their godliness.
“is the RCC in Britain mostly traditional and conservative?”
Well if you read Damian Thompson you would assume he was writing about the priests of Baal, but the reality is mixed, much like our church – there are many good and Christian Catholic priests and lay people here. However what will the Ordinariate be and how long will it last? The jury is out.
I was very impressed with Bishop Broadhurst when I saw him interviewed last year. I believe he is doing what he is doing with integrity, which is more than I can say for most bishops these days.
May he and his flock go with God and prayers–were my circumstances a little different, I’d probably be out the door with them. All blessings,
B.
Pageantmaster,
I’m sorry if I sounded like I was saying he wasn’t a good person. That isn’t the case. But I do think that he needs to make this announced break fully and he does have to deal with his new reality. Part of that reality is economic — Catholic clergy are paid a pittance and it’s simply not right for him to try to keep his FiF chairmanship by insisting that it’s not an Anglican group, particularly if his motive is partially financial. When he swims the Tiber, he needs to arrive on the other shore, not flounder about in the middle of the river with an Anglican flotation device.
I’m a former RC with RC friends and family members. When this ordinariate was announced, they were indignant, saying they didn’t want our “misogynists” and “homophobes.” I don’t know what the climate is in the UK but if he and his flock think they’re going to easily navigate the issues in the RCC, they’re operating inside a Vatican bubble. And if they think they’re going to avoid heretics, then they’re not familiar with John Dominic Crossan and others like him.
May God bless them on their way.
Hold on Teatime. RC’s complaining about us being a bunch of misogynists and homophobes? Do I read you correctly? Larry
Sirs,
Some months ago I posted a comment on an article referring to a meeting which took place in the Vatican, involving the bishops of Fulham, Richborough and Ebbsfleet. I received a rather nasty comment from another person. If that person is reading this I would like to give him a raspberry. I refrain from making personal attack on Bishop Broadhurst, he is free to do as he wishes. It will be much more difficult for members of FiF in the UK to remain within the Established Church because of this and many of it’s clerical members are unable to give up their livings to follow suit, at least yet. Take the time to listen to the audio files from the FiF meeting at which Bishop Broadhurst made his announcement and then watch to see what Bishop Iker and FiFNA tell their people when they return. I suspect that North Americans will not be told the entire story. Those Anglo-Catholics, within the C of E, who do not go with the Ordinariate will find themselves in a much more precarious situation and with diminished influence. The Evangelicals, including my fellow members of Church Society, have greatly diminished influence and may find themselves faced with some rather hard decisions. I should like to hear more from Evangelicals like Dr. Roger Beckwith, but I am not holding my breath. Bishop J C Ryle pondered the question of whether a time would come when we would have to leave the Established Church. In his book Holiness there is chapter entitled Wants Of The Times, I would urge everyone to read the last two paragraphs, beginning with “In the last place,…” I feel that the current leadership of the Church of England no longer stick firmly to the Bible, the Articles, and the principles of the Protestant Reformation. The Articles have been thrown overboard and the old flag is being hauled down.
Larry, yes, you read correctly. A substantial portion of the RCC in America is very liberal and demanding change. The pope sent investigators to the seminaries and is now sending observors to the convents, as well. It would be a nightmare scenario for these folks if traditional Anglicans joined the fold.
But this is why nothing in TEC surprises or shocks me — I saw it all and more in the RCC of the ’70s. Anglicans air their laundry publicly; the RCC has the same laundry but they keep it under wraps as much as they can.
That’s the brilliance of the pope’s move. if he just said, “C’mon in as individuals and we’ll expedite the process for you,” the converting Anglicans would be thrown into the Catholic stew and simply become part of the rabble, without the comfort of beautiful Anglican liturgy. But if parishes and their leaders come over in groups, then they have each other and their beloved rites for support. Less contact with the liberal elements of the RCC; less chance of recividism.
At the end of the day Anglo-Catholics ultimately do divide along the same Reformation fault lines as all other Western Christians. Some, like Newman, are pulled more by the Catholic side of the equation and others, like Larry and me, are pulled in the Anglican direction when push comes to shove. The bishop of Fulham, like all Anglo-Catholics, does have other options. He has to go where his heart tells him, and I will respect him wherever he goes. His leadership of the Anglo-Catholic movement within Anglicanism will be sorely missed, but the Lord will provide other leaders. The Anglo-Catholic witness within Anglicanism will continue – as it did after Newman left. This impulse is as basic and genetically integral to Anglicanism as is the Evangelical impulse. There will always be those who can no longer bear the tension, and who will leave either for Rome or Geneva. But then again, there are those of us who feel just as deeply that this very basic and fundamental tension within Anglicanism is where God is calling us as post-Reformation Christians in the West. Anglicanism is a messy place, but it’s always been a messy place. Go with God +John, Fulham, go with God. You will be deeply missed, but we cannot go where you are going. God calls us to continue His work on this side of the Tiber. Rome needs our witness as profoundly as Geneva does!
#19 Teatime – I was not being critical of what you said and apologise if I gave this impression. I thought I would put in a little background. It is a tragedy that some of the sheep feel they have to go to foreign fields to find good and safe pasture they cannot find here. We have lots of bishops in the Church of England, but very few shepherds it would appear.
[blockquote]May God bless them on their way[/blockquote]
Amen