The Catholic group in the Church of England’s General Synod has called for traditionalists to stay, claiming that they have the numbers to ensure provisions for objectors to women bishops.
Led by Canon Simon Killwick, the group claims that a reshuffle in the Church of England’s legislative body means that Anglo-Catholics and evangelicals could successfully oppose legislation on women bishops in 2012 unless it is amended to meet their demands.
They hope to establish a rival organisation to the Personal Ordinariate offered by the Pope, through which Anglicans can convert in groups while retaining their distinctive patrimony and practices, including married priests.
[blockquote]claiming that they have the numbers to ensure provisions for objectors to women bishops.[/blockquote]
…FOR NOW.
How incredibly comforting. /sarcasm
There must be a special grace that enables them to keep whistling in the dark. (Or is it just a stubborn streak of old-fashioned knee-jerk anti-Catholicism?)
I never thought there was that much knee-jerk reaction against RCs until this whole thing came up. I was shocked– shocked, I tell you!
Ian, and RCs are not constantly spewing vitriol on Anglicans? I have tried for years to be friends with RCs, but can no longer stomach the abuse. The ones–every single one I have known–is not interested in uniting around Christ unless it means bowing at the feet of the Pope. There is no give and take, and constant take.
I welcome the efforts of the Catholic wing to remain catholic without losing their catholicity in Rome.
3. Ian, I wont rehearse what I have written here on T19 in the past, but suffice it to say that the constant anti-Catholicism I found among Anglicans is what eventually turned me back to the Catholic Church. Except for a few of us Catholics who comment online, almost no Catholic gives Protestantism a passing thought. But Protestants have never forgotten their [i]raison d’etre[/i]. So, if anything, I have been pleasantly surprised at the relative calm I find on sites like T19. It shows a truly Christ like charity, for which I am grateful.
RE: “(Or is it just a stubborn streak of old-fashioned knee-jerk anti-Catholicism?)”
Yeh, that’s it. The reason why people aren’t converting to the RC church is because they’re just anti-RC!
It has nothing to do with, you know, what they actually believe.
It’s the same reason why I don’t convert to the Assembly of God church. It’s my stubborn streak of old-fashioned knee-jerk anti-Pentecostalism.
Fr J: I’m so sorry for your poor persecution. I wonder, when you meet with “Protestants,” do you celebrate your common bonds, or do you make snide remarks about how they are not part of the true church, how their sacraments are wrong, etc, etc?
Does anyone else think it’s a bit silly and counterproductive to argue whether Catholics are meaner to Protestants or Protestants are meaner to Catholics? I’ve witnessed both, and I’m sure we could compile mounds of anecdotal evidence on both sides, but to what end (and how would that glorify Christ?)?
I used to think so Chris, but now I think otherwise. Anglicans try to live the Via Media: to remind both protestants and romans that they are part of Christ’s one, indivisible Body. That they have more in common than they have to disagree on.
I’ve noticed for too long now that my Roman friends spend equal time bashing me for my divisive, sinful “protestantness,” and also whining about the hostility of protestants. I’m sick of this characteristic two-tap, and I’m now calling them out on it.
Romans, if you want to be welcomed by your fellow Christians (and Protestants are members of Christ’s Body), then start reaching out to your brothers and sisters and celebrating the common ground rather than emphasizing their “rebellious, individualist” quibbles. And if you don’t want to, well, don’t come to an Anglican site and whine about knee-jerk anti-Romanism. It doesn’t work both ways.
9. Actually, I was a member of Truro Church in Fairfax. I loved it there. John Howe was the rector and was an amazing preacher and teacher. I hope that in some way my preaching is inspired by his. Truro in those days was an amazing place, and surely still is. It left an indellible mark on my spirit, and I consider myself a kind of evangelical Catholic because of my time there.
Yet, there was a constant and very strong undercurrent of anti-Catholicism there. I was fairly critical of Catholicism myself at the time, so I wasn’t baiting anyone, for sure.
What I remember vividly was the Prayer and Praise on Friday nights with powerful worship, testimonies and preaching. However, the week the pope and ABC met in fraternal charity, there was a very ugly sermon preached by one of the ministers who was English. Cant remember his name. He went on and on about the errors and evils of Rome, idolatry etc. You know the schtick.
I was shocked. I kept going for a while but stopped receiving communion because I was beginning to understand what the CC taught about not being in communion. My ties to the CC were at their weakest at that time, but I suddenly came to understand that even my weak Catholic faith was unwelcome in those walls. I was a freshman in college at the time and my sister was in Truro’s youth group. I sat in on one of their bible studies and found the old anti-Catholic tropes about idolatry bandied about. I said nothing. I didn’t know how to respond then. It wasn’t directed at me, it was just part of the teaching that was going on that night.
Only many, many years later did I learn to defend the faith.
So, to answer your good question, no, I did not bring this on myself. I just witnessed it.