In his compelling account of four years of captivity in Lebanon, the Anglican cleric Terry Waite writes of the time he was given a radio by his captors, tuned in to the BBC and immediately heard a fellow Anglican priest giving a broadcast sermon. At last, he thought, some inspiring and wise words, a life line to sanity. “Let us consider,” opined the voice, “the case of Winnie the Pooh.”
Absurd and banal but, still, oddly comforting. And quintessentially Anglican. Because the Church of England has cultivated an image of gentleness, compromise and tolerance in a world that increasingly exhibits none of these qualities. Indeed, there are within the Anglican Communion scores of some of the finest people one could ever meet. But the latest schism within the denomination has exposed the core nastiness of a bitingly exclusive institution.
The glimmering paradox of the church is that it guards its ostensible moderation with a grim determination, as so many orthodox Christian believers can testify. They have been persecuted in Canada and beyond for two decades by the liberal hierarchy, and it is only now, after so many attacks, that they are fighting back to the point of separation.
None of this, however, should come as any surprise…
A propos of the Anglican prejudice against Catholicism, still very strong in some places, see this interview with the Dean of Sydney (and brother of the Archbishop). Papist baiting from the old school:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/that-warm-and-fuzzy-brotherly-love-is-delusive/2008/07/16/1216162951213.html