Fr Hunwicke continues to be an ace blogger. How he comes up with such trenchant stuff day by day is beyond me. I was especially helped by his two latest posts on Anglicanorum Coetibus. In case you have not yet seen them, or need a little gloss put on them, I shall do my best to expound.
There are many, priests as well as lay people, in the Church of England who succumb to the idea that our Church is what it always was; beloved of the people (especially those who rarely attend its worship), and the ideal springboard for mission, since it never ran the risk of frightening the horses.
As England slides further and further down the secular path, that is less and less true. ALL ministers of religion, whether Imams, Elders or plain old Vicars, are suspect. The C of E has squandered the good will it once attracted, by heading lemming-like down the cliff of being modern for its own sake. Political correctness seeps from its every pore. It never seems capable of committing itself to any expression of the truth. Yet the more it says "one the one hand … but on the other…" the more it is despised.
It should have been apparent that people are deeply suspicious of gimmicks. They do not want a church that resorts to cheap advertising tricks. Yet still clergy tear out pews, sack robed choirs, put in overhead projectors and imagine that a "music group" (more properly called a cacophony team) will have them beating at the doors. If they do, it is the chances are they are beating to get out, not to be let in.
There is no reason why Groups of Anglicans reconciled to the See of Peter should not reclaim this territory — of being the natural fall-back position of Englishmen and women. When clergy make an effort for weddings or funerals, people are touchingly grateful. At last, they will say, here is someone who does not talk down to us, treat us as infantile, suppose that we want to hear second-rate pop tunes in church. And at least they have dressed for the occasion, as we have, and not put on sweatshirt and jeans to appear "relevant". You don't believe it happens? I tell you, it does all too often in the 21st Century C of E plc.
It will not be easy, of course. Our ministry will have to be like that of the Tractarians of the 19th Century; we shall have to be ready to minister in the most neglected and apparently Godless parts of the nations. It may take a century or more to win people back; but at least it will be a task worth doing, rather than simply engaging in endless bickering and arguing with ourselves as our poor old church has been doing these past fifty years.
Related posts:
Thank you, Bishop Barnes, for your excellent posting. I look forward very much to your coming into communion with the Holy See (and over a billion others, including myself). Then perhaps we could meet, fully brothers in the fulness of the faith, and reminisce about the things that have brought us both to where we are, including the Ashmolean, Pusey House, etc. etc. We are waiting in joyful hope!
Dear bishop,
Just attend an Anglican service as you described in melbourne australia- absolutely shocked by it as i left the
Anglican church in the 80's and then even the low church evangelical church i attended was still liturgical with colours for the seasons, vestments and candles. this service had turned a lovely traditional anglican church into a lounge room with plush carpet- nobody knelt. the music was mostly bland, the clergy both male and female wore no vestments and the female priest without vestments celebrated the eucharist.they had a chalice as well as little protestant cups. it made me so happy i had become a Roman Catholic in 1987.
Wonderful posting. The more I think about it, the more I see there are two kinds of people in this world:
1) Those who live for money, power and control over other people.
2) Those who care about other people and attend to their needs, living simply and being open-minded, compassionate, tolerant and loving.
Many years ago, I used to think all priests were in the second category, and they became priests because they had a vocation. Alas, many are in the first category and some are positively evil.
The real issue now will be to have good bishops, so that more good men can be ordained priests.
I found this in Fr. Ray Blake's blog – http://marymagdalen.blogspot.com/
"The expense is reckoned, the enterprise is begun; it is of God; it cannot be withstood. So the faith was planted: So it must be restored."
Blessed Edmund Campion pray for England and us!
Yet, some of the Anglicans of an evangelical bent who have become more like Pentecostals or charismatics may be trying to get to the essentials of the faith by throwing off the vestments etc. They may be actually serving the poor etc. but not seeing the need for all the fussiness of tending to vestments and altar cloths and all the work that goes into it when you have more and more women working full time and unavailable to iron the fair linen etc.
Alas, these Anglicans who do keep Jesus front and centre (I'm not talking about the liberals who have turned him into a nice Comrade who preached peace) perhaps do not realize how much they are thinning the faith. But this could be a reaction against an overemphasis on externals while the heart of the matter, the Gospel, and signs following has been lost.
My hope for the Ordinariate is that it will reincorporate the beauty and depth of all things liturgical, around a blazing heart of the Gospel, so there is inner and outer congruence.
Deborah
"My hope for the Ordinariate is that it will reincorporate the beauty and depth of all things liturgical, around a blazing heart of the Gospel, so there is inner and outer congruence."
We Anglicans used to go by the title, "Evangelical Catholics." There's a lot to be said for that. Those of us who agree with your above statement hope that our hearts always reflect the burning love of Jesus' most Sacred Heart. And that we put that love into practice by preaching the Good News and the fullness of the Catholic Faith.
BTW, MEN can iron fair linens too
This Catholic is offering up many prayers for all Anglicans/Episcopalians who find themselves in a tough situation throughout all of this.