The Diocese of Winchester was once a comfortable place to be as an Anglo-Catholic. The Diocesan Bishop, Colin James, was himself a catholic, and he well understood the problems likely to follow from women's ordination. So before he retired he appointed another well-disposed bishop as his Suffragan of Basingstoke, Geoffrey Rowell. When Bishop Colin retired, catholics in the diocese were reassured by the new Diocesan. He would be a friend to them though his churchmanship was not theirs, and the Bishop of Basingstoke would look after them if they felt the need for 'extended episcopal oversight'. The arrangement seemed very good, so few thought it necessary to vote for such extended episcopal oversight.
Then bishop Geoffrey was elevated to the see of Gibraltar (or Gibraltar in Europe or some such name – at any rate, he was no longer in Winchester). Any parishes which sought extended episcopal oversight would be assigned to the Bishop of Richborough – but of course that would not be necessary, since the diocese was so even-handed and friendly.
When they eventually discovered that the new bishop of Basingstoke was implacably opposed to any provision for traditionalists, it was too late. The five remaining parishes in the care of the Bishop of Richborough were swiftly reduced to four. The one which was lost rescinded its vote, promised it would have a male priest. Within months they were in the care of a woman priest from a neighbouring parish.
Then the sole traditionalist parish in Winchester City became vacant and was left without a priest for almost four years. It now has an unpaid 'house-for-duty' priest caring for them, yet is still expected to make a full contribution to the diocesan funds – the 'Quota'. That Quota is always explained by diocesan authorities as being necessarily high – sometimes as much as $50k or even $100k per annum – on the pretext that it is to pay the clergy.
Today, the greatest and best of the surviving Anglo-Catholic churches in the diocese, St Francis Bournemouth, said farewell to their priest of the last twenty-eight years, retiring to Oxfordshire. The nearest A B and C parish is about thirty miles away. The diocese intends that the Vicarage of St Francis' should be rented out (the rent going to the diocese, of course) until such time as a priest is appointed. Oh, and it is now decided by the diocese that such an appointment will be of a 0.7 priest. Yet this is a parish which has had a daily mass since its creation in 1930 and whose priest has always been available at all times to everyone. There are many churches in the diocese where the priest, paid as a full-timer, manages on what appears to be a twenty-hour week. Could it, perhaps, be something to do with its determinedly catholic nature that the diocese decides St Francis' can make do with a bit of a priest?
There are worse examples than this in other dioceses, where bishops or archdeacons have made promises, bullied parishes, and then overseen the demolition of a catholic tradition. How we look forward to an Ordinariate which will try to support the Catholic faith, rather than using every means to undermine and harm it! Do, please, pray for the Churchwardens and people of St Francis Bournemouth as they face an uncertain future – and give thanks for the ministry of Fr Paul Berrett. Besides his ministry in the parish, he was a greatly loved local Vicar of our SSC Chapter. There are many in this part of the world who will miss him more than we can say.
[Photos courtesy of Nick Hillman, blogmaster at St Francis']
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I'll see you on the other side of the Tiber. Anglicanorum Coetibus is truly a blessing…
A truly wonderful Church of England parish with 80 years of daily masses and this is what the Bishops of the C of E do. This is a spiritually bankrupt and faithless episcopate; schism from the Catholic faith by ordaining women, and no pretense of decency for orthodox Anglicans.
My advice… Take the Bark of Peter and cross the Tiber! Imagine no one need to swim anymore!
Of course it's horrible that fine parishes are being torn apart but the silver lining in all this is Anglican denominations like the C of E are coming clean and not teasing Anglo-Catholics into thinking Anglicanism is something it's not. They're taking a stand on something, coming as close as they can to defining doctrine. IOW Christina Rees for example is right … and agrees with the Holy Father! Either make the changes, making them the teaching of one's sect, or don't. No halfway measures like flying bishops (sorry, Bishop Barnes) that don't make ecclesiological sense (trying to be Catholic in the middle of a liberal Protestant denomination).
A critic will say: what about the trads and the new ordinariates under Rome? Aren't they churches within churches? Good point but the doctrine is sound… and there is a doctrine to fall back on. Can't say that about Anglicanism, where doctrine is making things up as you go along to please the powers that be. Been so since old Harry went into schism.
No need to be sorry, YF; I didn't invent Flying Bishops (as I had to tell other bishops, constantly, when they blamed me for trying to operate the system they had invented). As for the Bark of Peter, Rellis, sounds as though it might be worse than his bite? But yes, I look forward to boarding the barque at the earliest opportunity (maybe this is something to do with transatlantic spelling?) Thanks for the comments. +E
(Oh, and can you YF please unravel the shorthand IOW please? Here it means Isle of Wight…. and I don't think they have anything to do with the lovely Xtina Rees.)
IOW == In other words
Now I know to be more cautious about writing in Internetese!
Ah, thank you, Christian… it reminds me of the generational confusion over OHP: for us oldies it referred to the Order of the Holy Paraclete, the Whitby Sisters. For those infected by Vatican II it seems to suggest "Overhead Projector" (whatever that might be). +E
IOW I took it to mean 'I only wish'
missed in translation. You know what happens when you assume something.
Catholic faith, morals and practice are under attack everywhere. Thanks be to God for faithful laity and clergy who won't compromise on the essentials, like retired Fr Paul Berrett whom I met at the Chrism Mass in Portsmouth as couple weeks ago.
We at Christchurch Priory, where I serve as Associate Minister, have also begun – since Easter Sunday – an Interregnum following the reposting of the Vicar, Canon Hugh Williams. We shall be deciding whether to adopt resolutions A and B since we've been only tacitly traditionalist. Thus, lacking legal and formal intent, we'll be under some duress to modernise as well I suspect.
I do think we should also note that Bishop Michael of Winchester has been in the news of late denouncing same-sex blessings in churches as well as the increasing marginalisation of Christians in Britain. He is one of the signatories of the recent letter challenging our endemic and emergent secularism. His adjacently episcopal colleague to the west of Winchester is not nearly so sound as he!
It does appear that St Francis has at least one assistant priest (retired?) since they had daily mass; otherwise Fr Berrett didn't take a day off, and no churchwarden would allow that to happen, at least on a regular basis. But the assistants will be a very busy bees and Bishop Edwin is a shining star for stepping in. We also look forward to welcoming him to the Priory in July to confect our Sacrament of Holy Confirmation.
Bishops Barnes.. The good missionaries of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America taught us English! My grandfather and father came under their tuition when the Philippines was under US sovereignty. Later on lay PECUSA teachers taught us kids their brand of English.
I really don't see why we should be at all surprised at this. Once Fr.Paul had announced his intention to retire, we knew that what was to follow was inevitable.