Church House Inn, Holne
Devon is exceptionally beautiful in the early Spring; so we were glad to use the Ordination of David Silk as the occasion for a short break. The village of Holne is set above the River Dart as it flows off Dartmoor towards the sea. The Church House Inn is reputed to date from the mid-fourteenth century. It provided a very pleasant two-night stay, with good food and roaring log fires. Devon is especially rich in these ancient pubs in the shadow of churches; if you have read Eamon Duffy's "Voices of Morebath" (and if you have not, you should) you will easily imagine the carousings of our Mediaeval forebears during Festivals of Mother Church. A former Vicar of Holne was Charles Kingsley, author of "The Water Babies". The present Team Vicar (they await the appointment of a Rector) is contending with six or more parishes across the south of Dartmoor. Good that her church was open yesterday.
St Mary the Virgin, Holne, interior
The Ordination of former Anglican Bishop David Silk took place in the Abbey Church of Buckfast, just a few miles from Holne. It is a great surprise. You emerge from the wooded hillside to be faced with a great Monastic complex of buildings which look as though they must have been there for many centuries. In fact, they are relatively new, though standing on ancient foundations. The first Abbey was built in Saxon times, in the reign of Canute. In the twelfth century a great Cistercian Abbey replaced that original church. All was swept away during the wholesale destruction of the Monasteries in the reign of Henry VIII. At the end of the 19th Century a handful of French Benedictines came to Buckfast, and began to plan a new foundation. By 1937 the Monks themselves had built the Monastic Church, on the Cistercian plan but with the addition of a bell-tower — a frippery which Cistercians had usually denied themselves; though they gave in to temptation at Fountains Abbey.
A view from the Stalls
It proved a lovely setting for David Silk's Ordination, and people came from great distances to join local clergy in the celebrations. Traditionally, the South West has always been a stronghold for Anglo-Catholicism. It suffered terribly in the purge of the 1990's, when the bishop of Truro, proclaiming himself a catholic, not only ordained women to the priesthood himself but encouraged his suffragan to do the same. There was a greater loss of Anglican Clergy in that diocese than any other, proportionate to its numbers; and the bishop seemed not to care. It was good to see Cornishmen in the congregation at Buckfast. The Catholic Diocese of Plymouth covers territory which has three Anglican diocesans (Truro, Exeter and Salisbury) and half a dozen Suffragans.
Bid, Father, a Blessing
Devon, Exeter Diocese in Anglican terms, appeared to suffer less; and its present bishop no longer ordains women to the priesthood (though his suffragans do). Perhaps because of this clergy in the diocese seem peculiarly reluctant to consider the offer of the Ordinariate, and some well-known Anglo-Catholic clergy were notable for their absence at David's Ordination. They are possibly suffering from the peculiar delusion which leads some clergy into thinking their bishop is immortal. Within five years, though, they will discover that immortal or not, the enforced retirement age will hit Bishop Langrish as it does every other Church of England cleric.
There was a very merry lunch-party after the Ordination.
David Silk among friends
On the way home, for old time's sake, we called in at Exeter. I thought I would be able to get something from Wippell's; but their former shop in the close has been taken over by a cheap multiple store. They have moved into the outskirts of the City, and time was too short to find them.
Exeter Cathedral South Tower
The Cathedral though, looks much the same as it ever did — from the outside. I was not prepared to pay to enter. A lad came away from the porch saying to his friend "Not much good looking for sanctuary here; it would cost you a fiver". O tempora, O mores!
[From experience I have learned that our transatlantic friends sometimes miss allusions which are plain to us in England. The title of this piece is taken from a children's book by Enid Blyton. Some wag has applied it to the first five C of E Bishops to join the Ordinariate.]
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I hope everyone in Fr. Silk's party enjoyed some Buckfast Tonic Wine after his ordination. I know I have always felt rather festive after a bottle or two of that fine wine. Many years, Fr. Silk!
Oh, that reminds me:
http://www.theanglocatholic.com/2010/01/bishop-attacks-morals-of-monks/
Linked article says more to me about the state of British society than the moral rectitude of the monks. A nation of indolent, lazy, and unimaginative alcoholics would, if the monk's brew were withdrawn, simply pick up the next bottle on the shelf.
Britain, along with much of the West, is in decline. Either we buck up and throw off the demons and tyrants causing the decline, or we go the way of every great civilisation. The natural condition of mankind is slavery and poverty. Disorder, despotism and chaos are the norm the world over. To rise again requires both individual and collective effort to understand the forces at play and identify which are destructive and which are not. Then we must actively choose the good – not the pleasant or the easy – but the good, the right, the true. It is only truth which shall set us free; throw down the tyrants, bind the demons which beset us, empower every man, and restore to us a vision of nobility and graciousness which once was the hallmark of white European culture.
It starts with being able to stop after one glass…. and one plateful…
"Either we buck up …
Is that a euphemism for something?
Proof yet again of two nations divided by a common language. No, Sambo, "buck up" means either "cheer up, don't be downcast" or else "put your skates on, get moving, don't dawdle" (I hope none of these simply adds to the mystery). I might have said, therefore, that our visit to Devon bucked us both up, and that the clergy of Devon need to buck their ideas up, or they will find themselves with a woman bishop on the throne of Exeter Cathedral.
I wondered if it meant downing a few Buckies.
I recall the Famous Five on television when I was a boy – I still remember some of the music and words of the theme song: "Julie, Dick, and Anne, George, and Timmy the dog…"
Rev., we pray for you as we wait for the ordination of the "famous fifth"!
+Pax et Bonum
" … enforced retirement age will hit Bishop Langrish …
The news isn't all bad.
Fr. Barnes wrote:
"Devon, Exeter Diocese in Anglican terms, appeared to suffer less; and its present bishop no longer ordains women to the priesthood (though his suffragans do)."
I heard this nearly a year ago, but when I mentioned it as "fact" on "The Saint Barnabas Blog" a month or two, that blog's liberal "lurker," Canon Andrew Godsall (Canon of Exeter) metaphorically "leapt all over me," telling me that I didn't know what I was talking about, and advising me to check my facts in the future. With that as a preface, and assuring you that I do not doubt or question your word, are you quite certain that it is the case that Bishop Langrish has decided to eschew the vice of "ordaining" women?
And, btw, I have heard that he was one of that mysterious group of 4 or 5 C of E diocesan bishops (perhaps also including +Chichester and the Quondam of Rochester) who paid a clandestine visit to Rome early in 2008 (before the then Bishops Burnham and Newton visited in April 2008) for purposes that have never been disclosed and seemingly without any obvious consequences.
Wherever Master Godsall is on manoeuvres you can be sure there is trouble afoot.
Joshua: it was "Julian, Dick, George and Anne…………and Timmy the dog, of course".
I am somewhat surprised at Deacon Barnes' comment that though +Michael Langrish no longer ordains women, he allows his suffragens to do so. Surely +John Ford of Plymouth, one of the suffragens of the Exeter Diocese together with + Bob of Crediton, is being groomed for stardom as a possible new +Ebbsfleet?
I feel safer heading towards the Tiber!
Which Bishop of Truro was this who ordained women? I thought Mgr Graham Leonard was Bishop of Truro then and I don't think he ordained women, but he may have ordained women deacons.
Graham Leonard ordained 71 women as deacons at St Paul's Cathedral on 22 March 1987.
The Bishop of Truro who enthusiastically ordained women as priests was Bishop Michael Ball CGA.
Note that the bishops who signed the 2008 Open Letter from "14 concerned bishops" were John Hind, Bishop of Chichester Nicholas Reade, Bishop of Blackburn Geoffrey Rowell, Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe John Broadhurst, Bishop of Fulham (now Fr Broadhurst of the Ordinariate) Andrew Burnham, Bishop of Ebbsfleet (now Fr Burnham of the Ordinariate) John Ford, Bishop of Plymouth John Goddard, Bishop of Burnley Martyn Jarrett, Bishop of Beverley Robert Ladds, Bishop of Whitby (now retired) Keith Newton, Bishop of Richborough (now Fr Newton, Ordinary of the Ordinariate) Paul Richardson, Assistant Bishop of Newcastle (now a Catholic layman) Tony Robinson, Bishop of Pontefract Lindsay Urwin, Bishop of Horsham (now Administrator of the Anglican Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham) Peter Wheatley, Bishop of Edmonton.
Just for the record, the SSWSH bishops are
+ NicholasReade, Bishop of Blackburn
+ John Hinde, Bishop of Chichester:
+ Geoffrey Rowell, Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe
+ Martyn Jarrett, Bishop of Beverley
+ John Goddard, Bishop of Burnley
+ Peter Wheatley, Bishop of Edmonton
+ Mark Sowerby, Bishop of Horsham
+ John Ford, Bishop of Plymouth
+ Anthony Robinson, Bishop of Pontefract
+ Martin Warner, Bishop of Whitby
+ Lindsay Urwin
+ Robert Ladds
I know that we shouldn't be unkind, but SSWSH sounds like Swish………. the sound made when you pull curtains. The question is ……. is the curtain being pulled down (closed) or is it opening to a new bright future?
"some well-known Anglo-Catholic clergy were notable for their absence at David's Ordination. They are possibly suffering from the peculiar delusion which leads some clergy into thinking their bishop is immortal. Within five years, though, they will discover that immortal or not, the enforced retirement age will hit Bishop Langrish as it does every other Church of England cleric."
Am I being too sensitive to think that Bishop Edwin had me, among others, in mind when he wrote this? If so, I am afraid that his analusis is wide of ther mark. I was in fact at Buckfast Abbey on 18th February but for quite another purpose. Why not come to the "ordination" of Bishop David Silk? Quite simply because I do not think it possible to be ordained priest twice. It is an inescapable fact that Rome continues to believe Leo XIII's Bull – that Anglican Orders are null and void. That is why Benedict XVI's provision requires ordination absolute. I believe that Leo XIII was and is wrong. Those who accept ordination absolute may well explain it in a variety of ways but the very act of acceptance reveals that the reality that they are accepting Rome's position about Anglican Orders in general and therefore about their own in particular. That is a perfectly honourable position and I continue to wish many friends well and to keep them in my prayers – including Bishop Edwin and Bishop David. But I cannot and will not follow them. I know that this will almost certainly leave me in a harder place that they now find themslves in and I would be grateful for their goodwill and prayers.
Of course I shall try to keep in my prayers Fr Sam and all the others who are at present finding it impossible to accept Anglicanorum Coetibus. Those who WERE are David Silk's ordination will have heard the Bishop of Plymouth paying tribute to his former ministry; but his Anglican Ordination, and mine, were NOT into the priesthood of the Catholic Church. "A priest in the Church of God" is a fine idea; but incapable of fulfilment in a church which is in fractured communion. When I was ordained, the fracture was between the Anglican Communion and the rest of Christendom. We stayed, because there was a real prospect that it might be healed. Now things are much worse; the fractures are internal, bishops are out of communion with other bishops in what claims to be a single Church, the Church of England. The hope of reunion has evaporated. So I hope Sam and others like him will know that they are certainly in my prayers, and those of the Ordinariate. That 'harder place' of which Sam writes will become ever harder and more impossible, until like an icefloe it will simply disappear. Thank the Good Lord, and Pope Benedict, the opportunity for becoming part of the Ordinariate, established on the rock, will remain open to them. Goodwill and prayers, certainly; for a change at least from "cannot and will not" to "might, one day".
Er… which Church of England bishops are "out of communion" with which Church of England bishops?