A Deo et Rege

-A “catholic” diocese is attempting to leave the wider denomination- schism, how very catholic

-The inclusive, tolerant, and exceedingly liberal Episcopal leadership will most likely sue the crap out of said diocese to keep the expensive buildings- legal browbeating to keep property; how inclusive, tolerant, and liberal

These are indeed strange times for the Anglican Communion. Separations are messy. Just ask Henry VIII (or better yet Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard)

The premier “reasserter” Anglican blog, TitusOneNine has a new home. Have a visit.

I generally have avoided linking to or addressing Anglican disputes. But since it seems that a lot is going on, I figured one link to the current primates gathering wouldn’t hurt:

Dar Es Salaam 2007

I’ve been listening to a few Taizé songs lately and am quite impressed. They are simple, scriptural and traditional, often in Latin, and beautiful. For a few samples, visit their MP3 and Audio Page.

It seems that liberals in the Church of England are unhappy with the Archbishop of Canterbury’s defense of 2,000 years of Christian tradition. So, they are now looking for closer ties with liberal, American bishops in the Episcopal Church. It’s not just the conservatives in Anglicanism who can "network" and possibly seek some kind of alternative oversight. Maybe two Anglican communions will simply happen organically, rather than through some sort of legislative fix.

The Episcopal General Convention of 2006 is over. I didn’t follow the resolutions closely enough to make any definitive conclusions about most of them. I’m not even sure if most Episcopalians and worldwide Anglicans can make many definitive conclusions right now. Finding clarity, I think, will be the primary issue in the next few months for Anglicans. The main question will be: did the Episcopal Church go far enough in its apology or will some sort of "Anglican re-alignment" be necessary? I guess the Anglican primates, including the Archbishop the Canterbury, will have to sort a lot of this out.

On the other hand, a few clear things happened that are worth noting. First, the convention declared the Christian Scriptures to be anti-Semitic. Given that the New Testament was largely written by Jews, I find this somewhat odd, to say nothing of a denomination slamming its own holy book. Second, the convention elected a liberal, pro full homosexual inclusion, woman as Episcopal Presiding bishop. This move will surely inflame the divisions among Episcopalians and heighten the tension with Anglicans around the communion. It will also seriously hamper ecumenical efforts with the Orthodox and Catholics. At least they can’t say Cardinal Kasper didn’t give a fair warning. Third, the convention refused to affirm Jesus Christ as the only name by which a person may be saved. That this could not even make it to the floor for a vote should be perhaps the biggest scandal of General Convention 2006. Whatever nuances the Church may add to our theology of salvation (like invincible ignorance), the affirmation of Jesus as the way, the truth, and the life and the sole way to the Father, is a statement of "mere Christianity" not uniquely Catholic or Protestant. The Presbyterians also couldn’t muster the will to affirm Jesus as the only savior awhile ago. The biggest danger in mainline Protestantism may not be homosexual activism, but the more foundational issue of the person and work of Jesus Christ, issues which for Catholics, the Orthodox, and classical Protestants were settled ages ago and are not up for debate.

Here are some links related to the Episcopal General Convention 2006:

Episcopal Split All But Certain
General Convention Adopts Vague Resolution
African Primates Statement on ECUSA General Convention

To give an idea of classical Anglicanism, Derek has a good post on Christian identity.

Also, I’ve included a Catholic perspective by friend and blogger Dave Hartline. It also has many good interviews:

Final Report at the Episcopal Church

Dave also makes some great points about how some leaders in the Catholic Church, especially in America, wanted to take us down this path (and many still do, but they’re in a dying minority). We should be grateful for the work of John Paul II and Benedict XVI in keeping the Catholic Church Catholic. So, rather than react with schadenfreude towards the Episcopalians, we should rather pray for them and remember how close to the brink we came in the 1970s and that we still have our own who want to take us down the failed path of liberal Protestantism.

"We are deputized to follow the Holy Spirit, not the wishes of the folks back home."

Rev. Canon Elizabeth Keaton- ECUSA minister from the Diocese of Newark (source)

After commenting on how local parishes may not favor abortion, this lady made the above quote. I must say that associating the Holy Spirit with abortion rights is a new low and also quite blasphemous. I believe the spirit she’s referring to is the spirit of the age (or far worse).

Sadly, it appears that the Episcopal Church is going to keep its affiliation with the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, a "religious" abortion advocacy group, as well. If the convention refuses to repeal the executive decision to affiliate with the RCRC, it would make the Episcopal Church de facto pro abortion.

I know, I said I wasn’t going to comment on the decisions of the Episcopalians until after their General Convention, but I think this one is worth mentioning. The Episcopal General Convention has elected elected Katherine Jefforts-Schori as the first female primate of an Anglican Communion province. I did predict this to friends earlier in spite of her lack of experience (e.g. she was never a rector). I didn’t think the current Episcopal Church would ever turn down an opportunity to be the liberal "first" at anything, even if it meant causing chaos in the wider communion, hurting ecumenical efforts, and driving more traditionalists out.

Other sources/reactions:

Anglicans are close to "anarchy" in dispute over female bishop (timesonline)
Diocese of Fort Worth wants "primatial" oversight (titusonenine)- ok, this is a new one, "primatial" oversight.
Forward in Faith Weighs In (titusonine)- for the record, Forward in Faith is the Anglican group that opposes the new Episcopal innovations along Catholic lines. This includes being against the ordination of women.

I am not going to wade into the Episcopal General Convention news this week until after they make (or not) their decisions regarding their place in the Anglican Communion. However, I am following the whole thing with interest and pray for the triumph of basic Christian orthodoxy and morality at the very least among our American Anglican brothers and sisters. Here are a few resources for those interested:

Resources Page 1
Resources Page 2

Generally speaking the following places have good commentary:

Titus One Nine (thoughtful, orthodox, and genial commentary by Episcopal priest Kendall Harmon)
Virtue Online (hard hitting, much maligned, occasionally wrong, but still worthwhile)

Finally, blogger (and friend) Dave Hartline at the Catholic Report gives his perspective on a day at General Convention.

VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI said Monday that ecumenical talks
with Lutherans had run into new challenges and called for greater
efforts at dialogue in the years before the 500th anniversary of the
start of the Protestant Reformation.

Continue Reading Pope Urges Better Dialogue With Lutherans (Seattle Post Intelligencer)

[This is good news and above all it’s honest ecumenism. Let’s pray for unity.]

When lacking in ideas, link to others…

Kendall Harmon at Titusonenine reports how Gene Robinson Grinds Axes and Promotes Agendas while naturally claiming to do no such thing

Al Kimel asks what’s so catholic about Anglicanism?

Robb wonders about the value of a D.Min degree

Enbrethiliel asks What’s In A Name?

Katelyn Sills reports on a new lawsuit by the teacher fired from a Catholic school for helping women procure abortions

Charles proposes a new interpretation for Guy Fawkes Day

Jeff Miller discusses text messaging of the Virgin Mary in the Philippines

Carmel has some good quotes and a funny cat picture

The holy fool writes about Baptists Confessions on Bibles and Catholics

David on new liberal church architecture (parody)

That about does it for now. God bless.

The Pontificator weighs in on evangelical Anglicanism, especially the writings of Dr. Paul Zahl, dean of Trinity School for Ministry (Episcopal). As always, from his points and the comments, I’ve learned a lot.

As a side note, I always wondered where the true Anglican evangelicals were in the USA. England is full of them and so is the rest of the world (you know, the ones who hang up the 10 Commandments in the sanctuary). I used to laugh when liberal Anglicans would refer to the more conservative Anglicans as "fundamentalists." I have never met a truly evangelical Episcopalian in my life, let alone a fundamentalist. Side note ended.

PS- Look at the painting of the cathedral the Pontificator has included that was "Calvinized." Awful, awful.

Catholic World News is reporting that The Pope May Travel to Istanbul to have an ecumenical summit with the titular head of the Orthodox Church, His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I.

We need to really pray for these kinds of meetings between the "two lungs" of the Church to be more frequent and to bear fruit. The division between Catholics and the Orthodox in such troubled times is well, troubling. The East and West need to respond with a united voice in the midst of the strife and confusion present in the early 21st century.

I have tried to stay away from the debates within Anglicanism. Right now there are some major ones raging, but I have resisted the urge to blog on them. However, one article (by David Virtue) in particular caught my eye and, given the incredible religious implications outside of Anglicanism, I just couldn’t resist!

It seems an Anglican archbishop of Central Africa says he’s tired of listening to the USA and Canada continue to drag out the debates on sexuality and that soon, the African Anglicans will break away and set up a new African Anglican Communion in Alexandria, Egypt. This is incredible news and would certainly be a major episode in religious history if it happened. I don’t know how much this interview represents the majority of developing world Anglicanism, but it looks like, in spite of herculean (and perhaps a tad quixotic) efforts by Anglican head Rowan Williams, Anglican cohesion is in real danger of shattering.

Perhaps an Anglican-Rite within Catholicism should be there to pick up some of the pieces? I hope so. Anglicans would get Catholic theology and the See of Peter and we Catholics would get some good examples of liturgy and music, as well as luminaries like Lancelot Andrewes and C.S. Lewis. But that is another set of posts.

The Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission recently released a joint document called Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ. I think such a document represents a positive step forward in Anglican and Catholic relations. Although the document is not binding on either side, it does represent a viable framework for future negotiations. Here is the part detailing shared agreement:

As a result of our study, the Commission offers the following
agreements, which we believe significantly advance our consensus regarding Mary. We affirm
together

• the teaching that God has taken the Blessed Virgin Mary in the fullness of her person into his glory as consonant with Scripture, and only to be understood in the light of Scripture (paragraph 58);
• that in view of her vocation to be the mother of the Holy One, Christ’s redeeming work reached ‘back’ in Mary to the depths of her being and to her earliest beginnings (paragraph 59);
• that the teaching about Mary in the two definitions of the Assumption and the Immaculate Conception, understood within the biblical pattern of the economy of hope and grace, can be said to be consonant with the teaching of the Scriptures and the ancient common traditions (paragraph 60);
• that this agreement, when accepted by our two Communions, would place the questions about authority which arise from the two definitions of 1854 and 1950 in a new ecumenical context (paragraphs 61-63);
• that Mary has a continuing ministry which serves the ministry of Christ, our unique mediator, that Mary and the saints pray for the whole Church and that the practice of asking Mary and the saints to pray for us is not communion-dividing (paragraphs 64-75).

79. We agree that doctrines and devotions which are contrary to
Scripture cannot be said to be revealed by God nor to be the teaching of the Church. We
agree that doctrine and devotion which focuses on Mary, including claims to ‘private
revelations’, must be moderated by carefully expressed norms which ensure the unique and
central place of Jesus Christ in the life of the Church, and that Christ alone, together
with the Father and the Holy Spirit, is to be worshipped in the Church.

80. Our statement has sought not to clear away all possible problems,
but to deepen our common understanding to the point where remaining diversities of
devotional practice may be received as the varied work of the Spirit amongst all the
people of God. We believe that the agreement we have here outlined is itself the product
of a re-reception by Anglicans and Roman Catholics of doctrine about Mary and that it
points to the possibility of further reconciliation, in which issues concerning doctrine
and devotion to Mary need no longer be seen as communion-dividing, or an obstacle in a new
stage of our growth into visible koinonia. This agreed statement is now offered
to our respective authorities. It may also in itself prove a valuable study of the
teaching of the Scriptures and the ancient common traditions about the Blessed Virgin
Mary, the Mother of God incarnate. Our hope is that, as we share in the one Spirit by
which Mary was prepared and sanctified for her unique vocation, we may together
participate with her and all the saints in the unending praise of God.

There are some incredible statements here, especially from an Anglican perspective. Some Anglicans would probably argue that it represents a betrayal of Anglicanism’s Reformation roots. Other Anglicans would probably say "about time." Any comments?

The whole document can be found here
Hat Tip: Kendall Harmon
Photo by Jonathan Bennett (from the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception)