I read this response to the English synod vote today by the Bishop of Ebbsfleet (one of the PEV's or "Flying bishops"):
"Come the final judgment when, as the Prayer Book says in the Marriage Service, ‘the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed’, some will have to account for the broken promises of the early 1990s. Traditionalists were then assured of a permanent and honoured place. Great store was set by the doctrine of reception (whereby no change in Holy Order would finally thought to be ‘received’ until it was accepted by the ancient churches of East and West). It was on the basis of these promises - both now very hollow - that Provincial Episcopal Visitors were appointed, ordinands and their families exchanged comfortable life styles for theological college, curacies, and what promised to be a lifetime of ministry"
Hang on, I was aware that ordination was a promise to follow Christ "for richer for poorer, for better and for worse", I wasn't aware that it would be a promised lifetime of status with a free Vicarage, no council tax and the faithful calling one "Father" all the time. If some people in collars have only just realised that priesthood means walking with Christ the way that may be leading to Golgotha rather than Walsingham via Barchester, then that isn't the Church's problem. If the Anglo-Catholic fantasy is not maintainable (and I draw a clear distinction between that fantasy and the reality of a truly Catholic understanding of what it is to minister in and through Christ), then it is for the ultimate good of all concerned that this be revealed and the corpse buried. Sorry, Milord Ebbsfleet, but I fear you and your tribe will soon be living another equally fantasy drenched life with the Holy Romans - only they will not molly coddle you as much as your Anglican brethren. to whine of the petted lip I can only say as they do in Glasgow : "Aw diddums! Dry yer eyes!"
"Come the final judgment when, as the Prayer Book says in the Marriage Service, ‘the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed’, some will have to account for the broken promises of the early 1990s. Traditionalists were then assured of a permanent and honoured place. Great store was set by the doctrine of reception (whereby no change in Holy Order would finally thought to be ‘received’ until it was accepted by the ancient churches of East and West). It was on the basis of these promises - both now very hollow - that Provincial Episcopal Visitors were appointed, ordinands and their families exchanged comfortable life styles for theological college, curacies, and what promised to be a lifetime of ministry"
Hang on, I was aware that ordination was a promise to follow Christ "for richer for poorer, for better and for worse", I wasn't aware that it would be a promised lifetime of status with a free Vicarage, no council tax and the faithful calling one "Father" all the time. If some people in collars have only just realised that priesthood means walking with Christ the way that may be leading to Golgotha rather than Walsingham via Barchester, then that isn't the Church's problem. If the Anglo-Catholic fantasy is not maintainable (and I draw a clear distinction between that fantasy and the reality of a truly Catholic understanding of what it is to minister in and through Christ), then it is for the ultimate good of all concerned that this be revealed and the corpse buried. Sorry, Milord Ebbsfleet, but I fear you and your tribe will soon be living another equally fantasy drenched life with the Holy Romans - only they will not molly coddle you as much as your Anglican brethren. to whine of the petted lip I can only say as they do in Glasgow : "Aw diddums! Dry yer eyes!"
Honestly, the whining is stunning. Good grief, you'd have thought somebody shot a beloved grandmother at the altar!
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