Thursday, November 22, 2012

and further...

...to my post below, the prize for an inane and possibly slightly sinister remark goes to some one called Mr Tony Baldry who told the House of Commons today that:

"If the Church of England wants to be a national church, then it has to reflect the values of the nation."

The more you think about that statement the more horrid it seems. Values of the nation? Drunkness. Acceptance of pre-marital sexual relationships as the norm.  Wide use of pornography. Greed - to the point where obesity is a national disease.

The idea of a National Church that reflects the Values of the Nation is actually quite sinister. The whole point of the Church is surely that it is not national, but is over and beyond all nations.

Undeterred by such spiritual realities, campaigners are now urging that Parliament forces the C. of E. to create women bishops. So any last notion that the C of E is a spiritual entity, resting on the word of God and subject to Christ's ordinances, must give way to the understanding that it is simply a British institution run by British law.

"...and on this rock I will build my Church. In addition, some day some one may invent a parallel body in a small and rather beautiful island, and  pretend it is a Church too. It isn't a Church. But there will be some fine and good people caught up in it. Your task will be to help them on their way home to the true Church, encouraging them to bring with them anything and everything of value and beauty that is theirs to bring."




4 comments:

vetusta ecclesia said...


The C of E IS a national institution subject to English law. That is the reality of an Erastian church. 2 Thomases were martyred under 2 Henrys to prevent this situation.

Katie said...

I agree. I found the House of Commons sinister in its assumption that a Church (albeit the feckless C of E) is to be considered yet another service pandering to the self-admiration of the national 'character' (whatever that is). Are we to return to the times of our internal exile? Perhaps some Anglican Puritans will join us in recusancy? How strange are the ways . . .

Manny said...

Wow, what a struggle is happening over your side of the Atlantic. I certainly can't know the nuiances of CofE and English government, but my intuition tells me if the British Parliment overrides the will of the Church and forces woman bishops, it will be the end of the Anglican Church. Can't the Queen as head of the Church say or do something?

Anonymous said...

As a Catholic eager for the re-conversion of England to the True Faith, I am disappointed but not surprised that the C of E has illogically delayed -- at least for the next 5 years-- to allow priestesses to become bishopesses. When this is fait accompli, the last Anglo-Catholics and true evangelicals who believe that sacraments administered by female clergy are de facto invalid, will decamp either to the Catholic Ordinariate or to the Orthodox Church. The remaining members of the C of E will then be honestly Protestant.

The daft fiction that a religious entity whose theology and discipline are decreed by Parliament are "a third branch of the Catholic Church" will be exploded, to the relief of all who care about Truth, rather than conformity with society's changing cultural mores. After the exit of the principled traditionalist Anglicans the Established Church in the UK will resemble the modern established (Lutheran) churches of Scandinavia -- useful for formal ceremonies like coronations, state funerals, and rememberance day; but the majority of whose nominal members are, practically speaking, agnostics who go to Christmas and Easter services for sentimental or aesthetic reasons.

The sooner this happens, the sooner all parties, traditional and liberal, are put out of their misery--so:
the sooner we, the citizens of the UK, (of any or no denomination) have Anglican bishopesses, the better for everyone. The C of E will finally be exactly "what it says on the tin", a State Church in tune with the national zeitgeist, not some pseudo Catholic-branch manqué which claims to be doing the will of God for the salvation of souls according to certain unchanging verities.

--aunt raven