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| The Archbishop of Canterbury embraces the Mayor of London at the#Windrush70 Service of Thanksgiving Source: Twitter@wabbey |
As usual printable captions will be published as comments.
Jumat, 19 Juni 2020
Caption corner 23 June 2018
Pope Francis says no to women priests
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| Pope Francis will not ordain women to priesthood. L'Osservatore Romano/Pool Photo Via AP |
The Catholic News Agency reports that in an interview with Reuters, Pope Francis said more space has to be created for women to take on leading roles in the Roman Curia, but that priestly ordination is not an option.
?We cannot functionalize women,? He said, explaining that while the Church is referred to as a woman, the Sacrament of Holy Orders is out of the question ?Because dogmatically it doesn't work.?
?John Paul II was clear and closed the door, and I will not go back on this. It was something serious, not something capricious,? He said, adding, ?It cannot be done.?
That will be welcome news for many but unwelcome news for some Catholics who are fighting for the ordination of women. They allege that the refusal to ordain women "is not God?S intent, and neither scripturally justified nor the original practice of the church".
The Anglican Church has been down that route, the route to disaster. The implied growth as a result of ordaining women has not materialised, quite the reverse. The church has simply been used by feminists to extend their influence regardless of the consequences.
Lies and deception were used to gain power, not for the church but for themselves. They have reneged on agreements which put them where they are and sidelined anyone who does not agree with them. They have advanced LGBT rights as though that were the Gospel message while promoting same sex marriage.
The ordination of women has been an utter disaster and we are living with the consequences. Western Anglicanism is in terminal decline depriving many more women of their spiritual home. Sadly the destruction has been aided by progressive bishops and priests.
Messy Baptism is the latest feminist first in Wales. Messing up Holy Baptism. What a mess!
Kamis, 18 Juni 2020
Petertide caption
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| Petertide Ordinations 2018 Source: Twitter@MonmouthDCO |
This 'Twitter' photograph shows Dick, Head of Monmouth Diocese illustrating the dignity of office as a terbaru bishop in the Church of Wales.
As usual publishable captions will appear as comments.
A joyous, solemn occasion
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| New priests for the Personal #Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, ordained yesterday at the Birmingham Oratory. Source: Twitter@FrJamesBradley |
Compare the above photograph of eight new priests ordained at the Birmingham Oratory yesterday with the selection of photographs of Church of England?S dabbing deacons and jumping bishops.
As a Guardian article put it prior to the Petertide ordinations, "the stern, decorous images that used to mark these occasions are being replaced by a animo for more frivolous action shots ? With dabbing deacons showing up alongside priests leaping, baring their knees and even wearing L-plates. Their defenders see the new informality as a sign of holy joy. But hardcore traditionalists, along with casual curmudgeons, are less than elated.
"Their ire was recently roused by a shot of six readers being licensed at St Alban?S Cathedral, showing clear air under the heels of a jumping bishop of Hertford, the Rt Rev Michael Beasley."
There is no dignity of office apparent in the St Albans photograph. The sacred ministry is made to appear comic. While the Anglican Church has become 'more relevant to society' it has lost its sense of 'otherness'.
Following a previousentry a commentator took exception to my reference to Messy Baptism which appears to be getting people out of church rather than in. When the Messy 'font' was revealed a child could be heard calling out, "That's our paddling pool!" Precisely.
Fonts are often placed at or near the entrance to a church's nave to remind believers of their baptism as they enter the church to pray, since the rite of baptism served as their initiation into the Church (Wikipedia). In bygone days there was a link with the past when generations of the same family may have been baptised at the same font.
Surely it is more important to get people into church and Holy Baptism is one of the main opportunities for doing so along with marriages and funerals.
But that is no guarantee of success. People can be easily put off as was a mother who complained to a friend about a modernised confirmation service in which the bishop invited all the candidates to stand around him in a semi-circle. He awkwardly negotiated his way between the vicar and the candidates in an informal, happy-go-lucky manner rather than having the candidates kneel individually in front of him to hear those memorable words: "Confirm, Lord your servant with your heavenly grace, and anoint him/her with your Holy Spirit; empower him/her for your service and keep him/her in eternal life. Amen." A moment I still recall as one of deep spiritual significance, probably enhanced by the austere bearing of the bishop.
The lack of 'otherness' was not helped by the fact that the bishop first baptised one of the confirmation candidates inserting a few wisecracks. If holiness is next to Godliness the Almighty was conspicuous by His absence.
Familiarity is killing Anglicanism. On BBC Breakfast TV yesterday, the Chief Constable of Durham police shared his supposedly impartial views on the consecration of woman bishops.
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| Consecration of woman bishop Source: BBC Breakfast TV |
Struggling to explain what was happening he reached a consensus with the presenters that the consecration of women bishops had become 'normal', creating a 'balance'.
It may be 'normal' for the Church of England as currently informed by society, mainly non-churchgoing bystanders who feel free to voice an opinion from a position of ignorance.
It is definitely not normal in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.
Catholic-Anglican dialogue
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| Pope Paul VI (right) presents his episcopal ring to Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey when the two met in 1966 in what was the first public meeting |
between a Pope and Archbishop of Canterbury since the Reformation. Source: Anglican Communion News Service (ACNS)
Years ago I would have been thrilled by the publication of the first report by Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission in 13 years which considers authority and role of laity. Now I recoil in fear and trepidation for the Church.
"Among the considerations in the 68-page report, released July 2, are questions of how the Catholic Church might learn from the Anglican experience to empower local church leaders to act more independently from Rome at times, and to give more governing authority to consultative bodies such as the Synod of Bishops.
It says that the Catholic Church can also "fruitfully learn from the inclusion of laity in decision-making structures at every level of Anglican life."
In March 1966 there was a Common Declaration by Pope Paul VI and Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey after their meeting in Rome. They gave "thanks to Almighty God Who by the action of the Holy Spirit has in these latter years created a new atmosphere of Christian fellowship between the Roman Catholic Church and the Churches of the Anglican Communion."
"In willing obedience to the command of Christ who bade His disciples love one another, they declare that, with His help, they wish to leave in the hands of the God of mercy all that in the past has been opposed to this precept of charity, and that they make their own the mind of the Apostle which he expressed in these words: ‘Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus’ (Phil 3:13-14)."
Anglicans in the West have become obsessed with 'love'. Not love in the sense referred to in the Declaration but as a do-as-you-please passport. In a word, eros. When an openly gay man in a realationship, Gene Robinson of the US Episcopal Church (TEC) was appointed of New Hampshire Episcopal Bishop it caused a hiatus.
Western Anglicanism is in disarray. So much so that it has been reported that TEC spends "$8 million brokering rites for sodomite marriage into the Episcopal Church and messing with the Book of Common Prayer (over three triennium) to change it so non-heterosexual marriages are forever enshrined in the BCP in order to cater to the behavior of a handful of homosexuals and lesbians who may or may not choose to get married. And Jesus will weep. https://tinyurl.com/yc2l8eqw "
Ahead of their General Convention three bishops from the TEC have proposed a "compromise resolution on same-sex marriage which they hope will move the church forwards in an 'atmosphere of mutual respect, reconciliation and the love of Jesus Christ'."
Anglicans landed in this mess because faith is decided by committee, dominated by special interest groups which claim to be persecuted, while appealing to secularists for support. This is the well tried strategy:
- Exploit the “victim” status;
- Use the sympathetic media;
- Confuse and neutralize the churches;
- Slander and stereotype [traditionalist] Christians;
- Bait and switch (hide their true nature); and
- Intimidation.
Taking one step at a time Western Anglicanism has moved from deaconess to women bishops, from a sympathetic understanding of homosexuality to brazen homosexual relationships among clergy who demand to be allowed to marry in church. All in the name of love.
The deviousness of special interest groups knows no bounds. Governance by committee has allowed them to infiltrate, dictate and regulate to the point that many cradle Anglicans now find themselves excluded while the infiltrators drive the wedge ever deeper between the Anglican Church and the Holy Orthodox and Catholic Churches.
"The future of ecumenism is in great peril with the gap widening between orthodox and progressives, said Metropolitan Hilarion of the Russian Orthodox Church a noted theologian and church historian."
Back in 2008 Cardinal Walter Kasper, the president of the Pontifical Council of Christian Unity posed the question to Anglicans: "Are you Protestants or Catholics? He said it was time to decide: "Ultimately, it is a question of the identity of the Anglican Church. Where does it belong? Does it belong more to the churches of the first millennium, Catholic and Orthodox, or does it belong more to the Protestant churches of the 16th century? At the moment it is somewhere in between, but it must clarify its identity now and that will not be possible without certain difficult decisions." See Fr Z's blog entry at the time here.
Against this background it seems almost incomprehensible to read: "Will the Amazon synod open the door to women deacons?" as reported by the Catholic News Agency.
That was the road to disaster for the Anglican Church. ReadThe journey's end but for whom?
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| Bishop Gene Robinson putting the Anglican Church on the road to ruin |
Rabu, 17 Juni 2020
Mission impossible!
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| The boys who became trapped in a cave in Thailand Source: GETTY IMAGES |
Against what appeared to be impossible odds, twelve boys aged between 11 and 17 who became trapped in a cave with their coach on 23 June have been rescued thanks to the efforts of a brave team of rescuers, all of whom deserve medals for bravery.
As we rejoice, the celebrations are tinged with sadness over the loss of a former Thai navy diver Saman Kunan who died last Friday while on a re-supply mission inside the cave in support of the rescue. He gave his life so that others may live showing the selfless courage which highlights the human spirit at its best.
May he rest in peace and rise in glory.
Mary Magdalene
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| The Appearance of Christ to Mary Magdalene, Alexander Ivanov, c.1835 Source: WikiArt |
Don't tempt me!
Depending on how you read the painting, 'Don't tempt me!' could be a caption under Ivanov's painting of The Appearance of Christ to Mary Magdalene.
That is not the message conveyed by the bishop of Bangor who preached at a service for the feast day of Mary Magdalene, live from Bangor Cathedral on Sunday 22 July 2018. He emphasised these points:
- We know very little about Mary Magdalene.
- She is mentioned in the gospels at least 12 times.
- Often depicted in the past as a 'loose woman', we now recognise that label as wrong.
- She is one of the most loyal followers of Jesus witnessing his ministry, his crucifixion and his resurrection life.
- She is, perhaps, the best example in the Gospels of how love transforms everything.
"How love transforms everything"!
🎜 All you need is love🎝 has become the anthem of Western Anglicanism. Today's Golden Calf. Rather than our traditional understanding of God's redeeming love it has become a means of absolving all manner of excess.
Bishop Andy referred to Mary Magdalene as "someone from whom evil spirits had been driven. She was a tormented person. She might have described her life as being ‘out of control’ or unsustainable....The Christian faith is good news for people like us. Because it begins with the conviction that God loves us. This love isn’t founded on the merits of our lives or the choices we’ve made or make. It’s simply in the nature of God whose love is inexhaustible and inextinguishable."
Of course God's love is inexhaustible and inextinguishable but it makes no sense to use the example of someone "we know very little about" as justification for re-writing our understanding of Scripture.
Developing his theme +Andy said, "There is an irony that the women, those compelled to silence in public life, are now compelled to tell the ground-breaking news of the resurrection. Today it’s easy for us to miss the offense, scandal and drama of this in the ancient world. Women! The ones who had no voice, few rights and fewer privileges now elevated to the highest place. It’s as though we’re meant to see that all who feel on the margins, outsiders, are the very ones whom God calls and draws." [My emphasis -Ed.]
Ah, yes! Minorities rule.
The emphasis placed on the elevation of Mary Magdalene to the position of ‘Apostle to the Apostles’ included a reading of the poem ‘They have taken away my Lord’ by Janet Morley leaving the impression that the whole point of the service was to justify the rise of feminism in the Church in Wales and all the free love baggage that arrived with it.
Pity really. It spoilt an otherwise enjoyable service but that is the Church in Wales today.
