What shall we do?
My dear brothers what shall we do? We have fallen on hard time and in some ways I think there could be a chance things may be getting worse.
Gafcon has come together and made their decisions. This is to break with the see of
The statement of the Jerusalem Declaration has Gafcon set into a 39 Articles reformation stance.
3. We uphold the four Ecumenical Councils and the three historic Creeds as expressing the rule of faith of the one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
4. We uphold the Thirty-nine Articles as containing the true doctrine of the Church agreeing with God’s Word and as authoritative for Anglicans today.
These beginning points are showing a great problem because they do not uphold Anglo-Catholicism which connects back to the Ancient church.
For Gafcon to say they only uphold four councils is for them to say they know better then those who came before us C.S lewis calls this chronological snobbery. Bishops have the responsibility to listen to the bishop who came before them. All Catholic believers are bound to believe all that is in the Vincentian Canon which is to say all that was believed for the first 1000 years of the church and the first 7 ecumenical councils is part of that.
The true doctrine of the church is not contained in the 39 articles but the Vincentian Canon and where the 39 articles do not oppose the canon they are right but where the 39 articles do differ from the canon they are wrong not the Vincentian Canon.
Also there needs to be a statement against women ordination, which there was not made and now there will need to be a statement from the ccp about this.
So now all my Anglo- Catholic and Anglo- Orthodox brothers what shall we do?
I fear we may be running the risk of being pushed out or at best face an exile. I for one will never let our catholic ways be pushed to the way-side.
We shall wait and see what is going to happen, but let us have our own talks about what we shall do. If Gafcon will not be a home for us. I hope it doesn’t come to us establishing a Catholic Anglican communion, but what can we do if those in power won’t hear us?
Let us pray that things will work out in time!
Let us finish the Oxford movement since Newman could not and bring the Anglican Church to its full right and glory as a branch of the Catholic and
Haereticum Opprimo - crushing the heretics
Written by:
Allen Bailey; aspirant of the Anglican
6 comments:
What shall we do?
Answer: GO BACK TO OUR ANGLICAN ROOTS.
doffrancis@gmail.com
True brother but that would mean to us going back to using all 7 ecumenical councils and the vincentian canon. Truly the 39 articles are not Historically Anglican. They are Reformation Anglican documents. So they are not part of our roots. I think that Anglican church needs to become much like how the Eastern orthodox are in there church government and a mix of east in west in practice. Basically Anglo-Catholicism needs to be the stance of the whole church.
I would like to know what your stance is in practice and belief.
(low, broad, high)
Wonderful commentary. Your are destined for great things.
May God Bless and Keep You!
David+
The problem with Anglicanism (even Continuing Anglicanism) is that is has been hijacked and then infused with Protestantism during the Elizabethan Settlement. The anachronism that you suggest (i.e., 'truly the 39 articles are not Historically Anglican') is a little naive, if I may be so bold. Even the concordat of reunion between the REC and APA demonstrates that this simply is not so.
The culmination of the Anglo-Catholic revival was to show that Anglicanism is ontologically catholic, but what is the use of being catholic by ourselves? Though Blessed Pusey might have raised an eyebrow back then, our 'ontological responsibility' as catholics is to reunite around the primatial seat of Catholicism: the Holy Father.
Mascall wrote that there is a difference between holding to Anglican tradition and Anglicans holding to Tradition; I think you've got this part down, except for the 'Roman slaves' part. Mascall would agree with +Burnham's proposal and the Anglican Use idea. I hope the APA comes to as well.
Cheers,
Thurs.
I am starting to see that joining the roman church may be a option maybe the only option and my Anglo-Catholic brothers from all around are starting to look at this also. There very well could soon be a Anglican rite within Rome.
we very well could end up the way of blessed Newman.
The problem with Anglicanism is that it has lost its way in the modern world and lost her confidence.
Thursday!
You'r quite wrong friend in your comments.
The Anglican Church is quite simply the Catholic Church in the UK, historically that is.
The basic formularies have held tight and what has failed is the membership. For the most part we lost track of our history and of our Catholic Heritage, we preferred to take the easy way out and followed Rome or Pan Protestantism rather than search for our own roots.
For Anglicans our past and future lies in the Scriptures, Creeds and Councils (Seven of them,) We should search for the Tradition we have turned away from and we should eschew the Latitudinarian teachings of the Anglican Communion and the deviations of Rome. The Continuum, minus the TAC, is the place to be to find our Western orthodox Past.
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