Nobody expects the Anglican Inquisition

From George Conger

Lambeth: Is Inquisition on the cards?
Friday, 25th July 2008. 7:45pm

By: George Conger,

Chief Correspondent



Canterbury: A “bombshell” report is expected to be delivered to bishops attending the 14th Lambeth Conference on July 28 that is expected to call for the Episcopal Church to abandon its push for gay bishops and blessings.

The request is expected to come in the third presentation of the Windsor Continuation Group (WCG) to the bishops at Lambeth and follows a call for the creation of an Anglican Holy Office to police the boundaries of the faith.

Backed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Anglican “Faith and Order Commission” will be a fifth instrument of unity for the Anglican Communion.

Plans for were disclosed on July 23 during the second of three briefings on the work of the Windsor Continuation Group (WCG) chaired by the former Presiding Bishop of Jerusalem and the Middle East, Bishop Clive Handford.

In its briefing paper to the bishops, the WCG commended the creation of an “Anglican Communion Faith and Order Commission that could give guidance on the ecclesiological issues raised by our current ‘crisis’.”



Okay, I can't resist.......



But it will probably be more like this......

"Do not act the ostrich" - J. I. Packer to Rowan Williams

From Anglican Mainstream:

Interviewer: The you were asked what you would say if you had 10 minutes with the ABC. What would you say in 2 minutes to us?

JP: Keep the faith, resist Liberalism, do not act the ostrich, hiding your head in the sand.

Interviewer: What would be your wisdom about carrying on the GAFCON process in England?

JP: At the heart of the Statement is the Jerusalem Declaration. I would like to see PCCs and, where possible, Diocesan Synod, or even central bodies, committing themselves to this as their own guiding star. I would like to see the Primates who were leaders at GAFCON meeting in a public way in January 2009, casting the Jerusalem Statement into the form of a covenantal commitment, publicly subscribing to it on the part of their provinces, and also seeing diocesans subscribe to it. I would like to see it presented to new bishops appointed in the Church of England to subscribe to it, and I would like to see it established as a basis for orthodoxy and missionary action.

The goal of the Covenant Process begun in the Windsor Report would thus be achieved in essence. Anglican provinces who didn’t come along with this would be in the outer circle of limited communion for not identifying with Anglican orthodoxy.

This would be a first step in getting Anglicanism back into proper shape.

Read the rest......

Plundering the Church

Dr. Mabuse says:

In all this, I find a disquieting lack of any sense of seriousness. There was a time when Anglicans really thought that being an Anglican was important. That the salvation of one's soul could depend on it, and making a wrong choice could have eternal consequences. Now, there's no sense that a person runs any risk at all by leaving the Anglican Church. There's no concern that the people being swept away by the new broom could wind up going to hell. Even to write out the phrase seems faintly ridiculous. No one in TEC or ACC takes their actions seriously in a spiritual manner at all. They remind me of Mr. and Mrs. John Dashwood in "Sense and Sensibility", busily calculating how long it will be before their widowed mother and half-sisters will get out and leave the estate for them to enjoy. There are a few half-hearted expressions of regret, and even faint wishes that they could help, but the bereaved and disinherited are not fooled, and know that the minute their carriage drives out of sight they will be forgotten.

No wonder these people cannot evangelize - they have no reason for being Anglicans themselves, other than it's where they've found rich pickings. The Catholics know that salvation is found in the Church; likewise the Orthodox. What do the Anglicans know? Except, "Oh, well, it's nice and comfortable here, and it'll be even better when there are fewer of us to share."

Not being quite so literary as the good doctor, I'd say they also remind me of these characters.

Things that make Christians look stupid

While I'm not going to comment (at least not now) on disestablishment for the CoE, this nonsense about the number 666 is tiresome and makes Christians look like a pack of superstitious fools.

Devilish debate on end for Church of England


LONDON (AFP) - Eyebrows were raised in the House of Commons on Thursday when a motion calling for the Church of England to be disestablished was listed with the number 666, symbol of the AntiChrist.


"This number is supposed to be the mark of the Devil. It looks as though God or the Devil have been moving in mysterious ways," said Bob Russell, a Liberal Democrat MP among those proposing the motion for debate.

"What is even stranger is that this motion was tabled last night when MPs were debating blasphemy," he added.

The motion calls for an end to the formal link between Church and State in England -- embodied in the monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, who is both head of state and head of the Church of England.

The number 666 is referred to in the Book of Revelations in the Bible: "Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred, three score and six."

"It is is incredible that a motion like this should have, by chance, acquired this significant number," said Russell.

Under the rules of the House of Commons the motion by backbenchers has little chance of actually being debated in parliament.