A nice dilemma

If you've been to the funny, but lovely, little town of Bath then you will have been to the square wherein the Abbey is located (it is the major feature of the town).  There is a curious article in Church Times (here) about Evensong having to be cancelled because the activity outside  the Abbey was too loud.
It reminded me of one of the profoundest religious experiences I ever had in Paris (here sorry the picture has disappeared if you need one ...here you go)
My dilemma is this:
What is more authentic; the people who sit on the steps of the Basilica ( a truly amazing place...no doubt), or the people who are inside at 10 p.m. on a Sunday night.
I must admit I went in and I was overwhelmed that the 400 or so people who were there at the dead of night were probably not going to turn up on Sunday morning; many of them clearly gay and Bohemian. What ever either of those terms might mean in today's world!
Isn't this the dilemma for Bath ( and indeed the Church where I work)? Is Evensong or busking the more authentic expression of life?
I think I know the answer. It is not always comfortable...or if you were in Paris confortable !

I told you not to be surprised

I think of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC) as a faux church (some comments here and then again here )
I have commented more than once that I would like someone to challenge their use of the term "Anglican Communion" and indeed the word "Traditional" in juxtaposition.
There can only be one meaning of the expression Traditional Anglican Communion....and that is churches which see their roots in the Church of England and continue in Communion with that Church...and particularly as represented by its chief bishop, the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Clearly the so called TAC (which may see its roots in the C of E) has severed its communion with Canterbury...the most traditional link with Anglicanism!
Any way, it's falling apart!
In the last couple of weeks a majority of TAC bishops have met and voted out their Primate (who happens to live within my parish boundaries) John Hepworth.
Mr Hepworth (as the Roman Catholic Church of which he was once a member seems intent on calling him) along with his long term amigo John Fleming (a former Anglican priest who became a Roman Catholic) who has had his own troubles of late (see here..and then have a Google....but currently tied up in the courts)....well they have always been intent on claiming credit for the so-called Anglican Ordinariate (see a tangled web here)
Finally....Hepworth has been deposed. Of course he claims that the majority of Bishops had no right to do it.
But I was interested to hear conservative Anglican commentator David Virtue the so-called and self-declared "Voice for Global Orthodox Anglicanism" at least admitted on ABC Radio that the outlandish claim that the TAC had 400,000 adherents worldwide was always fanciful. He exposes some other bizarre issues here in his account of Hepworth's deposition.
A great churchman once said to me about breakaway churches "Once they've broken away, it's only a matter of time before they split and split again!"  These words have been proved to be very prescient.

Expressing yourself

I was faintly bemused at a meeting a couple of weeks ago when B, a key proponent of certain new manifestations of how you might express Christianity, said "I don't ever want to hear the phrase 'Fresh expressions' again"

He was particularly referring to a recent conference in our Diocese that had been pursuing this idea.

My understanding is that the "fresh expressions movement" is challenging Christians to offer the Gospel in ways that might be more readily understood by the 21st century woman and man.

This idea has much to commend it but also needs to be carefully critiqued.

Not a few people have been expressing to me in the last few weeks a certain disquiet about this idea of "fresh expression"

Not the least of which is the whole idea of what "expressions" might be acceptable.

The sad resignation of openly lesbian priest Ali Wurm who has had a powerful and confronting ministry at Semaphore leads us to wonder what on earth we are on about.

I was struck when reading Ali's statement to her parish a couple of weeks ago about how innovative and fresh her ministry had been ( see an interesting account of Ali's church community engaging with popular culture here).

But, you see, although this is one of a number of powerful examples of how a fine priest has tried to freshly express the Christian faith...the powers that be do not seem to be interested in traversing the area of homosexuality.

No wonder the world find us ridiculous!

Worse than this, the world recognises that for all our talk about "fresh expressions" we actually are only prepared (on an official level) to countenance those things which are already well catered for by the narrowness of our own moral world views!!!

The case of the disappearing banners

People often don't get it...but we had a wonderful funeral today. Pioneer feminist and Movement for the Ordination of Women (MOW) member, Alder Hall.

She was one of a fascinating group of driven women who were the stalwarts who kept up the battle for the ordination of women to thge priesthood in the Anglican Church.

The banner to the left is one of a series made over a number of years for the group who would gather at our cathedral after ordinations to protest at the refusal of our church to ordain women to the priesthood. It took 25 years or more of hard plugging for our church to get around to it.

Alder was a key mover in this.

We wondered where they might be as it would be good to display them for the service today. Any way we tracked them down (not me really) and found a whole array of them.

The first comment of many members was ..."We wondered where they were" and then "We think there are 8" and we only had three or four.

Any way by the time we talked it through we thought we tracked them all down.

Alder's sewing skills are phenomenal. Not the typical image of a strident feminist.
Yet I think the lovely Alder did not want to become a man and stop doing traditionally womanly things, she wanted equality for all. Men and women.

Her needlework is a significant reminder of craft giftedness. She was also one of great humility, compassion and erudition. She was persistent and tenacious

My friend and colleague Joan Claring-Bould who is the chaplain at the Women and Children’s Hospital sent me an email yesterday to say she could not be here. She said of Alder: Alder was a prophet of reconciliation, justice and peace. Her gracious and tenacious support for the Ordination of Women in this diocese and the Australian Church, along with Alison Gent and others, should never be forgotten by the women clergy of the diocese. I hope some day we will find a way of making sure her memory lives on in the history, present and future of this diocese.

I agree and I know many others will too

The definitive version

This is the Adelaide Diocese you Tube for Sunday September 12 when everyone is invited to "Come as you are!!"
Any Church near you!

Beating up the news

A recent careless story from The Advertiser about the Anglican Church's welfare arm Anglicare is doing the rounds, and is pretty mischievous (here).

The article linked to (here) does tell some of the story. In fact it notes that the Anglican Church actually received advice about what it could and could not do legally, and never at any stage did it suggest that it would be using government funding or private donations which had been given or acquired for its legitimate use.

I can't help but think that had the most public face of the Church's ministry of caring for people at risk sat back and said "This doesn't concern us!" there would be voices screaming that Anglicare doesn't really care for those hurt by this dreadful stuff.

Of course much of this is subtle and requires careful assimilation of the information. Not something the casual newspaper reader tends to do. certainly not something inexperienced reporters tend to care very much about either!!!

The trappings of imperialism

I think that many Australian Anglicans will be shocked by news that the Roman Catholic Church seems to be actively progressing the establishment of an Anglican Ordinariate (a sort of Anglican Church within the Roman discipline)[see an article from a Roman Catholic source here].
Auxiliary Bishop of Melbourne, Peter Elliott,(pictured) would appear to be responsible for establishing such an ordinariate here in Australia, and last week Forward in Faith (AUSTRALIA) passed a generally worded motion welcoming this.

Now it seems (and needs to be said) that FIF is not an organisation of the Anglican Church. (I think some object to this assertion). While no doubt some Anglicans are members, others are former Anglicans, indeed David Robarts the National Chairman is a Bishop of the so called "Traditional Anglican Communion" -a breakaway group with issues about the ordination of women and often certain curious allegiances to the Book of Common Prayer of 1662- often they seem to have more in common with the the pre-Vatican II Catholic Church, and the pre-Reformation Anglican Church.

I have had romantic attraction like this myself to a sort of ultra-montane Catholicism which is more a figment of the imagination than a reality.

I am interested in the use of language and what it conveys. I note the FIF motions for example (here) they are conciliatory and almost weak in their intent.This is classic Anglican use of language...as one former Primate would say "on the one hand...but then again on the other hand"

They say

( on the one hand ) That this Special General Meeting of FiFA receives with great gratitude the Apostolic Constitution “Anglicanorum Coetibus” of Pope Benedict XV1 .....(but on the other hand) we give notice as to the establishing of Friends of the Australian Ordinariate and invite members of Forward in Faith Australia and other interested persons for expressions of interest by provision of names and addresses at this meeting, or by contacting the Chairman, noting that this does not commit interested persons to joining the Ordinariate.

This is classic Anglican meeting procedure...we do something parallel which doesn't offend those who might not quite want to go that far! And always allow the way out.

I contrast that rather with the some what imperialistic tone of Bishop Elliott who refers to the Pope as "Pastor of the Nations" offering special dispensation and beneficence ("reaching out to give you a special place within the Catholic Church") to the naughty little children who have finally come home to Daddy.

This is a far cry from the language of the 70s and 80s in which Anglicans steadfastly referred to ourselves as "sister churches" rather than daughters..and occasionally the Romans agreed. But we seem to have gone back to an earlier time. White gloves and all!

At some point we Catholic Christians, Romans and Anglicans have got to realise that it is not about dressing up!

sleight of hand

One of the ways the churches have tried to deal with offences by members of the clergy is by moving offenders away from the scene of the crime. It is a pretty draconian and certainly cynical strategy.
It assumes that the church can be saved embarrassment not by bringing offenders to (ecclesiastical) justice but by some sort of sleight of hand which moves offenders out of the public eye.
As a strategy it has worked quite well, from the church's point of view; those who have committed offence, say, in Melbourne might be moved to Perth where they were not known. And have begun again.
The only problem is that what often they have "begun again" is more of the same. The Church (and here I refer to the church of all persuasions, Anglican, Roman Catholic, Uniting Church...you name it) has discovered that they have granted forgiveness, moved people on but they have continued with their manipulation, exploitation and humiliation of individuals.
Even if they have not offended in the same sort of gross way this moving-people-on has denied those have been "sinned against more than sinning", the right to confront an accused and, as it were, have their day in court.
That the Churches still think they can do this sort of cheap sleight of hand is reprehensible. I suspect that in the next little while we shall hear of yet another priest who has been moved from one jurisdiction to another in the Roman Catholic Church. To what purpose?
I make no comment on said priest's guilt or innocence, though only months ago he was claiming he would cooperate fully with local enquiries, and now would appear to be moving himself outside the purview of the local scene.
It is astonishing that the Roman hierarchy would cooperate or encourage this sort of practice in the modern day.
If said priest has been found to be without fault then let that be declared, do not try to just shuffle him to another part of the pack in the hope that he will escape detection. He deserves nothing less than a declaration of his innocence if he is such.
His victims deserve nothing less than justice and compassion if he is not.