Continuing The Continuum

I find myself becoming more and more disaffected with the Church of England over many issues, all of which point to the fact that this branch of the Church is following the Zeitgeist rather than the Heilige Geist. If she continues then Cardinal Newman's prophecy will come true and all Catholics will have no choice but to regard her as a heretical sect.

Despite my disaffection, I am still a member of the Church of England, and I work within her praying for a return to the Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church of which I have always believed she is a part. However, I hear a myriad Catholic voices outside saying and believing pretty much what I believe - the voices of those in the Continuum.

The Continuum ought to be a really viable and strong force within Christianity. They all fix their sights on the contents of Holy Scripture, the Catholic Creed and the Catholic Tradition which they don't try to interpret for themselves as Affirming Catholicism is wont to do, but remain in obedience to the work of the Fathers and Doctors in the Church.

However, the Continuum is far from continuous. There are denominations all over the place that refuse to acknowledge each other or haven't found ways to fit together to produce a united unit against the tide of secularism, individualism, relativism, and revisionism that is rotting the Anglican Church away and is also causing damage to the edges of the Holy See.

A united Continuum would be a truly wonderful expression of the love of God. It would be able to stand against tide of modernism, yet while not being under the direction of Roman Catholicism would be in Communion with the Holy See working closely with her to spread the Catholic Faith into all the world. A united Continuum would form the coveted Via Media which Anglicanism has failed to provide through poor judgment.

In my experience, Anglo-Catholics form some of the most intelligent and reasonable folk (male and female) in Christendom. They have wide reading and sound theology and yet can contemplate the unthinkable. I have seen this in practice on the Anglo-Catholic Central message board which I urge all Anglo-Catholics to join and contribute to and learn from as I myself have learned.

My experience on the Board also indicates that Anglo-Catholics are all in great pain - mainly spiritual. The treatment by the Anglican Communion or the Holy See of some of these folk has caused much upset and bitterness. Under this treatment we become cynical, irritable and "spiky". Levels of encouragement are very low at the moment.

However, Anglo-Catholicism is low, but it is not dead. My own little branch - the Anglo-Papalists - seems virtually extinct in the C of E. The Saviour says "Unless a seed die, it can never bear fruit." If Anglo-Catholicism goes into this state of dormition, then it will rise more beautiful than ever.

So what does the Anglo-Catholic Continuum need?

• Unity of purpose - to proclaim the Christian Faith in the love of Christ faithfully following Holy Scripture, the Catholic Creeds and the Catholic Tradition.
  
• A Centre. The Tractarians had Oxford, the Roman Catholics have Rome, the Anglicans have Canterbury (technically Lambeth), what can the Anglo-Catholics call their own?
  
• A means of working, studying and praying together. If someone were to set up a theological college, or institute, or Religious Community to study the Faith that the Continuum proclaims in its fragments then we would learn so much from each other and grow in love.

The Continuum has not made an impact on British soil -she is too fragmented. United, she could make her presence felt, she could grow and serve the community as she does in America. With the impending vote on women "bishops" occurring in the Church of England, there will be a great fragmentation to which the Continuum could minister in humility and love. I doubt that the hierarchies of any Continuum churches will actually read this blog, but if they do, this heartfelt plea from a little English Reader would be to find some way of uniting so as to help those who cannot accept the destruction meted out by Revisionism.