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Saturday, December 29, 2007

Blogday 2007

Youngfogey coined a rather useful term when describing the anniversary of setting up a blog, and 29th December 2007 marks this bloglet's second birthday!

So what did I say last blogday?
Well, I don't call myself an Anglo-Catholic these days except only as a rough guide to where my churchmanship lies since few people have heard of the Anglo-Papalists. Indeed, if I'm asked, I always say that I am Catholic. If anyone is astute to notice my Church of England Readers' badge then I have some explaining to do. I've certainly learned more about my Papistical leanings and the fact that Anglicanism does need the Church of Rome for guidance in its doctrine. This position has been ratified for me by the rati-zinger himself , His Holiness Pope Benedict, who demonstrates the importance for the Church to be faithful to its Tradition. Following the C of E's declaration that women in the Episcopate is consonant with Anglican Understanding, I am at present waiting to see what the "brief from Hell" is going to propose before I make my decision whether I need to swim or not. I am constantly reviewing this situation which is far from ideal. I certainly do not consider myself to be an Anglican if Anglicanism is consonant with women "bishops". As for my Benedictinism, well, that's on hold for a little while as I get used to my new job. I continue to develop my relations with Elmore Abbey in the hope that some more formal affiliation may result. I have found St Benedict very useful for balancing my life out. So one year on sees some growth and some change but still the same problems and irritations. We are stuck with the -isms, including the Neo-Arianism that Dan Brown seems to be selling as well as Gnosticism. These can only be fought by working on our beliefs as set down in Scripture and communicated through the Church. History does not fight the Church, it is modern historians who are trying to make it look as if the Catholic Church is responsible for cover-ups and conspiracies. I cannot see what it would gain from doing so. This year I do need to do more study, my Latin is horrible, my Greek worse and my Hebrew appalling. As I settle in my new job then hopefully I shall find the time to work on some things that I've laid aside for a while such as the proper ministry of Women and the "Natural Sacraments" that I proposed last year. No - I hadn't forgotten. Perhaps you wish I had! Well here's to another twelve months.

Well, events have taken me away from the theology of the "Natural Sacraments" more's the pity. At the moment, I appear to be in some self-imposed exile from my parish celebrating only the Morning Office until the Mass is treated with some respect. It's a bit of a bind when the only other parishes within walking distance (and since I don't drive, this is necessary) are an Aff-Cath church where things are done decently but the theology dodgy, and a Roman Catholic Parish which seems to treat the Mass with about as much reverence as the parish I'm trying to leave.

So I end this blogyear in some kind of ecclesiastical limbo - certainly not a perfect arrangement, and I hope that this is going to be entirely temporary. Now that I receive communion on a much more sporadic basis, I believe I appreciate the spiritual nourishment better.

Whatever state the C of E may be in, I still maintain my links with Elmore Abbey - the only place where I've really felt spiritually uplifted in past years, and it's partly for them that I am loathe to leave the C of E. The Abbey has always represented a weak link between the C of E and the Roman Catholic Church. I find that I need them and on some level they need me, and I find that this is enough for me to remain in a church whose establishment is falling around my ears.

I seem to have spent my year building up my (lack of) understanding of Anglo-Papalism which gets mentioned every other post making me sound like the stuck record of a monomaniacal parrot. It's important because of the confused nature of the discipline. Every Anglo-Papalist is confused on some level and that's because the Church is a confusing place to which to belong. I now have friends like Marco Vervoorst trying to draw me into the Holy See, and others, like my friends from the Continuum trying to call me into a Continuum parish. It just shows what good friends they are, caring about me like that, and it is very much appreciated even if their attempts are not proving successful. However, I pray about the situation nightly, and despite my pressing for a decision, I still feel that I am told to wait for the path to become clear. Perhaps I must wait for the inevitable fragmentation of the C of E - that would make sense (at least to me). I have to be patient, and so must my friends. Intellectual arguments are not enough at the moment.

My Latin is passable, Greek even worse, and Hebrew infinitesimally better, but at least I've settled into the school which is providing spiritual stimulation of an intriguing kind. Having to defend your beliefs to young adults is very bracing and I heartily recommend it.

Thanks for reading over the past year. I hope that you will stay with me and pray with me for the Holy Estate of the Church of God, whatever state she's in.

7 comments:

  1. That is twice I have been called a friend via the internet in the last couple of weeks.

    I am not trying to draw anyone anywhere. I merely challenge people to critically examine their current religious position. To paraphrase Greek philosophy, an unexamined religious position is not worth living. If you can live with the religious tensions within your own tradition, more power to you. LOL.

    Anyway, Happy Blogday!

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  2. Thanks, Marco,for your kind words and your challenges. It's always good to have a fellow INTJ making sure that you don't rest too comfortably on what you believe. Like you, I cannot just accept a faith that Karl Marx would rightly descibe as an opiate, but rather a faith that embraces the many and horrendous questions that life throws at us.

    I guess what I'm really saying is that both you and the folk on the Continuum paint convincing arguments as to how I should set about resolving the theological tensions in which I find myself.

    One day, technology will perhaps permit us to share some blogday cake. ;-)

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  3. Happy belated blogday and well put.

    I'm an ISFJ.

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  4. As the estimable Dr. Spooner might have sung it:

    Blappy Hogday you to
    Blappy Hogday you to
    Blappy Hogday jear Donathan,
    Blappy Hogday you to

    and I agree with the Fogey:
    a well put post.

    ed

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  5. Dear Sir,
    We corresponded some time ago whilst I was trying to keep my "Laudetur Jesus Christus!" blog going. I was forced to leave my beloved Anglo Papalist parish in New York City and I knew when I left that I would not under any circumstances be able to find such place where I was going and that I could not under any circumstances settle for any Episcopal parish. I considered for sometime my options and I was in a similar limbo as you write about above. My prayers and good wishes are with you my friend. I know only too well how difficult such situations are. I decided to return to the Roman Church in which I was reared. I knew also that I would be going to an "Usus Antiquitor" traditional Mass. I've always been a traditional Catholic in a novus ordo world. I needn't tell you that the situation in the ECUSA is abysmal. I have submitted myself fully to the Holy See and the teaching magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church. If only the Anglo Papalist movement were a reckoning force within the Anglican Communion as much as "Aff Cath" is. I shall pray for you.

    in Jesus & Mary

    Marshall

    http://triregnum.blogspot.com/

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  6. I like the blog's refreshing new look! Good stuff...

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  7. Gee, thanks. I've never been the most aesthetic of folk, and I only modified this so that I could get the labels and posts laid out nicely. I think credit must really go to the template designer.

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