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Tuesday, March 28, 2023

Why is there a DUK?

The Anglican Catholic Diocese of the United Kingdom has existed for thirty years now. For such a small church which has seen much upheaval in those thirty years, it is an example of God’s grace that we are still here. But why are we here?

There have been several occasions now in which I have been asked why the Anglican Catholic Church needs a Diocese in the United Kingdom. I am often pointed to the existence of the Free Church of England, the Anglican Ordinariate and the Society of St Wilfred and St Hilda (hereafter known as The Society) within the Church of England.

With the greatest respect to the Free Church of England, their original existence came about as a protest against the growing Ritualism within the Church of England which developed into the Anglo-Catholic Movement. Since the Anglican Catholic Church shares its heritage with the Anglo-Catholics of the nineteenth century to the extent that, through following the Affirmation of St Louis, we hold to the authority of the Early Church of the First Millennium over the Protestant doctrine of the Book of Common Prayer, it would be somewhat of a discourtesy for us Anglican Catholics to insist that the FCE do the same. This obviously does not prevent any respect and openness to discussion between the ACC and the FCE but such a discussion would have to be mindful of the differences between the classical Anglican Formularies and the Affirmation of St Louis.

With the greatest respect to the members of the Anglican Ordinariate, the fact of the matter is that, insofar as they accept the doctrines of the Universal Jurisdiction of the Pope, his infallibility and the invalidity of Anglican Orders, they are de facto Roman Catholics who use a version of the Anglican Liturgy conformed to the Roman Catholic standards. While this may preserve the ethos of being Anglican, we believe that this hides the actual Romanism which, in the same way as the Eastern Orthodox Church, we cannot share. This is not to say that we cannot be congenial and respectful of our brothers and sisters who have taken advantage of the late Pope Benedict’s generous offer.

With the greatest respect to the Society, we simply cannot be in communion with the Church of England. First, in administering the sacraments, every priest must intend to do what the Church has always intended to do. Given that the Society is part of the Church of England and the Church of England intends to equate male and female priests contrary to Catholic teaching, by being in communion with the Church of England, any clergyman is accepting the intention of that Church as his own. Crossing his fingers and saying, “I’m intending to do what the Catholic Church has always done” isn’t enough because by remaining in communion with the CofE is tacitly affirming the CofE’s intention which is not Catholic. While this does not  render all sacraments invalid, it does render the CofE schismatic from the Catholic Church she was part of until she altered the sacraments. Until the Society does indeed leave the communion of the CofE, we cannot be in communion for then we would be suffering from the same defect of intention and acceptance of schismatic theology. Further, it is also important to know that in the recent vote in General Synod to approve the form of blessing of a couple of the same sex, Bishop Warner of Chichester voted for the approval while Bishop North abstained. The Bishops of the Society have issued the statement here. While the Synod stated clearly that marriage is between one man and one woman, the approval of blessing that which cannot be blessed again raises the question of whether the Society intends to do what the Catholic Church has always done or whether it intends to do what the CofE authorises. Of course, we aim to be on good terms with the Society and its members and wish them to have the space to flourish in the direction that the feel called. Given that we have been personae non gratae at the Shrine of Walsingham , it is clear that we need to learn to understand each other better.

Our Diocese has formed, like the rest of the ACC, in response to the alteration to the sacraments by the Church of England. Since then, we have discovered that we do have a robust expression of truly Catholic theology that has come about throughout our history and association with the Orthodox Church, Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England. I hope soon to be publishing further material which demonstrates that theology, why we hold it, and why it is a natural expression of proper Anglican Catholicism in the British Isle. Do please check out The Meaning of Anglican Catholicism in which I begin charting this theology.

Nonetheless, the FCE, the Ordinariate and the Society have my prayers, fraternal greetings and good wishes as they follow the Way, Truth and Life.

Monday, March 27, 2023

Unveiling the Passion

 


Why do we veil the crosses, ikons and statues in Passiontide?

Sunday, March 26, 2023

Continuing Levites

Sermon for Passion Sunday

Is the Old Testament priesthood
the same as the New Testament priesthood?

You've probably not even
thought about that.

Why would you?

 It's not exactly something that
crops up in our usual experience
of going to church.

We go to Church 
and worship with our priest
and we assume that
he is part of the New Testament
just like us.

There is a very clear priesthood
in the Old Testament,
indeed the Book of Leviticus
is a book about priesthood.

The tribe of Levi
in the Old Testament
is set apart from the other tribes.

Levites aren’t given
any land when they
cross the Jordan.

The Levites are told
that they are to
live in and amongst
the other tribes of Israel.

Wherever the tribes go,
there is always a presence
of the Levites,
these priests of the Old Testament.

Why was it that
the Levites were not
given any land?

Well you can see the answer.

Practically,
the Levite priests were present
in every community
so that they could offer
the sacrifices on behalf of the people
with whom they were living.

It's no different from
your parish priest
living in a Vicarage
in the local community.

So they could not be given
any land of their own
because they needed to be
in the community of others.

Already we begin to see
that there are some parallels
between Old Testament priesthood
and New Testament priesthood.

Old Testament
and New Testament are united
in Christ,
 and He is the reason
why the priesthoods are
essentially the same
but different in practice.

[PAUSE]

Our Lord Jesus Christ
is the High Priest
of the new covenant.

This doesn't mean
that the old covenant is worthless,
but rather it is fulfilled in Christ.

All covenants are sealed in blood.

While we cannot 
pour out our blood
to seal our covenant with God
and live,
we need another to do it for us.

In the Old Testament,
this is why 
the Israelites sacrifice animals.

The Old Testament priests
sacrifice and pour
the blood of the victim 
upon the altar.

This blood cleanses
the flesh of Israel
but, as our Lord shows us,
this is not enough 
to cleanse our souls.

We need better blood.

That blood is supplied
by Christ Himself 
up on the cross.

Jesus takes away our sins
upon the cross
not by becoming a sinner
in our place,
not by being punished
instead of us,
but by offering up Himself
as a sacrifice 
which takes away our sin.

The blood of bulls and goats
cannot free us from our sin
but the blood of Christ can
because it seals 
the covenant perfectly

So our Lord offers Himself
in that one perfect sacrifice
for all the sins of every human being
who has ever existed.

The blood of the animals
sacrificed upon the altar
in the Old Testament priesthood
is soon identified
with the blood of Christ
so that it can be a sacrifice
for the Israelites
completed upon the Cross.

For us of the New Testament,
we have no need
to slaughter animals any longer
because our Lord Jesus Christ
has given His life for us
and His blood is shed for us,
and is poured out
across time and space
to be available for us all.

This blood is now found
under the appearance of wine
in the Mass.

It is the same blood of eternity
which gives us life,
cleanses us from our sins
and begins to course
through our veins.

This is why
we offer the sacrifice
of the Mass.

It isn't that
we are sacrificing
our Lord Jesus Christ anew
– that would be heresy.

When we offer up
the sacrifice of the Mass,
 it is Christ Himself
through the Church
who unites us to
His one perfect sacrifice.

His sacrifice has a root in time,
namely at his crucifixion,
but it stretches throughout all ages
so that all may have opportunity
to receive the salvation promised.

We are united in Christ
at the Mass from its beginning
to its end.

This is why it is
the great sacrament
because what we see in time
is part of what is in Eternity.

The actions of
the priest in our sight
are fundamentally connected with
the actions of Christ
in His priesthood.

This is the character
of ordination
in which each priest
is given the grace
to be a reflection of Christ
in His priesthood.

[PAUSE]

This should give us
some great comfort.

The New Testament priesthood
is united with the Old Testament priesthood
through Christ,
and we can be assured that
we have communion
with all who receive
the body and blood of Christ
regardless of the century,
regardless of location.

The church is
a continuation
of the chosen people Israel.

We are united
through the blood of Christ.

This is why the priesthood
in the Old Testament
and the priesthood 
in the New Testament
marry up
and why priesthood is vital
for the lifeblood of the Church
to flow throughout all times and all places.

Our Lord Jesus Christ
as both priest and victim
gives us all His blood,
and in His blood,
His life.

We can be assured of this
and that
when we come up to the altar
to receive the Body and Blood of Christ
that is indeed
what we receive.

We are united with him
whether we feel that or not.

[PAUSE]

When we see
the priest of the Old Testament
we should think about
how their ministry continues
into the New
and how Our Lord Jesus Christ
fufills the old and continues it
into the new.

Let us therefore drink deeply
as we enter the last two weeks
of the earthly ministry of our Lord
and see His Eternal priesthood
complete one and begin another.

Wednesday, March 22, 2023

A reminder of the dangers of Kripkean Dogmatism

An extract from my upcoming text on Anglican Catholic Moral Theology:

"Kripkean Dogmatism is the state in which a dogma is held to be true to the extent that evidence to the contrary is automatically rejected and all evidence to the affirmative is assimilated. Kripkean Dogmatism may be shown to be inherently irrational as follows. Any dogma is founded on a particular body of evidence. If that particular body of evidence is complete, then one may rightly and justifiably hold to that dogma since there is no new evidence that can alter the decision. If, however, the body of evidence is incomplete, then the Kripkean Dogmatist is assuming the dogma to be certainly true based on the incomplete evidence that he has. There is, therefore, an absolute conclusion based upon non-absolute warrant and/or non-absolute data which leads to the acceptance only of evidence for the dogma and that produces an unsound argument. Hence, Kripkean Dogmatism is not a rational position."

This makes it all the more important to understand the reasons why we discard the bodies of evidence that we do. The Revisionist and Biblical Eisegete are prime examples of Kripkean Dogmatists in that they already have agenda external to the authority of the Catholic Principles. Individuals who claim absolute irrefutability thus are not using Reason rightly.

Monday, March 20, 2023

The binding of Benedict

 


How St Benedict and his rule are relevant for us today.

Why I am not a Universalist

I have recently updated and will continue to update my understanding on this issue. I have therefore made this post into a "page" which can be found on the sidebar or here.

Sunday, March 19, 2023

Fattening up for a rest

Sermon for the fourth Sunday in Lent

Which day of Creation are we in?

You know 
that first chapter 
of Genesis. 

God creates the world 
in six days 
and rests on the seventh.

So which day are we in?

[PAUSE]

If you believe that 
this first chapter of Genesis 
means that the universe 
really was created 
in six periods of twenty-four hours, 
then the question seems silly 
as there are over a million days 
since the creation.

It's true that the universe 
could have been created in that way, 
but that's not really what 
the Biblical account of Creation is for, 
nor does the Bible say that 
it has to be that way.

Which day are we in?

You might say the seventh.

We don't see God 
active in the world, 
so He must be resting. 

No new animals 
are springing into being 
before our very eyes, 
are they?

In fact, 
we are seeing animals 
change and evolve all the time. 

From this point of view, 
Creation is still happening. 

Are we really in the sixth day?

[PAUSE]

And then there is evidence 
from the Lord Himself. 

Five barley loaves 
and two small fish.

Five thousand men, 
not counting women and children.

Twelve baskets of leftovers.

Do the maths!

We see God Himself 
create Woman from one single rib 
from the side of Man.

This is how we know 
that Jesus is God.

Only God can create, 
and here, in front of our very eyes, 
Our Lord doesn't bake bread -
He creates bread.

It's interesting to note 
that the Hebrew word for creating 
also means to make fat. 

When He creates, 
God makes things substantial. 

Our bodies are fleshed out 
by His act of creation.

You see this happening 
before your eyes 
as five loaves and two fish 
are fleshed out, 
made substantial, 
Forming a banquet 
to fatten the hungry multitude.

God, Our Lord Jesus Christ, 
is creating in front of 
five thousand men. 

This is indeed a miracle, 
but only one that 
can be performed by someone 
with a control over matter 
that is unparalleled.

So we must be in the sixth day.

[PAUSE]

This means that the seventh day i
s yet to come. 

The Eternal rest of God 
when Creation is complete, 
when Creation is perfect. 

Are you perfect? No?

Then you are still being created!

And God, being Love, 
does not insist on His own way. 

This means that 
you have a hand 
in your own creation. 

You can choose how you turn out. 

This is God's gift of free-will to us all!

Do you understand that?

You play an active part in your creation.

 What you choose to do 
will and does 
affect who you become. 

It means that someone 
can reject God's destiny for her 
by preferring her idea of perfection 
instead of His. 

That separates her from God 
because she prefers 
to err from His way.

And God says of those 
who err in their hearts 
and who do not know His ways 
that they shall not enter His rest.

[PAUSE]

In feeding us, 
God is fattening us up for His rest. 

He gives us His substance, 
our daily bread, 
so that when the sixth day is over, 
we are complete perfected in Him, 
and fitted for Heaven to live with Him there. 

Only then can 
we behold the face of God and live, 
truly live.

Thursday, March 16, 2023

A little topical reading


I thoroughly recommend this, especially in the light of recent discussions as to what traditional Christianity teaches on this important matter.

Monday, March 13, 2023

Liturgy, St Benedict and Anglican Catholicism

 


Contrary to the thinking of some Anglican priests, Liturgy really does matter.

Sunday, March 12, 2023

It's a shame about the light

Sermon for the third Sunday in Lent

From the beginning
there have always been
darkness and light.

Of course,
darkness is the absence of light
and so it really isn't a thing.

We only notice a hole
because there's something missing.

We only notice the dark
because the light is missing.

But nonetheless
darkness and light
have been part of man's existence
from his very beginning.

Even being born
we emerge from darkness into light.

The baby’s little eyes
are dazzled by a new sensation
which it has only been 
very dimly aware of
for the past nine months.

Suddenly that little baby
gets a flood
of dazzling, bewildering
and conflicting information.

No wonder she cries!

So begins her life.

Every day follows every night,
and every night follows every day.

Darkness and light
around us at all times.

So why is there darkness?

[PAUSE]

We see things
because there is a variation
in light, colour and shade.

We understand
the world around us
by the light that gets reflected
from objects into our eyes.

The light that gets reflected
has a lot of different
colours and hues.

So perhaps
there doesn't have
to be darkness at all.

Why is there darkness?

As you can imagine 
it all goes back to the Fall.

We ate the fruit
of the knowledge
of good and evil.

We opened our eyes to darkness,
and so what we see
in the world around us
is a reminder that there we are fallen.

The night is lovely,
but only because
there are the stars shining
and the moon shining
and the little lights
of the houses on 
the opposite side of the valley
shining in the night.

If it were true darkness
there would be nothing to see.

It is the light that
we are drawn to
not darkness
in which we hide
our fallenness
and brokenness
and our failure 
to resist temptation.

[PAUSE]

We see both Saint Paul
and Our Lord urging us 
into the light.

Our Lord does battle with darkness.

First He does battle
with the more obvious 
forces of darkness.

In casting out a demon,
He shows that He has 
complete mastery
over the strong powers 
of the Devil.

He casts out Beelzebub
by pure beams of His light.

But there are other agents of darkness
that are more difficult to get rid of.

This is the darkness 
in the hearts of men.

This is the darkness
that tries to be light
by claiming that 
what we see as light
is true darkness.

They say that 
Our Lord is in darkness
through their own light.

But that is a big problem 
with their thinking.

[PAUSE]

How do we get rid of darkness?

We don't chase the darkness
out of the room
before we turn the light on.

That doesn't make any sense.

In the same way,
we cannot get rid of evil
by chasing it out of a human being
and then putting the good in.

You can only get rid of darkness with light.

You can only get rid of evil with good.

So if Beelzebub is evil
he can only be removed
by what is good.

So to say that Jesus’ power
comes from Beelzebub
doesn't make sense.

How can  Beelzebub cast out by Beelzebub?

How can you chase
the dark out of the room
without turning the light on?

How can you chase 
the dark out of the room
by making it darker?

Of course,
it could be a trick!

Beelzebub could pretend
to cast out Beelzebub couldn't he?

But why?

To deceive more people?

To deceive people
by restoring their sight ,
giving them hope,
even sacrificing his life
in the cruellest,
most painful death on the cross?

It's a funny sort of devil
that wreaks havoc
by forgiving sins,
healing the sick
and offering us salvation.

No!

This is no trick.

Jesus is the purest light from heaven;
He is the True Light;
He is the Light of the World
and by Him
we see the truth
that we do not have
to live in the darkness 
of our fallen nature.

Saint Paul recognises this.

This is why he urges us
to be children of light
and to walk in that light.

He reminds us that
we must not have fellowship
with the unfruitful works of darkness
but rather reprove them.

He says that it should be
shameful for us even to think
about the works of darkness
because we are children of light.

In the light all 
our shameful deeds 
will be revealed.

It is those things that we do
that we want to remain hidden
that form our works of darkness.

St Paul lists some of these:
fornication,
uncleanness,
covetousness,
filthiness,
foolish-talking,
coarse laughter.

These old things which,
if people knew 
we were committing them,
we would blush 
and be ashamed.

But the Lord sees them
because He is the light
and it is revealed to Him:
the Dirty joke,
the snide comment,
the thoughts of anger and malice
which darken our minds.

Anything that we want to hide
will be found out by God.

Adam tries to hide his nakedness 
and God sees.

[PAUSE]

This sounds very unsettling.

Every day
we do something
that we are ashamed of
and would wish to hide
in the darkness in our souls.

Even in Lent,
when we try to be better people,
those darknesses are still there.

We can expose them in Confession
and be assured of God’s forgiveness.

That is a fine way
to get rid of those sins
that lie in the secrets of our hearts.

How to stop doing them?

That is another question.

[PAUSE]

We need not fear.

Saint Paul may urge us
to run for salvation.

However,
he wants us to walk in the light.

This is a marathon not a sprint.

It will take time for us
to throw out the darkness
by letting the light into our souls.

It is hard work
but in a funny way
Shame itself
is on our side here.

It is shame
that helps us see
the darkness that
we are doing
and it is shame
that brings our secret sins to light.

Shame arises not from the evil
but from the good.

The image of God in us
may be distorted
but it has not been rubbed out.

It is the light of God in us
that makes our darkness known
through shame.

So when we feel ashamed,
or we feel that we will 
not do something
for risk of being ashamed,
then that is the moment
to look at our intentions
and to bring them into
the light of Christ ourselves willingly
so that we may be forgiven 
and put right.

[PAUSE]

It is not the light that causes shame.

Our misdeeds cause shame.

We should not allow ourselves
to become confused into
trying to cast out 
darkness with darkness.

Nor should we try 
and shrug it off by saying,
"Everybody does it,
there's nothing to be ashamed of "

That is the Devil’s ploy.

Even if we are ashamed,
let us throw open
the windows of our soul
and let the sunlight of Christ shine in
and make us children of His light.

Monday, March 06, 2023

The soul and body of Aquinas

 



Why the theology of St. Thomas Aquinas is helpful in keeping things real.

Sunday, March 05, 2023

Walking to the prison door

Sermon for the second Sunday in Lent

You been taking Lent seriously.

Not only have you been
fasting and praying
and giving alms,
you've also been
examining the way
that you live your life,
looking to conform better
to the way God wants us to live.

This is very commendable,
indeed this is the way
to work out your salvation
with fear and trembling
knowing that it is 
the Spirit of God working in you.

But is it all necessary?

Surely Jesus loves us
for who we are,
doesn't He?

[PAUSE]

We know that Jesus loves us.

The Cross is
by far
the most explicit assurance
we can have of
the love of God for His children.

For God sent not His Son
into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world
through Him
might be saved.

So surely that means
it doesn't matter what we do,
we just have to be ourselves.

We just need to let Jesus save us,
save us as we are.

This might be true
if we are saved by Faith alone.

The act of believing in Jesus
would be enough
to guarantee that
we are put right before God.

If this is true
then it doesn't matter what we do,
whether we sin
or whether we don't,
because at the end of it
just believing in the Lord Jesus Christ
will be enough to justify us before God,
and save us.

This is certainly 
something that we see 
in the modern church.

You've clearly heard that phrase
that Jesus accepts us as we are
for who we are.

Apparently Jesus “gets us.”

[PAUSE]

You can see why this
doesn't quite work
if we listen to 
the words of Saint Paul
to the Christians 
in Thessalonica.

He tells us that we need
to walk and please God.

Of course,
we have to believe God
before we can please God,
but that's not enough.

We do actually
have to please Him.

What does that mean?

[PAUSE]

What pleases God
is love.

God loves us,
so He wants us 
to progress to Him
using the free will
that He gives.

We have to progress in God
for that is what to love God
with all our heart, soul, mind
and strength means.

We have to want
true goodness in our lives.

We know that love is 
an action not a feeling.

It makes sense
therefore
that we do love.

We have to become perfect.

But how are we 
to become perfect in God?

How do we learn to do it?

[PAUSE]

Well, first we look to Christ.

This is where our justification begins.

It begins with faith in Christ
and is life long.

But here we are
2000 years distant
from the time when
Jesus is helping 
the Canaanite woman.

Notice that He is including her
in His offer of salvation
by giving health to her daughter.

Our Lord’s offer of salvation
is inclusive,
it is open to 
every single human being.

It is not enough
to believe the offer,
we need to take up that offer.

We are imprisoned
by Sin,
our own sin
and the sins of others.

Jesus has opened the door 
of Sin’s prison house,
but in order to be free,
we must walk out the door.

This means we have
to learn to walk and to walk
towards the door.

However we are fallen
and this means that
not only do we have to 
learn to walk again,
but we also have to 
learn to see again.

To learn to do these things
requires assistance.

We need the help of those
who are already on their feet
and stumbling towards the door
of the prison house.

The Apostles are the first
to be able to do this
by virtue of their 
eyewitness relationship
with Our Lord.

With the Apostles is built
the hospital in which each one of us
learns to walk and talk and see
and progress towards God.

This means that 
the Church herself
has to show 
every Christian how to live.

Every Christian needs
to live a life of holiness
in order that other people
 may know holiness.

This is exactly what the
Church in Thessalonica is doing
because Saint Paul says that
the Thessalonians 
have received of him
how we ought to walk 
and to please God.

He hopes they would 
abound more and more.

The Church of Thessalonica
is not a church which says
“Jesus accepts you for who you are,”
this is a church that says,
“Jesus offers you salvation:
keep his commandments
and receive it freely.”

[PAUSE]

A big deal is made
these days
about the Church needing
to be “inclusive.”

This is true.

The Church needs
to be able to accommodate
every single human being
no matter where they are
or what they have done
or who they believe themselves to be.

The Church must welcome
with open arms
those who wish to come
through the doors.

But the Church cannot
preach another Gospel
other than the one it has been given.

And this means it must preach
the Gospel that says “if ye love me,
keep my commandments.”

Progress in the Church,
progress in holiness,
is made by keeping
God’s commandments to love.

It means learning
to live a holy life.

It means we have to abstain
from fornication,
we have to possess
our vessel – our bodies –
in sanctification and honour
and not in the lusts of the flesh.

We have to live lives
that are holy
not like the people
who refuse God’s holiness
and live their lives outside the Church.

For God has not called us
unto uncleanness,
but unto holiness.

[PAUSE]

We live lives of holiness
when we seek out
good Christian living.

We begin with our faith
and see where it leads us.

It will lead us into loving God
and seeking our perfection in him.

It will lead us into seeing
our brothers and sisters around us
as people who deserve salvation
because of Christ's love for all of us.

This does not mean
that we browbeat our neighbour
or throw his sins in his face
in an air of
hypocritical moral superiority.

It means encouraging,
being gentle and accepting
the human condition is weak.

We do this best by setting
an example in our own lives
as do the Apostles and Saints.

It means living 
our lives in holiness
as best as we can
in order to show our
brothers and sisters
that it is possible to live
holy lives and live to love God.

It means showing the world
what to do with Sin
when we repent of ours fully
and forgive others freely.

God will always honour
our efforts to come close to Him
for that is what the Sacraments do,
draw us closer through His Grace.

[PAUSE]

Your Lent will always be a struggle.

That's not a bad thing.

Your struggle to be holy
will be strengthened by God’s Grace.

We no longer live
for ourselves in the Church,
we live for other people
and for their good,
and we live for 
the love of God.

Let us therefore walk 
all the more closely
towards the door of the prison
so that we can see 
the shining light of Christ
and be free.

The only way we can do this
is by showing others the way
to the door, too.