New bishops of Ebbsfleet & Richborough

Fr Jonathan Baker SSC

The Archbishop of Canterbury has seen fit to appoint new bishops to the suffragan sees of Ebbsfleet and Richborough. Downing Street made the announcement on Thursday that the next Bishop of Ebbsfleet is to be the Revd Dr Jonathan Baker ssc, Principal of Pusey House, Oxford and Secretary of Forward in Faith, and that the next Bishop of Richborough is to be the Revd Norman Banks ssc, Vicar of Walsingham, Houghton and Barsham, Rural Dean of Burnham and Walsingham and Chaplain to Her Majesty the Queen. Both priests will now become bishops administering sacramentally to Anglicans unable in conscience to accept the innovation of women in holy orders, particularly the priesthood and episcopate.

Fr Norman Banks SSC

The announcement has been welcomed by traditional Anglicans, those who have moved to the Ordinariate under Rome, those without in the continuing churches and those in Forward in Faith. Other Anglicans are also expressing warm respects, even if they are not so traditional. But some have spoken with a sharp tongue.

Jean Mayland is a lady for sharp words. On Thinking Anglicans she says "These appointments are despicable. In response to an advert from his Appointments Secretary many of us wrote asking that that he wait until next year when the new legislation will, God willing be approved and hopefully such posts disappear. He has nevertheless appointed them - maybe in the hope that next time he and Sentamu will push through their heretical amendment. It is a slap in the face for faithful women priests".

Heretical? Despicable? Ms Mayland is herself a lady cleric and church person. However, as with all liberals, she has taken to expressing her will as God's Will. Not content to accept that the overwhelming majority of sacramental Christians believe the three-fold ministry is male in creation as given to us by Tradition and Scripture. That majority, made up of Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and Lutheran Christians, rejects the notions of those who desire innovations based on presumed fairness and equality of the modern world, as being inconsistent with the faith of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. Whilst sacramental Christians may be divided yet are praying and working for unity, it is beyond doubt that Ms Mayland's approach is hellbent on perpetual division.

She thinks Rowan Williams is a heretic! There is a hymn - "God moves in mysterious ways" - and it is hard sometimes to fathom what some people really want. It's a mystery to me what goes on in Ms Mayland's mind. I bet she'll have us out of the Church of England at the point of candlestick if she could. Heretic, indeed! Some cheek, I'd say.

Discriminating between the discriminators

The Equality and Human Rights Commission is keen on fairness. But its own version. The spat with the BNP was absurd, with both sides looking to enjoy the fight. I can't imagine many ethnic minorities jostling for the door to get into the BNP. That would give entryism a whole new meaning if they did.

Some on the liberal left desired that the Church could be defeated over female ministers' employment. They hoped that the Roman Catholics would be given a lesson. Turned out not to be the case. The EHRC has a blurb about "genuine occupational requirements". It reads like this -

"A Catholic theological college can refuse to admit women to a course which is only designed to prepare candidates for the Catholic priesthood as women cannot become Catholic priests. However, a Church of England college could not confine training for the priesthood to men since women may also become Anglican priests."

What it fails to acknowledge is that a sizeable number of Anglicans do not agree with this and are afforded legal protection for the beliefs. It would be interesting to know what the EHRC might do if the See of Ebbsfleet wished to set up a training courses for priests of traditional belief.

I get the impression that the EHRC is trying to sneak a bit more onto the scales on one side only and if their side is too much up in the air they try to do something about it. All this means is that a Roman Catholic priest can be trained in a certain way but an Anglican Catholic priest may not. Is the law an ass?

Woman priest says "abortion is a blessing"!

We've let a Trojan horse into the Anglican Church. In fact, I think there are several Trojan mares and mules in as well. All kicking up a real fuss, most preaching an a la carte menu of novelty doctrines and secular inspired notions.

I've happened to find this from a Katherine Ragsdale, who is the dean of a divinity school. The woman has veered remarkably far from Christian doctrine. To suggest that abortion is a blessing is a blasphemy of the first order. Women who have abortions should be supported, never abused or denigrated. However, telling them that this is a blessing as if God is perfectly at ease with it is bordering on the outrage. Aborting a child is never an easy matter. Women go through all kinds of mental agonies, none of which I could possibly appreciate in their fullness. However, new life is the blessing not the termination of it. This female cleric is sorely at odds with the Christian Gospel.

Ms Ragsdale certainly has a lot to say. I hope her students know this is peppered with social nuances of the day and not with any real divinity. I wonder who thought her fit to be dean, let alone a humble lecturer. Here's a good a quote from the reverend lady. "The ability to enjoy God’s good gift of sexuality without compromising one’s education, life’s work, or ability to put to use God’s gifts and call is simply blessing". Blimey! She's got sexual activity without responsibilty as a guiding light. Basically, I take it she means that all pregnancies that get in the way of doing what you want to do can easily be got rid of. Good thing she wasn't around startling the shepherds, giving the innkeeper a mouthful and generally suggesting that Mary and Joseph had better things to do.

One day she will stand before the Throne of The Heavenly Grace. I have no idea what she will say, but I hope it won't be any of this stuff!

Liberal churchpeople cheesed off!

I remember the Bishop of Hereford flushing his diocese out. He wanted traditionalist priests removed. By that he meant to cleanse his patch of any who would not conform to the new notions of female ordination.

Now the Bishop of Chichester is being reproved by liberals for not ordaining women. Or even permitting suffragens to do the same. However, it is not a ban on women in the Chichester diocese. One senior cleric says,"It's a very unhappy position for those who support women priests, and it's hurtful for those who have been campaigning for their ordination. There is no other diocese in the country where this attitude prevails. It's the last bastion of something that is beyond the pale. I think that the bishop must be very lonely right now. He is trying to stick his finger in the dyke, but for one diocese to try to go it alone is completely crazy." This cleric has a selective memory.

Those liberals are propounding the view that female ordination is somehow a God-given truth. Currently it is supposed to be in a period of "reception". The fact that the Roman Catholic Church and Orthodoxy see the innovation as inconsistent with the Faith escapes them. Far from being "the last bastion of something that is beyond the pale", Bishop John Hind is only maintaining the Faith as it has been received. That is what tradition means.

Personally, I have no trouble if people wish to have female priests so long as others who do not are not forced to accept the idea over conscience. When I hear clerics speak as if others are fossilised pagans from the dark ages, then I have a strong sense that they are only speaking for themselves.

Roman Catholics in US more in tune with Pope than Rome!

The Washington Post and ABC News have commissioned a poll of Roman Catholic thinking in the USA. The poll is perceived as showing that nearly half those respondents consider the Pope and the Church out of touch with their views. It then goes on to give percentages and information about views given.

The 45% who think the Church should bend with the wind are in favour, or don't mind, women as priests. They also want other things, which are not identified as such. But the poll says that Pope Benedict is a forceful advocate for traditionalism, including returning prayers, vestments and music from earlier eras to church services. This would suggest that some priests are conducting services in garb somewhat different from vestments, are making up extemporary prose, and plucking their guitars. Not being a Roman Catholic in America, I can only guess!

I fear the tragedy of clerical abuse has clouded some of the responses. However, it is hard to see that this is representative on such a small sample of 292. What it tells me is that, just like the Anglican Church, there are many who see Christianity as reflecting what they want and not what the Faith teaches them.

If the priesthood is seen as being a matter of human leadership, then it matters not who is a priest. However, the Church has taught differently over the centuries, emphasising the sacramental nature of priesthood and its combining nature with Christ. Marriage of priests is not the same issue as female ordination, although this poll confuses them a bit. Priestly celibacy is a discipline not a doctrine. It could be that the Pope may lead towards rescinding this discipline, back to early times. I doubt if female ordination will be on the agenda, not because it is right or wrong, but because it is not discerned as being compatible with the Faith.

As an Anglican Catholic, I'm intrigued by these answers, but not surprised. A similar ongoing "debate" is entrenched in the Anglican Church, but with the figures for change and innovation somewhat higher. That's why an ex-Roman Catholic is now calling the shots in the Episcopal Church. What the Pope makes of her, I do not know. But it defines the situation nicely. On one side, but from both churches, are the ecclesiastical democrats and on the other side, the traditionalists.