Posted on 03/09/2011 1:30:07 PM PST by NYer
LONDON - Hundreds of disaffected Anglicans left the Church of England to become Roman Catholics on Ash Wednesday, the Christian day of penance.
The day set by the church to welcome converts wishing to join the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, a unique grouping created by Pope Benedict XVI for Anglicans left feeling isolated since the Church of England decided in 1992 to ordain women as priests.
Tensions have grown further as the governing General Synod moves to allow women to become bishops while denying special structures to protect the sensitivities of the objectors.
"I believe that synod is trying to make the church conform to the culture rather than being faithful to new life found in Jesus Christ," the Rev. David Lashbrooke said in his farewell sermon at St. Marychurch in Torquay, southwestern England.
Those joining the ordinariate will be allowed to keep some of their customs and liturgy, though they won't be allowed to receive communion until they are confirmed shortly before Easter. Their priests can be ordained to the Catholic priesthood even if they are married.
Church officials haven't released numbers, but a Catholic magazine, The Tablet, has reported that about 20 priests and 600 lay people around England are making the move. Five former bishops have already gone over.
"Of more than 22,000 ordained Church of England clergy in total, about two dozen would appear to have decided to join the ordinariate at this time," said Howard Dobson, spokesman for the Archbishops' Council.
"It is impossible to obtain an accurate figure of lay numbers as no one needs to register their leaving the C of E," Dobson said. The church claims 1.7 million active members.
In the Catholic diocese of Brentwood, covering east London and suburban Essex County, 241 adults and children, including seven priests, have indicated they will be moving from the Church of England, said diocesan press officer Mary Huntington.
The program set by the Catholic Church for the ordinariate is built around the season of Lent leading up to Easter, when new members normally prepare for confirmation, and Pentecost 50 days after Easter when former Anglican priests will be ordained into their new church.
The Rev. Simon Chinery, a curate or assistant priest at two Anglican churches in Plymouth, said he felt "a sense of peace, a sense of excitement and some nervousness" as he prepared for the Ash Wednesday service at a Catholic church.
In his farewell to his old churches on Sunday, Chinery noted he wasn't the first priest from the parish to become a Catholic but that Benedict had made it easier.
"Whereas previously ex-Anglicans were stealthily admitted to the Catholic church through a side entrance, this time the front door has been thrown open and the welcome mat laid out," he said.
"I deeply love the Church of England, it's a hard decision to leave it behind," he said Wednesday, adding that he would particularly miss the church's rich musical heritage.
The Rev. Ed Tomlinson was leaving St. Barnabas Church in Tunbridge Wells, southeast England, and felt relief as he took about 70 parishioners with him into the Catholic Church.
"I spent so many years battling to defend the faith from within the Church of England, which is crazy, and that's taken all my energy away from visiting the sick, preaching the good news and helping people," Tomlinson said in an interview with British Broadcasting Corp. radio.
A smaller group remains committed to St. Barnabas and the Church of England, Tomlinson added, "and they have my prayers and good wishes."
While some move, others are still weighing their options.
Rev. John Corbyn of St. Mary Magdalene Church in Harlow, 25 miles (40 kms) northeast of London, said his group may be part of a second wave to migrants.
"It's not just one day and that's it," Corbyn said. "It's not a closing down sale."
Why should anyone be surprised to see someone who does not agree with Lent attempting to discourage people who do?
This is *exactly* what Christ warned us about the yeast in the dough.
This is heartening. So, you make a conscious act of the will to avoid sin - or at the very least to sin less frequently or less grievously - with God's help.
Because this is right. This is the way to go. But it is not Predestination. When we consciously try to avoid sin, we choose. We make an act of the will. We practically do nothing else - God does all the work - but we decide to change. Or we don't. God does not choose for us.
Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between life and death, between prosperity and disaster
This is the way we engage with God. He makes it very simple and the choices could not be more stark and obvious. But it is up to us. We can indeed finally reject Him.
***We must however not tell anyone what we give up.***
Indeed
And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
— Matthew 6:16-18
Can't find those words in the Scriptures. However, if you mean, do I explain the Gospel to others I encounter? I am doing that right this minute.
I certainly hope so. But, I was unaware that Rome was one of the Apostles. Last I checked, there were twelve, including Judas, then one more, Matthias, then Paul. Hmmm. No Rome.
John includes a gem, however, in chap. 6 vss. 44 & 65. For some reason, Rome seems to have misunderstood yet another passage.
Tragically, you have supplied a great deal of human psychology/philosophy to the Scriptures. "Work out your own salvation, for it is God who is at work in you, both to will (choose) and to work (accomplish) for His good pleasure." Hmmm. Evidently, Paul does not agree with you.
Peter certainly was not tempting God when he responded to Jesus, albeit a little tentatively. But, you said you followed the orders of Jesus and and I was simply reprinting one of His orders. Waiting...
Waiting for what?
You want me to tell you to go jump in a lake?
You believe that Jesus commands us to jump in lakes?
You believe that if someone doesn’t jump in a lake on your say-so, they don’t believe in God?
Which is it?
Waiting ...
Doesn’t your Bible have that passage?
“Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between life and death, between prosperity and disaster.”
It’s in Deuteronomy. God gives us a choice.
No, my FRiend, we cannot "finally reject" Him, if He has indeed laid hold us. That is the glory of the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ, the true message of the Bible. "So then it does not depend upon the man who wills (chooses) or the man who runs (acts), but upon God."
Those appointed unto eternal life will believe...and they cannot stop Him from rendering their hearts anew. Jer. 31. Your words describe a humanistic gospel, one which the world would love to be true, but one which is not really another gospel, since there is no other.
I am well aware of its appearance in Deut. The real question we must answer is, “Was that offer possible?” Could they have chosen between life & death? The balance of the Scriptures describe the answer as, “No, they could not have chosen after all.”
And, this leads precisely to the question Paul knew would be coming when he presented this extremely difficult proposition to his audiences, “You will say to me then, ‘How can He still find fault?’ for ‘Who can resist His will?’” Good questions. Go read Paul’s answer.
Well, I must admit that it was a little sarcastic. The "waiting", however, was for you to follow the orders of Jesus. You had previously said you follow the orders of Jesus and the remark was intended to call attention to the fact that Jesus is not always speaking to us directly. Our ability to put ourselves in the audience is selective. The Apostles being given the right to forgive, is not necessarily Rome being given this right. It is a huge, some might say arroagant, assumption that Jesus was speaking to Rome. I'm no longer waiting.
Actually, I apologize. It was not you who first said that Christians follow orders. It was Campion. The remarks, however, apply to your concern that I was trying entice someone to tempt God. Please do not take it that way.
You spoke that the Church does not ‘intervene’. Who put the entire bible together that you use to evangelize?
“The Apostles being given the right to forgive, is not necessarily Rome”
Well this is why apostolic succession is so important. The Church claims that the priests are the successors to the Apostles in that the authority vested in them has been passed down.
Are you arguing that the truth is that Rome is wrong and someone else currently possesses this connection.
Chair of St. Peter. :)
Anglicans . . . with a little light . . . moving into greater darkness is sad.
lol.
The fact is that for every one Protestant who converts to Rome, four Roman Catholics flee the papacy and become Protestant.
"Of more than 22,000 ordained Church of England clergy in total, about two dozen would appear to have decided to join the ordinariate at this time,"
So even the very best numbers according to RC statistics tells us one in 1,000 Anglican pastors have crossed the Tiber.
Wonder how many Roman Catholic pastors have become Anglican lately?
"Rome" is a city.
"Peter and Paul" were Apostles.
"Peter and Paul" -- Apostles, remember -- founded the Church at Rome.
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