Rev. Libby Lane
Posted on 01/27/2015 4:08:23 PM PST by NYer
Rev. Libby Lane
In a way, it was sort of like when the cleric officiating at a wedding asks, “If any of you has reasons why these two should not be married, speak now or forever hold your peace.”
Usually, no one objects, except in movies.
The ceremony that took place in England’s Yorkminster Monday will be memorable for the historic nature of it, to be sure, but also because one man did not hold his peace.
The Anglican Archbishop of York, Dr. John Sentamu, gave the congregation one last chance to sign off on the consecration of Rev. Libby Lane, 48, as the Church of England’s first woman bishop.
"Is it now your will that she should be ordained?" he called out. The crowd of some 1000 in the historic church responded in the affirmative. But as the echo died out, a man dressed in black stepped forward in front of the sanctuary and shouted "No!"
“It is not in the Bible,” said the man, the Rev. Paul Williamson. “With respect, your grace, I ask to speak on this absolute impediment.”
According to the London Telegraph, Sentamu had been warned of Williamson’s presence. He instructed the congregation that the law had been changed to allow women bishops in the Church of England. Williamson stood in front of the front pew for a few moments, then returned quietly to his seat. Sentamu asked again for the congregation’s assent, and this time “It is!” rang out even more thunderously.
Known as a long-time opponent of women’s ordination, Williamson, the rector of St. George's in Hanworth, Middlesex, has fought the Church of England so much in court that he has been deemed a “vexatious litigant” and forbidden to bring cases to court unless he has express permission.
He once tried to put the Church of England hierarchy on trial for “treason” for ordaining women priests.
Williamson’s love of tradition is apparent in a welcoming message at the website of St. George’s Church, where he writes, “We are honored of our history that dates back to Saxon times, and that our community has built, loved, and cared for the Church for more than 1000 years. We are proud, too, of our Christian (catholic) faith and practice as members of the Church of England.”
But lest anyone think Williamson would be a prime candidate to join the “Anglican Ordinariate,” which was set up a few years ago to receive Episcopalians who wish to become Catholic, the Telegraph points out that he was publicly supported in his efforts against women’s ordination by the Rev. Ian Paisley, the hard-line Ulster Protestant cleric, and later First Minister, who regularly denounced the Pope as the “anti-Christ.”
The Telegraph adds more background to Monday's episcopal ordination:
“It’s not in the Bible”, Ping!
1 Timothy 3:
2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
3 Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;
4 One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;
5 (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)
Kind of hard to make that apply to a woman...
burn the witch...
No one should be surprised that the spiritual heirs of the decadent Henry VIII have devolved into a neo pagan, earth worshipping, agnostic cabal. Few if any of their clergy believe in the divinity or resurrection of Christ.
Britain’s last Christian...
The objector will go to Heaven, the fake bishop will likely not
Yeah, well, she looks like a husband.
Can you prove your pejorative statement? I doubt it. The Anglican priests I know in the US [not Episcopal Church clergy]are quite orthodox in their theology, belief, faith and practice. If you are referring to Anglican clergy in England only, then your comment still isn’t accurate even though the apostate and heretical folks there get all the headlines as they do in the US. They (the orthodox ones) are outnumbered, sadly.
But lest anyone think Williamson would be a prime candidate to join the “Anglican Ordinariate,” which was set up a few years ago to receive Episcopalians who wish to become Catholic, the Telegraph points out that he was publicly supported in his efforts against women’s ordination by the Rev. Ian Paisley, the hard-line Ulster Protestant cleric, and later First Minister, who regularly denounced the Pope as the “anti-Christ.”
The above statement is asinine. The “fact” that Ian Paisley may have supported Fr. Williamson in his protest has absolutely no bearing whatsoever on whether or not Williamson may choose to join the Anglican Ordinariate.
She looks like David Bowie during his LSD period.
“Quite orthodox in their theology”? Doubt it. If they were, they would be leaving the Anglican Church as a matter of conscience. Try having an a discussion with some Episcopal clergy after they have had a few drinks.
O.K....that's a little too much..:)
Just as I thought. You cannot back up your statement. Many Anglican clergy in the US came out of the apostate Episcopal Church precisely because they still believed. Anglicans in the US are separate from the legal body of the Episcopal Church, USA.
Yes, the Episcopal church in the US is a daughter church in the worldwide Anglican communion, but the Episcopal Church in the US has long since departed from the doctrines, discipline, faith and practice of the Anglican Church. Sadly, some in the Church of England and in other countries are following the lead of the apostates in the US but just because some are weak in their faith does not mean that all are.
You can defend the Anglican Church as much as you please. However the stubborn reality into what they have become will force you take make the same contortions and rationalizations that Obama employs when he refuses to acknowledge the Islamic nature of the jihadists. Most of the “Anglican communion” has replaced faith in the Trinity with the triad of abortion rights, the homosexual agenda and earth worshipping neo pagan environmentalism. You would be far better off and a bit more honest if you faced facts.
“Britain’s last Christian...”
No.
ALRIGHT alright, the Comfy Chair then...
“Anglican clergy in the US came out of the apostate Episcopal Church precisely because they still believed.”
So 16th century heresy and schism has led descendants of those 16th century heretics and schismatics to commit more schism in order to avoid new heresy. Lovely.
This will just keep happening every generation or so. They should just make a clean break and become orthodox Catholics.
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