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."
Statistics don't bear that out. Four to one conversion rate. Four RCs become Protestant for every Protestant who becomes RC.
And considering that there are already twice as many Protestants in this country as Roman Catholics, those are pretty impressive numbers.
So we are comparing a nonbeliever who doesn’t know any better with a bunch of folks who, according to you, heard a passage today that warns them not to gloat?
I feel sorry for the nonbeliever. I am even more amused with my co-workers.
TWENTY times?!? (No, they don’t have twenty times the membership; maybe 5 times if that.) Twenty times, and we’re all about the money?
The sacrament of confession, BTW, does not involve a fee.
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What that says to me is that the Papists are tight with their money and the PCA gives joyfully, out of gratitude with what has been done for them by Christ.
PCA money supports missions, charities, etc. The PCA has more missionaries per capita than the very mission oriented Southern Baptist Convention.
I guess what I am trying to say a church much smaller that the Catholic church you are referring to is pumping much more money into God’s work. But then again, the Catholic Church does have much larger lawyer bills.
Bloke.
Thought I was the only person to use the word.
Talked to the wife last night about this and she said she’ll talk more on this issue when she gets back later
Oh, a couple of more distinctives. In the PCA individual churches own their building. They finance it themseleves. They pay the power, the mortgage. The individual church pays the teaching elder. Very little money is sent up to the denominational Headquarters and none of it maintains a palace or art collections.
Ever noticed how the Evangelical churches seek 'converts' among christians? The ignore the very scripture they proclaim:
Thus I aspire to proclaim the gospel not where Christ has already been named, so that I do not build on another's foundation, but as it is written: "Those who have never been told of him shall see, and those who have never heard of him shall understand."
Romans 15:20-21
And Antoninus is right -- don't count on keeping all of them. Francis Beckwith, Jesse Romero, Jeff Cavins -- and those are only the reverts I know of because they've written books and do apologetics.My 2 cousins, myself and my brother left the Roman church for Christ. The 4 of us beats your 3 list.
Clearly not Rome. The Jews were the custodians of what we call the Old Testament beginning some 1400 years before Jesus was crucified. In these 39 books, most of the foretelling, foundational doctrine was delivered such that we would even recognize Jesus as the One promised. This is why Paul notes the honored place Israel holds.
Paul's work is self-identifying and the balance was commonly used by the end of the first century. Let's see...this puts the entire book available to churches 200-300 years before the words Roman Catholic were even used. Hmm.
If Rome had truly put together the Bible, there would be no Roman Catholic Church.
They just don't mesh, hence the need for traditions and doctrines of men, and magisterium, blah, blah.
They just don't mesh, hence the need for traditions and doctrines of men, and magisterium, blah, blah."
Now that is a classic statement. How true and appropriate! Thank you for posting it. The two are in such opposition, it is obvious if a person read the one, they would never attend the other.
Very good point.
If I am not mistaken (I might be), the PCA is a wrongheaded organization nearly as darkened as Rome. But, it was "headquarters" to which I referred. If you need us to post some of the gold-dripping chandeliers, paintings, clothing, jewelry, furnishings of the Vatican, we'll be glad to oblige. Then the problem might be clearer.
What I am arguing is that there is no such thing as Apostolic succession. Rome manufactured this out of whole cloth. How do we know? Read the Book. It is not there, nor is the priesthood (other than the priesthood of all believers), the sacraments, the adoration of Mary, confession to other men, penance, pergatory or most of the other superstitious rites performed in a misguided attempt to secure the forgiveness which comes from simple faith in Christ, alone.
Thanks Quix for Dr Veith’s video. It did a nice job with many puzzle pieces.
Sure.
He certainly knows his topic and has abundant sources in their own words.
The problem is that they did.
They put the entire bible together back in 380. This is historical fact.
They just don’t mesh with protestant understanding because Luther tossed out books that HE didn’t like. So when you ask whether Catholics follow the bible, that’s really the wrong question to ask.
The question is why do sola scripturists use Luther’s Canon?
“The Jews were the custodians of what we call the Old Testament”
Answer the question. Did the Jews put the bible together? Yes or no?
Yes, of course it was Jews. Some before Jesus, some after Jesus. Are you under the misconception that Rome wrote it?
“Are you under the misconception that Rome wrote it?”
That was not the question I asked.
I asked specifically who put the bible together. You don’t seem to be understanding exactly what I am asking so I will spell it out.
The bible is a collection of books with many different authors, written at many different times throughout history.
As it is now, OT and NT together, who put all these books in one volume and published it? What was the name of this volume?
You say you are a sola scripturist. That you believe in the bible alone, so these should be simple questions.
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