The American Spectator

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So as a man of traditional mien, I ask for His forgiveness in responding negatively to the state of affairs within the Episcopal Church, not because I wish to criticize Episcopalians, that is a private matter between them and the Almighty, a battle, I fear, they are losing, but, bizarre as it may seem, because there are still some in the Catholic hierarchy who consider the Episcopal Church worth joining or, worse, emulating.

It has been more than 40 years since the first discussions were held in establishing the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission, better known by the acronym ARCIC. This Commission, a result of the efforts by Church "progressives" towards ecumenism in the heady days following Vatican II, was aimed at encouraging communication and easing tension between the two religions, and, ultimately, joining in some loose ecclesial confederation, the outlines of which were never made clear. Still, all the right notes were sounded, and the appropriate visits made, but somewhere along the line, reality got in the way: first, the Anglican Church ordained women priests; then, it allowed openly practicing homosexuals into their clergy; and, finally, the US Episcopalian Church went one step further and consecrated an actively homosexual bishop, with no rebuke or sanction by the Archbishop of Canterbury. By their actions, both the Anglican and US Episcopal Church's hierarchy let it be known what their theology -- or lack thereof -- included and excluded. If the folks in CANA could no longer abide the U.S. Episcopal Church's descent into nihilism, imagine what Traditional Catholics were thinking?

Even before the consecration of Bishop Eugene Robinson, however, ARCIC was a dying, but not quite a dead, issue. As long ago as December, 1991, in its joint communiqué, the Catholic cohort at ARCIC admitted: The Catholic Church judges that is not yet possible that substantial agreement has been reached on all issues, this twenty years after the first organized meeting, and matters have only worsened. After the Robinson consecration, Pope John Paul II, an earlier advocate of ARCIC, suspended further talks.

The upcoming visit of the new pope to the U.S. will have no effect on the legal issues before the Virginia courts, but it does provide an opportunity for Benedict XVI to do something that, in my view, would help the parishioners in CANA to strengthen their case and cause: close the doors permanently on ARCIC, for there is little hope that, as currently constituted, the US Episcopal and Anglican hierarchies can avoid consigning themselves to oblivion. By taking this step, the pontiff would also signal a subtle support of the efforts of the embattled conservative Anglicans not only at Truro, but throughout the country. To you, my friends, my wish is simple: God speed!

p>Pax Vobis br> -- Vincent Chiarello br> Reston, Virginia /p>

I grew to adulthood and was married in the Episcopal Church, specifically All Saints Episcopal Church, on Chevy Chase circle, on the border betwixt Washington D.C. and Montgomery County, Md. At the time of my growth within the church, this was considered what was call "high Episcopal church," as opposed to the National Cathedral, which was "low Episcopal." It is/was a beautiful old stone church with stained glass windows and a congregation that adhered to the old time Anglican church in all its particulars. That was back when our pastor was called a priest. Back when you were expected to shut your mouth upon entering the sanctuary and make only those verbal responses called for in the Book of Common Prayer. Back when, once the particular part of the service having to do with Communion started, you got on your knees and stayed there until you rose to go forward to partake of the bread and wine. That was back when the sermons were about sin, why we were sinners, and what to do about it. We did have the occasional political reference, as the pastor was extremely anti-Communist (imagine that). Back when there were no female priests. Back when there were no known homosexuals within the clergy. Back when the altar boys were actually boys, and no girls need apply. Back when the congregation stayed in the pews and the lessons, and prayers, and readings, and administration of the communion was actually handled by the ordained clergy.

I say the above only to establish a certain minimum level of bono fides on this subject. Quin, may I humbly suggest that the division of the church began in earnest when the church rewrote and "modernized" the Book of Common Prayer. It was sold to us as merely exchanging modern words for the language of the times of King James. We were snookered. Next the Hymnal was "modernized" to conform to the rewritten liturgy. All of a sudden there were no men or women in the Anglican version of Christianity. Everything within the books of the faith was gender neutral. It wasn't long before women started helping serve as ushers, as helpers in administering the communion, and other roles that had been reserved for males, going back to antiquity. In no time at all, the first of the female priests were ordained. Now the rush was on, and the very old, very conservative, almost stodgy Episcopal Church of America was racing pell mell to lead the way to liberalism and political correctness.

p>To this day, the leaders of this once great religious sect cannot, or refuse to, connect the exodus from the church to the liberalism that started it all. Once the liturgical particulars and the language used in the books and the services left us, there was no longer any reason to go out of you way to attend church on Sunday when you could just as well go to the Methodist church, or the Lutheran church, or whichever that was so much closer to home. Oh the folks making the way to the exits were just a trickle at first. I admit to being among those in the early movement away from the Episcopal Church USA. I have made the effort, however, all these years to keep up with my "home" church, and I know that the trickle has become a veritable flood tide of escapees. Maybe some will come back to the CANA churches that are so much more familiar for many of us. I know that, if a CANA parish were to be established nearby in New Hampshire, I would investigate it, for sure. Unfortunately, I doubt that will happen in my lifetime. You see I am in the geographical territory claimed by Bishop Eugene Robinson, the open, practicing homosexual whose elevation to Bishop seems to have been the straw to break this particular camel's back. br> -- Ken Shreve /p>

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