I am the last person to want to see an end to the Ecumenical Movement, but I have to say that I believe it is important for those of us who belong to the Society of Catholic Priests to be quite honest and open about our desire to see many of our fellow Christians delivered from the clutches of fundamentalist churches which have made of the Bible an idol, into a Church which treasures the Bible and the Tradition and Reason as equally important means for God to reveal himself through Jesus Christ to the world today. And we must be equally (and probably more sorrowfully) willing to proclaim that we are happy to liberate Roman Catholics and Orthodox Church Christians from the misogynistic and homophobic teaching, which is their official line (though thankfully many of their priests hate those teachings privately as much as we do). But why should it have to be private – that is a hypocrisy from which we can deliver them if they will be received into the Episcopal Church.u-From a sermon preached by Rev. Gordon Reid, Oct 10 2013, St. Clements Church Philadelphia PA.
HT: Dr. Tighe
What?????
ReplyDeleteSo he wants to elevate tradition by "liberating" people from the parts of it he doesn't like? Okey dokey.
ReplyDeleteI'm not super bothered by this sermon. He's wrong, obviously, but at least he's wrong in a way that sounds like he has conviction in his wrongness.
ReplyDeleteIt's much better than the Jefferts-Schori type of Episcopalian who basically says, "We really value your opinion, and we'll let you continue to pretend like your opinion has any value until we can successfully infiltrate you or shut you down. Have a nice day!"
This guy seems to at least want to engage with RCs and Orthodox in an honest and straightforward manner.
I have yet to encounter an Orthodox priest of the kind he describes, and I've been in the Church for almost a decade. Maybe I'm just lucky.
ReplyDeleteSt.Clement's in Philly? The last bastion of Faith. So much for changing the folks from the inside!
ReplyDeleteI suspect St. Clement's has been drained of its orthodox element, either to ACNA or to the Ordinariate.
ReplyDeleteAh... forgive me, but the anachronism of the Oxford Movement and blind romance of Anglocatholicism... some still can't seem to acknowledge that perhaps Cardinal Newman came to the right conclusion and joined the Catholic Church after firm final rebuke by his own helped him overcome the "otherness" of his path forward. Might have joined Orthodoxy if it'd been there at the time, but it wasn't. Not buying the oft posed view that it was a crashing defeat so much as the triumph of reunion and a discovery of the virtue of obedience... something these folks and their "liberation" can't imagine as having a place, or humility as forming a foundation. Having read all of Grafton's works... there is and I'd suggest remains a distasteful anti-Romanism at the heart of much in the anglocatholic movement that leaves it something akin to the futile reverse snobbism of Saab drivers. Been there, done all of that. Good to get over it. Lord have mercy.
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty amusing to see an Episcopalian claiming some sort of connection to "the early church". For them that means anything before 1970. They figure if they do enough liturgical gymnastics, make enough smoke in church, they "qualify" as something more than a flaky sect. Received into the Episcopal Church? You mean fall off a log. The preacher is in communion with Muslims and the likes of Spong and Pike. Orthodox are ecumenical arm candy for clowns like this.
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