To our Anglican friends
The revisionist, non-biblical path taken by the Episcopal ‘Church’ in the United States is evident. I could list dozens of points as to where the ECUSA has missed the boat. The real truth is that Anglicanism missed the boat from the days of Henry VIII forward.
It is interesting that the ECUSA took its latest step in going over the cliff within the Octave of Corpus Christi, a day and time honoring the most precious body and blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist. Interesting because no matter the level of smells and bells, no matter the beauty of vestments and church buildings, no matter how firm you are in calling yourself Anglo-Catholic, you are in a defective church.
The Anglican Communion simply does not believe in the Holy Eucharist as anything more than a symbol. There is no reality behind it. You can wish it to be true, your can delude yourself into thinking it is true, but if you subscribe to the 39 Articles it is not true. If you perform the Anglican ‘communion service’ nothing happens. The Anglican ‘communion service’ is not the Holy Mass and no sacrifice is offered. The whole sacrificial nature of the perpetual memorial has been washed out.
If the Body of Christ is indeed truly and fully present under the appearance of bread and wine then they are to be worshipped. Is that what you believe? The elements are either changed or they are not. Do you believe they are? Setting aside the question of how they are changed (transubstantiation), which we cannot judge, the fact is true Catholics believe that the change occurs, is real, and is true. The bread and wine are no more, it is Christ Jesus. So we bow down and worship. Yes?
For those who are truly catholic at heart and who are willing to bear a share in the Lord’s cross in order to follow His teachings, who are willing to give up their comfort zone and their ‘Anglican’ way, I urge you to take the step and come to Catholicism. Whether in the PNCC, Orthodoxy, or the Roman Catholic Church, come to the living water. Come receive the bread that lasts forever, as well as all of the sacraments instituted by Christ.
Jesus has given us His body and blood to eat and drink, join with those who believe. He said that you must:
I am the bread of life.
Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died;
this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die.
I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”
The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us (his) flesh to eat?”
Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.
For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.
Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.
This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.”
Of course historically the PNCC didn’t agree but was smart enough to break off intercommunion with the Episcopalians in 1977 after the attempted ordination of women began.
Also, playing devil’s advocate, something about living in a glass house comes to mind: after all, the framers of the Articles had broken with Rome to follow doctrines they felt were closer to Christ (quoting the old PNCC website verbatim).
And for the few real Anglo-Catholics left, be they in the Anglican Communion or the Continuum, there’s the Dutch touch, got in part from the former intercommunion with the PNCC. In fact, thanks to the Nats, the Continuum can claim orders – Apostolicæ Curæ is true but doesn’t apply anymore.
I forgot where I saw it today (been reading a lot of sites and comments about the General Convention), but whomever it was commented on the new Presiding Bishop’s affect on whatever legitimacy there is in ECUSA Orders. I think the take was that in a few years there will be no valid orders even in ‘orthodox’ diocese. Kind of throws down the gauntlet to those folks…
What is your take on the Eucharist in the Anglicanism? Do you perceive it as a valid sacrament in the catholic understanding of such? Even if the priesthood is valid (excepting women’s) if they do not intend to confect the sacrament or their understanding of it is defective (non sacrificial/symbolic) – are they ‘doing it’?
Ah, I recall the comment about Orders. It was off your blog in a link to Huw Raphael
Anticipated the question, which is why I mentioned Apostolicæ Curæ. It’s exactly the opposite of what the Oxford Movement claimed: they believed in Anglican orders outright. Pushed against the wall I’d agree with Pope Leo XIII (as I understand it ‘not intending to confect the Sacrament’ is the crux of his argument – for centuries Anglicans didn’t) but again say that the claim to Old Catholic orders means there’s a good chance that men ordained by men in these churches are at least priests.
There are three criteria by which Rome recognises orders:
• Basic (and I mean very basic) credal orthodoxy – it has to be a Christian church.
• Tactile succession going back as far as there are records for it.
• An unbroken history of sound teaching about the Eucharist.
By those three the Eastern churches and the PNCC are in; Anglicanism in itself out.
I struggled with the validity of the Eucharist in the Anglican Communion. I would not have struggled if the Anglican Communion had gone so far off course, but the fact that most of the priests I know hold such far left values in the Church, I would no longer feel that I am receiving valid communion in the Anglican Church.
See also: Apostolicae Curae Fulfilled? Schori as PB by Father Chandler Holder Jones, SSC at Philorthodox