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Tuscon: Liturgies of Anger

The rhetoric rages over the shootings in Tuscon this weekend.  What role did incendiary political speech play in the tragedy?  Both sides are rushing to assign and avoid blame.  The left correctly points to the "Targets" of Sarah Palin and Jesse Kelly's "Shoot an M16 to remove Gabrielle Giffords" event as adding to a generalized political fervor of violence.  The right correctly points out that Jared Loughner was disturbed and that his actions cannot be directly attributed to their rhetoric.  However, for those of us who work in the liturgical church, we know how a repeated message can change a life for good or for ill.

The liturgies of our traditions, whether in the parish church or in monastic enclosure, are designed to steep the person in our tradition.  Over time, as you internalize the prayers and readings of liturgical Christianity, they become part of you.  They come to the fore in conversation and in times of decision-making.  They change you in a (hopefully) positive way as you become more sensitive to the needs of those around us and the poorest in our society.  Christian liturgy is based in hope, faith, and love, and the function of good liturgy is not only to glorify God, but to transform us into becoming better Christians.

But while we believe the Holy Spirit is at work in a unique way in our liturgies, the idea of repetition making something part of you is a human technology, not something that liturgy holds a monopoly on.  Such technology is routinely used for ill, such as brainwashing into cults and terrorist groups.  
It is true that there is no direct correspondence between a mediascape where it is possible to listen, read, and watch vitriolic speech that demonizes the other 24/7 and the act of an insane person.

 However, for those of us who have watched liturgy transform people for good, it is inescapable to conclude that the stories we are immersed in make a huge difference in people's development.  Constant exposure to overtly-violent speech creates a mindset where real violence is conceivable, and is more than simple coincidence as some have suggested.

Therefore, those whose rhetoric is violence-filled SHOULD feel at least partially responsible for acts such as those in Tuscon.  While they don't bear direct responsibility, they need to own up to the fact that they are acting as liturgists of hate whether they intend to be or not.  

Jesus used the parable of the sower, and it is illustrative in this case.  When we sow seeds of hope, some of those land on poor soil and simply wither.  This is the way of the world.  However, when we sow seeds of hate and anger, those seeds land in that normally-infertile ground, take root, and sprout.  Our politicians need to think about what kind of seed they are sowing, what kind of liturgy are they celebrating, and whether they are trading the future of a country that is based in compromise for their own short-term gain at the polls.  

David+

Synod, ACNA and the FCE - A narrowly-avoided theological misstep

 In its Synod Wednesday (2/10/10), the Church of England (CofE) voted to "recognize and affirm the desire of those who have formed the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) to remain within the Anglican family."  I am encouraged by the fact that the language used here is "Anglican Family," which is novel and rather vague, and may simply mean people who use a BCP and drink Sherry.  However, I'm not sure that the members of Synod understand how close they came to a theological misstep by considering full communion by ACNA.  This misstep revolves around an incomplete understanding of just who ACNA is, which is apparent from the motion itself.  In the first resolve, the synod states that they are, "aware of the distress caused by recent divisions within the Anglican churches of the United States of America and Canada."  The implication here is that ACNA is made up completely of former members of the The Episcopal Church (TEC) and the Anglican Church of Canada who have left recently over issues of human sexuality.  This is a false implication.  Some of the member churches of ACNA have been separated from the Anglican Communion for decades over issues having nothing to do with human sexuality.  Many members and clergy of ACNA congregations have NEVER been members of TEC or the Anglican Church of Canada.  Creating a state of full communion would have endorsed groups whose theology could have created problems for the CofE.

A primary example is the Reformed Episcopal Church (REC).  The REC was formed in 1873 by the Assistant Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Kentucky, George David Cummins (I wrote a blog entry on this last year). Its theology denies the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist and Baptismal Regeneration.  The REC is a founding member church in ACNA, existing alongside the ultra Anglo-Catholic former TEC Diocese of Fort Worth.  Speculations on how that can possibly work is outside the pale of this post. But that's an American problem, right?  Well, it might be, if the REC had not joined into full communion with a disaffected splinter of the CofE in 1927, the Free Church of England (FCE).  The REC performed a “boundary crossing” and intruded into the sphere of the CofE by consecrating FCE bishops into Apostolic Succession.

Now, Ecumenical agreements do not necessarily extend to other partners, so it is not correct to say that if the Synod of the CofE extended full communion to ACNA, they would be extending full communion automatically to FCE.  However, by entering into full communion with ACNA, they would be signaling that the major theological differences with mainstream Anglicanism that has kept the REC apart from TEC for over a hundred years are negligable to them.  These differences are major enough and the separation long enough that TEC was in an ecumenical dialogue with REC until the formation of ACNA – each considered the other a separate denomination.  If the CofE endorsed REC theology, it would be implicitly endorsing FCE theology.  (Confused?  Enough abbreviations yet?)

How could this be overlooked?  Probably because many members of Synod consider this an "American problem" and don't understand the history of Anglicanism in America well enough.  Many more are probably unaware of the ACNA-REC-FCE connection. In any case, it is good that synod declined to act on full communion until they had more information.  I hope that this issue can be brought to light. The idea that ACNA is made up completely of Episcopalians who have recently left the church is simply a convenient untruth. 

David+

New Podcast Item - Rebuilding A Cathedral of Compassion

New Podcast Item

A sermon by the Rev. David Simmons. The Episcopal Church of today is not the church of power and influence it was a generation ago. This is a natural consequence of the Church beginning to see the Gospel as something that requires us to take positions on issues of human rights. We are still in the process of rebuilding who we are. (And yes, I am aware that I get the date of MLK's visit to the National Cathedral wrong - I'm preaching without notes.)

The podcast item can be found here.

The podcasting feed can be found on the sidebar or at: http://podcast.askthepriest.org and is listed in the iTunes, Odeo and podcast.net directories.

More information & podcasting software can be found at http://www.ipodder.org

Donate now to Episcopal Relief and Development's Haiti fund. 

 Haitian Church Steps In During Wait for Aid 1/20/2010

In earthquake-stricken Haiti, an Episcopal bishop is providing relief to as many survivors as he can while they wait for the arrival of official aid. Jean Zache Duracin speaks with WSJ's Charles Forelle on how he's trying to help.

The Episcopal Church's Response to the Haitian Disaster

Where is God in the Haitian Earthquake?

A video by contributing author Frank Logue in response to Pat Robertson's heretical comments about the relationship between sin and the Haitian earthquake.

Roman Revisions Revealed

This morning, the Vatican Released the text of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus, which provides for disaffected Anglicans entering into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church.

The document appears to clear up some questions and leave a few loose ends to be answered. For my commentary on who, where and why this was issued, see my post here. Let's look at some of the questions and how they appear to be answered. A caveat - I'm no expert on Roman canon law, so there could be some nuances I am not catching.

1. Whose authority will these churches be under?
This is a little more Vatican-centered than I had initially understood. It appears that while the national conferences of bishops is consulted, that the authority to establish them lies with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The ordinary (bishop) is chosen by the Pope and answers directly to him. Therefore, the national conferences appear to have very little to do with the regular governance of the ordinariate. Therefore, this looks a little more like Opus Dei than military chaplaincies. I can't imagine this will be very popular with sitting diocesan bishops.

2. Can their priests be married?
The ordinary is to ordain only celibate men to the priesthood. I don't know the references to other documents, but I assume they affirm that bishops must be celibate as well. Married Anglican ministers can be accepted as candidates to Holy Orders on a case-by-case basis. So no, this church within a church will not would not appear to have the ability to raise up and ordain married seminarians, although the Complimentary Norms are a little unclear.

Upon reading the Complimentary Norms for the Apostolic Constitution, it appears that married Anglican bishops are to be re-ordained as priests. They can then be appointed as the ordinary, although not ordained as a bishop. The quasi-bishop then has jurisdictional authority and is seated as a retired bishop in the college of bishops, but does not have the sacramental authority of a bishop (i.e. to ordain).

3. Will Anglican Priests have to be re-ordained?
Yes. This has absolutely no effect on Apostolicae Curae.

4. Can churches in the Ordinariate use the Book of Common Prayer?
Still unclear. The constitution says that

"the Ordinariate has the faculty to celebrate the Holy Eucharist and the other Sacraments, the Liturgy of the Hours and other liturgical celebrations according to the liturgical books proper to the Anglican tradition, which have been approved by the Holy See, so as to maintain the liturgical, spiritual and pastoral traditions of the Anglican Communion within the Catholic Church, as a precious gift nourishing the faith of the members of the Ordinariate and as a treasure to be shared."

"Which have been approved by the Holy See" is the operative phrase here. In the history of Anglican-Use parishes in America, this has meant the Book of Divine Worship, which has elements of the 1928 and 1979 BCP with altered eucharistic language to reflect RC Dogma. Whether the pope will authorize a BCP wholesale without revision has yet to be seen, but seems unlikely.

5. Will members of the Ordinariate have to accept the doctrines of Papal Infallibility and the Immaculate Conception?
Yes. "The Catechism of the Catholic Church is the authoritative expression of the Catholic faith professed by members of the Ordinariate."

From what I can tell, the only difference between this and the Anglican-Use provisions that have been in effect in America since 1980 is at the level of the diocese and bishop. Otherwise, they are just expanding this provision world-wide.

So those who go to Rome will have to be re-ordained, submit to absolute papal authority, accept all Roman Dogma (even the novel ones of the last 200 years), cannot raise up married men to the priesthood, and will most likely have to use a modified version of the Book of Common Prayer. One has to ask the question, What are the "Treasures of the Anglican Tradition" that the Pope seeks to retain within these ordinariates? Evensong? Is that it?

David+

Technorati Tags: Anglican, Christianity, ecclesiology, Episcopal, Religion, roman catholic, vatican

There's no place like Rome

Today the Vatican has announced a new canonical structure that provides for what will be called, "Personal Ordinariates" within the Roman Catholic Church for "Traditionalist" Anglicans who wish to join the church. The best place to get coverage of all the various commentary is probably over at Thinking Anglicans.

My own commentary can be found here.

David+

"It's never been this bad before!"

I've written an opinion piece that draws heavily on the history of the Ritualistic Controversy within the Episcopal Church. Since it is opinion about current events, I have posted it on my personal blog, Ayia Illuvatar.