The Bishop of Ebbsfleet said he did not want to queue up to join the Catholic church and leave his ‘treasures’ behind. When I asked what those treasures were he answered very well: the treasures of St Lawrence, for the saint said before his martyrdom that his treasures were the poor people of God. The implication is that the good bishop wants to come home to Rome with as many Anglican faithful as possible. This is a laudable aim, and... Read more

If you are bored by the continuing posts on the Anglican schism, please change the channel. However, an interesting correspondence developed in the combox. I noted that ‘schism’ is defined in the catechism (para.2089) as ‘refusal of submission to the Roman Pontiff or of communion with the members of the church subject to him.” Someone (I presume an Anglo Catholic) responded with this statement from the Traditional Anglican Communion bishops: “We accept the ministry of the Bishop of Rome, the... Read more

All this talk about ‘corporate reception of Anglican bodies into the Catholic Church.’ When are people going to get real? This is not going to happen, and even if the pastoral provision is extended and the Anglican Use is extended why does anyone imagine that a large number of Anglicans–corporate or otherwise are going to come into communion with the Catholic Church? There are several reasons why not. First one is that any Anglo Catholic group in the USA or... Read more

Sixtus and four deacons were arrested on 6 August 258 while celebrating the eucharist in the cemetery of Callistus. By order of the Emperor Valerian they were decapitated that same day. Read more

Interior, Quarr Abbey Church It was the early 1990’s and I was a country vicar on the Isle of Wight in England. One of my favorite haunts was the Benedictine Abbey at Quarr. I made my annual retreat there, used to visit with Fr Joe Warrilow, and Abbot Leo Avery was my spiritual director. By this time in my spiritual journey I had embraced (I thought) the essentials of the Catholic faith. My understanding of priesthood and the sacramental life... Read more

Damian Thompson blogs at some length about the rumor that Forward in Faith (yes, that’s yet another sub group of an Anglican sub sub group) are ‘in discussions’ with Rome about corporate reunion. Is it just me, or is this getting a teeny bit tiresome? Damian has too many precious Anglo Catholic chums. He talks sympathetically about an Anglo Catholic friend who could not become a ‘Roman’ because of the awful liturgies and architecture in the modern Catholic Church. I’m... Read more

At the Transfiguration Christ’s glory is revealed to the Apostles in the midst of Elijah and Moses because they were given the same grace: Moses on Mt Sinai, and then Elijah on Mt. Horeb (and did you know that Horeb is just another name for Sinai?) So Elijah went to the same holy mountain where Moses had encountered God. But their epiphanies were complementary. Moses beheld God in the earthquake, fire and thunder on the mountain. Elijah in the still,... Read more

From the combox: I was ELCA Lutheran before converting to Catholicism. Even in the mid-90’s I could see that the ELCA was sliding toward approval of homosex. I was a delegate to our synod with my wife and on the docket was a proposal to study homosexual issues. It was couched with the disclaimer that it is just a study and no one was approving of any homosexual acts, but when someone in support of it came up to the... Read more

You can always tell when the devil’s at work because he uses idealistic lies. He uses catch phrases and slogans, and you know they’re lies by looking at the results. One of the most famous modern lies is ‘feminism’ which encourages women to be more masculine. Another word is ‘gay’. Take a look at the homosexualist sub-culture and it’s anything but happy and carefree and innocent. One of the more subtle lies is the word ‘inclusive’. The Episcopal and Lutheran... Read more