Sharing an experience, not to complain but to invite understanding

In the continuing crisis of the Anglican Way in 2006 in North America, the following information may add a little light to the understanding of the roots of this crisis.

What follows is a summary of how, in general terms, over the last three decades, the leaders of the Prayer Book Society of the USA have experienced opposition in the ECUSA as those who commend and defend, for the sake of the Lordship of Christ and the final authority of Scripture in the Church, the biblically-based doctrines of the classic Book of Common Prayer, Ordinal and Articles of Religion (editions of 1662 & 1928; Canada 1962).

1. When they have asked (as nicely as possible) for permission to use the 1928 BCP instead of the 1979 Prayer Book either from a General Convention Commission or from a local Bishop, they have usually been treated as either odd or a nuisance, or both. Then also they have been black listed and not considered for important committees or for promotion.
2. If they went a step further and explained in print and in talks that the 1979 Book is in content “A Book of Alternative Services” and ought to have been so called, with the classic Book of Common Prayer (edition of 1928) left in place in the Church (as it was in the C of E & Canada), then they incited wrath and opposition – however carefully they stated it – and were treated as outcasts and aliens. Kindly intentioned persons told them to go easy on this topic and to try not to mention it again if they did not want to be persecuted.
3. If they went yet another step and also explained that there is no justification in Scripture, God’s created order, the Ordinal or Tradition for ordaining and consecrating women, then they were regarded as non-persons, not acceptable in either liberal churches or even in most so-called “orthodox” churches. Again kindly intentioned persons advised them not to mention this topic except amongst friends for it gets people upset or angry.
4. If they went one more step and suggested that the marriage canon of 1973 ought to be revoked and previous disciplinary canons on marriage recovered to replace it, and if they also suggested that the doctrine of one flesh includes the duty to procreate (all other things being equal) and that this doctrine ought to be in the marriage service (as it is in the 1662), then they were heading for execution. Again, kindly friends told them that the divorce culture and serial monogamy are here to stay in the church and they had better just get used to divorced and remarried clergy as the norm and work slowly for lessening the number.
5. However, If they also declared that practice of homosexual behavior and the blessing of homosexual couples are contrary to God’s will, then they got less opposition for here they received the approval of the evangelicals, charismatics and other conservative churchpeople.

Reflection:

There has always been from the 1780s within The Episcopal Church a strong Latitudinarian element. In the 1970s, as the winds of change from the 1960s blew at full blast, it seems that there was an especially arrogant mindset present in the now dominant Latitudinarian element. Its enlightened members believed that they could do whatever they wanted, if they could get it through on a vote, and as long as they could find some justification for it in such sources as the liturgical movement, recent Biblical criticism, recent theology from Europe and the USA (Tillich etc), social science, psychology and the Ecumenical Movement.

We recall that the received doctrine of marriage was changed by the ECUSA in 1973, the doctrine of the Ministry was changed in 1976, and the historic Formularies were cast into the archives in 1979 to be replaced by a Liturgy based on a mixture of traditionalism and liberal theology and ethics. This was also the decade which saw the beginnings of the rapid advance of the LesBiGay agenda in the ECUSA.

A Church that advanced so far in the 1970s in secular religion, and has continued in the same spirit and direction since then, cannot be expected to tolerate any who challenge its right to ditch the classic Formularies, change both the doctrine of the Ministry and of holy matrimony, and approve homosexual practice.

YET, amazingly, there is still a minority within the ECUSA, a small one, but really there, which clings to the Bible, the classic Formularies, and to biblically based doctrine and ethics. There are still bishops who tolerate such folks – if they pay their financial assessment in full! The tiny minority has survived for forty years and who knows, it may survive another forty and gain converts as it does.

If a new Province X within The Episcopal Church is created for “the orthodox” it may even set the standards for all who enter it.

Looking back we can see that the seeds planted by the Episcopal Church, when it began the abandonment of its commitment to Holy Scripture and the historic Formularies in the early 1970s, bore much fruit at its latest General Convention in 2006. And the taste of this fruit has horrified many at home and abroad - including those who (to put it kindly) have claimed to be fully orthodox but have had little or no time for the doctrinal position of the Prayer Book Society, or for its call to re-instate the historic Formularies (the classic BCP, Ordinal and Articles) and make the 1979 Book a “Book of Alternative Services.”

God works in mysterious ways to perform his wonders amongst us. A minor one of these is perhaps the survival of The Prayer Book Society, born in 1971, often bitterly opposed by liberals and conservatives, and very much alive today, with a growing number of Anglicans / Episcopalians in the USA, and Bishops abroad, taking notice of its message.

Historical note: The Society for the Preservation of The Book of Common Prayer was founded in Tennessee (at Vanderbilt University and The University of the South) as learned and godly men saw the writing on the wall, the impending loss of the Reformed Catholic Faith of the Protestant Episcopal Church. Now called The Prayer Book Society of the USA it is alive and well, serving parishes and members of the ECUSA and Continuing Anglican jurisdictions in the USA and abroad. Visit www.episcopalian.org/pbs1928 There are sister societies in England, Canada and Australia.

The Rev'd Dr. Peter Toon MA., D.Phil (Oxford)