laudable Practice

The Church of Scotland knows as little of Protestantism undefined as the Church of England and Ireland do. The words of Burke , from 1792, came to mind when reading a Church Times  story on how the Church of Scotland is intent on further abandoning its rich heritage and its vocation as a national Church. Judging by the  Church Times , the Kirk's 'Theological Forum and the Faith Action Programme Leadership Team' (with that hideous title you immediately know just how bad its report will be) has explicitly stated its intense dislike for the Church of Scotland: The Church has a self-image and identity which is based upon its history as a national church with a parish system of a minister and a building within each geographical area, secured by its former role as a key part/member/constituent in national and political life ... That self-image and identity served the Church well for four centuries from the Scottish Reformation of 1560 onwards but is now hampering the change neede...

Give grace, O heavenly Father, to all Bishops and Curates, that they may both by their life and doctrine set forth thy true and lively Word, and rightly and duly administer thy holy Sacraments ... All bishops. If you wanted a phrase to perfectly illustrate why the Archbishop of Canterbury really is not that significant in a classical Anglican view for those outside the Church of England, this is it. There are no particular prayers for the Archbishop of Canterbury because that Archbishop is merely another bishop, with no authority and no jurisdiction beyond being Primate of All England. Anglicanism has no papacy. Indeed, Anglicanism has no patriarch. This is why the petition "for all Bishops" in the Prayer for the Church Militant is not followed by any particular petition for the Archbishop of Canterbury. Placing this petition alongside the opposing Enthusiasms, on the Left and Right of the Anglican Communion, responding to the appointment of the new Archbishop of Canterbury ...

It is bad enough that the Netflix drama 'Adolescence' is  driving government policy in the United Kingdom. To have it also proposed as a reason to determine the Church of England's approach to holy orders was, however, rather unexpected. The drama - note, not a documentary, despite the views of the Prime Minister - was invoked by the Area Bishop of Croydon, Dr Rosemarie Mallett, launching a campaign by the pressure group Women And The Church (WATCH) to repeal the Church of England's provisions for those opposed to the ordination of women. Most strikingly, the Bishop urged that the ordination of women should be understood as a means of pursuing a progressive agenda in the culture wars: I think in honesty we also thought that as society changed and as views became more open-minded among growing numbers of younger men and women, the culture of the Church would change like the culture of the wider society. No one really saw that there was an underlying trend even then, g...