It has gotten that every time I face this blank page I am consumed with both anger and dispair. Why? Because I miss the austere beauty of the full Anglican rite augmented with the musical tradition of the English church at its best which seems no longer to found anywhere. Instead we have folks who call themselves Anglican who are either lusting after the Roman Novus Ordo, the Puritan Morning Prayer with Sermon or the 'Back to Baroque' Anglican or English missal service with nary a hint of the offices anywhere except for the occasional service of Evening Prayer as a prelude to Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament
In the local area we have four groups calling themselves Anglican. The first is connected to the Anglican Province of Christ the King which falls into the last category. The 1928 American Book of Common Prayer may be in the pew but the services would never be recognized as coming from same. The canon used is that of the English prayer book of 1662 so that the celebrant can actually recite the rest of the old Roman canon in Latin. The second is a parish of the Reformed Episcopal Church which varies between emasculated versions of the English 1662 and the American 1928. The third is a parish of the rising Anglican Church in North America which uses the TEO liturgy of 1979 with the exception of a personal re-write of the Nicene Creed by the rector and his curate. The fourth is a classical American prayer book group that seems much too small to ever grow and endure, but which alone represents the 'doctrine, discipline and worship' of classical and orthodox prayer book Anglicanism.
Yep! Mine!
And yet in the middle of such great deprivation, I also am full of hope. Why? because it is the last alone which may claim the fullness of the truth and beauty. And it is because of this truth of beauty and beauty of truth that I am sure that real Anglicanism will survive not only in the United States, but also in all the English speaking world.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I can only imagine the anguish that the Caroline Cavaliers, such as Jeremy Taylor, must have endured during the Protectorate and the suppression of the C of E. But, the Restoration came -- even if the subsequent Glorious Revolution undermined church principles, setting about the very decline we now find ourselves embroiled in.
So keep faith regardless of the earthly machinations of the English-Speaking Church Catholic, as our true restoration will only be at the Adventus -- The Second Coming. Maranatha! Come, O Lord!
The Midwest is a big place, but even so I'm not sure I know of an APCK parish there which features the Roman canon in Latin. Is your allegation based on personal experience, or gossip; or perhaps we're meant to read it as rhetorical exaggeration?
You're widely read, Canon Tallis, and I find no fault with your positions, only your assertion that they are the only possible positions that can be taken. I wish you could listen to yourself to see how you sound; I sometimes get the impression that you believe yourself to be the One Remaining True Anglican in the entire continent.
Palaeogogos,
I don't have the slightest impression that I am the last Anglican standing, but things are worse that I think you might believe. I keep running into people and situations were very bright fellows indeed seem never to have read the Book of Common Prayer.
On the other hand, I had a call from a very great friend this morning and I am feeling better. Also, in the interval, newer and much younger folk are beginning to take up the banner of Anglican usage. They may not have as of yet read as widely as I but I will gradually feed them such books as I yet have. Other wise I will give them to the most stable Continuum pro-cathedral that I can find.
In the meantime, I have great readers such as yourself careful to burn the wick and whisper "sic transit . . . ." And for that I thank you very much.
Post a Comment