Tuesday, May 31, 2011

JUNE - An American Anglican Calendar

1. ROGATION WEDNESDAY - St. Nicomede, P.M. - White
2. ASCENSION DAY - White
5. ASCENSION SUNDAY - White
6. St. Boniface, B.M. d. 755 (Transfered) - White
9. St. Columba, Abbot of Iona, d. 597 - White
10. St. Margaret of Scotland, Queen, d. 1093 - White
11. SAINT BARNABAS, AP, M. - White
12. PENTECOST - Whitsunday - White
13. WHITMONDAY - White
14. WHITTUESDAY - White
15. EMBER WEDNESDAY IN PENTECOST - White
17. EMBER FRIDAY IN PENTECOST - White\
18. EMBER SATURDAY IN PENTECOST - White
19. TRINITY SUNDAY - White
20. Translation of Edward, King of the West Saxons, #nglish 1662, Red
St. Fillan, Abbot & Confessor, d. c. 750 Scots' 1929
22. St. Alban, M., d 202 - Red
24. NATIVITY OF ST. JOHN BAPTIST - White
25. St. Moluag, B of Lismore, C.d.c. 592 Scots - Blue
26. 1st SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY - Red
28. St Irenaeus, B of Lyons, Doctor, d. c. 202 - Green
29. SAINT PETER, APOSTLE & MARTYR - Red

The feasts and other days listed in all capital letters have propers in the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer. The other feasts are taken from the English and Scots' prayer books. The colors listed are those from the magisterial English Liturgical Colours by Sir William St. John Hope and E. G. Cuthbert F. Atchley and the Alcuin Club's Directory of Ceremonial, Vol. I. The use of any others - and those most likely to be used by those of us in the Continuum - will be those ordered in the 1570 missal of Pius V, the same bishop of Rome who excommunicated Elizabeth I. Those who do so believe themselves to be more Catholic than the rest of us almost precisely because they believe the Roman See to be the font of all things truly Catholic.

Unfortunately those who do so fail to realize that they are directly responsible for the current crisis in the Continuum in which the Australian primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion is attempting to lead Anglicans into the clutches of the Roman Church. They truly believe that their actions are simply a matter of taste, but the truth remains that the human animal is always learning something, be it good or bad, and in this case it is that things Roman are to be preferred over all things Anglican. They deny it, of course, but their actions over the years speak much larger and louder than their words.

If we in the Continuum truly value Anglicanism and the whole of the prayer book tradition over the faith and practice of the Roman Church, we are going to have to match our actions to our words. We are going to have to tell both our own people and others that we are not some sort of Romanism lite, but an authentic expression of the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church with our faith firmly planted in Holy Scripture as interpreted by the earliest bishops and Catholic fathers, the three creeds and teachings of the earliest of the general and universally accepted Councils.