Fog in Parliament: Continent not isolated…. An Allegory of Europe c, 1781 The course of events in Britain generally and in the House of Commons especially, with regard to the proposed “Brexit” (for which a clear majority of the people voted by Referendum) is manifestly perplexing, not merely to the British but even more deeply to those overseas. This is far from surprising since matters have clearly failed to progress in any way that would seem reasonable. Yet in fact, … [Read more...]
A Reflection for the Feast of St Thomas
St Thomas' Basilica Cathedral Chennai A Reflection by Canon Alistair Macdonald-Radcliff for the Grosvenor Chapel in the Parish of Mayfair, for the Feast of St Thomas the Apostle, remembering also St Elizabeth Queen of Portugal and the distinguished ecclesiastics of the Venn family. The music comprises the Agnus Dei from the Missa “Delectus Meus” by the Portuguese composer Filipe de Magalhães A setting of Psalm 149 O Praise ye the Lord by Thomas … [Read more...]
The Feast of St Dunstan – A reflection
St Dunstan takes the Devil by the nose.... Canon Alistair Macdonald-Radcliff reflects upon the life of this 10th Century Archbishop of Canterbury and the way in which his biography later became hotly contested terrain, used and interpreted in very different ways by polemicists of the Roman Catholic church as well as the High and Low church factions of the Church of … [Read more...]
ACC 17 and the GAFCON Primates’ Statement
The ACC 17 meeting convenes in Hong Kong and the GAFCON Primates’ Council convenes in Sydney Recent days have seen two meetings of wide import for the future of the Anglican Communion, namely the convening of the GAFCON Primates’ Council in Sydney Australia from April 29th – May 2, 2019, and the Anglican Consultative Council in Hong Kong from 28thof April 5thMay. These meetings comprised two very different events which reflect in their very differences something of the … [Read more...]
Three Key Resolutions of the 2018 General Convention in Austin
Among the plethora of resolutions passed at the Convention, the following three stand out as being of particular note: A068 Plan for the Revision of the Book of Common Prayer which, despite its title, actually does NOT initiate a comprehensive revision but instead provides for the development of more alternative and trial liturgies. B012 Marriage Rites for the Whole Church, which extends the authorization of "continued trial use" of the liturgies for same-sex unions and that they be … [Read more...]
Two Statements Issued before and after the TEC General Convention: from Communion Partners and Province IX Bishops
The first of the two statements made in regard to provisions for same-sex partnerships and the relation of these to the Anglican Communion was issued by the Communion Partners of the Episcopal Church following the 79th General Convention, meeting in Austin, TX, The second Statement below was issued earlier by the Province IX Bishops and in it they draw attention to their resolve to walk apart if need be in order to uphold their fidelity Scripture. (At the very end below will also be found the … [Read more...]
After GAFCON III – Whither Lambeth 2020 & Whither the Communion?
A further personal reflection on some of the implications flowing from GAFCON III in Jerusalem A M-R The GAFCON conference was a thoroughly upbeat and joyful event of unprecedented scale that demonstrated most powerfully the rising organizational capacity of the movement ---and the consequent importance for Anglicanism of whether or not it is enabled to see its future, in the long-term, within the Communion. There was a deeply positive atmosphere with huge goodwill among those … [Read more...]
From Clubs to Communion: in a Different League ?
It is said that the Metropolitan Club in New York founded in 1891 –with J.P. Morgan as its first President –was launched in consequence of outrage that a certain other Club had failed to elect particular gentlemen to membership. In the world of gentlemen’s social clubs it is clear thus that, in the case of difficulty, one answer is simply to set up a new one, even if the more recent clubs tend to be looked down upon by the older or more exclusive ones. (A mischievous … [Read more...]
Jerusalem and GAFCON III
St George's Cathedral Jerusalem: A view looking towards the Nave from the Quire A Special Evensong was held today in the Cathedral for those coming to Jerusalem to attend GAFCON with Archbishop Suheil Dawani the Anglican Archbishop in Jerusalem and Bishop Michael Lewis of Cyprus and the Gulf as well as the GAFCON Bishops This coming week sees the convening of the Third Global Anglican Futures Conference which for the second time is being held in Jerusalem ten years after the first … [Read more...]
Uganda Martyrs Observance in Uganda 2018
Thousands of Christians from Uganda and neighbouring countries are arriving this weekend in Namugongo for special services to commemorate the Ugandan Martyrs. This speaks to the astonishing history of Christian Martyrdom in the country extending from those beheaded or burned alive in his court by Mwanga II, King of Buganda, who also had killed Bishop James Hannington (3 September 1847 – 29 October 1885) an English Anglican missionary who was the first Anglican bishop of East Africa; … [Read more...]
Drawing a line: From Gallicanist Anglicans to an Anglicanist Pope?
For the Anglican eWay of June 2nd 2018 Manifestly, through most of its existence, the Church of England both before and after the Reformation has been shaped and influenced by developments in the Continental Christianity of the West and thus Catholicism and the Reformers. In recent times both Anglican and Catholic liturgical approaches have been influenced by parallel intellectual currents, as the post-Vatican II Eucharistic texts amply demonstrate. But looked at … [Read more...]
God Science and Humanity Colloquium on 10th February in Potomac
This one day conference will run from 10 a.m. till about 4 p.m. when Evening Prayer will follow and it will include a boxed luncheon of good quality. It will be held at the Church of St Francis Potomac near Washington DC, and will bring together several notable experts including Dr. William Phillips Nobel Laureate in Physics and recipient of the Albert A. Michelson Medal from The Franklin Institute, based at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) & … [Read more...]
Advent Edition of the Anglican Way is now out – get an early look ahead of the print edition !
The Advent edition of the Society's journal, The Anglican Way, is being made available to read online ahead of the print version -- so do send us your e-mail address (to amacrad@hotmail.com) if you would like to get e-mail notifications of future editions and Society news more generally. IN THIS EDITION: The Articles of Religion (Part ii) The Reverend Gavin Dunbar, Society President The Reformation: Evangelical and Catholic Dr Roberta Bayer The Society's Continuing Mission in East … [Read more...]
The 2018 Conference is over but the date for 2019 is coming soon!
The Prayer Book: Doctrine, Liturgy and Life. Registration for the coming conference in Savannah from 24-26th January 2018 has now closed but the dates of next year's conference will be announced soon: FURTHER INFORMATION The proceedings built on the success of the 2017 Conference, Anglicanism Catholic and Reformed. This year the themes looked at in our main sessions related to the Prayer Book and The Doctrine of the Church Authority, Truth and … [Read more...]
The Society Mourns the Passing of Bishop Geoffrey Rowell
BISHOP GEOFFREY ROWELL Requiem aeternam dona eis.... It is with the deepest sadness that the Society has learned of the passing of Bishop Geoffrey who was, only months ago, to have given a paper at the Society's recent conference Anglicanism Catholic and Reformed. This would have been on the theme of the distinctive Anglican understandings of holiness and it was only with great reluctance that he withdraw, on account of the then early, but already acute, stages of the illness … [Read more...]
“To foreign lands no sound of her is come” – Reflecting on the expansion of the Anglican Communion then and now….
At a time when the future of the Anglican Communion as a true Communion, rather than mere Community is under some travail, it is interesting to see how different the perspective was in the middle of the last century when the Revd. Walter Stowe (1895-1989) enthused most optimistically in his article ahead of the 2nd Anglican Congress held in Minneapolis in 1954, entitled, “The Expansion of the Anglican Communion” in the Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church, (Vol. … [Read more...]
1928 Ordo Calendars
St. Andrew's Academy: 1928 Ordo Calendars and more. http://whithornpress.standrewsalmanor.org … [Read more...]
Prayer Book Society Colloquium on Daily Prayer
PBS Colloquium on Daily Prayer Flyer draft 2 … [Read more...]
Epiphany I: My Father’s Business
Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business? (St. Luke ii. 49) In Christmas Tide we directed our mind’s eye to the new birth of Jesus Christ in our hearts and souls. And so now in Epiphany Tide our eyes are opening as Christ the Light begins to illuminate and enlighten us about the character of the new life which God desires us to live. Epiphany comes to us from the Greek word, epifaneia, and it means manifestation or striking appearance. In the Church of the East, Epiphany is called … [Read more...]
Christmas Day 2015
And suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude of the Heavenly Host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth, peace, good will toward men. (St. Luke ii. 13,14) One of the most compelling instruments to foment belief in the Christ as the Son of God are the details that describe Him as the Son of Man. What I mean is that the New Testament is not full of particular moments that overturn or destroy nature and her course. Rather, on the whole, we read of a … [Read more...]
Advent IV Epistle: Thomas Aquinas with Commentary
Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. (Phi. iv. 4, 5) The Apostle exhorted us in the end of the preceding Epistle that we should reserve all things to Christ, the true Judge; but, lest we should be overcome by the long delay, he said that He was about to come in a very little while. The Lord, he said, is at hand. What we consider to be a long time is but the twinkling of an eye in relation to God’s eternity. So a long time … [Read more...]
Advent II 2015
Heaven and Earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away. (St. Luke xxi. 33) Advent is that season which is all about preparing for Christ’s coming. What is coming to us is what endures forever. With eager expectation we await the one permanent and eternal thing that is all-important and all-defining for the life of any Christian. In the cyclical life of the Church, once again we prepare for the coming of Jesus Christ at Christmas time. Christ Jesus is the permanent Word of God made … [Read more...]
Exceptions and Rules
One finds it more than a little bit alarming to think that the largest church in Christendom might be about to schism because some of its "elders" are ruled by exceptions rather than by the rules. Any half-wit knows that one cannot run anything on the basis of exceptions. Exceptions are only and ever exceptions because they are rules. And if one wishes to see what happens to churches that are governed by exceptions and not rules just look at Mainline Protestantism in postmodern America. There … [Read more...]
Trinity XIX
There is none to plead thy cause, that thou mayest be bound up: thou hast no healing medicines. All thy lovers have forgotten thee; they seek thee not; for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of thine iniquity; because thy sins were increased. (Jeremiah xxx. 13, 14) Our opening verses come to us from the 30th Chapter of the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah. What the prophet is describing is the sorry and desperate … [Read more...]
William Law: Address to the Clergy, xxiv-xxvi
[Addr-24] Now when Christ had told them of the Necessity of an higher State than that they were in, and the Necessity of such a comforting illuminating Guide, as they could not have till his outward Teaching in human Language was changed into the Inspiration, and Operation of his Spirit in their Souls, He commands them, not to begin to bear Witness of him to the World, from what they did and could in an human Way know of him, his Birth his Life, Doctrines, Death, Sufferings, Resurrection, … [Read more...]