The Anglican Church in North America is in trouble. It has placed greater weight on its polity than on catholicity. It has decided to allow individual dioceses to ordain women to the priesthood rather than require them to uphold the Church's universal (catholic) doctrine and discipline on this matter. Even after the college of bishops admitted that there is "insufficient" scriptural warrant to accept women’s ordination to the priesthood. This is Anglican fudge at its richest.
Read the statement issued by the ACNA bishops here.
The ACNA will either stand with the Fathers, the Scriptures, and the received Messianic Tradition on the question of women priests, or it will continue to stray from those authorities. Women are fully capable. That is not the issue. They are not called to this divine ordinance.
Many members of the ACNA will be angry and disappointed by the decision to maintain the status quo. However, let's look on the bright side. The house of bishops has made progress in admitting that there is insufficient Scriptural support for ordaining women to the priesthood, and that this practice is a modern innovation.
In reality there are only about 5 American ACNA bishops who ordain women. Their waywardness can be corrected by amending the ACNA Constitution at some future synod so that all ACNA bishops will be accountable to the same catholic standard. That's where the biggest battle is likely to occur. Keep praying, folks!
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2 comments:
For Anglicans the authority of Scripture and Tradition is central to our identity. Further, we share a rich heritage of reasoned observation of the natural world. To disregard our Anglican heritage in favor of a false narrative that presents women as priests would be fatal to our identity. More importantly, it would perpetuate the Marxian/Feminist lie.
The Marxian/Feminist narrative reduces all to a level plain. It strips away “hier”-archy, that is, priest ranking. Are we surprised? It must do so because ontologically, linguistically, anthropologically, and empirically, the priest is a male ruler in the realm of a God who is called “Father.” Saint Augustine asked, “What do I love when I love my God?” The catholic Faith responds unequivocally, “I love the Father because He first loved me.” The catholic Faith flows against the social current toward the Triune God who deconstructs every human artifice.
I have said for quite some time that ACNA would be in trouble. They stayed too long in ECUSA, and brought the infection with them when they left. Women's ordination is the obvious big problem, but there are many others as well. Sadly, I do not look for great things from ACNA.
Fr. D+
Continuing Anglican Priest
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