tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-759178030677978044.post7828053593513581779..comments2024-02-19T07:24:42.397-08:00Comments on Anglican Curmudgeon: Whither the Anglican Communion? (Redux)A. S. Haleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05108498446058643166noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-759178030677978044.post-22525080879021420112009-07-30T11:15:32.449-07:002009-07-30T11:15:32.449-07:00Dr. Tighe, perhaps I did misread Andrew Lillico on...Dr. Tighe, perhaps I did misread Andrew Lillico on what the Queen might do. On re-reading his article, he could be interpreted as saying that she will side with the conservative evangelicals, who he thinks will align with their counterparts from Australia, while the Anglo-Catholics will be off on their own. The main point he makes is that as she goes, so the official CoE will follow. One way or another, he says, the liberals and the conservatives will not be able to stay in the same church:<br /><br />"In a similar way, I believe that there will be an 'Anglican Mission to Britain' (let's call this the 'AMB'). The key difference, I expect, will be that the AMB will not regard the Church of England as apostate. Instead, the AMB and the Church of England will be sister churches, and may well cooperate in many matters.<br /><br />"The only 'if' left relates to whether, as alluded above, it will be those of us that are theologically conservative that will have to join the sister church and leave our current buildings and privileges as part of the State Church, or whether, instead, it is the liberals that will have to leave. Even if the conservatives leave, it is not obvious that it will be sustainable for the liberals to be the Church of England. For example, if and when the AMB forms, an interesting question will be which church the Queen will want to belong to. I think that it is clear that her theological sympathies will lie heavily with the AMB. If the conservatives were to leave to form an AMB and the Queen were to adopt the AMB as her church (which I don't think should be 100% ruled out - she is known to have strong theological convictions and it is very likely that her personal decision would be politically decisive), then it is all-but certain that, in fact, the AMB would be known as the Church of England and the Anglican church of the liberal rump would be called something else."<br /><br />It's definitely complicated, because I do not see things going in Australia quite as he anticipated. The issues of lay presidency there may well prevent an alignment with conservative CoE evangelicals along the lines he envisions. But I think he believes the CoE will inevitably split regardless of whether or not there forms what he calls the "AMB". And doubtless the motion to recognize ACNA, to be heard next February at Synod, will only sharpen the divide.A. S. Haleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05108498446058643166noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-759178030677978044.post-15174452223923861662009-07-30T09:58:32.542-07:002009-07-30T09:58:32.542-07:00I understand (from several good sources) that if t...I understand (from several good sources) that if the vote that FtW will take in October/November to join ACNA were by secret ballot, the motion to do so would undoubtedly fail among the Order of Clergy, precisely because of WO remaining an "open question" among them, and maybe even if the vote were an open one. God grant them the courage to do so!<br /><br />Being in England as you are, you should become aware how little interest Anglo-Catholics have in remaining in one body with Evangelicals should the CofE split. I have this not only from my friend in Oxford, but from others in FIF/UK, including more than one of its bishops.<br /><br />And finally, whence your understanding that the Queen would side with "an Anglop-Catholic Church of England?" Her mother, as a Scottish Episcopalisn, had such sympathies, but the Queen's, since her girlhood, has inclined in an Evangelical direction; and when the Prince of Wales was a Cambridge undergraduate, tried to discourage him from attending Anglo-Catholic venues in favor of the stongly-Evangelical (but very establishmentarian) Round Church (the Cambridge equivalent of St. Ebbe's in Oxford).William Tighehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16634494183165592707noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-759178030677978044.post-88521553888582704942009-07-29T07:17:21.329-07:002009-07-29T07:17:21.329-07:00I grant you unrestricted rights to that title, Mat...I grant you unrestricted rights to that title, Matthew --- it's very good. A year ago, I was not so bold.A. S. Haleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05108498446058643166noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-759178030677978044.post-40271457620101729112009-07-29T06:35:28.687-07:002009-07-29T06:35:28.687-07:00I like your essay, but I would retitle it to '...I like your essay, but I would retitle it to 'Wither the Anglican Communion'. Ten years from now Africa will be even larger in the AC and Britain and North America will have diminished greatly.mousestalkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07640977915382623244noreply@blogger.com