The Anglican bishop of Fulham and the chairman of Forward in Faith International has announced he will resign before the end of the year to join an Ordinariate.
Speaking at Forward in Faith’s National Assembly today, Bishop John Broadhurst, who is a senior figure in the Anglo-Catholic movement, said he intended to tender his resignation before the end of the year and join the Ordinariate in Britain when it is established. He has said that he will remain the chairman of Forward in Faith, which he says is not an Anglican organisation.
Bishop Broadhurst is a suffragan bishop of the Diocese of London. He said the Bishop of London would likely appoint someone new to fill the post Bishop Broadhurst is vacating.
He is the first senior Anglo-Catholic to announce publicly that he will join an Ordinariate when it is founded.
Adios, Obispo Broadhurst. Vaya con Dios.
There you are. The thought came to me in Spanish, and that's how I wrote it.
Groups of Anglicans wishing to take up an Ordinariate must first write to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith formally requesting the canonical structure to be erected.
The Personal Ordinariate most resembles a military diocese and is thought to range over the territory of individual Episcopal conferences.
Get out your pens and papers, lads, and get your letters out to the Vatican, after which the queue forms on the right.
Among the largest worry for Anglicans considering taking up Anglicanorum coetibus is the fact that they are unlikely to be able to take buildings with them when they cross the Tiber.
Ah well, good-bye to all that.
H/T to Simon Sarmiento at Thinking Anglicans.
Well, at least he has been open about his intentions. The two flying Bishops are on "Study Leave" between 1st October to 1st January.
ReplyDeleteIn the meantime, their congregations are left without oversight.
It seems to me that they are perhaps hedging their bets to see which way the wind blows when the full list of who has been elected to the new General Synod. If the Catholic group is decimated - their support will be reduced and their credibility lost.
They might perhaps then jump.
Even if whole parishes decide to move to the new Ordinature, under UK Law they cannot take their fixtures and fittings with them. But perhaps some arrangement could be made where they rented their churches back from the CofE, or share them, as other congregations do.
I was going to say good riddance but that would sound churlish.
ReplyDeleteOh, what the Hell: "Good Riddance."
It seems to me that they are perhaps hedging their bets to see which way the wind blows when the full list of who has been elected to the new General Synod.
ReplyDeleteUKViewer, of course, you could be right! And you know far more about the situation "over there", than I will ever know.
What bothers me most is the continual whining about how the Church of England (and the Episcopal Church) has lost its way, we gotta get out of here before we get besmirched, and blah, blah, blah. How can one help but think and sometimes say, "Go already, and quit 'cher bellyaching!"?
"He has said that he will remain the chairman of Forward in Faith, which he says is not an Anglican organisation." This is significant. While the North American FiF is alphabet-soup-schism-city, FiF-UK (gotta LOVE that acronym) has been pretty-well, if not exclusively, Anglican in the true sense - i.e. Churches of England, Wales & Ireland, & Scottish Episcopal. No RCs, I think one can safely say. Will be interested to see whether Broadhurst gets away with this. Rome, for starters, is unlikely to be happy with it.
ReplyDeleteWhat is so sad about this situation, is that those 'traditionalist' actually believe in all conscience that they are right.
ReplyDeleteI am not an expert, but have sufficient experience in the UK Military of the days when being Gay meant discharge or worse and being female meant you were treated as second class.
Thankfully, those days passed and now sexual orientation or gender are no bar to service or employment (apart from Fighting Units like Infantry) where females employment is restricted to support roles. The change of culture when it happened, was like a blast of fresh air, blowing away prejudice and discrimination.
I would hope that the Holy Spirit will do the same for the Churches in the UK.
Rome, for starters, is unlikely to be happy with it.
ReplyDeleteLapin, FiF may indeed be one of the many things that the folks in the ordinariates may have to give up as they become Roman Catholic converts.
I would hope that the Holy Spirit will do the same for the Churches in the UK.
UKViewer, as I see it, the Holy Spirit will. The only question is when.
Will Rome consider him a bishop, or will he just be some English guy, hangin' round?
ReplyDeletePadre Mickey, Bp. Broadhurst is married. He will not be a bishop in the RCC. To be a priest, he will need to be re-ordained.
ReplyDeleteDon't let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya.
ReplyDeleteTee hee.
ReplyDeleteI hate all the self-important posturing from the FIFers. Whether they jump or not.
ReplyDeleteI believe that there is a fancy title that will be bestowed on the chief priest in the ordinariate. Perhaps Lapin will come along to tell us what the title is.
ReplyDeleteWhy does he not resign now? What s still holding him if his heart is already elsewhere and the Church of Englad is has lost its way. Is it the money he is paid as Bishop? I think his announcement should be taken as resignation.
ReplyDeleteRudo, I don't know why the bishop waits. He's 68 years old and is presumably eligible to collect a pension from the Church of England, which would help his financial situation.
ReplyDeleteas I see it, the Holy Spirit will. The only question is when.
ReplyDeleteAs I see it, the Holy Spirit IS. The only question is when sinful human beings will get the {bleep} out of Her way!
This is a bit off topic, but I'm wondering when our weekly magazine The Living Church will also swim the Tiber. Their writers and articles have become exceedingly pope-friendly.
ReplyDeleteOrmonde, not off topic, really. I wouldn't be surprised at much of anything these days.
ReplyDeleteSome years ago, a former rector at St. John regularly gave me his copies to read, but after several issues, I told him, "Nevermind". What I found in the magazine was out of sync with a good many of my views, and I was simply not interested. Plus, I'd come to St. John from the RCC, and I was not interested in being Catholic, in the ways discussed in TLC.
Of course, catholic with a lower case c is a whole other thing.
As I see it, the Holy Spirit IS. The only question is when sinful human beings will get the {bleep} out of Her way!
ReplyDeleteThat, too, JCF.
We had a former Rector who referred to the "Living Church" as the "Livid Church." Since the church had already subscribed when he arrived on the scene, we could usually find copies strewn around his office. We would read the articles and pick them apart. Sometimes, we would actually laugh at many of the opinions expressed therein. Of course, it became less and less of a laughing matter as time progressed.
ReplyDeleteBooCat, that is good - "The Livid Church".
ReplyDeleteI've learned that the head of an RC ordinariate will not have a fancy title. The title is rather ordinary. As a matter of fact, the title IS "Ordinary" of the ordinariate.
ReplyDelete